We spent six weeks exploring the beautiful Tuamotus and feel like we finally found the South Pacific anchorages we dreamed of.
Kauhei – jewel in the Pacific!
It was a 350 mile mile sail to Kauhei, our first atoll. We remember our first 350 mile passage with the kids from San Diego to Turtle Bay. It felt so long! After our Pacific crossing, this hop to the Tuamotus didn’t seem daunting at all (though we did miss having Gill along!). We reverted into our passage routines, and despite some light wind, we made good time.
SV Luminesce and SV Dogbark had been sending us reports of crystal clear blue water, beautiful fish and we couldn’t wait to arrive. We transited the pass into the atoll without issue (more on passes and anchoring in atolls later!) and easily navigated the deep waters to the Kauhei town and anchored in our first atoll next to our friends. None of us could believe how blue the water was!
The kids got reacquainted with their friends and we enjoyed exploring the small town. We enjoyed the next few days playing in the blue water and snorkeling nearby bommies (coral heads). Then we enjoyed a fun Easter dinner aboard Slingshot with SV Luminesce and another cruising boat from England. We had 11 for dinner and food for 20! Sadly SV Dogbark couldn’t stay as their timeline for the Tuamotus was much quicker than ours.
We had a delicious Easter dinner with lamb, turkey, Moussaka, and I made a delicious marquesan key lime pie for desert. I love my Whitewater cookbooks (thanks Mom!)! I also love having time to cook (even though ingredients can sometimes be a creative challenge). I wish I captured a picture of the pie and the full crowd aboard Slingshot but we were too busy eating and enjoying ourselves.
Then it was on to explore the south anchorage in Kauhei. Nathan and I sailed the 6 miles in the Byte across the lagoon to arrive before Slingshot! Wow, we LOVED it here. Thank you to SV Luminesce for telling us about this beautiful atoll! We anchored next to a bommie that had the clearest water and the best snorkeling of our trip so far. Plentiful fish, blacktip reef sharks, and a beautiful beach perfect for exploring and evening bonfires. We kept exclaiming how amazing this anchorage was. I have a feeling that our family will always speak whistfully about our time in Kauhei.
We had only planned a couple of nights here but we enjoyed it so much we stayed five. It was here that Julia gained her confidence in swimming with blacktip reef sharks. There was a narrow pass into a small lagoon where the sharks congregated and we all swam in the shallow water watching the sharks zig-zag nearby. Nathan got practice snorkeling with the hookah (portable breathing apparatus similar to scuba diving but only allows depths of 10 to 15 feet, breathing through an air tube that is attached to the dingy and pumps fresh air from the surface).
Our last night, we anchored just inside of the pass, and we did our first drift snorkels through the pass. It was fun to speed through the water hanging on to the dinghy. And the coral was so healthy and alive. It did not compare to our drift snorkels through the South Pass at Fakarava though…
Fakarava – kidboats, kitesurfing and snorkeling the ‘South Pass’
After a short morning sail downwind we arrived in the north anchorage of Fakarava. We’d heard so much about this atoll – one of the largest of the 78 islands spread out over 1000 mile area making up the Tuamotu archipelago– and we were excited to explore.
The supply boat comes once a week and we were lucky to time our arrival on the same day. We were happy to have the opportunity to buy $13 USD romaine lettuce (from California?!?) and to still find carrots, New Zealand apples, pears and a few onions and potatoes. We knew fresh produce would be hard to come by, and any other groceries very expensive, so we were thankful we had stocked up in Mexico and still had plenty of supplies. We love our deep freezer!!
After stocking up we motor sailed the 26 miles inside the lagoon to Harifa anchorage – where we would stay for the next 3 weeks. Needless to say, we loved Harifa. It has a sandbar area perfect for learning to kitesurf, a nice sandy beach, plenty of palm trees, an area for beach fires and friendly locals. We were lucky to meet up with other kid boats there, and our puddle jump friends from Mexico later arrived. The days sped by!
Birthdays and sleep overs on the beach in Fakarava
It turned out that there were birthdays for kids on Slingshot, Caramba and Luminesce, all within three days of each other. We had a birthday beach party for all the kids, complete with games and delicious birthday desserts. Nathan turned 10 in Fakarava and I have a feeling this will be a birthday he will not soon forget!
The kids even stayed overnight, pitching a tent on the beach. Friendly pigs and dogs sniffed and leaned on sides of their tent in the morning which added an interesting twist! The kids loved it and kept begging for more beach sleepovers.
We waited out a ‘Mara’amu’ in Harifa. A Mara’amu is a strong seasonal wind troug. Harifa is a protected anchorage when the Miramu blows, and we were lucky to have kidboat friends nearby which meant quick homeschool mornings and fun afternoons – playing, walking, sailing and socializing with beachfires on shore in the evening. Harifa will be another favourite spot on our lengthening list!
Snorkeling the South Pass
Fakarava is a renowned diving and snorkeling spot – for good reason! The coral, fish and overall sea life were the healthiest and most impressive we’ve seen to date. It was amazing to see large packs of grey sharks congregating together – also referred to as the ‘wall of sharks’. It reminded us of the peloton in cycling – the sharks would take a turn at the front of the pack hanging in the current, then swim to the back, again and again. And the huge humpheaded wrasses were pretty interesting too. The sharks were pretty docile in the day, using their energy to hunt for camoflaged groupers in the evening. The groupers are too fast for the sharks during the day, so the sharks don’t even bother hunting. Come nightfall, it is a different story! We heard of one diver getting a nasty shark bite doing a night dive and we were happy to limit our snorkeling to daytime only!
We would time our snorkeling with an incoming tide and drift through the pass. The packs of blacktipped sharks circling near the diving restaurant on stilts over the ocean was a favourite! We spent several days snorkeling this area.
Kitesurfing – we finally ticked this off our bucket list!
Harifa is a perfect spot to learn to kitesurf. It has a large open area that is good for drifing downwind and learning. We have gear on board and all three of us – Gav, Nathan and I were keen to learn. Gavin was up and going on the first day and Nathan and I both spent a few days learning and body dragging and eventually got up on our boards. Lots of water swallowed, but happy to make progress. What a treat to be able to learn together!
Toau – our own deserted atoll
We finally pulled ourselves away from Fakarava with the draw of another atoll to explore. We decided to enter the inside of Toao – a pass (Passe Otugi) which was described as ‘dangerous’ in one of our cruising books. Most folks visit Toao by way of Anse Amyot, a small bite in the side of Toau which does not require entering a pass. We visited there afterwards and had a great time snorkeling and exploring, but first we entered the atoll and found our own deserted spot inside.
We’d radio’d ahead to a large pleasure yacht (200 feet) who we saw on our AIS had transited the pass and were anchored just inside and asked them how the conditions at the pass were. The captain advised, “The pass looks fine now – not like when we entered yesterday” Um, the fact that such a large yacht even noticed poor pass conditions made me wonder whether it was wise to enter…. Luckily our entrance was smooth – we sped along with the incoming tide in relatively smooth waters, going the same direction as the prevailing winds. This was in contrast to our exit a few days later!
Perhaps it is the pass conditions that keep more boats from visiting? Nevertheless, we were delighted to find an area all to ourselves. It was like a postcard – turquoise water, empty sandy beach and coconut palms lining the shore. We spent a glorious week swimming, skurfing, snorkeling and harvesting coconuts on the beach.
Julia got up on the knee board and loved zipping back and for the the flat blue water. She even tried wake boarding. Nathan’s skills with the knife and ax improved. It was so cute to watch him chop open the coconuts and hold them out with coconut milk dripping out and the pigs pushing and shoving nearby to guzzle the fresh tasty treat.
We even made our own coconut milk. We had observed some french folks in Harifa make their own cocount milk and we tried ourselves. We made the most delicious Thai cocounut curry that evening. The kids now love Thai curry!
We even put on our headlamps one night and waded out a hundred meters on the reef shelf towards the breaking reef in search of blue lobsters which come out at night on certain evenings depending on the moon. As it was a full moon, we figured we would try our luck. The lobsters are supposed to be easy to spot hunting for food in the shallow reef area.
We didn’t find any lobsters but we had so much fun splashing around at night in the warm water and wind. There was an exciting point when Gavin decided that he needed to go right to the ‘break’ and Nathan was neck deep and me up to my chest trying to follow him and we decided to turn around. He couldn’t hear our shouts over the crashing waves. What other things were swimming around there at night? Another family experience that we will not soon forget!
Our exit from the pass was a little more boisterous than our entry! Though we were close to slack and not anywhere near max ebb – the wind and swell conditions were running opposite to the outgoing tide – always a recipe for unpredictable and agitated waters. We had our main up and were reaching at a good speed. We saw the standing waves, but knew we’ve been through bigger waves and we have confidence in Slingshot. Well, it was the most exciting pass exit I’ve ever experienced – short, steep, breaking (!) 10 foot waves – while we were traveling at 11 knots over ground. WOW! Slingshot did fine (though we would not want to have had a problem and turned sideways…) and we saw blue water over our decks and we were all happy to be behind the dodger. We did lose a dorade cover with the water washing over our decks, but all else was fine.
We spent a fun couple of days with other puddle Jumpers (SV Linda Marie, SV Wild Orchid and SV Flocerfida) in Toau and then set sail for Papetee. Only two hundred miles – but it was the most challenging sail we’ve had (with kids) of our trip to date! A topic of a future blog post.
A note on Anchoring, Passes and Transiting Atolls
First a disclaimer – we entered only three atolls – Kauhei, Fakarava and the inside of Toau – and so cannot comment on the conditions in other atolls. Also, while we experienced some strong winds while anchored, we had nothing over 25 knots. Other wind/ wave conditions could well have changed our experience.
The information we had read about dodging coral heads, floating anchors and dangerous passes seemed much more daunting than compared to our actual experience. With regular diligence (ie traveling through atolls between 10am and 2pm with the sun behind you and having someone on the bow) we were easily able to spot bommies and navigate around them. No climbing the mast necessary! And Fakarava even has a main channel that is charted. Same with Kauhei. However, even in the charted areas we would keep watch. And we always recorded our track which made things easier when returning to an area we’d been before (and if we ever needed to leave in the dark in a hurry – never happened).
Anchoring was not a huge drama either. At 22 tonnes we did not like trusting the scattered free moorings we would see from time to time. Fine in calm winds, we would much rather trust our 55kg Rochna and chain if conditions became lively. So we would set our anchor, set three to four floats tied to it to float it over any bommies. Then we would snorkel to check the set. A few times we re-anchored after having checked our set and seeing that we had a bommie in an unfavourable place. However, “knock on wood” we found the experience doable and not the crazy difficult process that we (or perhaps I) had imagined. Or maybe we were just lucky?
We used the Soggy Paws ‘guestimater’ to time the tides, and spoke with other cruisers about their actual experience if they’d entered before us. We would also take a run by the pass to observe the conditions in person prior to entering. And we only entered in daylight hours. However, aside from our Toau experience (which we only attempted after a few pass experiences and having knowledge of our particular boat’s capabilities) we had smooth uneventful pass entrances and exits. Perhaps our experience in the Pacific North West where there are a number of passes helped us? That being said, the passes were not at all something that should dissuade folks from visiting this area.
Love the updates. We are watching your progress and love the adventures all of you are having!
You are inspiring many. (Finn did his first offshore delivery this Spring to Astoria in prep for the Oregon Offshore. He loved it!)
All the best Gord, Prisca, Finn, Lochlan and Paloma.
Hi Gord and family! So good to hear from you. Wow, congratulations to Finn on his delivery and on doing the Oregon Offshore. That is a challenging stretch of Coast! Good for him! We all say Hi. We are in Samoa at present and loving our time here. Hope you all are having a wonderful summer. If it were possible we’d love to slip in a week at Tugboat and Saltspring with you guys!