After a wonderful stay in Nuku Hiva, our next destination was the Tuamotu Archipelago. These are among the most remote atolls in the world, and many are completely uninhabited-a rare occurrence in this day and age.
We spent 3 weeks visiting several of these islands that have a striking, harsh beauty to them. Geologically they are very old, the original volcanic peaks sank long ago and all that's left is the fringing coral reef that never stopped growing. Maximum elevation on the islands is a couple of feet, not counting the coconut trees!
For me it was a stressful time, although punctuated with some incredible moments that I'll never forget. The navigation in these islands is very difficult, and small mistakes can be quickly punished with the loss of the boat. Apparently a couple of cruising boats are lost here every year. The first challenge is just seeing the bloody things. If there aren't any coconut trees, the "land" can can be invisible only 2 miles away if there's a modest swell running. Even with the trees, they drop below the horizon only 7 miles away, so you bloody well better know where you are all the time.
These days with GPS and electronic charts, that's easy, unless the skipper gets really confused for some reason and misinterprets the data. So unless the electronics suddenly crap out, we know exactly where we are all the time. The charts here are accurate, unlike Mexico where they were up to 2 miles off, so that helps a lot. The second challenge is that you have to enter the atolls through a pass that varies in width from several hundred meters to about a boat width and a half (7 feet of clearance on each side!). Depth is usually not a problem, especially for us, but there is always a current running. One time we had more than 9 knots, which created huge standing waves and swirling whirlpools that tossed us around quite a bit. It would have been downright harrowing in a smaller monohull with only one engine. Once you're inside, the anchoring is difficult too. The bottom is a thin layer of light sand over hard coral, and it's interspersed with coral heads. The anchor won't hold in the sand, so you have to wrap the chain around a coral head, which abrades the steel and can actually break chain. The good holding is paid for with very difficult retrieval of the anchor and we often had Austin in the water diving and yelling directions to Sophie on the foredeck who would relay the info to me at the helm. We put a 30º bend in the shank of our 60lb CQR anchor pulling it up one day, but otherwise made it through the whole chain of islands unscathed.On the other hand, the rewards were well worth the "extra attention" I had to pay all those nights...
After a good 3-day crossing with mostly light winds from NukuHiva, we arrived at Makemo atoll, around the middle section of the archipelago 16.5ºS, 143.8ºW (check it out on Google Earth-they have phenomenal imagery of these places). We made the crossing around the same time as our new friends aboard the Catana 471 "DaMojo", a wonderful Australian family with 2 kids aboard. Our first anchorage at Makemo was in front of the village and we spent a few days diving, exploring, and provisioning. We moved to the uninhabited western pass and tucked in behind a reef with DaMojo. There was beautiful snorkeling just 10 feet off the stern, great windsurfing and kiteboarding , and incredible diving in the pass.
We did lots of drift dives with the kids, where you start at one end of the pass and just let the current take you to the other end (while you hang on to the dinghy). The visibility is so good that it feels like you're flying over the bottom, suspended in 80º water. The kids love it and Austin got his first real dose of sharks. Sharks are very abundant in the Tuamotu, and they can be a little intimidating until you get used to them. We had a pack of 6-10 of them that would hang out behind the boat. They'd swim right up to the transoms whenever they heard someone walking around on deck or using the hose to wash the decks down, hoping for some scraps to eat.
Our next stop was Motutunga, 55 miles to the SW. This is a really remote atoll and doesn't even have a navigable pass leading into the lagoon. We had to anchor the boats in the pass itself, which was a real adventure. DaMojo got there first. It was an upwind sail from Makemo and because of the way their rig is set up, they are fester upwind in medium to light air (for the sailing geeks, they have a single headstay with a traditional genoa vs. our double headstays with small solent and gennaker). 
We came in a good hour behind them and they were still trying to get tied up. It took us about 5 hours to get fully secure. We had an anchor out onto the reef off the port bow, one line to a chain wrapped though a hole in the reef on the other side of the pass, 2 lines going to a little abandoned concrete wharf on shore, and an anchor off the stern. We had 40 feet of water under the boat, but a few feet on either side of the boat were vertical walls that came right up to the surface. There was a constant outgoing tide with a 3-6 knot current, and wind blowing us sideways at up to 25 knots. On the other hand all we had to do was hop over the side for some of the most beautiful diving I've seen in a long time. The kids are really getting their snorkeling down and they had a blast pointing out all the different species of fish. We had a big bonfire one night and ate dogtooth tuna that "Enzo", a friend visiting aboard DaMojo, shot outside the pass.
From Mototunga we went to Tahanea and continued on the theme of incredible diving, strolls along beautiful beaches and more tuna... We made a quick stop in Faaite in a harrowing anchorage. The bottom was 40 feet deep, but it was littered with coral "skyscrapers" that came straight up to within a few feet of the surface. The weather was starting to turn bad and when it's overcast, the light becomes flat, the sea turns the color of lead, and you can't see the dangerous coral, even with someone up the mast.
The next morning we headed out for Fakarava, just 11 miles away. We had to delay our departure because of a few squalls coming through, and then we powered through the pass with a 9 knot following current. We were being hit with qualls on and off, but as we got closer to Fakarava, they got more intense. By the time we got to the southern pass, it was pouring rain with gusts to 30knots and the visibility dropped down to less than 100 meters. We zig-zagged slowly back and forth, waiting for an opening in the weather to get through the pass. It was a good, wide pass and was supposed to be well marked, but there was a strong swell running which was breaking heavily on either side of the entrance, so no way I was going in without better visibility. It was exactly the kind of situation boats are lost in. 
On deck we had to wear our dive masks in order to see in the rain and spray. Finally, after an hour or two--it seemed like a day--the rain eased a bit and the visibility opened up to about 1/4 mile and we made the turn to head in. DaMojo went in about an hour before and said the approach was straightforward. We got in with white knuckles, but no other drama. We dropped the anchor, I shut the engines down, took a breath and looked up to see Austin rapt. He was staring at the boat next to us. We were anchored next to the Maltese Falcon, the world's largest sailing yacht.
The southern pass at Fakarava is renown for shark diving. They have a resident population of several hundred reef sharks and we did some phenomenal dives there. There's a tiny resort, and in the shallows under the bungalows there are two huge Maori wrasses that come for food when you wade into the water. Jo-jo, as the locals called him, was so big that half of his back was out of the water when he cruised over the shallow sand. Jo-jo almost had my fist and most of my forearm for lunch one day as I fed him and greatly underestimated the speed with which this apparently gentle, lazy creature could move. The kids had a great time in this spot, swimming surrounded by sharks just inches away.
We left Fakarava for an overnight sail to Tahiti. This felt like a major milestone in our journey, to finally arrive in Tahiti. We had a tough time getting here though since there was very little wind and we were VERY low on fuel (we ran out on one side). We tried to get every tenth of a knot out of the boat. At one point we were motorsailing with the spinnaker up!
Tahiti feels like an overwhelming, bustling metropolis to us, especially after the Tuamotu. There's great provisioning here, but it's incredibly expensive. A box of cereal costs $10 and a chicken's around $15. We did some damage to the boat in the marina here. By "marina" they actually mean what we would call a "quay" in the U.S. You have to drop your anchor and then back in toward the quay to tie up. Our spot was very exposed, especially to the wake of all the speed boats going by right in front of the boat. Our gangplank got loose while we were away from the boat and tore a hole through the transom. Not a huge deal, but it did take a bunch of my time away from all the other projects I have to do while we're here and before Sophie's brother and his family come for their month-long visit. One funny note is that there are no fewer than 4 Catana 471's and a 431 here in Papeete.
Next we'll be cruising the Society Islands during July.As usual, please feel free to send us your news and thoughts.
-Maurice
Balade dans les iles Tuamotus (in French now)
Le passage de Nuku Hiva aux iles Tuamotus a dure trois jours. Apres etre restes presqu’un mois tranquillement a Nuku Hiva, le retour au grand bleu fut un peu dur et il nous a semble que cette traversee n’en finissait pas! Tout s’est bien passé et malheureusement nous avons du avoir recour a la risee Volvo faute de vent.Les iles Tuamotus sont des iles coralliennes qui emergent a peine de l’eau et qui se caracterisent par de nombreuses cocoteraies. De loin, la seule chose que l’on voit sont les cocotiers!
La premiere ile que nous avons visitee fut Makemo qui se trouve au Nord de l’archipel. Apres avoir aisement traverse notre premiere passe, nous avons decouvert un paysage idyllique de mer bleue transparente: simplement sublime.
Des que l’ancre fut mouillee, nous avons plonge dans cette eau delicieuse pour etre tout de suite accueillis par nos premiers requins Tuamotus. Ils ne nous quitterons plus! Puis, nous avons fait notre premiere “drift dive” dans la passe. On plonge en se tenant- ou a cote - au Zodiac qui se fait entrainer par le courant de la passe. C’est super on a l’impression d’etre superman et de voler dans l’eau!
Ce qui a rendu notre sejour aux Tuamotus inoubliable fut la compagnie de la famille australienne de Damojo, un catana 471 comme le notre. Nous avons passé des moments supers avec Tris, David, Dior (6 ans) et Kai (8ans). Bien sur, Massimo et Annabelle furent aux anges d’avoir des petits copains avec qui jouer pendant tout un mois d’affile. Tris et David naviguent depuis pas mal de temps et ils ont deja ecume de nombreuses cotes. Ils font de superbes films sous-marins. Ce sont des gens extraordinaires que nous sommes heureux d’avor rencontrer. Nous avons aussi eu le plaisir de rencontrer Sheiley et “Enzo” de visite sur le Damojo. Tous les deux travaillent sur “l’Octopus”, un de ces megas Yachts qui parcoure le monde en permanence au gres de leur proprietaire. Tous etant des plongeurs emerites et experimentes, nous avons passé notre temps dans l’eau: plongee libre, plongee en bouteille et chasse.
Austin a egalement decide de prolonger son sejour avec nous et nous en avons ete tous tres contents! Il fait maintenant parti de notre petit equipage. C’est l’equipier ideal qui non seulement remplit parfaitement son role mais qui est aussi devenu un ami et meme le grand frere surfer de Massimo! Massimo qui maintenant parle comme un vrai sufer californien: “sweet dude!”
La flore et la faune aux Tuamotus sont extraordinaires car peu visitees. Le corail est magnifique ainsi que toutes les sortes de coquillages que l’on peut trouver dans le Pacifique Sud: porcelaines de tout type, gros “7 doitgs”, …. etc. Au niveau poisson, nous avons vu, entre autre: d’enormes napoleons - certains venaient meme nous manger dans la main – des poissons unicornes, tous les petits et gros poissons de recifs et une quantite de requins non negligeable! Requins de recifs mais aussi les plus gros requins gris. J’ai decouvert un peu plus cet animal fascinant avec Tris et David qui les etudient et les photograpient depuis des annees. Maurice et Austin sont parti plusieurs fois a la peche au gros sous-marine avec David et Enzo. C’est une technique bien particuliere et ils ont ramene des gros thons.
Notre deuxieme etape fut Motutunga et la, ce fut l’apogee! C’est un tout petit atoll inhabite pendant la plupart du temps. Quelques pecheurs s’y arretent seulement de temps en temps. Ce fut tout simplement magnifique.Nous avons du mouiller dans la passe – qui ne faisait pas plus de 8-10 metres de large et ou le courant etait particulierement fort, 6 noeuds - et ce fut toute une expedition que de s’ancrer. Entre les deux bateaux, nous avions probablement 6 ancres, plus des bouts amarres a terre!
Les plongees furent sublimes. Massimo garde un souvenir enthousiaste de nos “drift dives” dans la passé et de tous les gros poissons qu’il a vu!
Puis, nous nous sommes arêtes a Tahaena ou la, nous avons retrouve les plages de sable blanc. Ce fut definitivement l’etape “plage”. Il y avait des “patates” de corail magnifiques tout pres de la plage ou nous avons passé la plupart du temps. Les enfants etaient ravis de retrouver leurs pelles et leurs seaux!
Nous ne sommes restes qu’une nuit a Faaite ou le mouillage fut super stressant: pleins de “patates” de corail partout et un vent qui est monte jusqu’a 25 noeuds….. bref, une nuit horrible! Le temps ne s’est pas ameliore le lendemain et nous avons du retraverser une passe pas mal agitee. C’est alors que la pluie a commence a tomber a grosses gouttes!
C’est dans ces conditions que nous avons traverse la passe sud de Fakarava, une des iles principales des Tuamotus. Nous avons du attendre une acalmie a l’exterieur de la passe pour avoir un peu plus de visibilite puis nous sommes rentres….. pour nous mouiller a cote du mega voilier “Faucon Maltese”!!
Nous sommes restes plusieurs jours au Sud de Fakarava ou la plongee fut a nouveau fantastique. La, au bord du rivage, deux napoleons enormes ainsi que des requins de recif – au moins une quinzaine - viennent se faire nourir dans quelques centimetres d’eau par les locaux et les quelques touristes de passage qui logent dans un petit Gite. Les requins vivent en grand nombre – des centaines – dans ce coin et ce fut des plongees interessantes!
Les Tuamotus nous ont laisse un souvenir tres special. Ce sont a la fois des iles splendides ou les elements sont purs mais peuvent aussi se montrer tres durs. C’est la sensation permanente d’etre en pleine mer avec en plus l’incertitude des mouillages et une meteo qui change du jour au lendemain.Bref, beaucoup plus dur que d’etre en mer! Ce fut une experience fantastique mais egalement eprouvante pour l’equipage et le bateau.
Voila, nous sommes desormais a Tahiti ou nous en profitons pour nettoyer le bateau et faire quelques reparations necessaires. C’est a la fois sympa et un peu “too much” d’etre de retour a la civilisation. Nous attendons avec impatience l’arrivee de mon frere et sa famille qui nous rejoignent dans quelques jours pour passer le mois de juillet avec nous dans les iles de Tahiti: Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Bora Bora, Maupiti.
