WE MADE IT
Despite the fact my humans are usually totally useless at this sailing thing, they actually got me here safe and sound. So you need not worry about me…..for now.
TIMING THE PASS
Of course the winds have been light so, as expected, we were going to be late for the afternoon slack water in the pass at Raroia. I talked the ‘cheapo’ humans into burning a little bit of ‘fossil fuels’ and we quickly caught up the difference. We were actually at the pass at exactly 12 noon. The weather Gods were on their side, as the stormy skies cleared and were replaced with the white fluffy clouds of the trade winds. But that is as far as the luck went. As they approached the passage it was evident…it was not slack water!
Remember, the program generated by s/v Soggypaws is a guesstimator. No promises that it will be correct every time. The humans had a look at the pass with the binoculars, and although it was evident the tide was still flooding into the lagoon, the water in the pass looked smooth with no standing waves evident. ‘Lets go for it’
GOING THROUGH THE PASS
The humans timidly ‘dipped their feet’ into the channel and AWAY WE WENT! Trying to sneak in at a slow 3 knots the boat was quickly sucked into the pass at 6.5 knots. ‘Go with the flow’ the dolphins joining us said. What choice did we have now?
A bit of turbulence at the shallowest point of the pass at 7m and we were being sucked towards the reef just inside. Raroia is not a straight pass. Once you enter you have to make a right or left turn to avoid an extensive reef and sandbar inside. But the pass was big enough that the humans made the turn even with the current.
DANGERS NOT OVER
Since the skies had cleared off the humans decided to ‘go for it’ and cross the lagoon. They had heard horror stories about the ‘bommies’ that litter the passages through the lagoon. Friends had given up their visit to the Tuamotus because they hated the stress of lagoon passages. All this made my poor humans nervous.
But there was nothing to worry about. The water in the lagoon were deep at 40m plus and the ‘bommies’ were actually great big pinnacles of reef. In the noon day sun, there was no way you could miss the light brown patches just below the waters surface.
The humans had set up a rope ladder up the rigging to the first spreaders to help them see the ‘bommies’ in the lagoons. It was not really necessary as they were clearly seen by the helmsman. Those stresses over, the next challenge was anchoring.
ANCHORING IN THE TUAMOTUS
Again, lots of horror stories. The problem with any sandy spots shallow enough to anchor on inside the lagoons is….they are covered in little coral heads. These coral heads are spread out at ‘just the right’ intervals to turn your chain into a tangled mess. Again, s/v Soggypaws has come up with a great suggestion. Float your chain.
Floating your chain is easier than anyone thinks, but may humans did have to do a few practice runs back in the Marquesas before they got here. I will not bore you with the details, but basically you hook your boat fenders onto your anchor chain so it does not rub on the sea bottom and hook up on all those coral heads. Sounds like a good idea right? You try cleaning the growth off your fenders if they have been in the water a while. More on that later.
Floating the chain is easy. Finding a spot with some clear sand is the hardest part. The humans took a few tries to get the anchor set in sand, and not hung up on a coral head, before they could lay out their floating chain.
KON TIKI MOTU
But we got there in the end! We anchored up off the famous Kon Tiki motu, where the expedition made their final landfall. If you do not know about this expedition, I recommend both the older and modern movie made about the adventure.
16 03.848S 142 21.673W (Copy and paste into Google Earth)
I finally got to place my salty paws on land while the humans looked for the monument placed on this tiny island. My needs are simple, just give me a beach and a great place to swim, but the humans keep gushing on about how beautiful it is here. You are just going to have to wait until they can send you pictures.
PALM TREES, SANDY BEACHES AND BLUE WATER
For those who have been to the San Blas island of Panama, just put them on steroids and you have the Tuamotus. We have just gotten here, but it is very beautiful. Protected waters, trade winds and beautiful palm covered islands and sandy beaches. Wondering what the snorkeling and diving is going to be like?
Fill you in as we explore.
But first, perhaps a good night sleep after a few days at sea. More later!
Video coming as soon as we have fast enough internet.
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