Tahanea Atoll, Tuamotus Archipilego, French Polynesia – The Wind in the Willows (Palm trees)

WINDY NIGHTS

Here I am, snuggled in bed and I should feel safe, but with the wind howling through the rigging I can not escape a feeling of apprehension. I know the humans have done their best to move to a more sheltered corner of the atoll, but nothing more than a bit of coral and a few palm trees separate us from the raging sea beyond. The anchor was set in sand, checked, and lots of chain rolled out but still the gusts of wind batter the boat side to side. It is times like this I miss the safe little harbour back in Hao.

EXPLORING

But the humans wanted to get out exploring. They left behind the good mates they made ashore and headed off to see ‘what was over the next horizon’. For their efforts they spent the first few days of arrival here in Tahanea putting a water maker back together after a sticky valve ‘blew it up’. When they finally got it working again, of course the dry season broke and we finally got some rain. I must admit, I have never been so happy to see dark clouds and hear the tanks filling slowly from our rain catchers.

With repairs completed and tanks filled back up with water we all finally got a chance to do some exploring. The ring reef that surrounds the atoll is dotted with small to tiny islands called ‘motu’. I was off exploring these with the humans. They are a mixture of hard coral, crumble rocks and, with no soil, only the hardiest shrubs and palm trees grow. Their isolation does support a large diversity of nesting sea birds.

Looking out to sea you can see the waves breaking against the submerged outer reef. We occasionally spotted dolphins playing on this edge. Jumping and swirling high into the air with joy. We were even lucky enough to spot Humpback Whales as their migration route passes through French Polynesia this time of year. Looking back to the sheltered lagoon waters and you are ‘taken aback’ by the stunning range of the colour blue. The different depths of water are clearly delineated by shades of turquoise blending into deeper blues all backed the skys almost purple hue dotted with white buffy clouds.

UNDER THE WATER

I left the exploring under the water to the humans. They raced off to the atolls passes (opening through the reef to the sea) when ever the current was going to be slack. They reported back that mixture of lagoon and open ocean water supported an amazing mixture of hard and soft corals. Plankton, swept in on the current, provided lots of food for big schools of fish, that attracted massive grouper and a good diversity of sharks. Manta ray came into the channels to feed once the current started running and the humans even say a turtle. Their highlight was when a Humpback visited and they got to snorkel with this amazing whale.

THE WINDS OF CHANGE

But life aboard a sailing boat in an isolated atoll is not all easy. It is important that we check the weather forecast every day and react on the side of caution. We are no longer cruising the Caribbean, with it’s relatively constant trade winds. Here in the Pacific the winds can come from any direction. You can usually predict that the largest fronts will bring strong southeastern winds this time of year. But squalls can hit with winds from almost any direction and often catch boats anchored here off guard.

To add to the problem of finding shelter from the wind, sailing inside the lagoons here is dangerous. Few of the atolls in this archipelago are charted, but all are filled with bommies. Bommies are isolated pinnacles of coral that rise up towards the surface waiting to rip the bottom out of any unwary sail boat. We have tried to use satellite images to pick out the ‘light spots’ and plan routes to miss these spots, but still we find many more that do not show up on these images. The only sure way to sail across an atoll safely is to have good light and a bow watch. Thankfully Tahanea is a ‘relatively’ small atoll, so sailing across it is never more than 15 nm, but if clouds start to form and you loose your sun light to see the bommies, it can be very dangerous.

The necessity for ‘good light’ to cross the lagoon and find a good sandy spot for the anchor means my humans are always checking and double checking the weather. If any unsettled weather looks like it may be coming our way we move early, to avoid getting caught out. The winds often ‘clock’ round before the strongest front hits, so no anchorage is going to give you 360* protection. Sometimes some squally winds strike from the northwest just before a southeast storm blows through. We have been caught by this and had to ride out some ‘choppy’ waters forming across the lagoon and pushing us into shallower waters. We were not ‘in danger’, but I would not say it was comfortable!

TOURING ROUND THE ATOLL

With the passage of a few fronts during our stay here in Tahanea, we have done a bit of criss crossing and touring around the motus. Most of the anchorages we found have come from the resource The Tuamotus Compendium. The sailing vessel ‘Soggy Paws’ combines information from cruisers and posts their recommendations and experiences. Available free on their web site. Fellow cruisers have also been nice enough to share some of their favourite spots. All have been beautiful, a few not so convenient for Puppy dogs to get ashore.

My humans are a little snorkeling and diving ‘mad’. They say it is the reason we have come out here. So they are always anxious to get back to the anchorages in the north and the three atoll passes there. We have water now, but not too sure how long the ‘fresh’ food supply will last. There was not much of a selection available before we left the atoll of Hao and any frozen goods we left Tahiti with, six months ago, are pretty much depleted. The atoll has no permanent population, so the supply ships do not stop here. The next opportunity will be in the next atoll north, Fakarava.

Well, lets see how long the humans hold out. Or how long they stay amused. Until then I guess I will be hearing of their underwater adventures and holding my breath as we sail back and forth across the lagoon. At least the stormy season has ended and none of the fronts are very strong or last very long. It does not mean I do not have a restless night when they do hit.

I guess you have to give up a ‘safe bed’ sometimes to go exploring. Sleep tight guys!

END