An Atoll to Ourselves!

Hi to everyone. Last time we left you we were in Makemo Atoll enjoying the peace and tranquillity.

Time for me to catch up with some videos that I took over the last month or so. My laptop has been playing up recently, and it takes ages for it to process the videos. Also, I think the camera is on the blink too! Oh well, we have put these things on the list for when we get to civilisation in New Zealand, we can purchase some new stuff to keep us going. The salt atmosphere on the boat after 2 years is wrecking many electronic things on board. And yes we have now been sailing for two years!!

Here’s a video we took in Raroia Atoll at a cruisers hangout called the twin palms yacht club

You may remember that we stopped in a beautiful anchorage in Raroia called the Kon-Tiki anchorage where the Kon-Tiki crashed in 1947. Here is a video we took of the memorial at the island where they crashed.

I took this video as we sailed through the Makemo Atoll

And here is another video of our snorkelling adventures in Makemo. See if you can spot the sharks!

So Since last time, we sailed overnight to another close by Atoll called Raraka. This move was instigated by incoming inclement weather and the need for somewhere to shelter from some really strong winds. We planned to meet up with Coral Moon and ride out the blow.

Now Raraka is a little off the beaten cruiser path. The guide book describes the pass as very narrow and shallow and difficult to navigate. However, we thought we would give it a go. There is another Atoll within 20 miles of the entrance to this one had things not worked out.

We had a beautiful overnight sail, with light winds just forward of the beam, and flat seas, and we arrived at the entrance to the atoll at about 0630, when the light was good for the entrance. I approached with caution. There was clearly a large current flowing out of the channel and some standing waves too. There was very little wind though and so we sneaked in down the side and then motored hard in to the centre of the channel. It was a bumpy ride and we had about 5 knots against us. It only lasted a few minutes though, and soon the water smoothed out, and looked alarmingly shallow! It was crystal clear, and we could see all the coral on the bottom of the pass. Our trusty depth gauge refused to work as normal, but the charts said I still had 1.5m under the keel, and we quickly got in to deeper water. Phew!

With the pass negotiated, we headed across the inner lagoon on a straight line towards the anchorage. This lagoon is totally uncharted, so we relied on keeping an eye out for bommies as well as using the google earth satellite map. The wind was light and we speeded along at about 2 knots on a perfectly flat sea! That gave time for Ailsa to watch Scotland get kicked out of the Euros before we arrived at the anchorage! Starlink is mad… how we can watch a football match live whilst sailing across one of the most remote atolls in the world is beyond me!

It took several hours to arrive at the anchorage, and we were a little dismayed to see three catamarans already at anchor! But this place was incredibly beautiful and we dropped our hook with fender floats on our chain in probably the clearest water we have ever seen.

Almost straight away, we got a visit from one of the cats, welcoming us in. The three boats were travelling together and they were surprised to see another boat arriving. They each had kids onboard and the next day one if the kids celebrated their ninth birthday with a treasure hunt on the beach. Not a bad place to spend your birthday we thought. The day after that, they all departed early in the morning, so we awoke having the whole place to ourselves! Its been like that ever since, for about the last two weeks!

Hang on, you say, I thought Coral Moon was going to join you? Well unfortunately that didn’t work out. The bad weather arrived too soon, and they were stuck in Raroia.

The day after we arrived, we had a another of those magical days where the wind died completely, and the sea in the anchorage became like the glass again. We pottered about in the canoe, went swimming, chatted with the other cruisers and then headed back to the boat. I went for a siesta to sleep off the effects of the overnighter sail and Ailsa sat on deck and watched a huge Manta Ray swim past the boat!

The sunsets and sunrises here are something else. Difficult to capture on camera but we had a go

I wish we could take pictures of the night sky here too. On clear nights the milky way is plastered across the sky and there is zero light pollution.

The wind did eventually pick up and its been blowing strongly for over a week now. Looks like it might settle down again in a few days. However, this is a lovey sheltered spot. We have dodged the worst of it, and the strong breeze keeps the boat nice and cool. Its difficult to remember sometimes that we are currently in the middle of winter. It does get cooler at night and we have even started sleeping under a sheet again.

We have been taking the canoe out to explore all the nooks and cranny’s along the coast

We have been jumping out of the canoe and snorkelling

With the strong winds, the seas outside the Atoll have been progressively growing. We have taken many walks to the outer reef to the watch the waves smashing in. Its exhilarating, and we get well and truly blasted by the strong winds and sea spray.

A short walk later and we are back to the beach and in the wind shadow of the coconut palms we can swim in the crystal clear water in beautifully calm sea. It really is an idyllic place, our own slice of paradise.

We have to move on at some point, but right now we are happy just to enjoy the location and soak it all up!

That’s all for now. Catch up again soon!