Hi to everyone again. Last time we left you we had just arrived at the island of Niue after a difficult sail. Arriving at Niue was a lovely experience. The seas died and the welcome of the radio from the islands 24 hour a day coastguard channel was warm and freindly.
We pulled up to the port of Alofi early in the morning having timed our arrival for first light. There is no anchorage here as the bay is deep and the bottom is coral and rock. However, Niue Yacht Club has installed 15 moorings for visiting yachts and we picked one of those up when we arrived and breathed a big sigh of relief!
We were called up on the radio an hour or so later where we were informed that customs would meet us at the dock to check us in to the country. So we headed out to the dock to meet them. Sure enough, a lovely woman met us in her car and offered us a lift to the customs office about 100m away! We have never had a welcome like this we thought?! 10 minutes later and a couple of forms filled in as well as the offer of chocolate orange biscuits we were checked in to the country!
Niue Anchorage
And what a gem Niue is. We could only stay for one week until the swell in the anchorage meant we needed to leave. Its a difficult place for boats as the anchorage is open to the sea and there is very little shelter. However, in the week were there, we saw a lot and loved it! We hired a car for two days for the very reasonable price of £30 a day. We ate out pretty much everyday, simply because we could! Last time we had eaten out in a restaurant was back in Tahiti, almost two months ago!
So before we take you on a tour of this fascinating place, let me first tell you a few interesting facts.
Niue is one of the worlds smallest independent countries. Its independent but in the past was a protectorate of New Zealand. Its has a population of about 1000 people. As with other parts of the pacific, people have been steadily leaving over the last few decades and heading to places like New Zealand and Australia.
The geology of the island is really interesting. Niue is an old and inactive volcano that rose above the sea before it died. As its soft cone eroded by weather and waves, it also shrank as its core cooled. During this slow process, a coral reef formed on its top, the Mutalau Reef, named after the island’s present highest point. The reef kept up with the sinking rate of the volcano, laying down a coral cap of possibly 70 + 130m = 200m. The diagram below aims to visualise what happened.
So you have this fossilised reef that sticks out of the sea today up to 70m at its highest point. Because its in the tropics, the limestone weathers in to sharp razor edges by solution leaving fantastic landscape pitted with caves and chasms.
Right enough of that, lets take you on a tour to some of the places we visitied!
There are only a few roads on the island, and most of them are full of potholes apart from the ones that have been freshly tarmacked courtesy of China Aid (there were signs everywhere). We wonder what kind of deal the island had to do to get their hands on the that money?
First stop the scenic out look of Ana’ana Point, where you climb down some jagged rocks and look over the cliff edge at blowholes and the reef below
Our next stop along the south coast was at Matavai Scenic Resort, where we stopped for tea. A very pretty hotel full of Kiwis on holiday.
After a stop for lunch we headed to the first of three different chasms that we visited. A rather steep road dropped us down the side of a steep cliff to a small clearing in the rain forest where we parked up and headed in to the forest along a well maintained path that cut through the limestone boulders. It was not long until we reached Anapala chasm which was a very narrow cleft that cut in to the rock with steps leading down in to the darkness.
Its difficult to catch this dramatic place on camera. At the bottom of the chasm, it was almost dark except for the sunlight filtering through from the narrow top. The chasm was full of fresh water, so I took a swim along its length . It was quite unnerving! The water was fresh and crystal clear and where the shafts of light shone, you could see down to the bottom, many metres below. A very cool place!
A 30 minute drive further up the coast delivered us to Togo Chasm. We parked in another forest clearing and this time took a longer walk through the ancient woodland. It felt like walking through Fangorn Forest our of the lord of the rings!
Just next to the path were many huge spiders webs with some very evil looking spiders sitting in wait.
The path eventually broke through the forest and out to a huge vista of the sea and some amazing rook formations. The path cut through pinnacles of razor sharp limestone and came to dramtic cliff edges.
We met another family of Americans who were busy looking out to sea. We joined them and watched with joy, three humpback whales cavorting a 100 metres off shore!
The path lead down towards the chasm itself, where we had to climb down a long ladder to gain access to a weird oasis at the bottom. We sat and had a drink and then explored this fascinating place with a cave that lead to the sea.
The next day we continued our island tour. We headed to the North of the island and explored the caves of Tauei Fupiu Fort.
These caves were high up on the sides of cliffs showing that sea level at one time must have been a lot higher. Inside the caves were many stalagmites and stalactites.
Our next stop was Matapa Chasm, where a short walk took us down to the sea and a narrow protected gully with beautiful clear water.
I couldn’t resist the chance of a swim when we arrived further down the coast at Limu Pools. These pools were nestled in the cliffs and protected from the out sea by the reef. It was a very refreshing swim in the heat of the day
And finally as we headed back to Alofi and the anchorage we stopped to sea the place where Captain Cook was reputed to have landed when he claimed the island in the 1700’s much to the disgust of the native people i’m sure. Well at lease no other white person was to return to hassle the Niuean’s for another 80 years.
Of course no tour would be complete without a stop at this very convincing giant coconut crab which is mentioned in the 101 things to see in Niue guide!
Hopefully you will agree, this place really is a little gem in the pacific? Crystal clear water (great snorkelling), humpback whales and I haven’t even mentioned how lovely the people were. We could have happily stayed longer, but the sea had other plans.
Join us next time as we sail to the islands of Vava’u in the Kingdom of Tonga!
Hi again! Last time we left you, we were just getting ready to depart from Penrhyn. Our next destination was planned to be Niue, one of the worlds smallest countries, a small island about 1000 miles south west of Penrhyn. Originally we had planned to sail to Suwarrow, another Cook Island and a national park that is directly on course to Niue. Unfortunately we had been told by customs that Suwarrow was closed to visiting yachts.
We woke to a perfect sunny day with a light breeze. Getting the anchor up this time was not too difficult. We were anchored in sand in about 6 metres of crystal clear water, and it took me about 20 minutes to hand crank the anchor up. Its a good work out that is for sure!
Engine on, we motored out of the shallows
We unfurled the Genoa and took a nice slow sail across the atoll dodging the coral bommies.
Then we motored through the pass out in to the open ocean. Farewell Penrhyn, hope to see you again some day!
We got the main up and headed on our course to Niue. Initially the sailing was easy, we were in the lee of the atoll and the sea state was flat and the wind was blowing a pleasant Force 4 at about 120 degrees apparent. As the hours went by, the sea state started to build and so did the wind. The forecast was for 17 knots with gusts to 22. However, as night approached the wind settled at about an average of 22knots with gusts to 30. We had two reefs in the main and the Genoa and we were making fast progress. The wind was now on the beam and the seas just behind the beam and we were surfing at between 8 and 10 knots. This went on for the next 36 hours. Then the wind started to drop a bit, and sea conditions started to settle.
It was early morning when I was on watch, I noticed our speed had dropped and we had started to roll from side to side. I looked up at the main sail to see that it was ripped right across the middle!! Oh no!
We had ripped our mainsail before on a passage between Trinidad and Curacao. That had been in a really crazy squall. This time, it seems to have happened in fairly normal trade wind conditions. What todo? Well first thing was to drop the main to avoid any more damage. At this point we were 80 miles from Suwarrow. Without a mainsail, the rolling onboard Azimuth was horrible. We were still sailing fast though. However, we still had 600 miles to go to reach Niue. I didn’t fancy that without a mainsail. So we made a decision to try and stop at Suwarrow where hopefully we could repair the main and continue our journey to Niue. Suwarrow is manned by two rangers, and even though Suwarrow was closed to yachts, I hope they would grant us a port of refuge to make our repairs.
We furled in the Genoa to try and slow down so that we would reach Suwarrow at first light the next day where we needed the light to negotiate the narrow pass in to the Atoll. Now with the boat slowed down, the rolling was even worst! I felt pretty rubbish. Thankfully Ailsa felt better and was able to take on more of the watch.
The next morning we did arrive outside the Atoll at first light. I called up the Rangers on VHF 16 and they very kindly gave us permission to enter the Atoll. We stowed the sails and motored in to the pass. There was a strong current against us of about 4 knots, but as with other atoll pass transits we had done, it was short lived, and the sea state was easy. Soon enough we were in to the calm waters of another lagoon and with relief we dropped the hook in the only anchorage just off the rangers huts.
Its a stunning anchorage, and the immediate thing that hit us was the noise of the birds that were smarming like a whirlwind over the far end of the island.
When we were settled, the rangers came out to visit us on the boat. They were two guys, very quietly spoken and very friendly. We explained our situation and asked for refuge to fix the sail and they said no problem. We showed them the paperwork we had for leaving Penrhyn, and they explained that all we needed to do was pay an anchoring fee and we could stay until we had made our repairs. Phew! They couldn’t have been nicer or more understanding.
We spent the rest of the day recovering from the trip and then the next morning set about getting the main sail off. We were nervous as to the extent of the damage. We initially thought the the sail had properly ripped. However, as we revealed the area of damage it became apparent it was a seam that had parted and we felt hopeful it could be sewn back together by hand using the same stitching holes. We both thought that the sail had just failed in the same place it had already been repaired in Curacao.
So we managed to get the sail off and using various halyards we got it in to the cockpit and then in to the saloon which became our “sewing emporium”!
When we unrolled the sail and found the damaged area, we noticed it wasn’t the seam that had failed before, but a different seam, this one much longer! The seam was 4 metres in length and entirely parted with rips in the luff and the leach too. Also the luff rope had snapped further down the sail and was hanging out through a tear. We did the maths. The seam was 4m and triple stitched in a zigzag machine stitch. We realised that to hand stitch the same holes we would need to do two passes on each of the three lines. So, that was 3x4x2 = 24 metres of sewing, plus the other repairs! Ouch!
The damaged seam.
There was nothing else for it. We removed all the old broken threads. I started sewing at one end of the seam and Ailsa started at the other. We put the stereo on to listen to some tunes and settled in. By the end of the day we had only done about half a metre! Our fingers were red raw, and our backs were aching from being stooped over!!
It would take us 6 days to finish the job!
On day three another boat called La Kahina turned up. They were on there way to Western Samoa and were seeking refuge from the weather for a couple of days. They were a lovely couple called Cnut and Suni and they came over to say hello. Cnut works as an officer in the merchant navy onboard a cable laying ship for 6 months of the year and for the other 6 months, he sails La Kahina, a steel hulled ketch. Although he is American, his family have lived in Ireland for most of his life and that was where they had bought the boat. So we instantly hit it off with stories of Ireland and how we had come to buy Azimuth in Kinsale. It also turned out that Cnut was a very proficient banjo player. So after a couple of glasses of wine he went and fetched his banjo and we had a jam session! Ailsa took this video snippet. You cant see much but you can hear the playing!
It never ceases to amaze me of the situations you find yourself in, and the people you meet as you sail round this planet, and this was one of those special moments in time where you cross paths with random people with a shared love for music.
It gave us a much needed boost to carry on with the repairs too. We had realised that we were very low on sewing thread, so before they left La Kahina gave us some thread from their supplies. Thanks guys!
La Kahina setting off from Suwarrow
The sewing continued for 6 days in total. We had to ask the rangers for an extension, as we had originally estimated the repair would take 3 days, but they were fine with it.
With some relief then, we finished the work. It looked pretty professional. The next day no wind was forecast, so we had a good opportunity to put the sail back on.
The next day was windless and hot. We set to work. Now, our main sail is battened. It has long fibreglass batons that slide in to pockets horizontally across the sail. These battens provide rigidity to the sail and allow a better shape when its raised in the wind. The sail fixes to the boom using a bolt rope that slides in to a track along the top of the boom and is held at either end by shackles. The luff of the sail attaches to track cars that slide up and down a track on the mast. You work your way up from the bottom of the sail. The longest batten goes in first. This is about 6 metres long. Its the trickiest one to get in. We both were on the coach roof pulling the sail up. To get this long batten in to its pocket, I have to literally hang it off the back of the boat, resting it on the solar panels on top of the cockpit bimini. The battens are flexible and this longest one drooped down over the back. At the moment we were trying to get the batten in to its pocket, the wind picked up and started to pull the sail away. In my haste to grab the sail, I inadvertently let go of the batten. To my horror, I watched it slither off the solar panels and slide in to the water behind Azimuth with a very unsatisfying splash!
I could have cried!!! Infact I think I nearly was in tears. I just couldn’t quite believe what had happened! Over the next minute I issued a string of expletives that would have made your mother blush as I admonished myself for being so f***in stupid!!!! What the hell were we going to do now????
I knew the water was deep at the back of Azimuth, about 11m. Could I dive down and retrieve the batten? Thankfully the water was crystal clear. Once I had calmed down a few minutes later, we set about getting our snorkelling gear on to go and take a look. I was putting my mask on, and to add to my grief, at that moment the strap chooses to break!! Out with my old mask!
We swam out and there on the bottom was the batten draped over a coral bommie about 15m behind Azimuth. It was way too deep for me to dive for sure and even with my hookah diving equipment, I didn’t think I would have enough pipe length to reach it. So we started looking around to see what we could use to try and hook the batten and lift it.
We have a fishing lure on some strong line, and the lure has two big hooks. We attached some large fishing weights to the lure to weigh it down and then we swam out. Ailsa held the line reel whilst I dangled the lure. Within a couple of minutes I managed to hook the batten near its middle!. I started to gently lift it . It got about 5 metres off the bottom before it started to slip down the hook. I watched in horror as the hook slid off the batten end and dropped back to the bottom again!
I remembered then that one end of the batten had a plastic cap on the end to protect the pocket it sits in the sail. On my second attempt, I managed to get the hook to slide towards this cap. It held! I very slowly and gently lifted the whole thing until with an amazing feeling of relief I reached down and grabbed the batten in my hand! We got the thing back on the boat. I was shaking with the adrenaline! I had gone from complete despair to utter elation in the space of about 30 minutes. I’m convinced only sailing can put you in these crazy situations!
That batten was fitted back in to the sail without issue and with a lot of care and attention! The rest of the sail installation went fine too and we breathed a large sigh of relief that the job was complete and we were now ready to complete our journey to Niue. One thing we hadn’t noticed was that we had been outside now for several hours and we were both really sunburnt!
The next day we checked the weather and it looked good to get to Niue. We checked out of Suwarrow with the Rangers and set to getting the anchor up. I had dived the anchor a couple of times and I knew that the chain was wrapped around a couple of bommies. So we came up with a plan of how I would wind the chain by hand whilst Ailsa manoeuvred Azimuth. We had our agreed hand signals!
The wind dropped, so I went to make a start. It was heavy going with the chain getting stuck and then freeing itself slowly. The skies started to darken too and the wind freshen, and I could see a squall on the way! Just as I finally got the anchor on board the skies opened and the wind shot up to 30 knots as we got hit by a full on squall. We both looked like drowned rats!
Not a great start! When the wind died down a bit, I managed to get the mainsail up and we headed out through the pass and in to some big seas.
It was plain but boisterous sailing after that. We had three reefs in the main and two in the genoa and we were still razzing along at 8 to 9 knots.
All was looking good though to get to Niue?
About 30 hours from Niue, I came on watch at 1am to take my shift. There was a bang at the back of the boat like a gunshot quickly followed by a “no rudder response” alarm. We get those quite a lot. It generally means the autopilot has had enough usually due to a large wave and has switched itself off. All you need to do is reengage the pilot and continue on your way. This time that didn’t work? We tried the old IT trick off turning it off and turning it back on again… no joy!
So I took the wheel and settled in to hand steer for a bit. The wind was pretty strong, gusting up to 30 knots, but we had three reefs in the main and the Genoa was well reefed in. After 4 hours I was calling on Ailsa to take over. I was bushed, and also I wanted to climb under the cockpit and see if I could find a problem with the autopilot. We were in the process of handing over when I noticed flapping sail up front caught in the navigation lights. I asked Ailsa to take a look, but because it was dark she couldn’t see anything. She put the deck lights on and to our horror, there was a huge tear in the Genoa! A great big strip of sail was now flapping in the wind and had torn down to where the sailed was furled. Ailsa took the wheel whilst I tried to get the rest of the sail furled away. It was hard going, as the flap that had ripped was getting wrapped and stuck on the inner forestay. I overdid it with the winch and the control line pulled out of the roller furler. The next thing I watched with horror as the Genoa unfurled itself and then proceeded to shred itself to bits! One huge rip up the whole length of the sail, and various parts in complete taters. A complete right off!
The only option I had now was to try and drop the sail. Ailsa was hand steering, so she couldn’t help me, so I went to the mast and it took me about 30 minutes to free the halyard from the complicated track we have on Azimuth. I had to try and take the load off the rope by hitching a second rope to our spinnaker winch and that allowed me to free the knot that was holding the genoa halyard in place. All the while the Genoa was making a terrible racket and further destroying itself!
Eventually even with the boat rolling all over the place I managed to get the halyard free. I then had to get to the bow and try and pull down the sail from its track. It was hard going, because it was full of wind, it did not want to drop. So I got Ailsa to sail more upwind to take some pressure off the sail. That did the trick and eventually I managed to get the sail to drop. However, I couldn’t control it on my own and the sail fell in to the water still attached to the roller furler and the sheets. It then proceeded to sink under the boat!
I was pretty tired by this point, and the sun had started to come up which always gives a new perspective on a problem. I tried to use a winch to pull the sheets out of the water and hopefully the sail with it, but the load was too high. I needed help, and the only way that would happen was if I could get the autopilot working again. Once I realised this, I set to it.
The autopilot is under the cockpit sole and to get to it you have to climb in to one of the lazerette lockers and through a hatch. So, with the boat still rolling around, I managed to empty one of the lockers enough so I could get to the hatch, remove it, and climb inside with some tools. What I found was not too shocking. The autopilot was held in place by 4, 5 inch long, 1/2 inch diameter bolts. Two of the nuts on two of the bolts had worked themselves loose, and the bolts had dropped free. Another of the bolts had sheared clean off!
That’s a half inch bolt! Designed to take a lot of load. That left just one bolt in place and that meant that the pilot ram that controls the rudder could no longer work correctly. I had another bolt in my spares, so I fitted the three missing bolts and tightened them to within an inch of their lives. Ailsa was able to engage the autopilot and it worked!
Phew! It was now about 9 in the morning by this time, but at least we had a working autopilot again, and now we could both address the issue of the sail in the water.
It took us another two hours to get the sail out by using the sheet lines back to the reef winch on the mast, I was able to coax the sail out of the water and take some of the water pressure of it. Then both of us sat on the deck and hauled the sail over the guard rail. It was exhausting work, but eventually we had the thing on deck and lashed down.
I think pretty much collapsed after that! We got the staysail out and continued on to Niue where we arrived early the next day, very relieved to have arrived and for that sail to be over!
Not sure we could make that story up…. just a string of bad luck all packed in to one nightmare sail. Still it was a learning experience, and actually when you look at it a confidence booster that we managed to cope.
Now we are going to have to get a new sail once we get to New Zealand. We were quoted for a new Genoa in Martinique. An eye watering 18000 Euros! So if anyone wants to make a donation to the Azimuth sailing fund, all monies gratefully received! ….. I jest! We will be looking for a second hand option when we reach New Zealand. Fingers crossed.
We will tell you more about Niue next time! So far we are loving it! All the best for now.
Last time we left you we had arrived in the beautiful atoll of Penrhyn in the Cook Islands., known locally as Tongareva. We had been welcomed with open arms by the people in the village where we were anchored. Well it certainly is paradise, so we thought we would tell you a little more about our time here. We have definitely decided we want to live here. If only that was possible!
I cant say that we have done a lot since we last posted. Its a very simple and laid back life in the atoll. People spend their days fishing, collecting and processing coconuts, maintaining their homes, and doing traditional crafts such as hat and jewellery making.
We had some pretty horrible weather come through for a few days which meant it was difficult to get to shore. Even so, we still got visited by various people and more often than not, we were given freshly caught fish to eat. Its a good job, because our fishing skills are still not very impressive!
When the weather calmed down, Rio and Kura dropped by one morning and invited us to visit their little getaway retreat which they had built on one of the neighbouring motu islands, just near one of the atoll passes. We jumped at the opportunity and had a fantastic day visiting with them.
I wish we had a getaway like this! It was a simple hut on the coral beach with enough space to sleep their extended family and friends. Such an idyllic spot, and they have the whole place to themselves. There are some other deserted buildings on the motu nearby but they are in the process of being reclaimed by the sea. Kura explained that one of those buildings belonged to her father, and that was why shje wanted to build nearby.
We spent the day exploring the motu. I went snorkelling in the pass. Kura cooked us a delicious lunch of fried fish and coconut pancakes. And Rio took us on a short boat trip to go and see the site of an American radio base now overgrown in the jungle. The Americans arrived in mass during the second world war. They built the airstrip in the atoll and part that we visited was a radio tower installation that covered the local pacific. Listening our for the Japanese. All that was left was the concrete plinths of the buildings, but it was interesting to see.
I shot this video of some of the days events:
We had several residents around the boat having been here at anchor for a few weeks. They were always waiting for food scraps from the boat. I guess you call these guys our pets? They never bothered me when I went swimming off the back of the boat.
We have had several meals with Rio and Kura, so we decided to invite them and their family to the boat for tea. I cooked a chicken Thai curry which was an instant hit. I did a pile of rice and potatoes to go with it as well as frying up some fish. Ailsa cooked a chocolate cake for pudding. The whole lot got eaten up. These guys love to eat! It was a real joy to be able to return the favour and we had a really fun evening with then on board Azimuth.
Pretty much every other day we would take a trip to shore and go for a walk as well as chat to the villagers. We found a hut on stilts over the water on the beach a little way from the village that became a favourite hangout. You could sit and watch the fish swim underneath and get out of the hot sun.
Even though the island is small, there is still a nice walk to the end, where there is a pass in the atoll. The current flows incredibly strong through the pass. It really is a magical place.
I plucked up the courage and went snorkelling in the pass, dragging my canoe with me. The bottom was rocky and full of fish, turtles and sharks. Really exhilerating!
We visited Rio and Kuras house when ever we were passing by to say hello. I had another go at fixing their water pump, but with no luck. Still I think it worked better than it had before I started! We would always stop and see the pet nurse sharks too.
Our time was almost up. You are only allowed 31 days stay in the cook islands so we started to look at the weather forecast for the next week to make the 1000 or so mile passage to get to our next destination of Niue.
During this time, another boat turned up in the anchorage. A catamaran called Barbarella with Rolf and Nora on board. Rio and Kura invited them and us to dinner at their house that night. Another great meal was had!
That’s Nora and Ralph holding the yacht guest books which we all signed that night. It is an amazing record of all the boats that have visited in the last 40 years.
The next day we hitched a lift on the village boat to the other side of the Atoll to Omoka where we needed to check out of the cook islands. This time we didn’t want to take Azimuth over there to the anchorage . As you know from the last post, the anchor windlass is truly caput. I didn’t want to raise the anchor by hand on a lee shore again. Barbarella were checking out too, they only stayed for a couple of days. So, after the customs and immigration were sorted we joined them to go and visit the local craft centre in Omoka.
Shortly after that we said our farewells and then we went for a walk around the village and came across the wreck of a plane that we had been told about. Apparently it has been there for 80 years!
We took the village boat back to Azimuth later that afternoon. It was with a heavy heart that we said our goodbyes to everyone and then headed back to the boat.
The next morning we pulled up the anchor by hand . It took about 20 minutes and wasn’t too difficult and then set off on the long sail to Niue. Join us next time then when we tell you about the journey.
Hi again! Last time we left you we had just left Tahiti and were sailing to the Society Island of Huahine to hide out for a few days whilst we waited for a weather window to continue our journey on to the Cook Islands.
Well Huahine was a little gem and well worth the visit! It was an overnight sail to get there from Tahiti and we arrived at abut 9am the next morning to be greeted by a really spectacular pass and anchorage behind the reef.
We dropped the hook in crystal clear water in to white sand
We got to enjoy this island for a few days until that weather window arrived. We got a visit from some fellow cruisers from Seattle in the USA and made some new friends.
We decided one day to take a walk up to a local view point about 400m up a hill. It was a lovely walk on an easy path through a pine forest which lead to a spectacular view point.
We waited a few days for some heavy winds and sea to die down and then then a five day window appeared that looked good for the sail to the Atoll of Penrhyn in the Northern Cook Islands about 650 miles North West of Huahine.
It did take us the full 5 days to get there. It was a downwind sail for the whole way but the sea state was not very kind and we had a couple of very rolly days, as well as some nasty squalls to contend with. This is the pacific sailing we have come to expect. Often the conditions are lovely, but storms far to the South of us can throw out huge swell which interact with the local wind waves and make the sea surface confused and not very comfortable. Still the sunsets and sunrises were magical as ever. On the last night we had to slow Azimuth right down to avoid arriving at Penrhyn in the dark, so, we got to sea the sunrise over the atoll.
We timed arrival well, and entered the pass in to the atoll at about 8:30am that morning. This was an easy pass in comparison to Raraka’s pass, nice and wide and well charted (for once!) The chart even detailed a tortuous route through the coral bommies to get to the village of Omaka where we needed to check in to the Cook Islands. The anchorage wasn’t the best, it being a lee shore, and the waves had some fetch over the atoll, but we didn’t have a choice as we needed to check in here. That decision was to be significant later!
There was also another sailboat there too! We had thought we would have the place to ourselves. Penrhyn (local name Tongareva) is very remote and not on the main cruisers route. It is the most Northern of the Cook Islands and is some 750 miles north of the main Island of Rarotonga. There is very little around the island other than the uninhabited line island atolls. It certainly felt remote, we hadn’t seen another boat for the whole of the 5 day crossing from French Polynesia. Penrhyn gets about 15 boats visiting a year. It turns out the other boat (Coho) that was at anchor had been in Penrhyn for a month and was actually leaving that day.
We put up the Q flag and waited for customs to visit the boat from shore. 30 minutes after we arrived, we got a radio call from customs to tell us they were on the way. A small launch came out and the customs and health official came onboard. These guys could not have been nicer! We had a chat about the sail and the island and I filled out the paperwork. As you know if you read the last post, our checkout of Tahiti had not gone very smoothly, and we were a little concerned that we didn’t have the right paperwork. Our good friends Donna and Mark had sent us a copy of their French Polynesia exit paperwork, so using the power of photoshop, I had created a convincing looking Zarpe for Azimuth! This was examined and not even questioned by the customs official! They also didn’t notice or were not bothered that we didn’t have exit stamps from French Polynesia in our passports either. Infact the guys were very relaxed and welcoming to us.
A couple of hours later we headed to shore to pick up our documents and pay our customs fees. We didn’t really know where we were going, but everyone we met stopped for a chat or to say hello and welcome us. We found what we thought was the customs office, but it turned out to be the office of the mayor! He welcomed us in and sat us down for a chat and introduced us to a load of other people. We were in there for about an hour, talking about the history of the island and the people, and now we are on first name terms with the mayor, Puna! What an introduction to Penrhyn!
We did eventually find the customs guy and had another chat with him before paying the fees and headed back to the boat with more stops for chats with the local children.
We paddled our trusty canoe through the swell back to the boat and got Azimuth ready to go. We needed to motor across the lagoon in good light to the other side where the best anchorage was waiting for us off the village of Te Tautua. Ailsa went to pull up the anchor and everything was going fine until it stopped, and then made a very disconcerting grinding noise. Oh no, I thought, here we go again. I went to have a look, and yes the sound was awful, and the windlass wasn’t moving anymore. Ailsa went back to the helm and I did battle with getting the anchor up by hand for the next half an hour! It was quite scary, because the sea was rough and the wind was strongly blowing us on to the shore. It was difficult for Ailsa to control the boat and stop her drifting whilst I swore a lot and eventually managed to get the anchor up. What a nightmare!
We both calmed down for the motor across the lagoon which was littered with bommies, the most we have ever seen.
Not an easy route to get across, but it went ok, and 2 hours later we dropped our anchor in a beautiful flat anchorage in front of the village.
That is where we have been ever since and where we are as I write this.
The next morning we got a visit from a boat and a chap called Rio. He was on his way to the other village but wanted to invite us for dinner at his house that night!
We canoed over that evening, and had a wonderful meal with Rio, his wife Kura and the rest of his family. They are all lovely people. Rio used to be the mayor of Penrhyn a few years ago and has been telling us in the great detail all the history of the island and the issues that face the islanders today.
When we arrived for dinner we pulled up at their dock dock / beach with the sea full of sharks! Rio then proceeded to show us their “pet” nurse sharks and was teasing them with a fish head on a line for about 10 minutes whilst we watched in fascination. He even had us get in the water and stroke their heads! A very unnerving experience! He assured us it was safe. Apparently the kids swim and play with them everyday!
Eventually one of the sharks managed to get hold of the fish head and a battle ensued between about three of them for the prize.
It was a lovely dinner. We were made to feel very welcome. Rio claimed that we were now part of his extended family! We were also told we had to attend church on Sunday as the islanders all do.
So here’s a quick run down of the history of Penrhyn. The island got its “western” name from a ship that sank here called the “Lady Penrhyn”. Its crew was stranded here for over a year. The native name for the Island is Tongareva which means “journey south”. At one time the atoll had a population of over 1000 people. Before the arrival of missionaries in the 1800’s each motu island in the atoll had its own tribe, and Rio has told us a number of stories from these times. They were a fearsome bunch and did not welcome visitors, resorting to cannibalism. The first missionaries had a very hard time reaching out to the islanders, and were actually saved from being killed and eaten by one local woman who has entered in to local folklore and songs. A church was established and life started to slowly change.
Fast forward today, and island life is radically different. Now the population is less than 150, and the people are struggling to stay. A supply ship visits the island once every three months. The price of goods is extremely expensive and everything has to be ordered in. With not many jobs, it has been difficult for people to be able to afford to live, and there has been a gradual migration to either New Zealand or the other cook islands like Rarotonga. Infact the whole population of the Cook Islands in 15000, there are more islanders now living in New Zealand. Rio fears his is the last generation that will live the islands. He is not standing on his laurels. He is standing for election as mayor this year and hopes to make many changes to the local economy and supply and turn the exodus around. We wish him and all the islanders the best of luck. This place is paradise, and people should be able to carrying on living here.
The next night we were invited to a birthday party celebration at Rio and Kura’s house. It was Tee’s birthday, Kura’s brother. What a another lovely night! It was a feast of food. We got to meet many of the other 30 inhabitants in the village. Tee is in the first picture below on the left sitting next to Rio.
The following Sunday we did go to the church service where we were welcomed by the whole community. Its been a long time since Ailsa and I have stepped in to a church, as we are not religious. This however was a special experience. The singing was something to behold with full falsetto singing from the whole congregation. They did not hold back either, being very vocal and even the children joining in all the parts. The service was in the local dialect, so we couldn’t understand it, but it didn’t matter as we just enjoyed the atmosphere.
One day last week we took the canoe out to explore a close by island. Its paradise for sure here!
The people have all been so kind and welcoming, particularly Rio, Kura and their family. I was keen to try and give something back, so jumped at the opportunity to help Rio fix his fresh water pump (still ongoing), and one of his outboard engines.. I also fixed the villages broken compressor and have been booked in to fix one of the other villages broken outboards! Handy man Dom!
I leave you for now with some pics from Rio and Kura’s back yard. Such a lovely place. There is a great photo of Kura working on making a hat from dried and died coconut leaves. I cant see us leaving here for a while, its too nice!
Last time we left you, we were tucked up in Raraka Atoll in the Tuamotus Archipelago in French Polynesia. This time we show you more of Raraka Atoll and then we sail to Tahiti for our last 10 days in French Polynesia (well officially!).
We continued to spend our time enjoying Raraka. I went out pretty much everyday for long walks along the beach, the outer reef, and exploring the coconut groves.
Further down the atoll I came across another very narrow pass in the reef to the lagoon. The water there was like a small stream flowing in to the lagoon.
I took a few short videos of different things in the atoll. One afternoon, we were visited by a huge shoal of tiny fish being chased by large barracudas and swarms of birds flying over the top.
We had lots more swims at the beach
And on one of my walks I followed this shoal of fish down the beach just swimming in the shallows.
Having been in Raraka on our own for three weeks, our friends Donna and Mark on Coral Moon came to join us. It was a lovely reunion, as they had been stuck in Raroia for the three weeks that the weather had been blowing hard. The day after they arrived, the wind dropped and we had complete calm in the anchorage again.
We spent a couple of evenings on the beach and cooked on an open fire. Such a special place to enjoy with good friends!
When we arrived on the beach in early evening, the place was covered in hermit crabs. Donna took this video of a few that we set up to have a race!
Donna and Mark have a drone, and they flew it from the beach one day. Here are some shots of the two boats at anchor and aerial views of the atoll. It gives you a better overall feel of where we were. We love that shot of the two boats at anchor with the shadow on the sand underneath them!
I spent a couple of days scraping the barnacles that had accumulated on Azimuths bottom since we left Panama. I took this short video to show you how clear the water was under the boat in the anchorage
All good things come to an end. It was with a heavy heart that we prepared to set sail to Tahiti for our last few days in French Polynesia. When it came time to pull up the anchor it seemed Raraka didn’t want us to leave either, the anchor windlass was completely seized up! We could hear the hydraulic motor trying to turn, but the windlass remained stationary. Thankfully the wind was very light, and we were only anchored in 4m of water, so I managed to wind in most of the chain by hand, and then did the final 5 metres with a rope back to the big winch in the cockpit. Not fun! And also worrying, as we totally rely on the windlass, especially as we never go to marinas.
With very light winds, we sailed back along our previous track through the atoll and a couple of hours later we reached the pass. We motored through the pass without any issues. The flow was very strong though, and the standing waves threw Azimuth about a bit as we hit 11knots with the strong current. Its only a few hundred metres though and you reach deep ocean on the outside of the reef. There was no wind, so we motored for an hour around the North end of Raraka and then the wind kicked in blowing quite strongly from the South (not as forecast!) and we took a close hold down to the south of Fakarava atoll as the sun set and then a bean reach out in to the channel between the Tuamotus and Tahiti. It was a very pleasant sail overnight towards Tahiti, and as the sun came up, we could see Tahiti in the distance as we approached it from the North.
We dropped the hook just off the beach at Venus Point. It was a little rough, and we could have gone round the corner to the anchorage at Papette with all the other cruising boats, but I wanted a relatively shallow and quiet anchorage where I would be able to work on the windlass and see if I could repair it.
As it turned out, Venus Point is actually where Captain Cook and his crew anchored when they first discovered Tahiti in the 1700’s. It is also the same place where the infamous ship The Bounty landed too before the mutiny. Nowadays, the black sand beach is a very popular spot with the locals for swimming and water sports. Its a very vibrant spot.
It took me two days, but I managed to fix the windlass! The culprit was the gearbox. I have already had problems with that that involved a complex repair in Martinique where I had to build a frame around the gearbox after its mountings sheared and completely corroded away. This time I had to remove some 25 year old bolts and get the lid off the box itself. What I found inside (see picture!( was pretty shocking and I am amazed the thing had worked for so long. The box was full of mud, gunk and solidified grease! I couldn’t actually see any gears. So I set to trying to free up the mechanism. It was a slow process digging out the crud with a pick and small screw driver. I think I removed at least half a kilo of mud! Eventually I found the gears, and it started to look more promising. Once I had dug out the main gear which didn’t look worn and could see the worm gear attached to the motor, I decided to give the thing another go. It worked!!!! I was a happy man. Still it took another half a day to continue to dig out more crud which was speeded up by running the unit to force more crud out of the gears. I used the air compressor to blow out all of the last little bits too. It was about as clean as I could get it, so I filled the entire box with fresh grease and refitted the lid. The seal on the top of the shaft was completely perished, that was what had allowed all that dirt in to the box, so I used some neoprene from an old wetsuit to make a new makeshift seal and then covered the rest of the box with plastic sheet to keep it dry and clean. Putting the whole thing back together, it now seems to run a lot better than it used to!
That was a big relief to get that running again. I felt a bit worse for the wear after two days stuck in the anchor locker! Really it needs a new gearbox, something we will look in to when we reach New Zealand later in the year.
So, now we had some time to enjoy Tahiti and also to restock the boat for our next leg of the journey. First we went to shore and took at look at Venus point and went to our first restaurant in over a month.
That afternoon we found the local supermarkets about a mile away. We did our first large shop and lugged it in the heat back to the beach and then the half mile canoe ride back to the boat. We were both exhausted!
The next day we negotiated our first Tahiti bus ride in to the capital town of Papette, about 8 miles down the coast. We had a nice wander around the town and stopped for lunch at another restaurant. Papette wasn’t very inspiring, although the market was very vibrant. In typical French fashion, it being a Saturday, all the shops shut after lunch and the place became a ghost town!
A couple of days later we headed back to Papette and hired a car so we could complete our shopping trips and also go for a drive around the island. We headed back to the supermarket and did the first of two enormous shops! Back to the beach and two canoe trips back to the boat again we collapsed exhausted!
We headed out the next day for our tour of the island. It was a great day . Our first stop was at a spectacular waterfall about 300 feet tall.
Next stop was a bizarre blowhole on the coast. The sea rushes in to a cave and forces air and spray out of a small hole in the cliff through an ancient lava pipe.
We stopped at more waterfalls and saw some very cool rock carvings
Then we headed to a very nice restaurant with an ocean view. We weren’t so bothered about the view as we have that everyday from Azimuth! However the food was amazing. I had this carpaccio of tuna with ginger. it was delicious
Finally we headed down to the South of the Island where we were bizarrely stopped at three separate check points by the police asking where we were going? We said we were just tourists on a tour of the island by car. They let us through each time. Eventually we got to a small town and were directed in to a car park by an official with signs of Paris 2024 Olympics everywhere?! We had inadvertently arrived at the location for the Paris 2024 Olympics surfing village. It was being setup in time for the starting ceremony (in two days time). So we went for a wander and a drink.
The next day we did another shop and trawl back to the boat. That completed the provisioning. We then headed back to Papette to start the checkout process. This was complex. Two days previously I had emailed the port authorities to request our international clearance. You have to give them 72 hours notice. This day, the day before our departure we had to head back to Papette and locate the customs building and complete a customs declaration. That went smoothly.
Finally, on the day of our departure we drove all the way to the airport to attend immigration. We were shown to the right place by a nice policeman and then we sat and waited for the chief officer to come and process our passports etc. What an arsehole he turned out to be! He talked in fast French with us struggling to understand him. Then he took our paperwork away and came back a minute later and told us we did not have the correct port authority. I tried to explain that I had emailed the port requesting that 72 hours ago, and had a reply to say it was okay. He did not like that answer, and then processed to tells us to go away and come back in two hours because it was his lunchtime. The time at this point was 11 30! We explained that we had to return our car back to the rental place at that time. The rental place was 4 miles away and it meant we would have to drop the car off and return by expensive taxi back to the airport. He then just started ranting at us is French and told us to leave!
We decided we were not happy with this. So we decided just to leave Tahiti without completing the immigration. Hopefully this will not bite us in the future! We want to come back to French Polynesia at some point. We have never met a worse official than this guy. Totally unreasonable, especially as we had done everything correctly. We have also never seen such a poor system for checking out of a country. Three government institutions are involved and no one seems to talk to anyone else.
After leaving the airport we dropped the car off and caught the bus back to Venus point where we went to the restaurant had lunch and calmed down with a cold beer. Heading back to the boat we lifted the anchor (with a working windlass!) and sailed off away from Tahiti.
Overall we enjoyed Tahiti. It was a lot of hard work with repairs and shopping. The tour around the island was great, but the checking out process was a complete nightmare! Currently we are hiding out in another of the society islands waiting for a weather window to sail to the cook Islands. More on that next time!
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!
Hi to everyone. last time we posted we had just arrived in the beautiful atoll of Raroia in the Tuamotu Archipelago. This time we will tell you about our exploration of this atoll and where we are currently in Makemo Atoll.
The first thing you are probably asking is what are Bommies, and why do we need to dodge them?! Well bommies are the technical cruisers term for the towers of coral that grow in these atolls. Some are tiny and some are huge. But all of them will do serious damage to your boat. So when ever you are sailing across the atolls or are trying to drop your anchor, you have to be on the look out for these underwater obstacles. Here’s a zoom in of Raroia on google maps. We use this as we are going along to try and avoid the spots you can see on the picture. These are all coral bommies that grow from the sea floor in towers up to the sea surface. The depth here is about 30 metres. There are a lot of them! One of us stands on the bow too whilst we are sailing so that they can call out to avoid ones that dont even show up on the satellite image. It makes for some hairy but fun sailing!
Bommies on google maps in Raroia
We stopped in two anchorages in Raroia. The first was called the twin palms yacht club which was a kind of cruisers hang out place on one of the motus. Motus are the little islands that form the edge of the atoll and are generally covered in coconut palms.
After a few days recovering from our three day sail, we moved down further south to the Kon-Tiki anchorage.
Sailing through Raroia Atoll
The sailing inside the Atoll is magical. Light winds and absolute flat winds and its only ever a couple of hours at most to get anywhere. You can see one of those bommies in the pictures above. That will put a dent in Azimuth if we hit it!
The Kon-Tiki anchorage is named after the famous raft that left Peru in 1947 and sailed 4500 miles across the pacific ocean until it ended its voyage when it crashed in to the reef right next to this anchorage. Its a really interesting story. They made a film called Kon-Tiki (as well as a remake in 2012) which is well worth a watch about the epic journey. We watched it whilst we were anchored here.
Kon-Tiki Anchorage
Its an incredibly remote place and its hard to imagine what it must have been like to crash on the reef here. The rocks are razor sharp. On the little motu next to the anchorage there is a plaque that has been installed that commemorates the journey.
It certainly is a stunning place to visit. However, its not without its challenges. Most of the time the wind howls over the reef and its hard work paddling our little canoe to shore to go and explore. Well worth the effort though!
After a few days here, we decided to move on to the another atoll and continue our journey onwards to Tahiti. Next stop was an overnight sail to Makemo. Another lovely downwind sail although the seas were quite rough.
It was an amazing sunset on the trip over. It felt like the sky was on fire.
We arrived outside Makemo the next morning just as the sun was rising and negotiated our second Atoll pass. This one was very wide and deep and the current was not too strong so we got in without issue and dropped the hook just near the pass off the village of Pouheva. This anchorage was a little rough and not so protected, but we wanted to go in to the village to get some more supplies and hopefully visit a restaurant.
We chilled for the rest of the day and then the next morning, took the canoe to shore. We took a walk around this really pretty town. Everyone was really friendly and we had a lovely morning.
We went to a couple of the supermarkets and stocked up. Later that day we went to shore again and had chicken and chips at a little restaurant.
It was dark by the time we got back to the canoe and the wind was howling too. It was a wet ride back to the boat and the highlight was a large shark that appeared right in front of the canoe as we crossed a reef!
The next day we decided to move somewhere else in the atoll that was a bit more comfortable. That’s where I am writing this post from now. We have been here about a week and it really is a stunning place.
Sailing in Makemo. More bommies!Enjoying Makemo and making bread!
After a couple of days in our new home, the wind completely died. We woke up to the most serene place you could ever imagine. It was hard to describe what it was like. It was difficult to discern the sea from the sky. The water was crystal clear, where you could see every fish clearly and even see our anchor chain in 11metres of water.
We spent all afternoon that day exploring the anchorage in the canoe and snorkelling. At some point I will put together a video of some of it. We also explored the reef that extends from the shore and saw quite a few black tip sharks in the shallows.
Another great sunset ended that day…
The next day couldn’t have been more different in terms of the weather. There was a huge low pressure depression about 500 miles to the south of us and the tail end of it swept across the atoll with strong winds and waves battering the anchorage. It only lasted 24 hours thankfully!
Yesterday with the weather calm enough to get back in the canoe again we went to shore and went for a fabulous walk along the edge of the atoll. On the outer shore, we were really dismayed to sea so much plastic in a place as remote as this washed up on the reef. The sooner they ban single use plastic packaging and bottles the better in my opinion.
Plastic waste aside, this place is so very special and deserves all our efforts to protect it for future generations to enjoy.
I feel very privileged to have the chance to visit this special place. Check out these really cool fossilised corals. The place is covered in them, all washed up from the outer reef
We’re probably going to chill out here for a while longer and wait for our friends on Coral Moon to catch up with us before we move in to the next atoll. Its such a hardship!
Join us next time then as we continue to explore the Tuamotus.
French Polynesia is huge! It consists of many groups of islands or archipelagos that cover an area of sea about the size of wester Europe. We have three months to explore this area on our visa and so no chance to cover it all. Having been in the Marquesas Islands for over a month of this time, we felt it was now time to move on and explore another region called the Tuamotus Archipelago. This archipelago consists of over 80 pacific atolls, some of which can be entered in a boat through a narrow pass in to a very protected central lagoon. Here’s a map of all the atolls so you can sort of get your bearings.
This map shows you where the Tuamotus are in relation to French Polynesia and the Marquesas Islands
So the winds in across French Polynesia are fairly predictable at this time of year, they are called the South East trade winds and generally blow from the East or South East. From a sailing point of view then, it means that you can sail relatively easily from the Marquesas to the middle of the Tuamotus on a beam reach. We decided to try and head for the atoll of Raroia.
Its 430 miles from Nuku Hiva to Raroia with a close pass of the Disappointment Isles! So called apparently because these islands do not have a navigable pass in to the centre of the atoll and were therefore very disappointing to the people who fist discovered them.
We had a good looking weather window for what should be a three day passage and so we set off on a sunny Sunday morning hoping to at least clear the Marquesas Island of Ua Pou before it got dark. The wind was quite light, about 10-12 knots and the seas were virtually flat too. At times it was easy to forget that we were actually sailing and not sitting at anchor as we ghosted along at 4-5 knots!
A few hours in I decided to get the new fishing tackle out that I had recently bought in Taiohae. I got two lines in the water and within about 10 minutes both lines went at the same time! The first guy got away just as I was about to pull it on board. But this chap was lunch and dinner for the next couple of days! My first skipjack tuna. Big too, about 12 pounds.
That kept us busy for an hour or so, getting the fish filleted. After that we settle back down to the relaxing sail and enjoyed the view of Ua Pou out of the port window with its striking volcanic peaks.
The amazing sea and wind conditions were to carry on for at least 48 hours and we were really enjoying it. Then someone turned the wind fans on! We got hit by a small squall in the night, but rather than it being a little event, it just carried on. The seas picked up too. It was cloudy for a bit, and then it cleared and became sunny again but now the wind was blowing 20 to 30 knots consistently. We reefed Azimuth right down to 2 reefs in the main and three in the genoa, but being beam on to the swell we were getting thrown around a bit and surfing the waves too. So the speed for the next 30 hours averaged about 8.5 knots and we covered 190 miles in 24 hours.
Not the most comfortable sailing. We were taking waves over the windscreen occasionally too. Poor Ailsa felt a bit worse for the wear, and neither of us felt like doing much other then sitting on the sofa. Thankfully a good supply of biscuits came to the rescue because we didn’t feel like cooking.
We covered the ground really quickly though and as we got to within a few hours of Raroia, things started to slowly calm down. When we got in to the lee of the atolls and could see the little islands dotted on the horizon, the sea calmed right down and the sailing became much more enjoyable.
I was a little nervous about going through the pass in to the atoll. Its quite narrow and shallow, but more concerning is the strong currents that can flow up to 5 knots in this pass. If the tide is against the wind and the wind is strong then this can cause large standing waves.
We arrived just after another boat and we watched them transit the pass without issue, so we both felt at ease. In the end it was not bad at all. We had 4 knots of current with us and whisked through the pass easily
Its a stunning place to approach. The atoll is surrounded by small islands covered in coconut palms and the sea is a turquoise azure blue colour.
We motored across the lagoon in to a strong headwind with Ailsa on the front so that we could avoid the patches of coral that are dotted everywhere colloquially called “bommies” and dropped the hook at a stunning anchorage. First impressions ….. amazing!
View from the front of the boat at anchor
Join is again soon when we explore our new home, our first Pacific Atoll!
Hi again. Last time we left you we had just arrived at the Island of Nuku Hiva. Well what a place! We loved it so much it is worth a post all of its own. The Marquesas Islands really are a stunning place to visit.
Our first stop was the anchorage at Anaho where we spent a few days. This anchorage is one of the most spectacular I have ever visited and a real joy to wake up to everyday. We were sharing it with only a handful of other boats too.
Here’s some pictures we took of the anchorage from the boat.
We took the canoe to shore and had a wander around the little settlement. Then the next day, I left Ailsa on the boat for the morning and set off for a walk over to the next bay.
It was about an 8 mile round trip in the tropical heat, but most of the walk was in the shade of coconut palms and other fruit trees and there was a strong breeze blowing to cool me down a bit. As I got to the top of the ridge I looked down on the beach in the next bay, the view took my breath away.
It was quite a hike to get to the beach and I had to cut through an impromptu fruit farm, the owner of which I met on the footpath. I got totally lost and ended up climbing a couple of fences and getting covered in little spiky plant seeds until I reached the beach. It was a wide open vista and I had the whole place to myself. So I took a swim to cool off in the surf and then strolled along the beach to try and reach that amazing rock buttress I could see at the end.
It was quite a climb up a steep bank, and the rock was super crumbly. It was all volcanic lava that was so eroded by the sun and wind that it just crumbled in your hands. I spotted a mountain goat with huge horns who stood watching me me for a bit and then turned and ran. I fought my way up the steep slope and eventually came to the foot of the buttress but it got too steep to go any further
I made my way back to the beach again along the route I had come which I soon lost and so wound down any old way I could, stopping to roll huge boulders of crumbly basalt down the steep slope just for the fun of it! Eventually I reached the beach again
This time I managed to find the proper path from the beach over some grassland that then cut through the jungle and the fruitfarm and I found myself back on the path to Anaho bay and the anchorage. A really spectacular walk!
After a few days chilling in Anaho, we pulled up the anchor and motored round to the next bay called Hatiheu Bay where Coral Moon was anchored.
It was another very pretty bay, and this one also had a road that connected it to the main town on the island. So it was more developed that Anaho boasting a couple of shops and a restaurant.
After wandering around the bay, we walked up the road which wound up a steep valley and we stopped at a couple of historical sites where the polynesians had lived hundreds of years ago. Some interesting stone structures and recreated buildings as well as tiki statues
On the way back to the village we stopped at the restaurant for a delicious lunch of fish and shrimp and watched the locals feeding food scraps to the enormous river eels in the stream right next door.
That night on the boat , Ailsa got a scare when she came across this little fella on the galley floor! We managed to catch him after about 30 minutes of chasing and get him in a Tupperware box so we could release him back on shore the next day. We think he must have stowed aboard our canoe?! We freed “Eddy Lizard” the next day.
A couple of days later we tagged along with Donna and Mark from Coral Moon for a drive round the island in their hire car after they very kindly offered to take us out for the day. It was an awesome day! First stop was a hike to try and reach this waterfall
We were hoping to take a swim in the plunge pool. It was a tough hike through the jungle up a steep track that was overgrown with plants and fallen logs with lots of spiders webs. We found a hydro station and could see the river and hear the waterfall but we could not manage to cut a way through the crazy undergrowth to reach the falls. Eventually we had to give up defeated. So we returned to the car muddy and sweaty!
Next stop was in to the main town of Taiohae with a short view stop on the way and then we stopped for lunch and some refreshments
After lunch we headed to a shop to buy some more fishing tackle and then took a drive up over the top of the island with regular stops to take in the amazing views. We saw the caldera in the middle of the island which was a green and fertile basin and then the road cut up the cliffs on a tortuous route and we stopped at the top to admire the views of an area called the grand canyon.
Nuku Hiva really is a place of many contrasts and microclimates and micro ecologies. At sea level it was hot and tropical with beaches and coconut palms whilst higher up the mountains were lush with pine trees and the temperature lovely and cool. Taking the road back to Hatiheu Bay and the boats we stopped again at many amazing viewpoints and took in this amazing place.
Azimuth and Coral Moon in Hatiheu Bay
After a few more days in Hatiheu we decided that it was time to start making tracks for the next leg of our journey to get to the Tuomotos Archipelago. We had been in the Marquesas for about 5 weeks already, so we set sail for Taiohae to reprovision with an overnight stop at Kahoe Bay on the way.
Anchor down in Kahoe Bay
After a rolly night in Kahoe Bay, we motored just round the corner to Taihae and headed to the dinghy dock and in to town. We stayed for two nights. We went out for lunch a couple of times and lugged as much food as we could carry from the various supermarkets back to the boat using the canoe. Our dinghy is currently out of action with a huge puncture! We also visited the tiki site in town as well.
I hope you have enjoyed the pictures and got a sense of what an amazing place Nuku Hiva is ? Join us again soon as we set sail for the 430 mile passage from Nuku Hiva to Raroia in the Tuomotos.
last time we left you we had just arrived and checked in to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia after an epic sail half way across the Pacific from Panama. This time we will show you a little bit of the Marquesas that we have seen so far.
First impressions …. amazing! This really is a wild, beautiful and unspoilt place. They are some of the remotest islands in the world and the wildlife and sea life has been wonderful to behold. This is the stuff we dreamed about doing for all those years and both of us wake up in the morning and have to pinch ourselves when we remember where we are!
Truth be told though, we haven’t done a lot since we got here! having checked in at Atuona, the next day we tracked down the one sailmaker in these islands at the local boat yard and delivered our Genoa to be repaired. It would take a couple of weeks for this to happen, he seemed to have a lot of work piled up form all the other boats arriving also with ripped sails!
The anchorage in Atuona is not the best from a comfort point of view as a large swell comes in to the bay almost continuously and all the boats spin around in the light fickle winds. What feels like a large percentage of the time then, you find the boat side on to the swell and Azimuth starts what we like to call her “death rolls” where she wobbles violently from side to side with things on counters going everywhere. Not a lot of fun.
So whilst we waited for the sail to be repaired, we decided to go 10 miles round the corner to the island of Tahuata ana a wonderful anchorage in Hanamoenoa Bay. Many other boats had the same idea as us, so it was busy, but that didn’t really retract from the ambiance of the place.
And so that has been our home for the last three weeks apart from a couple of small side trips.
For one of those side trips we thought we would head down to another island called Fatu Hiva where there is another spectacular anchorage. To get there is a 48 mile upwind sail. All we had was our hank on jib because the Genoa was in for repair. We tried and failed to get upwind at the required angle that day, so instead we sailed around Tahuata. We were glad we did, it was spectacular!
We dropped the anchor about 2 miles from where we started in a a place called Vaitahu. This had the promise of a shop and a little restaurant too. When we entered the bay the winds were wild! 25 knots were blowing off the huge ridge at the back of the bay. The next day we looked at taking the dinghy in to see the town but we were defeated by the swell and the strong winds. The landing dock was rough concrete and we didn’t want to damage the dinghy anymore than it already was!
Anchorage at Vaitahu
So we headed back to Hanamoenoa Bay instead!
After another side trip to Atuona to go and collect our sail, we rendezvoused back at Hanamoenoa to finally meet up with our friends on Coral Moon and catch up again after being apart for a month and a half. Their trip across the Pacific had been very eventful. One of the rigging wires broke on the mast about 1000 miles from the Marquesas which meant they had to drastically reduce sail and slow right down. It was horrendous for them. The sea state and slow speed meant the boat was rolling all over the place. This started to have a bad affect on the rest of the rig and Mark noticed that the wire opposite the one that had already broken was starting to fray too, meaning more anguish for them. Whilst they didn’t doubt that Coral Moon would eventually make it, they didn’t want the nightmare of losing the mast.
At some point late one night, they noticed that a large superyacht pop up on AIS about 16 miles behind them, almost on the same course. Mark radioed them, explained his situation and asked if they could spare some fuel so that Coral Moon could motor the last 200 hundred miles or so to the Marquesas.
They agreed and they recorded this amazing video of doing a fuel transfer at sea in jerry cans on a raft. Mark is on the raft, handing the cans up to Donna on deck. The conditions were horrendous. Middle of the night, squally, and Coral Moon is experiencing death rolls side on to the swell. What an amazing effort from all involved!
They transferred 150 litres of diesel in total and that meant Coral Moon could motor all the way and drop anchor in the North of Hiva Oa.
In the two weeks it took us to get our sail repaired, whilst we sat in Hanamoenoa relaxing, Donna and Mark organised for two new rigging wires to be made in Tahiti. Donna got on a plane from Hiva Oa and collected the wires returning back again a few days later and then they fitted the new wires at anchor.
An amazing effort!
So when we met up, it was great to catch up and relax for a few days together and swap stories about are trips across the pacific. We went to the beach and chilled and they managed to capture my epic canoe fail when trying to launch from the beach! Well it was quite wavy ok?
We also got to swim with Manta Rays again. This time there were 6 of them in the water. Mark took this video
Finally we got itchy feet and decided to head North to the island of Nuku Hiva. It was an overnight sail from Tahuata, about 90 miles. The wind was fickle for the first few hours but then it settled down for a lovely sail. Here’s some shots of our approach to Nuku Hiva, Anaho Bay. Its another amazing anchorage, but that will have to wait for the next post!
Leaving Tahuata and approaching Nuku HivaSome shots of Azimuth from Coral Moon
Catch you next time as we explore more of the Marquesas
