French Polynesia – Sailing Azimuth

August 17, 2024August 18, 2024

The friendliest people in the world?

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!

July 27, 2024July 27, 2024

Raraka Atoll and Onwards to Tahiti

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!

July 3, 2024July 3, 2024

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!

June 20, 2024June 20, 2024

Dodging Bommies

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

June 10, 2024June 10, 2024

Sailing to 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!

June 7, 2024June 7, 2024

Nuku Hiva

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.

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.

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.

May 24, 2024May 24, 2024

Exploring the Marquesas

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!

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 Hiva

Catch you next time as we explore more of the Marquesas

May 10, 2024May 10, 2024

Swimming with Manta Rays

Hi all. I had to post this video!

We have been in this anchorage in the Marquesas called Hanamoenoa Bay for some time. There is a note on the website we use called No Foreign Land that says that Manta Rays visit the bay to feed. The best time to see them is apparently early morning between 0600 and 0700. So I have been getting in the water and so far I have had no success. However, I was on deck today and I overheard some people next to us in the water say they had seen some mantas in the bay.

I grabbed my snorkelling stuff and GoPro and this is the video I captured! Talk about exhilarating. Initially I couldn’t see anything, I was snorkelling looking down at the seabed, then I looked up and these guys were right in front of me! I nearly jumped out of skin!

I have never been so close to something in the water so big, graceful and beautiful as these two in my life. I was pretty scared, especially when they appeared to swim right at me with their mouths wide open. At one point, I could almost reach out and touch one of them. They were much bigger than me, I would say about 3m wingspan? The water here is about 10m deep, and at one point in the video you can see the bottom of another boat behind the rays. That boat is about 12m long. That gives you a sense of scale hopefully.

Hope you enjoy!

May 7, 2024May 7, 2024

Pacific Crossing Video

Hi Everyone. We have been in the Marquesas for a week now. Its an amazing place. We haven’t done a lot yet though other than relax and recover from the trip. We are actually waiting for the local sail maker to finish repairing our genoa before we can move on to the next islands in the Marquesas Chain. Anyway, I took some video on the GoPro during the crossing and put together this little video summary. Enjoy

Catch you again soon,

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth

April 27, 2024April 28, 2024

Landfall

Panama to Marquesas, French Polynesia, Day 30

Hi to everyone! We made it!

We feel very happy with ourselves today. A big pat on the back. We have never achieved anything quite like this in our sailing lives, or even everyday lives. 4036 miles of sailing in 30 days half way across the blue Pacific Ocean. An average speed of just less than 6 knots. At least 24 hours of that was just drifting. Every kind of sailing that you can do, upwind, downwind, dead run, no wind through to 40 knot squalls. Dealing with broken stuff on the boat, and the relentlessness of rolling seas, lack of sleep, cabin fever, as well as the joy of some of the best sailing days of our lives. This trip had it all!

Its hard to describe the feeling though as you see land again after so long at just seeing a blue horizon as far as the eye can see. So we were both elated as Hiva Oa came in to view, its majestic peaks soaring above the horizon with waves crashing on to towering cliffs and birds soaring overhead. The sunrise behind us slowly illuminated the island and bought everything into focus.

By the time we were 5 miles from Atuona, the wind died, so on came the engine for the last little bit. The sea state calmed down and we had a lovely hour of motoring in the sun accompanied by a pod of dolphins in to the small bay. We dropped the anchor at 9am local time.

Even though you have arrived, the work is not done! We still had sails to put away, dinghy to inflate and launch, dinghy engine to install. Oh and the heavens opened and the rain poured down too! By 1300, we were ready to go to shore, both feeling pretty tired, but up for finding the local town and getting checked in. It was quite a walk! 2.5 miles up a steep road around the bay and headland and then down again in to Atuona.

We found the “Gendarmerie”, it was shut! We found the ATM and got some local money, and then after a walk around the town, found the one supermarket that was open. Everywhere else was shut! Well it is French we thought and it is Saturday afternoon, of course everything is shut?!

We made it back to Azimuth just as it got dark and pretty much collapsed in to bed for the sleep of all sleeps.

There you guys are up to date. Thanks for all your comments and messages throughout the trip. It kept us entertained and it was great to have contact in the remoteness of the Pacific Ocean! We will report back again soon when we have been out and explored some more of the Marquesas Islands.