Sailing the Tuamotus

The sailing passage to the Tuamotus was slower than what we had come use to. The first day and half was great winds. The wind then went light with us sailing at 1.5 to 4 knots most of it and some motoring. It was a new moon also so the nights were dark. The passage took 5 days instead of the expected 4. We could have done 4 days if we motored alot, but prefered to sail.

As we arrived at Manihi our first stop, a huge rain squall came through and winds jumping to 25 knots. We then forced our way through the pass into Manihi's lagoon. It took us awhile to get slack current at passes right. Our pacific tide book was all wrong, eventually we found that slack was 3 hrs after slack tide at Makatea on our Navionics chip in the chartplotter.
We stopped at 3 Islands in the Tuamotus, Manihi, Rangoria and Tikehau and spent 3 or 4 days at each. They each had there own character. Manihi was special with a small quiet village with a small store one side of the pass and a $300 to $600 dollar a night resort on other but down a mile or so. Canoes would visit our boat occasionally trying to sell black pearls for 5 to 10 dollars and the stores they would be 80 to 250 dollars. We took a couple of the local kids for a short dinghy ride as they were following us around and wanted a ride. Later walking down the sea wall we saw a moray eel against the wall and a 7 foot shark in the lagoon by the dinghy. Lots of other colorful fish could be seen as well from the sea wall. A fisherman gave Dorothy some fish for dinner all cleaned and filleted ready to cook. She said the grouper was really good eating.
When it was time to leave we could not get our anchor up so we called Francesco over on radio. He is a local who helps cruisers with everything including bringing bread out to us boats. He free dove down 62 feet to our anchor chain and it took 2 hours with a break in between to get our chain unwrapped from the coral. Then he was not going to charge us anything. But we gave him a mickey of rum which he liked and some cash. We talked to a boat the next day who had him untangle there chain to as they also were stuck, almost every boat had problems with the coral.
Rangoria was a busier place being the biggest of the atolls. But still a great place to visit. We took a snorkeling tour of the huge lagoon with the crew of Demelza. We snorkeled with manta rays in the pass there and also visited a pearl farm that showed us how they grew pearls.
The last atoll we visited Tikehau was the quietest place and we took another tour with the crew of Demelza and also with Mary Powells crew. Did snorkeling and visited a super bird island where you could walk among nesting birds that just ignored you. Also visited 'Eden' on a motu in the lagoon that is proving you can grow all sorts of vegetables and fruits in the coral based soil there and it is a religious community, a neat spot. Finally it is time to head to Tahiti 170 miles away.