Some photos from Takaroa

We seem to be connected to a slightly shaky wifi system so hopefully these photos will get through.

Stormvogel on passage from the Marquesas:

Our first sight of Takaroa:

Stormvogel approaching the pass into the lagoon

The anchorage in the lagoon

Sunrise in Takaroa lagoon

Above: the village at sunrise and Stormvogel lies peacefully at anchor

 

For the first time since we left Gatun Lake in the Panama Canal, Maunie is completely motionless. Lovely. The lagoon is like a mirror this morning and sunrise gave the village a lovely warm colour. During the night (and completely unheard by us) the supply ship arrived at the concrete wharf in the entrance pass so there now seems to be a fair amount of activity ashore as she is unloaded. We'll inflate the dinghy and explore later this morning (there is talk of very good baguettes to be had here, information imparted by other boats, via the SSB radio, who were here  few days ago) but at the moment we are just enjoying the tranquillity of the anchorage. The water is deep (we're anchored in about 18m) but very clear so a swim is also on the cards.

 

There appears to be a wifi link here, amazingly, but at the moment we can connect to its signal but not the internet. However if we can make the connection later we should be able to upload more photos from the past few days.

 

 

Safely anchored inour first Pacific atoll

Last night was relatively uneventful, apart from a large fishing vessel passing us about 3 miles away. The wind allowed us to sail for a couple of hours but then dropped away and we restarted the engine to make sure we arrived at Takaroa in daylight.

 

So, after three and a half days at sea we have completed the 450 mile passage and are now anchored in the lagoon of Takaroa atoll (position 14 degrees 28.3 minutes south, 145 degrees 02 minutes west). It's an extraordinary place as, unlike the mountainous islands of the Marquesas, the atolls are just rings of coral, only a few feet above sea level, with large lagoons inside them and a few villages dotted along the edge. As you approach they look like very low-lying islands but, as we got closer, we could see small breaks in the coral and the calm lagoon within.

 

Takaroa has a relatively wide pass (perhaps 100ft wide) at the western end of the atoll that takes you into the lagoon. Coming in is quite challenging though as all the water in the lagoon, which is several miles long and about a mile wide, flows in and out with the tide. We arrived just after high water and so had some strong tidal eddies swirling around us and up to 3 knots of current but once into the lagoon it's like being on a large lake – outside the 2m swell is pounding the edge of the reef but here we are completely motionless. We think we'll sleep well tonight!

 

We'll hopefully post some photos tomorrow.

 

 

Singin' in the rain

Maunie and Stormvogel with spinnakers, just before the rain started

 

Position as at 02.30 GMT:

13 deg 07 min south, 143 deg, 06 min west

 

Last night the wind began to drop away but we were able to continue sailing, albeit slowly and the sea calmed nicely allowing Dianne to multi-task in her 4.00am to 8.00am watch; she made another of her wonderful Nutella sponge cakes, much to Graham's delight.

 

This morning the wind dropped more and we motored for about an hour but, after Dianne had gone to get some sleep, the breeze then perked up a bit and Graham hoisted the Irish Flag spinnaker. Stormvogel flew their spinnaker too so we had some nice close sailing and plenty of photo opportunities. After lunch the breeze died and we got the spinnaker down just before the heavens opened and we've now had about 3 hours of heavy rain with not much sign of it letting up. At least we've been able to use the rainwater from the decks to refill the main water tank.

 

So, slightly depressingly as usual on our sea passages, we seem doomed to ending this one under engine as the breeze has disappeared and the Grib files suggest that it won't return for about 4 days. At least we should be able to make landfall in daylight (our ETA was slipping badly as we were sailing slowly) which is vital for the Tuamutos atolls as they are very low-lying and mostly unlit; the entrance to the lagoon at Takaroa is via a pass on the western side of the island which has a strong current running in it so we're hoping to arrive at slack water on Sunday afternoon. The light winds should also make the anchorage comfortable and we chatted, via SSB radio, to a boat already there this morning and they said that the village was quaint but offers such luxuries as freshly-baked bread. Unfortunately we have also been told that it's a Mormon community so there won't be a real ale pub.

Sailing again

Position as at 18.30 GMT:

 

11 deg 22 min south, 140 deg, 56 min west

 

We left the anchorage at 11.00am yesterday and had another group of dolphins leaping out of the water all around us – the photo above was taken by Peter from our dinghy when we left the village a couple of days ago. More impressively, an hour later as they were reefing Stormvogel as we left the shelter of the island, Peter and Heidi had a huge (more than 10m long) whale alongside. It gave Heidi quite a shock as she looked over her shoulder to see a large eye gazing at her! Unfortunately they didn't have a camera to hand.

 

We've had a really good first night at sea and even managed to get some off-watch sleep (usually a struggle on the first night). On watch there was plenty to look at – a perfect star-scape gave us both the chance to look up a few more constellations in the book. The Southern Cross was incredibly bright as, although the Milky Way spreads across the sky behind it, the Cross sits in front of a dust cloud known as the Coal Blanket so its four stars shine strongly.

 

Behind the boat our wake was full of phosphorescence which is quite mesmerising. Looking over the stern there's a 2ft wide glowing trail, deep in the water, where the keel and rudder have passed but on the surface there are hundreds of bright points of light tumbling in the wake, like fireflies.

 

The sailing, so far, has been good – a nice Force 4 easterly so we are beam-reaching on a broadly south-west course towards the Tuamotus. At this rate we should arrive at the Takaroa atoll on Sunday morning.

Mangoes are not the only fruit

We had an amazing day yesterday - we motored along the coast in our dinghy with Peter and Heidi aboard and landed at a beautiful little village. The locals were very friendly (they were a bit more reserved at the other 2 islands) and the place is beautiful. We were after some fruit and veg so walked up the road and found a house with pamplemousse (grapefruit) and mango trees growing in a large garden. In Graham's best (terrible) French he asked if we could buy some and was given 8 huge pamplemousse and 6 ripe mangos and they wouldn't take any money (or t-shirts we'd brought for bartering). The dinghy ride back to the boats was interesting – we stopped the engine in the bay to watch dolphins leaping out of the water and then we were soon punching into little waves so all got soaked (in very warm water). We got back to Maunie only to find we'd lost our boat keys! We dinghied back to the village (much quicker with only 2 aboard as the boat would plane at speedboat speeds) and, as we arrived in the anchorage, there was a local fishing boat with 3 men aboard who waved to us, wanting a lift ashore. One of them was the size of a Samoan rugby player so his mates laughed when I obviously looked worried as to whether the dinghy would take his weight but we took him ashore then picked up the other two.

 

Our good deed obviously helped our luck as we found the lost keys in the orchard where we'd loaded our bag with fruit (huge relief all round) and then as we walked back to the landing place one of the fishermen came out from his house with a box of ripe mangoes as thanks for our help. We are now looking for more mango recipes.

 

Returning to Maunie for a second time we had a late lunch then joined a sundowner dinghy raft – crews from all 10 boats in the anchorage rafted up and shared snacks and drinks for a very convivial hour or so. There were 10 nationalities represented but a common purpose that cut through any language barriers. The  camaraderie between cruising boats is great and there's a lot of shared help on hand if it's needed; one Norwegian boat has specialist welding gear aboard so he was helping a German catamaran repair a cracked boom yesterday .

 

We plan to stay here one more day before heading to the Tuamotus Archipelago which consists of dozens of coral atolls (the most famous, for all the wrong reasons, is Muraroa Atoll where the French did their atom bomb tests - we won't be going there!). Only a few are inhabited and the navigation between the atolls is challenging so we're slightly apprehensive about it - it's a 4 day sail from here – but a few boats have just arrived there so we'll hear of their experiences on the radio net.

 

A shopping day-trip aboard Stormvogel

Above: Maunie at anchor and the Dianne and Heidi driving Stormvogel

 

The weather has turned very sunny and hot so we are enjoying our sheltered anchorage, watching the tropical fish feeding around the coral and huge Manta Rays lazily swimming near the boats. It's so lovely that we don't feel a pressing need to rush off anywhere and decided that heading 85 miles up to Nuka Hiva, only to more or less retrace our wake on our way to the Tuamotus Archipelago a couple of days later, doesn't make huge sense. Instead we decided to do a day-sail back to Hiva Oa to buy more food provisions before heading west, so left Maunie at anchor and joined Peter and Heidi on Stormvogel for a lovely sail (a fun beat to windward in the morning and a delightful spinnaker run back in the afternoon).

 

The supply boat that arrived at Hiva Oa on Saturday meant that the supermarket was well stocked so we now  have enough frozen chicken, beef and bacon to augment the tinned supplies. We were a bit disappointed with the fresh veg availability but that's island life for you. Today we plan to dinghy around to a small village about 4 miles from here then there's going to be a 'dinghy raft sundowner party'  in the bay (each anchored boat brings drinks and nibbles to share in a raft of dinghies) so that should be entertaining.