A population of 130 people whereof 18 children are school age and attend a one classroom school! For highschool they attend school in next island, Makemo. For postsecondary, people go to Tahiti!
We had the privilege of having dinner with a women who were originally from Tahiti. It was a lovely evening with stories and laughter!
Packed up snorkel gear and jumped on the stand-up-paddle-board early to try and find the Kon Tiki monument that apparently was hiding in the palm trees somewhere on this reef! Adrian decided to row/swim/reef hop instead of paddling. Fairly strong wind and current made the paddle a bit tricky! While paddling though the reefs numerous black tip reef sharks were swimming about trying to catch their breakfast! They are a bit skittish when you approach them and don’t stay around for very long! After an hour of paddling I found the clump of trees on small strip of land that supposedly was the island where Thor Heyerdahl and crew beached their raft! White birds were less impressed with our arrival and were a bit intimidating by flying close and screeching.
We walked around the island until we saw a trail that lead into where the monument was. Pretty cool!
Back to the boat ain’t so bad either! Time for lunch, nap and afternoon snorkel!
I’ve been to the most beautiful place on earth…
…. and not just a regular sleep…I was out cold, without even putting a foot on the floor! I can’t remember last time I did that!
But first…..
We sailed past the two sailboats, Nimue and Dovka, that were hove-to, we spent the next three hours pointing in the direction of Raroia Atoll entrance. Slowly the clumps of palm trees arrived and we were looking at the openings inbetween the landmasses. I knew that there were 6 prominent landmasses and the entrance were in between the third and the fourth one. It looked easy to sneak in, however, I decided to rely on the charted electronic chart on Navionics. We were an hour early for slack but the last hour of tide is always weak so I decided to keep going. We turned the engine on and dropped the sails. I carefullly studied the electronic chart and motored with good speed through the entrance. I noticed two whirlpools, small reefs along the sides and red markers on the left (yes red on the LEFT returning here, opposite to N.A.) further ahead. One person on the bow looking for corral heads, one person on the helm and a trusted engine! We probably could have sailed in but since it was my first time, I decided to be careful and use the engine. The swell slowly dissapeared as Sarantium motored into the atoll. I steered towards the anchorage acrosss the attol. At the same time, navigated inbetween the corral heads that in the sunlight appeared turquoise compared to the light and dark blue water elsewear. Some coral heads were very visible, epecially the ones directly on the other side of the boat (SUN-Boat- Coral Head), but some not so visible. There is NO WAY, I would come in here in the dark!
After 45 minutes to an hour, sailmasts appeared in the distance. We dropped anchor in 17 meters and swimming distance to a coral head. The water was unbelievably clear and even though trade winds were present, we had no swell. Although, I could see the the ocean on the outside, the reef around blocked the big swell and Sarantium laid still.
I quickly made pancakes, poured maple syrup on, ate, jumped in the water, put my PJs on and crashed around noon. I slept for 16 hours solidly. My world stopped and when I woke up at 04, I again, stared at, the familiar by now, constalations. A cup of coffee and bananas and my day is about to begin in a part of the world, I have never been….
Good Morning World!
… well, they never left but I’m back in the squalls! Wind was up and down and squalls came and went. Felt like I was back to the equator again. With only 50 NMiles to go until the archipelago of Taumotus I change plans after doing the math for sail-speed and distance left to match slack tide at the entrance for the atolls. Seems like the best option is to head to Raroia. If my math is correct we should arrive there at between 08 and 09. Slack is at 09 and we can ride the last hour of flooding into the atoll, dodging the Coral heads!
After a lively night, with squalls and dark clouds with wind up, 02.20 I noticed three boats within 14 NMiles of us. On my screen it looked like two (s/v Dovka and s/v Nimue) of the boats were heading north and one (s/v Joint Venture) was heading south, all on collision course. I had a suspicion the two facing north were hover-to…So I sit and wait for one of them to hail. And they did. Turns out that I was right, boats are hove 20 NMiles from the entrance of Raoia atoll, waiting for sunlight and tide shift so they can glide in at slack! I will keep course and speed as I have 30 NMiles to go before I am at the entrance.
A bit nervous for sure… as this is a first for me…
Taking into the consideration of tide times and sun position to enter into the atolls. We have two options, Raroia and Mekemo. Makemo is easier to get into but timing is not so great unless we can average 7 knots until the entrance. Raroia is closer but entrance is trickier but we will make slack no problem (might even be a bit early and will wait). Decisions Decisions… will be made tomorrow morning, once we know the distance to both stools. Slack at both atolls are at 15.00 for tomorrow.
…and the Mekemo atoll. What an easy night. We averaged 5.5 knots and didn’t have to tweak the sails much after they were reefed in the late evening. None of the surrounding dark clouds had any rain or much wind… just gentle trade-winds! I am not entirely sure how much sleep I had throughout the night. I seem to have lost ”SV Joint Venture” on my plotter. I did hail them last night as I had notice they had slowed down considerably and we were still going 7 knots. They had slowed to 5.5 compared to their normal 9.5. Their cat measures 14mx7m so it can fly on the water. Since they go so fast they need to slow down so the will reach their atoll at daybreak rather than in the dark.
Sun just peeked over the horizon and we have sailed another night!
We’ve moved at a fantastic speed, even with partial sails up overnight! We have therefore average 5.9 knots despite of bucking a tide for half of our sailing time. I counted on arriving in four days to Mekemo Atoll however we may arrive in 3.5 days which could be a problem. We cannot go into the atoll in the dark as coral heads are present and they are uncharted. Usually, best time to enter Atolls is at slack and when sun is hitting the water from either behind you or above you, not infringe the boat. As well, if possible you should have someone at the bow or up on the mast preferably harnessed in and on the spreaders, in case the captain hits a coral head. 🙈 In fact, not long ago, cruisers avoided this area altogether. However with the introduction of high tech navigation instruments such as cameras, cruisers are now visiting the atolls regularly. I do not have cameras but with careful navigation at the right time, it will be possible. I picked Mekemo Atoll as it’s what I call an entry level pass. It’s well marked, fairly wide and few corral heads present. A practice atoll! 😉
One of the atolls, have a haul-out service for cruisers to be able to put their boats on the hard during the cyclone season.
Last night was uneventful! The sun set at around 17.45 and as usual it set beautifully …
I was awake until 03.30 and during that time the wind was up and down. I read, I reefed and I shook out sails all night. I slept decently in the cockpit between 03-06 with all alarms on! Easy night!
Day Two👩✈️
Much the same as yesterday… reading about the engine, reading about plumbing, reading about outboard motors, reading Charlie’s Charts and staring at the horizon! I had a surprise hail today from ”s/v joint venture”… they were ”just being nosey” and curious about where we were headed, as they were parallell to Sarantium they thought they should check in and have a chat! Other than that today is another day in paradise, nothing to report!!! Out!
At 10:42 Tahiti time! 11* 54.967 S/ 141* 18.04 W
Course on ground: 200*
speed on ground: 6knots
Day One
Feels like I have experienced a variety of items such as cultural events, ancient art, jungle treks, spectacular waterfalls and fantastic trade-winds sailing.
We motored out at 06.30 for about 30 min to top up batteries and get into the beautiful trade-winds that were being blocked by landmass. At 07.00 we were sailing on a close reach sail-point with small reef in the main sail and also in the Genoa sail. We’re moving at 7-7.5 knots and heeling at 15%. I’m a happy sailor! Seastate is decent, swell is building, which we’re powering through nicely, as we’re moving further out to sea.
We seem to be having two sailboats as company, Nimue and Calypso, both longer (waterline) boats so they will most likely leave Sarantium in the dust! But for now we are keeping up at almost 8 knots… 😃 in 20 knots of warm trade-winds! Did I mention that I love my choice to buy a sailboat and Sailaway😉???
Wind seems to be a bit up and down the further along we sail. From the chats with other sailors this is typical. I have set the hydro vane for a close-reach sail and the it is keeping that sail-point nicely. Consequently, Sarantium is varying the heading of 180 degrees to 220 degrees and keeping up with variation of wind strength and wind angle.
After a couple of hours, the wind settled and kept its speed around 15 knots… ❤️⛵️…And this is how Day One of this passage continued in the South Pacific! What an amazing day!
Sailaway Sarantium 