After 4 amazing days, a prestine anchor with undisturbed coral reef, few boats, calm and unbelievably clear water, beach to myself and loads of coconut trees, I’m planning the next passage.
At the moment I’m unsure where I’ll leave the boat while I fly to Europe, as marinas here in French Polynesia are full. And they do not take reservations rather they want you to be on location. I’ve sent emails to most of them and all except for one in Apataki Atoll do not have space in their yard. I’m waiting for their response. If they confirm then Sarantium will remain the the Tuamotu Archipelago until cyclone season is over in April. And from there I’ll make my way to New Zealand or Australia via the Society Islands, Cook Islands and Fiji in 2026. If I can’t find a Marina or yard to store my boat this year, I will continue towards NZ or Aus, and hope for storage along the way! Who knows, we may find ourselves in NZ or AUS this October!!! ….plans forever changing, whatever happens happens!!!
Today, I woke up with the agenda of finding the ”Swedish Reef” that was mentioned in ”NoForeignLand”. A young sailor decided on the name as the reef is full of yellow and blue coral. The reef was 1.5 NMiles from our anchorage so a bit far to swim. I jumped in the zodiac… that btw, seems to be working now (after I took carburetor apart and cleaned it of crud). The corals began looking purple and light yellow, so I knew I was on the right track!
When we got there, I was shocked how beautiful the reef was. It was very shallow with purple and yellow corral and full of colorful reef fish!
Another day in paradise! Mind blowing on a daily base…
We got up and headed into town to pick up fresh baguettes and some Roquefort cheese! I dove into the water released some chain that was wrapped around coral and started the engine! We raised the sails quickly and weaved inbetween the coral heads for 10 NMiles until we saw the anchorage! One person on the bowsprit and one person on the helm and sailing at 5.5 knots for two hours! What a blast!
All those dots are coral heads or ”bombers”!
East anchorage does not disappoint!! We anchored in 5 m off water and tied some fenders to the chain so we don’t get caught up in coral!
Our friends from Karlshamn, Sweden, on SVAngelina arrived a couple of days ago, to Makemo. We met up in town and wandered the streets while sharing sailing and life stories before finally ending up at the pizzaria. There we met a Dutch couple, who has been sailing since 2022 and is on a five year plan! Lots of stories and laughs from cockroaches to holding tanks! We will all meet up again in the next anchorage! Faces are becoming very familiar as we are all on similar circuit! Pizza was delicious!
This island has the friendliest people I’ve ever met. Everyone seems so happy here and they go out of their way to say hello while biking past you!
A quick visit to the bakery this morning to pick up baguettes that I ordered yesterday, and then we’re off to the East Anchorage! Apparently it’s a MUST!
Folks from Karlshamn!The film, the glass of red wine and bed… the day was complete!
This anchorage has been pretty cool! It’s a quick row into the dinghy tie up, the village has a ”grill” and PIZZARIA”!!! We are going to check out a mechanic today to see if they can figure out the outboard motor. I believe the carborator needs some TLC!
Sarantium sits right beside a reef and this reef is the home to an amazing variety of fish and a beautiful Moray Eel! The boat also is directly above a bunch of small coral which is the home to a gorgeous octopus. It keeps walking inbetween three corals. It’s starting to warm up to me when I swim down to hang out with her.
There seems to be a slight disturbance in wind just south of us so it’s calm here and will be for this week. A good time to stay put! Life is amazing💕
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!
Airport…AeroportoPostofficeMainstreetSchoolNew home?ChurchCoral head
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!
…. 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!
Current location!
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….
Sailaway Sarantium 