Tag: Bluewater Sailing

French Polynesia, July 2018, Pacific Puddle Jump 2018, Rangiroa, The South Pacific, Tuamotus

Relaxin’ In Rangiroa

We all left Apataki bright and early and it turns out that once again Dan timed our passage through the entrance perfectly. We had a little rocking and rolling but still nothing like Fakarava. Looks like he’s getting to be a pro at this and I couldn’t be happier.

Ed & Linda lead the way through the pass and we are Rangiroa bound. The passage will take us less than 24 hours. The weather is good and the winds are right for some nice sailing.

We arrive at the northwest pass to Rangiroa first thing in the morning. The sun is coming up and the waves are crashing upon the coral sand beach outside of the atoll with great force. As they reach the beach white foam shoots into the air and looks as if it is as high as the coconut palms.

We keep moving until we reach the northeastern pass, Tiputa. The pass looks a bit turbulent so we take a few runs by the entrance to access our next move. Ed & Dan are on the radio discussing what they are seeing and whether or not we should go in. They decide it looks okay so I head to the bow, clip my tether into the jack line and ready myself to be on lookout. As we begin our entrance we are being hit with just a couple of knots of outbound current. We rock back and forth a bit but it seems like this one will be pretty easy. Suddenly off to the port side we see several dolphins swimming and jumping in the waves. They are known to ride the surf at this entrance and we are fortunate to get to see them. It’s almost as if they are here to welcome us.

After ten or fifteen minutes we are through the pass and the waters are calm again. Another fairly smooth entrance….NICE! We make our way to the main anchorage on the northwest side of the pass. It’s full of sailboats, maybe thirty or so. On the shore is the Kia Ora Resort with its quintessential tropical huts over top of the water.

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We spent several days here and enjoyed each one. One day we took the dinghy down to the south end of the atoll and stopped at the Paul Gaughin Pearl Farm. There my honey bought me a beautiful Keshi black pearl that we will have made into a ring when we reach New Zealand. If you are not a pearl expert or don’t know what a Keshi pearl is, let me explain. Almost all pearls in the world these days are farmed. The pearl farmers plant a nucleus inside of an oyster and then put it back in the water for a few years. Sometimes the oyster rejects the nucleus which means the nacker, or the shiny substance, doesn’t form a round pearl, rather it’s very unique and oddly shaped. Keshi pearls tend to be some of the most beautiful as they have the most luster. Being one who doesn’t typically like to go with the masses, I chose a unique and beautiful Keshi.

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One evening we, along with Ed & Linda, decided to visit the Kia Ora Resort. On Sunday evenings they have a wonderful Polynesian style dance show. We started with sundowners on SV One Fine Day and then headed to the shore to have cocktails on the deck at the resort and watch the sunset. Prior to the main event we were entertained with live Polynesian music at the bar. One of the really neat things about this place is the windows in the floor. They have lights below the deck to attract fish and we were even able to catch a few glimpses of some black tip sharks as they chased the smaller fish.

Kia OraThe sunset was perfect and the drinks…$14 a drink.. $6.50 per beer, were served with beautiful, fragrant flowers as garnish. It was perfect! At 2000 they started the Polynesian dance show by the pool. It was awesome! The dancing and music made you feel like you’ve lived here your whole life. It just crept into your soul and grabbed hold. On the way back down the dock to the dink we saw a couple of large white tip sharks swimming in the lighted water under the bar. THIS is truly a tropical paradise! We concluded the evening with a nightcap aboard One Fine Day. Yep…a pretty nice day.

We woke up to yet another spectacular day. We picked up Ed & Linda around 0900 this morning to go snorkeling at the “aquarium”. That’s what they call this snorkel spot just inside the pass. They have mooring balls there to tie the dink up and there’s not a lot of current. The water is so clear you feel like you’re looking into a pool. Even before we got out of the dink we could see hundreds of fish below us. Oh my gosh! It was everything we’d been told it was. I’ve never seen so many colorful fish. We saw thousands of fish, a couple of moray eels and a few black tip sharks. I got great video on the Go Pro of me chasing a black tip shark through the shallows. What an amazing experience. The tour boats come in every so often to feed the fish and let the tourists swim amongst them. We got to watch this first hand and swim in a ball of thousands of fish. They were surrounding us….too cool!

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Before we knew it we’d been here five days. Time sure does fly by out here. And there’s that dang ol’ visa clock still ticking in the background. This is our last atoll in the Tuomotus. Tomorrow it’s off to Papeete, Tahiti. We sure will miss this place but are looking forward to more adventures in paradise.

Until next time,

Jilly & Dan

Fakarava, French Polynesia, June 2018, The South Pacific, Tuamotus

Fakarava Pass … OH LORD!

So we awoke early this morning to an absolutely beautiful, sunny day. It’s time to bid farewell to this wonderful atoll, Kauehi. It’s been an amazing few days. We enjoyed our peaceful time and even got in a bit of snorkeling. Unfortunately the snorkeling wasn’t as good as we expected. There is quite a bit of dead coral here but it is still a beautiful spot and we’re so glad we stopped. It was absolutely perfect getting to spend a few days alone in this magical paradise.

But, our friends are waiting for us in Fakarava so it’s time to haul anchor. It’s just a quick day cruise to get there but it will be a long day and we need to arrive early enough to see the bommies as we come into the anchorage. We have our morning coffee and prepare Dazzler for the trip. It’s the usual routine. Dan takes off the sail cover and prepares the deck and cockpit while I’m below closing the port lights and stowing things to keep them from bouncing about etc… After about an hour we are ready to go. I bring up our headsets (as some call them, marriage savers) and we get them online. Dan goes to the bow while I start the engine and get the electronics up and going. You see on Dazzler Dan does the hard, “manly” stuff like dealing with the anchor while he lets me run the boat. He hates seeing women being forced to deal with the heavy anchor and chain. And, with our headsets he can tell me exactly what to do so it all works perfectly. I love our headsets and absolutely hate it if we have to do it the old fashioned way…you know, using hand signals and yelling from bow to stern.

Exiting the pass at Kauehi is very uneventful. We are third in line heading out of the pass behind two catamarans. We don’t know them but as is so often the case in Water World we are on the radio with them as the lead boat, SV Wind Dancer, radioes back to give us info on the conditions. We have since met the Captain of the second boat, Price. He is on SV Panache. His friends are on SV Wind Dancer. We basically buddy boated with them all the way here. It was actually nice to see other boats around us for a change.

The pass into the lagoon here at Fakarava is a whole different ball game. Again, SV Wind Dancer leads the way followed by SV Panache, then us. They are two pretty big cats with twin engines and both close to 25’ wide. The pass is pretty doggone choppy but we watch them and feel confident we can make it too. It is at the end of the outgoing tide and while we could wait for slack tide there is the fact that we need to get the anchorage, a little over 5 miles from the entrance, before the sun starts going down. There’s those dang bommies you have to worry about and you need the sun to see them.

As we enter the choppy water it doesn’t seem too bad at first. Yes there are 2 meter swells about a second apart and yes there is some current coming at us and we are getting tossed side to side quite a bit but it seems like it is not nearly as bad as it looked. I am on the bow taking video and keeping a look out for shallow spots while trying to keeping from being tossed overboard. I have my arm under to the tie down straps for the dinghy and that is all that is keeping me tethered to the boat. In hindsight I realized it was pretty dangerous for me to be up there without a jack line and we made a rule that says, no one on deck entering or exiting a pass without them in the future. But, the fact is I was there before the water got bad. Trying to negotiate my way back to the cockpit after the rocking and rolling started would have been potentially more dangerous so hooking myself into the tie downs on the dink was actually the safer option.

The pass is only 1/4 mile wide so at this point I figure if this is the worst it gets, we’re good…soooo good. Well, of course you know everything gets worse before it gets better, right? Just as we get to the lagoon side of the pass and the water starts to settle down we are hit with 5 full knots of current right on the nose. Behind us are those pesky 2 meter swells that are now catching up to us because we are only going .8 knots and they are coming in much faster than that. I’m still on the bow attached to the dink looking back to the aft of the boat and all I see are these crashing waves coming toward the stern. Dan pours on the throttle and we keep pounding through. The last thing we want is one of those waves to crash over the stern. It wouldn’t necessarily sink us but it would be a mess down below. With each wave I’m holding my breath and saying a prayer. I can hear Dan talking to Dazzler through the headset. I can see the look of determination on his face and can hear him as he somewhat forcefully encourages her to keep moving forward.

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Yes, it is a rather stressful fifteen minutes getting through the pass and just when we thought it wasn’t going to let us out we popped through on the inside of the lagoon. Way to go Dazzler! She rocks and her Captain is a hero for his amazing seamanship skills! We’ve since decided that next time we’ll wait for slack tide. And the good news is that we know Dazzler is capable of doing it if needed. Let’s just hope she doesn’t need it again anytime soon.

Once on the inside the water goes almost completely flat. It’s crazy. You go from churned up two meter, square waves with whirlpools to dead calm. That’s one thing that is so wild here. Just 1/4 mile of land separates us from the Pacific Ocean. Outside of the lagoon you can hear the giant waves crashing on the shore yet inside it’s flat as can be. At anchor the boat hardly moves. Yes, Mother Nature is pretty awesome.

Before leaving Kauehi we had an issue with the main refrigerator. It stopped cooling! This is NOT something you want to happen when you are hundreds of miles from a marine supply store. Fortunately for us we also have a 42 quart Engels refrigerator/freezer on board. Sometimes we curse it for the power it takes to run it but it gives us a lot of extra freezer space, it keeps beer ice cold and it’s a great backup.

After our ordeal entering the pass we celebrate with a couple of our traditional anchor down beers and then Dan goes to work. After two hours of work he finally got the main refrigerator and freezer back online. Yippee! I know I say it all the time but I’m convinced there is nothing this man can’t fix. Of course getting it fixed was only half the battle. Then we had to put the boat back together because with any boat project there’s parts everywhere and stuff that’s been taken out of storage lying about. Once that was done we showered and ate a can of soup and chicken salad before crashing. It was a long day but we are here and the fridge works!

Until Next Time…

Jilly & Dan

P.S. Dan said to be sure I tell you the fridge is now at 10° and we are making ice!!! Of course I was making ice in the Engels anyway but now maybe we can make some banana daiquiris with the fresh bananas we have hanging on the stalk on the arch out back.