Tuomotus - The Danger Islands

Monday 9th July 2007

Fliss…

Grib file downloaded and all is looking good so we’re off to the Tuomotus! The forecast is for light winds today and tomorrow but the winds will return on Wednesday, knowing our luck they will be too strong and we won’t be able to visit the Atolls. Pete and I are in total agreement that if the conditions are not near perfect then we will by-pass them and head for Tahiti. They are also known as the Dangerous Islands and many boats have been lost on them.
Our friends Graham & Judy visited Aritika (the atoll we are planning on visiting) and had a bit of a fun time when their anchor chain got wrapped around a coral head it took them a whole dive tank to free the anchor. We have a map that Roy drew us showing exactly where to anchor, which is opposite the village shop.

Anchor up at 08:30am and we motored past our friends to say goodbye. Do-It are also leaving today and will shortly be following us out.

Pete …………

The route out of the anchorage took us directly into the breeze and we got the mainsail up. Having borne-away around the headland, we decided to get the cruising chute up and so all the lines and halyards were made ready and I hoisted in inside its snuffing sock. The top of the sail was twisted and the sock would not rise to let the sail fly and so I let the sail back down and re-arranged. On the second hoist, the snap-shackle that attaches the halyard to the sail caught on the rigging and unsnapped it. The sail fell neatly on my head and the halyard went straight to the top of the mast. So, another trip to the top of the mast for me that had to be done up the front of the mast since we already had the mainsail set. This involved excruciating contortions around radar, radar-reflector and jumper-stays before I eventually reached the loose halyard and retrieved it. Finally, we had the chute up and flying nicely and we whipped along at 7-8 knots. Later, DoIt called us and I mentioned my escapades. They said “Oh, yes. It has happened to us. We are going to make little leather boots for our shackles to stop it happening. We will make extra for you guys”.

The wind eventually died at dusk and we decided to make life easy and charge the batteries so we motored overnight.

Tuesday 10th July 07

Fliss…

At 7am the winds returned so we shook the reefs out of the main and pulled out the jib at the moment we are sailing along at around 5 knots.

Last night I heard a desperate squalk, I think it was a sea bird which was bobbing on the sea and had been grabbed by a shark, my money was on the shark!.

Just heard from Rob & Lilly they are having a nightmare journey due to lack of wind and are being towed at the moment. Over the last 48 hours they have only managed 120 miles. Our heart really does go out to this lovely couple.

Thursday 12th July 2007

We have had a good passage so far with only a little rain and squally weather yesterday evening for a couple of hours. Today is back to bright sunshine and 6+ knots. We listen to DoIT and Promesa on SSB at 8am each morning and measure DoIt at 90 miles behind us - not bad work considering that they left only an hour after us!

We have decided to give Aratika a miss and go to Kauehi instead. The reason for this is the page in Charlies Charts that states that the pass is tricky and has only 2m depth at low water, (Nadezhda draws 2 metres). We would expect to arrive tomorrow morning at low water and - of course - it's Spring tides. Also, Charlie states that the pass should only be attempted by those with previous experience of atoll passes. We would be going in against the sun as well and so we thought it not wise to attempt it this time around.

Kauehi is supposed to be much easier and so we will go there instead. It is also a bit further and so we will not have to wait around so long for slack(ish) water.

Friday 13th July 2007

We have just arrived at Kauehi (15 degrees, 57 South, 145 degrees 10 West).

As dawn broke, the atoll appeared as a line palm trees about 4 miles away. The radar proved invaluable since the response back from the low lying land was a picture that looked exactly like the chart. This was very comforting and allowed us to steer confidently during the night with both vision and range finder.

We planned to get to the pass at about 08:30LT since we think that this is an hour before low water and we wanted to have a little current against us rather than flushing us headlong into the atoll. We hit the time almost exactly after a good 6-7 knot run overnight. We based our tidal calculations on WXTide measurements for Rangiroa (minus 10 minutes) and learned today on SSB that other people are basing their assumptions on somewhere else in the Tuomotus - a name that I keep on missing and would not be able to spell anyway. Brian & Judy on Ursa Minor are in the vicinity - we thought they had already arrived. They are planning on coming through the pass at 11:00 with a little tidal flow with them.

What we actually found was that we arrived when there was a distinct outflow but we decided to have a crack at the entrance anyway. The Northern side of the channel was a boiling mass of white water and the Southern side was calm so we stayed just South of the centreline. The compass was useless as the currents were taking us this way and that and Fliss was reading GPS headings to me as I tried to keep to the 45 degrees (T) line of entry. We made quite slow progress against the 5 knot current until the bottom shelved off to 20 metres again and we were

through our first atoll pass.

We're through!!!

The pass from the safe side!

We have had a very good passage overall with calm seas and a breeze to keep us moving along at a good clip without being too strong. Absolutely wonderful and the first views of the atoll are stunning with lots of marine life around Naz.

We decided to anchor just South of the pass and have a nosy around before making way for the village across the other side later today.

1000 metres to zero - "The Dangerous Islands"









Ursa Minor came through the pass about 2 hours after us and reported only a knot against them and no ruffled water. They stopped by us for a rest and breakfast whilst we went off for a walk on the Motu. The seaward side has shallows extending for about 200 metres and then a vertical drop to 1 kilometre depth. One of the reasons that these are called the dangerous archipelago.

At 12:30 we headed off for the village and went past the entrance channel again in order to pick up the rear transit on the South side of the pass. Ursa Minor upped anchor 10 minutes behind and followed us across. The village on the other side is impossible to spot until really quite close and a few houses on a motu inside the atoll look as if they should be the place to head for. Ursa Minor called up on VHF asking if we knew where we were going and why we were heading on a compass course 10-15 degrees above the one stated in the pilot book. We told them about the rear bearing and also noted that the GPS bearing was dead-on since the current was pushing us NW. We have not told them that we also had the chart plotter on and were simply following the line on the map! I think we might have earned some salty sea-dog navigation points!

The village has not a lot apart from a shop that claimed to be open all hours and was well and truly shut. The surroundings are extremely beautiful with cyan waters bordering the soft white sand on the shore. Above this are the ubiquitous coconut palms and other broad leaved flowering shrubs.

We went to introduce ourselves to "Happy Monster" owned by a Dutch couple (Hans and Dorie) who bought their boat 5 years ago to go cruising - same time as us. They have been popular people in other anchorages and we thought we would say hello. They invited us on board and were very pleasant. Hans pointed-out that these atolls are volcanic cones that are absolutely vertical from the sea-bed 1.5 kilometres below. The thought is quite amazing that we are sitting on the top of one in a boat - and.... there are lots of these mountains in the Tuomotus Archipelago!

Saturday 14th July 2007


We listened to DoIt.... and Promesa on the SSB this morning. Both of them are due to get to the pass at midday and so Promesa have also managed to gain a day on DoIt....'s passage time. Both expressed concern at entering the pass and were comparing notes on the time when they thought low water was. We called Promesa on the VHF and gave them "local knowledge" about the fact that, regardless of how much tide they have behind them, there is a great expanse of 30m depth and nothing to hit on the far side. We also told them that the disturbed water on the inside at 12:30 yesterday was fairly insignificant and that they could probably make it in with no issue until at least 13:30 today.

We are now looking forward to meeting DoIt... and ribbing them gently about their passage time. I will suggest that they have a lever in their bilges that is otherwise known as a hand-brake - they must let it off before setting sail. We will point out that Promesa made time a day faster than them and, once everyone has arrived here at the anchorage, Fliss will be awarding rosettes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. I will receive 1st place from Fliss on behalf of Nadezhda (Aka Na-HUKA-dezhda) and the Booby prize will go to DoIt... in the form of a set of Go-Faster Stripes and a bunch of over-ripe bananas (as donated by Ursa Minor).
We will keep picking the scab of DoIt...'s performance until we are well and truly hated.

The worst part for poor Angus and Ruth on DoIt…. Was that they came through the pass at the same time as Promesa and were then left eating wake as Promesa stormed across the lagoon ahead of them.

We went into town and bought some bread n stuff and Fliss asked the shopkeeper whether she wanted the spare limes that we are unable to deliver (given to us by Roy). We took them over and the shop was closed but another local took us to the shopkeepers house. She invited us in and we spent the afternoon drinking coffee and also fresh coconut milk from coconuts that she had asked a friend to get. With our Sprfranglias, we understand that she is now retired (at 51) and came here from Tahiti with her husband. Her husband owns the local Black Pearl farm and was away on business in Tahiti - she runs the local shop as this appears to be the centre of village life and obviously the local gossip centre and position of authority. They own four houses that they rent in Tahiti, 2 lorries in Tahiti, a large van parked on the drive of their immaculate home and are therefore not short of a penny. It seems that they regularly commute to Tahiti and Raitea (where her family come from) by plane for a modest £165 a throw. The village were throwing a Bastille party in the evening and she told us that all the yachties were invited.

We all congregated at about 18:00 and it was not long before we were invited to join the village at the local school where trestle tables were set-out. 4 large pigs had been smoked and roasted on spits all day and other foods included rice, a pink potato salad, a traditional fish-dish and a can of soft drink. We queued-up canteen style after the women and children had been served and the food was very tasty. Afterwards, plates of cake were passed round the tables. All the time, Nicole, the shopkeeper/matriarch, made sure that we were all ok and sat and chatted with us.

Kauehi Village......








We were told that the dancing would begin after the meal and we made our way to the outside disco. Well, none of the locals appeared to be up for late-night frivolities but our group of yachties sat on a bench and nattered for a couple of hours before slowly trying to negotiate around the coral-heads back to the boats in the dark.

Sunday 15h July 2007

This morning, Brian and Judy (Ursa Minor) came over and we nagged for a while over tea. Brian wanted to pick my brains about his Iridium e-mail that wasn't working and we messed with computers whilst Fliss & Judy went snorkelling on the reef. Brian and I had some luck and managed to get his computer talking to the phone but it now seems that he needs to talk to GMN since the remote computer does not want to talk to him. Fliss came back very enthusiastic about the marine life here and the quality of the coral and so we will go again tomorrow morning.

We keep getting invited to either join people for evening snifters, pot-luck dinghy raft-up or moving to other anchorages here in the atoll. It is making things difficult for us to leave.

Fliss…

We spent a lovely evening with Brian & Judy relaxing and drinking gin & grapefruit juice (with ice!) in the spacious cockpit. Judy was a tax attorney in the British Virgin Islands and Brian I believe a Charter Captain. (Judy is also a qualified Captain) They gave me a huge polished shell to add to my collection, very nice couple and we hope to meet up again with them in Tahiti.

Monday 17th July 2007

Well, we decided that we really did need to move today over to the anchorage near the pass to be ready to catch slack-water at high tide. A real shame as we have had the most memorable time, great company, welcoming friendly islanders and the scenery was mind blowing stuff! It really was the most beautiful place we have seen. The snorkelling was wonderful, tiny electric blue fish, fish the same colour as the water (baby blue) yellow fish with pointy black noses, all of them very delicate and whilst swimming they are all around and not all concerned. The clams imbedded into the coral had colourful purple-latticed lips, amazing!

Brian, Judy, Blanca, Leo, Hans, Dori and Pete and I went for a snorkel before we left at midday, the water was much colder than yesterday so we were only in the water an hour or so.

Nadezhda packed up, we lifted the anchor to find we had lifted a huge lump of coral, had we been sitting on this or had we scooped it up when lifting the anchor?

We arrived at the anchorage around 4pm and we couldn’t see a thing as the sun was too low and it had started to cloud over.

To be honest we should have arrived earlier when the sun was in the right position to see the reefs and coral heads. We weren’t really happy as we didn’t really know what was around us (we had a rough idea as it was close to where we had anchored when we arrived) and the wind was picking up and we were on a lee shore.

Before we left the anchorage we popped over to buy some bread and say goodbye to Nicol. Whilst digging out some frozen loafs she asked if we wanted some fish as a gift. We tried to decline but she was adamant that they were delicious and we should try them, four fishes later and a fond farewell we headed back to Nadezhda. We fried them in garlic, butter and mixed herbs and she was right they were really tasty!.

Nicole nee Hunter.......






Fliss….

Brian & Judy had lent us “Borat the movie” to watch so after we had washed up we settled down and thoroughly enjoyed a politically incorrect film.

Pete wasn’t too happy with where we were so he decided to sleep in the cockpit and I retired into the saloon to keep a listen out for our anchor watch alarm which was at it’s lowest setting.
Knowing Pete as I do once he falls asleep he doesn’t hear a thing so I put myself on anchor watch for the night, I will be very happy when dawn comes and we can head off out through the pass.

Pete and I have had a truly wonderful time and are sad to be leaving but onwards and upwards, Tahiti here we come!.