Two More Tuamotus

1. Tahanea Atoll

After our very slow, frustrating, drift/sail we arrived early in the morning and could see land 12nm out. We were a little early for the tides so we motored around for a bit doing some fishing, while we waited for the right moment to enter through the cut (as usual, nothing caught). With the sun out and good, clear visibility we went in through the cut, staying slightly to the left of the visible current. The turbulence in the water briefly blocked the transducers, and the depth read went blank momentarily! A little scary but thankfully short lived. We turned right as we came in through the passage and there was no one in the anchorage so we had our pick of spots. We were able to find a good patch of sand and deployed our chain floats fairly expertly. Ollie on Mai Tai was leading the way, anchored close by and jumping straight in the water to check out both of our anchors. Time to catch up on sleep.

Following Mai Tai through the main Tahanea Pass

Tahanea is an uninhabited atoll, a nature reserve. Although there are a few seasonal workers living here, fishing and harvesting coconuts for copra, there is no village, no phone signal, no shops. Just us and nature, plenty of sea life and birdlife. Sadly the native trees are being removed to plant coconuts for commercial purposes. Humans can’t seem to leave anything alone if there is money to be made.

​Snorkelling the cut

We entered this atoll via the Teavatapu Pass, and this was the first pass or “cut” where we did a “drift snorkel” - a trademark experience of the Tuamotus. The cuts or passes are natural openings in the atolls where tidal currents flow in and out of the enclosed lagoons. Yachts can enter and exit the atolls of course, and the incoming water is rich in nutrients, so sea-life abounds in these passages. Here we can see colourful and healthy coral gardens and a variety of fish of all sizes, progressing up the food chain.

Coral Garden, Tahanea Main Cut

You have to time your swim so that speed of the flow of water is just right. Not so fast that your view is in fast forward, not too slow so that you have work hard to kick and swim. Just after slack tide, we took the dinghy to the outside edge of the pass to catch the incoming current. It seemed a bit rough at first so I stayed in the dinghy and watched the boys for a bit, but eventually jumped in and just held onto the painter. The timing was just right, very little effort required as the tide gently takes you along towards the inside of the atoll. It’s like a scenic railway with the underwater scenery passing below you as you drift slowly by. It’s interesting to see how deep the channel is after coming through it. Its shallow close to the shore where most of the fish and coral are, then it drops off steeply into the abyss in the middle. Next comes the challenge of getting back into the dinghy from the water. The trick here is to leave your fins on and kick like mad to propel yourself vertically upwards so you can get enough of your upper body over the edge of the pontoon. Then follows a rather undignified scramble to swing a leg over the pontoon so you can flop into the dinghy. That takes a little practice!

What a catch! (I mean the fish...)

Ollie brought a fishing rod with him so we did a little dinghy fishing. Within minutes of casting a line he had caught a Sweet Lips but after deftly removing the hook, threw it back. He was concerned it looked too big and old and probably had Ciguatera. Ciguatera is a toxin that is produced by a marine algae that is eaten by reef fish, who are in turn eaten by bigger fish. The toxin accumulates in the food chain and the bigger and older a reef fish is, the more likely it is to have a good dose of the toxin. Ingesting the toxin leads to diarrhea, vomiting, numbness, itchiness, sensitivity to hot and cold, dizziness, and weakness. Symptoms can be quite severe and poisoning can even be fatal! Best to play it safe and stick to pelagic fish! Or like us, and never catch any fish…

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​Copra Shed Anchorage

An eel trying to hide in the lagoon

When we arrived we were the only 2 boats, but now there are 14 boats! We decided to move down to the Copra Shed anchorage in the east, for a change of scenery. We upped anchor without major incident and had a really easy run down, good visibility and bommies were well marked on the charts, apart from one close to the start of the shelf. The sand patches are huge and bommies well-spaced so we could find a spot where we didn’t need to float our chain. It’s a stunning anchorage with an false cut and a sand spit nearby. There are some copra farmers ashore and one other boat here. After lunch we put the drone up to get a birds eye view, and then go for a SUP. Although it looks like a sandy beach ashore, it is actually coral gravel. Its really tough to walk on, even in reef sandals. We walk around the sandspit, and into the small lagoon between the fringing reef and the inside of the atoll. In the trees there are some boobies nesting and we spot one gorgeously fluffy baby bird that looks like a ball of fairy floss with a beak!  I snorkel on some small coral bommies closer to shore and a couple of small black tips are swimming around the back of the boat. A group of 5 remoras has also taken up residence, waiting for scraps.

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ITIKI at the Copra Shed Anchorage, false cut and lagoon in the background

​Overnight the wind switched north and the anchorage got pretty bouncy. With a westerly expected it was only going to get worse so we decided to move back to the East Cut anchorage. A few other boats have moved across here as well. We were expecting the trip back to be bumpy but it was ok, and again bommies were easy to spot.
 
We went for a drift snorkel through the East Cut. Water was flowing pretty fast but the amount of coral was amazing, even though we scooted past it so quickly!

The next day was very calm so we went with Ollie outside the atoll in the dinghy and snorkeled the drop-off on the windward side of reef. It was interesting to see as it really does disappear into the abyss. These atolls really are anomalies, shallow lagoons that emerge from the very deep waters of the pacific. There was more sea-life closer to shore in the shallows. Did another drift through the east cut as well, this time from inside to outside as the tide was going out and saw much more coral and life on the east side.

​One more motu - off to Fakarava

Looking over the bow as we cross the east cut

Well it is time to leave Tahanea and move on to our final atoll in the Tuamotus. Having surveyed it from underwater as we snorkeled it several times, we agreed it was safe to exit via the east cut, even though it is not a marked passage on the charts. We motored out while I kept a lookout on the bow, the water was so clear I could clearly see the coral garden passing below us. We are heading to the northern end of Fakarava where there us town, as we need a few provisions and Ollie is out of beer. Its 90 nm so we will do an overnight passage at "normal" speed.

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