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American Spirit II - Day 103; Tuomoto Islands Summary, Departed Rangiroa to Moorea, Almost Whale Collision?, Lightning & Full Orange Moon Rise; Wednesday, April 16, 2014



Since we're leaving Rangiroa this morning early, I thought I'd summarize my thoughts regarding the Tuomotos Archipelago, or Dangerous Archipelago. We visited two atolls, Ahe and Rangiroa; entering and leaving thru passes with a lot of current; as much as 4.5 knots; against and with the current. However, the French mark these passes quite well with range markers, and I believe the use of the word 'dangerous' is overstated and no longer applicable. Exciting would be a better word. Our electronic charts were quite accurate, more so than the Galapagos. The biggest surprise in these atolls was the size of the coral heads, which on Ahe rise up from 40 and 120 feet to within 10 feet of the surface or less. And having your anchor chain wrap around one of these coral heads can lead to an extended period of extricating your anchor and chain when you depart. One boat took 3 to 4 hours to free themselves from Manihi Atoll, and another with us in Ahe took 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Instead of the 'Dangerous Archipelago' they should call these atolls the 'Dangerous Anchorages.' Even in Rangiroa it took us 24 minutes to weigh anchor, in shallower, clearer water with less threatening and smaller coral heads to contend with than we had in Ahe.



Drift snorkeling thru Ahe was better than Rangiroa because the water was clearer, the coral 'better' and the fish and sharks more abundant in the pass. However, Rangiroa had 'The Aquarium' on a motu just inside of the pass that had more species of fish I didn't recognize nor could I find them in the dive cards I bought. Plus giant moray eels and sharks that would swim from the deep side of the motu to the reef and shallow area, pick off a fish, then retreat back to the deep side. Or as some would say, the 'dark side.' The Black Tipped sharks are very graceful and non-threatening and a treat to watch swim around, even swimming around us. The Giant Clams on both atolls were a sight to see, with the muscles being white, black, brown, purple, turquoise or blue in color.



The one day excursion in Rangiroa across the lagoon was excellent, and other boats besides us took the same tour and were equally impressed. And visiting the Pearl Farm in Ahe was quite revealing.



If you are a diver and serious snorkeler, then Rangiroa is a place for you. And the accommodations at the Kia Ora hotel were first rate, with bungalows over the water.



Back to the log. Up at 5:20 AM just as the rain was ending. We weighed anchor from 6:05 AM to 6:29 AM. Our chain was stuck under or around a shallow coral head, necessitating a Joel swim to give directions to maneuver the boat to escape the snag. Follie a Deux weighed anchor with no problem and exited the anchorage with us. By 6:45 AM we were out the pass, with a 3.5 knot current with us. We were going 9.5 knots over the ground at only 2,000 RPM thrust. Looking behind us at Folie a Deux, a catamaran, they did some serious bouncing in the waves at the entrance to the pass.



Since the wind was 3 knots, we motor sailed at 1,600 RPM. At that RPM setting we can average 5.5 knots and consume only .6 gallons of diesel per hour. We need to average 6.2 knots to reach Moorea before sunset on Thursday.



Once clear of the pass and sufficiently off shore, we emptied the holding tank, what some call the 'black water' tank; then started making water with our Spectra water maker. Took 5 or 6 hours to fill the half empty water tank at 6.0 GPH (gallons per hour).



Breakfast at 7:45 AM. Eggs, fruit cocktail and French bread.



At 9:05 AM we turned south around the northernmost point of Rangiroa. Besides Follie a Deux, two other boats were in proximity of us and heading in the same general direction: Firefly and Skylark. At 10:30 AM we were positioned between Rangiroa and Tikehau to our west. The gap between the two islands was about 7 miles. No problem.



At 10:30 AM Joel saw either two small whales, gray in color, or 2 Risso Dolphins, really large dolphins; about 15-20 feet in length. The two mammals went under the water and did not come up again as far as we could see. One of them was 20 feet off the starboard side; and the other 50 feet off the starboard bow. We could have easily hit them. What's 20 feet in the Pacific Ocean?



We flew the spinnaker for a while, then doused it as we could only get 3.7 to 4.0 knots of boat speed out of it.



At 4:30 PM we sighted the island of Makatea off the port bow; 15 miles away.



During the afternoon we had two different types of swells. Wind driven swells, that come up from behind us and were very small, 1 or 2 feet. And Southern Ocean swells, that were very broad and 7 or 8 feet in height. Joel mentioned that they could be from a storm down New Zealand way.



At 6:00 PM we had an informal radio net hosted by American Spirit. First time I hosted a net. Four boats participated besides us: Firefly, Follie a Deux and Skylark. At that time besides giving our positions, we also gave out our destinations. We're heading to Baie de Cook on Moorea; and Firefly and Skylark are heading to the bay 2.5 miles to the west of Cook's Bay, called Baie de Opunohu. Follie a Deux is heading to Tahiti via Passe de Papeete, with their destination the Marina Taina.



There was no green flash at sunset as the horizon was covered with rain clouds.



The (almost) full moon rose out of the ocean at 7:11 PM, large and orange in color. It was a splendid sight, and the type of thing you hope to see when at see.



Lot of rolling with the wind, light as it is, behind us. Due in large part to the South Ocean swells attacking us from our port side.



We caught up with Skylark and passed Firefly during the early evening.



During the 9:00 PM to midnight watch there were two large white lightning flashes. No bolt. No noise. Just large white light flashes. Two of them. Fortunately they were to starboard and downwind of where we were. Big cumulus clouds in that directions. Lighting on the open sea is something to be avoided.



Brian Fox


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