Planning our journey on from the Tuamotus to Tahiti, one little island on the chart caught our attention. Makatea, 4 miles across: not a coral atoll like the Tuamotus, nor a volcanic peak like the Marquesas, but a flat topped ancient atoll which was lifted out of the sea 60 million years ago when Tahiti's volcano erupted.
Makatea stands alone, 60 miles away from the Tuamotus and 150 miles from Tahiti, and not far off our route between the two. The sea shelves very steeply just off its shore to 400m deep and more.
From our pilotage information about French Polynesia we learnt that there are 3 mooring buoys on the leeward side of the island, in 50m depth, just as the reef shelves up steeply. We also found a phone number for Julien, the mayor of the village who is willing to show people round. So we rang him up and arranged to get in touch on our arrival. We set off from Rangiroa at tea time, out through the pass in gentler conditions than our arrival, and set sail overnight for Makatea.
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