Sailing to the Tuamotu Archipelago
May 18 - 22
Sailing to Ahe
There are 500 miles between Tahuata in the Marquesas Islands and Ahe in the Tuamotu Archipelago. We figured we would average 150 miles a day giving us a traveling time of a little over three days. We just forgot one thing, which was to tell the wind to cooperate with us. It took over four days with little to no wind. It was like we were in the doldrums again. We tried sailing during the day and then motoring at night to keep the cabin temperature down when there was no wind. At one point when we did have wind on May 22nd, we had to double reef the main and roll the jib in half way. We were close hauled so the ride was pretty bouncy with a strong heel to starboard. Before we reefed the jib half way, I was trying to sleep on the starboard lazarette in the salon. I knew we were overpowered when I found myself lying on the cushion for the back of the seat rather than the seat itself. Once we rolled the jib in half way everything was fine. Everyone felt fine during the trip. No one even used any seasickness medication. Yeh!!The next day the wind held steady and we took quite a few waves over the bow. Some of the waves even splashed all the way back to the dodger and cockpit. Unfortunately there is a leak in the v-berth so the v-berth cushions were drenched for a few days. The water was caused by two sources: a leak coming from the anchor locker that we have been half-heartedly tracking down since Panama, and the two dorads (air vents to help with air circulation) on the deck above us. This time there is much so water we believe that most of the water came from the dorads. Whenever a boat is taking water over the bow it is a good idea to either turn the dorads away or close them. The only problem is remembering to attend to them when the wind picks up.
Snorkeling with a Shark - Karen's perspective
On Sunday, May 20th, during a period of no wind, Alan suggested that we all go snorkeling. And as usual the whole crew was in agreement. It was really hot and the water looked refreshing. The guys all took turns diving down as far as they could go. I did a few laps around the boat until I found out there was a Portuguese man-of-war on the starboard side of the boat. Then I stayed on the port side with everyone else. As usual there were no fish in the water, just jellyfish that were about 1" inch long. The water was crystal clear and we could see the boat's keel clearly. After about 20 minutes, I climbed back on board and watched the guys who continued to snorkel. Suddenly, Alan is at the bottom of the ladder and he says "SHARK!." Next thing he is up to the top rung of the ladder like a shot. He climbed it on his knees since his snorkeling fins were still on. Duane is right behind him and makes it to the second rung. Now there is no room for Steve and Pete on the ladder. Karen is yelling "Shark! Hurry get up the ladder." Who is about 40 feet from the boat and has the shark in between him and the boat? Pete. Steve is about 10 feet from the boat and when he gets to it, he jumps up and grabs on to the toe rail. Then he puts one foot on the ladder and the other on the side of the boat so he is out of the water. OK, now we just need Pete on board.One of the books we read mentioned that if you see a shark in the water do not urinate (hard to do when you're scared half to death) and to slowly, without splashing, swim to safety. The shark was slowly swimming back and forth around the stern of the boat. Pete waited for it to go to the other side then he slowly swam to the boat. In the meantime, Alan, Duane, and Steve have already climbed onto the deck. When Pete got to the ladder, he quickly climbed it with his flippers on.
The shark
was about 8-10 feet in length. He swam around the boat for about ½ hour.
At one point he ran into the rudder. We pulled the wooden windvane steering
rudder out of the water. We didn't want him to take a bite out of it. It look
like he was hungry. A smaller shark about 5-6 feet in length joins the first
one. This smaller shark has a rope around his stomach. Looks like he swam
through someone's fishing net. We throw a few bits of food into the water but
the sharks don't bite. What an exciting snorkeling experience!
Swimming with a Shark - Pete's perspective (Written by Pete)
Splash…splash…splash…splash…splash…now the whole crew of Rhum Punch is enjoying the warm Pacific waters somewhere between the Marquesas and Tuamotus. Alan is inspecting the hull like every good captain does when the opportunity is presents itself. Karen is swimming circles around the boat for exercise. Steve and Duane are playing around with a line that is attached to the boat. At the end of the line there is a floating plastic milk jug. We use this line to hang onto when tired. The line is about 20 -25 feet long and Steve and Duane are taking turns diving down with the milk jug as deep as they can go and then racing the rising jug to the surface. I am entertaining myself by just hanging out looking for marine life and watching Steve and Duane.I do some diving but as soon as my head is about three feet deep I begin to get a shooting pain to one of my upper molars. Oh brother, does this mean I am going to need a dentist in the sparsely populated Tuamotu Archipelago? Nope, I learn later that it is due to clogged sinuses. Wow! It sure is painful trying to dive with clogged sinuses. I do not recommend it.
After about 20 minutes and couple of minor jellyfish stings Karen decides to climb back onboard. Alan, Steve and Duane are still somewhere near the boat. I am about twenty yards away in my happy little world still looking for marine life when in a flash my little world took a turn for the worst. SHARK!! That's the kind of marine life I could do without. I first noticed the eight to ten foot terror as I turned towards the boat. SHIT! He is coming from the boat and headed in my general direction. That's when I finally take my head out of the water to see what's going on at the boat.
I can see Karen standing on the boat screaming "SHARK", while Alan, Duane and Steve are all climbing up the boat ladder at the same time with their flippers on. Steve actually climbs up the side of boat, since the ladder was a little crowded at the time. This is an amazing feat for them, because normally it is very difficult to climb the ladder on Rhum Punch even without flippers. All alone in the water except for my new swimming buddy I quickly assessed my situation. There is a shark between the boat and me. Final assessment: This is not good. Just then my swimming buddy veers off to go around me leaving me with a clear path to the boat. I have always read that splashing and quick movements only attract a shark's curiosity even more. So I am trying to use my fins under the surface while not using my arms at all to get back to the safety of the boat.
Keenly aware of where the boat is located I keep my eyes glued to the shark. The whole scene is surreal. The shark is probably ten yards away and the water is crystal clear with nothing but blue all around. A closer look at the shark reveals that he has three smaller fish about eight inches long swimming with him. They are probably just hanging out for food scraps. I hope they will be disappointed today. I feel as if I am watching this on the Discovery channel except I am all wet and genuinely fearing for my life.
From my coach potato days I remember watching a shark show that pointed out some warning signs that a shark is agitated and about to attack. One of the signs is swimming erratically up and down or in circles. This guy seems to be pretty calm, which makes him alone in that department. I did not feel it prudent to stop and ask him, "Hey, are you agitated with me?" Instead I am still making a rather straight course alone my rhumb line to the boat. As I approach the ladder I do not even think how am I going to climb this thing with flippers still on my feet. I "just do it". The Nike people would have been proud of me. It is amazing what you can do when you are properly motivated.
With everyone safely onboard we focus our attention towards taking pictures of the shark as proof that we at least saw a shark. He hangs around long enough for us to fully document him with pictures. After a while the shark disappears underneath the boat and then BANG! Splash! He attacked the wind vane steering wooden rudder. He must have been agitated with it. Since the rudder is hinged, Alan swings it up for inspection. Nothing, no damage.
Divers will talk about swimming with sharks near the shore or reefs. Typically, these sharks are less aggressive since there is an abundance of food available for them. So most shark attacks that you hear about near the shore are on surfers, who splash around a lot, or on spear fishermen, who usually have a trail of blood behind their bag of fish. It turns out that the really aggressive sharks can be found in the open ocean waters where food is harder to come by. From now on swimming off of Rhum Punch will be done with a little more caution.
Catch a Sail Fish
On Monday, May 21, both fishing lines were out. Suddenly WHEE…the one on the starboard side peels out. Alan quickly grabs it. After a short fight he brings in a 22-pound sailfish, which is about 4 feet long. Duane cleans it. Looks like we have enough fish for a couple of meals. Fresh fish is still not a problem on Rhum Punch.Ahe and Rangiroa, Tuamotu Archipelago May 22 - 28
Ahe
Finally after four and a half days, we sight Ahe, which is an atoll, a low-lying ring-shaped coral reef enclosing a lagoon. Ahe's lagoon is ten miles across. Most of the atolls only have one or two passages that boats can use to enter the lagoon. Ahe has one navigatible pass. The guide books recommend that you enter in slack tide and during the day. Since we arrived at 10 PM, we had to heave-to until the morning and then wait for slack tide. (Heave-to means to set the boat's sails and head up into the wind so that the boat moves very slowly or not at all.) The boat is also very settled in this situation so you feel as though the boat is not moving at all. It is a very comfortable ride.Around 8 AM, we get a hail on the VHF from another sailboat that we can see in the distance. The boat, Voyager, wants to know if we have looked at the conditions in the pass and when we plan on going through. I was nearest the VHF so I told Voyager that we haven't been close enough to see the conditions of the pass yet and that we are waiting until noon, which would be slack tide. Voyager replies that they are going to take a closer look. Another boat, High Drama, also gets on the VHF and asks Voyager to tell them what it is like. Next thing you know, Voyager is through the pass and High Drama is right behind them. We figure if they made it through with no problems, we should go through now too. So we did. The current was really strong and against us. We made it in with no problems. We anchored with High Drama and Voyager in front of the only village, Tenukupara on the atoll. According to the guide book, only 400 people live on Ahe and most of them are black pearl farmers.
The five of us take the dinghy to the quay and walk around the village. The walk doesn't take long. There are about six small streets. Pete and I separate from the group and walk around alone. We met a woman and eight of her nine children. She speaks a little English and we speak a little French so we don't have too deep of a conversation. We find out that her oldest child is away on another atoll for schooling since the school on Ahe is only for small children. Her house appears to be one room that is build up on cinder blocks. We don't see any furniture except a couple of mattresses. After talking for a few minutes, we move on.
After a while we meet back up with Alan, Steve and
Duane. It is hard to not run into each in such a small place. We stop and talk
to another local man near the dinghy dock. He points out to us the airline
reservation system on Ahe. Basically, you write on a piece of paper the day
that you would like to take the plane to Papeete and your name. Then you put
the piece of paper into a small wooden box next to the outdoor town bulletin
board. Once a day in the afternoon, a woman comes by the box and takes the
pieces of paper out. We didn't ask how you find out if you have a ticket or
not.
Voyager
The next morning, Voyager hails us on the VHF and asks if any crewmembers would like haircuts. We tell them we are OK in that department but Pete and I would still like to come visit because we saw that they have cats. They tell us to come on over. Alan gives us a ride in the dinghy. Rich and Sosa, the owners of Voyager, are from Florida. Before taking early retirement and starting their trip in February of 1999, they were engineers with Lockheed Martin and worked at the Cape. They have two cats on board. We talked about the space shuttle and what it was like for them to work there. They give us shuttle mission patches for everyone on Rhum Punch from one of the missions. We were also served fruit juice with ice cubes. What a treat! We don't have ice on Rhum Punch so drinks with ice are few and far between.Snorkeling and Windsurfing
Later in the day, we pull up anchor and move across the atoll to see if we can find a good snorkeling spot. The guide books mention that the Tuamotus are suppose to have fabulous snorkeling. We anchor in front of a motu (a flat reef islet) that has signs that state, "TABU". Tabu is Polynesian for no trespassing. I guess some of the islanders are tried of yachties exploring their atoll.
For the next
day and half, we all enjoy snorkeling among the coral. We see dozens of parrot
fish and numerous other fish. All the guys go windsurfing. Steve and Pete are
just beginning to get the hand of windsurfing and fall off the board quite a
bit still. After a while they both need rescuing as the wind pushes them about
a mile away. Alan has it mastered and zips back and forth across the area
numerous times.
Pearl Market
A local told us that there would be a market on Saturday and we could buy black pearls there. So on Saturday, we sailed back to the village and anchored. The market was very small with about seven vendors, two selling pearls. We bought one medium sized pearl pendent. The guys stopped to talk to some more locals on the way to the dinghy dock. I continued on to the dock where a dozen children were playing by jumping off the dock into the water and by climbing into boats tied up at the dock. One boy asked me if they could get into our dinghy so they could jump from it into the water. I said, "OK". Next thing I know four boys are in the dinghy. Then they would jump in the water, climb back into the dinghy and start again. Every once in a while, one of them would ask if he could start the engine. I said, "no". After a while Pete came over and started playing with the kids in the dinghy. He got into the dinghy and would throw them off into the water.
When the rest of the crew arrived, the kids didn't want to get out of the dinghy. In fact, we ended up motoring two of them to the boat because they were so persistent on coming with us. Three other boys swam to the boat. When we got close to the boat, we told the two in the dinghy that they had to go so they jumped into the water. As we are climbing up the ladder at the stern of the boat, the five boys are climbing up the anchor chain at the bow. I go to the bow and tell them they have to leave, but they don't move. Then they scurry by me and go to the cockpit. When they reach the cockpit, they line up and shake Pete's hand, then Alan's hand and say "bonjour". Alan tells them very sternly that they must leave and he starts the boat's engine. They return to the boat's bow and jump off. What a funny group of kids.
Snorkeling on the Outer Reef
After finally evicting the kids from the boat, we move to the outside of the atoll and anchor near the shore on the lee side. We think that we will see more sea life on the outer reefs than what we saw in the lagoon. We are right! The place is teeming with schools of fish. In fact, we spotted a few black tip reef sharks. These sharks are not aggressive. In fact, they swim away whenever we get close to them. After a few hours of snorkeling, we head on our way to Rangiroa, another atoll that we should be able to get to by morning.Rangiroa
The next day, Sunday, May 26th, we arrive at Rangiroa.
It is the Tuamotus' most populous (2,700 people) atoll and the largest in
Polynesia. Its lagoon is 46 miles long and 14 miles wide; the island of Tahiti
would fit inside its lagoon. Some 240 motus form the atoll.Before Rhum Punch enters the pass, Alan asks if anyone wants to put on his or her snorkel gear and be pulled through the pass. This would be a neat way to see the marine life on the coral reefs lining the pass. Steve, Pete and I grab our gear and jump in. We hold on to the dinghy that is being towed behind the boat. What a great ride! We did see plenty of fish.
Kia Ora Resort
After entering the lagoon, we go a few hundred yards and put down our anchor. There are about 15 other boats here. We are right in front of the Kia Ora Resort, which is top notch. If you have the money, this would be the place to stay. They have 10 bungalows over the water. The coffee tables in these bungalows have glass tops so you can see the fish swimming around below. One of the guests, a boy about 10, told us that you can lift the top up and feed the fish. Pete and I eat lunch in their open air restaurant which faces the lagoon. We have a great meal with a wonderful view. Then we rent bicycles and bike to the village, which is six miles away. That evening after dinner we pull up anchor and head toward Tahiti.