Apataki -Toau - Tuamotu 7 July 2024

It was a windy night and we had some swell so it was not that comfortable. I got up a couple of times to check things were ok and the anchor was holding well and we were still lying to the wind which was fine and meant we were not swinging around with any tide.

We woke to a greyish day with the wind still howling and it was a slight range of tones that rise up and down depending on its strength and I have become used to its music which has been constant for about 7-10 days now. The good thing about the anchorage is that we could see all that was going on with the passe. I had calculated slack water about 11.45am which was in line with the guestimator and Ahe and Rangiroa but out of kilter with the nearest atoll Arutua which has a tide station, You would think that as they were so close it would be in line but no -it was hours out.

We decided therefore to keep an eye on the passe and then make a decision when to leave. We could see the tide going out and the water was surging past the red post we could see and creating its own waves. I tried to fix the cockpit lights which are on a dimmer. I think it got some spray inside and they will come on but the lights then flicker. I took the switch out and looked at the wires and all looked fine. I took each of the four wires out and cleaned them and put them back but no joy. I think it may be the dimmer switch so this will have to wait until Tahiti. I refilled the generator with coolant. I did a load of emails and admin which build up. We then had time to read and keep an eye on the passe.

The passe has a narrow channel between two reefs and the water runs hard through this narrow channel. We saw a yacht come in about 10.00am and he took his time and was clearly fighting against a strong current. We watched him inching forwards about 1.5 kts as we put our chart plotter on and watched him on AIS on our screens. He made it through and the tide was still rushing out by the red post.

By about 11.00am it was clearly slowing down and at 11.15 am we saw a yacht coming toward the passe before us and watched as he exited going considerably faster than the boat which had come in as he was going with the current. We upped anchor about 11.30am and took a bit of time as we had 2 fenders attached to the anchor chain which we had to take off. It came up well and we had not caught any bommies.

We then edged over to the passe and entered the narrow channel. We had a bit of current with us and we had timed this well a going through the channel and the rest of the passe was not difficult but it could be in string current. We passed the village and it was a shame we did not visit. It would have been difficult and there was no anchorage near the village which we could use.

We continued out through the passe which extends about 0.5nm out to sea. It was a sunny day by now and as we got further out the wind increased and we were in the swell again. We put up a bit of main (3 reefs) and staysail and sailed our best course to wind we could. We made a reasonable speed but we were about 20 degrees off our course for the entrance to Toau the next atoll. We had to continue on our course if we wanted to sail as if we tacked we would hit the south side of Apatiki which was mostly under water.

We sailed on in quite hard conditions -2-3meter swells and 19-25 kt winds and beating or sailing as close to the wind  as you can. We did more then 10nm and then tacked for an hour but with the timing issues of it getting dark by about 5.30am we had to tack back. We did the best course we could and were going quite fast in these conditions with spray on the deck. We continued until 5nm from the entrance and in order to make it in the light we turned on the engine and put away the sails and motored directly for the entrance of the passe at Toau.

Toau is a rectangular atoll between Apataki and Fakarava.  It has many wooden mutus along the NW ad NE sides and dangerous submerged reefs on the southern side. We were aiming for Anse Aymot which is about 3nm from the northern extremity on the northwest side It is a slot in the reef which is really a cul de sac blocked by a coral bank across the inner side. It is well protected hence why so many yachts were there when we arrived.

We arrived at about 5.00pm and to our dismay there were about  8 yachts here already. We saw that they were all on mooring buoys and that meant they had taken most of the anchoring spaces which left us little room. We motored around a bit and I thought well the only space is in the middle as like last night we are probably just going to be blown one way by the wind. We therefore picked a spot at the back and anchored. We had two reefs either side but enough room even if we swung to not hit them.

Once settled we sorted ourselves out and had a beer and then supper was chilli (tinned but quite good – yes we are down to tins now and did not catch any fish today) with mash potato and red cabbage. It had been a good day but frustrating that we could not sail directly to our destination. We may think to move on tomorrow to Fakarava.

The picture of the day is coming out of the passe today at Apataki.

Crewing Opportunity Year Two

In addition, in year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and probably across the Indian Ocean to Cape Town and I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we move through French Polynesia and beyond.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk