In the middle of October we arrived on the atoll of Makemo. We sailed across from Fakarava in the company of another boat called Lady Carolina. It was a lovely sail with a brisk northerly wind pushing us along at about 7kts. The only downside was that the weather was a bit squally so several times the winds picked up and we had heavy rain and poor visibility. But they only lasted for half an hour, otherwise it was perfect.
We entered the lagoon through the east pass which is known for some very strong currents and eddies and commonly has standing waves across the entrance. It’s not hard to navigate but you need to get your tides right! We came in on low tide, it was a bit lumpy at the beginning but we had a pretty smooth ride. Steve and Kyle from Lady Caroline came out in their dinghy to help guide us in.
The village of Poiheva (at the eastern pass) is quite affluent by Tuamotu standards. It is a principal commune and as such has a tarmac road, a post office, a high school and an airport. It also has the obligatory boulangerie and a couple of other shops, one restaurant and no pearl shops! We have finally got beyond the reach of tourists! The village is great for stocking up and gets positively busy just after the plane has landed and fresh veggies are in the shops.
The anchorage at Poiheva can be quite uncomfortable in a southeastly so when the wind changed a few days later, we motored to the SE end of the atoll to shelter in the lee of the motu. It was our first experience of sailing through an uncharted lagoon so we had to keep a close watch out for coral bombies (coral heads). On a bright day with the sun behind you the big ones are easy to spot; first as a white line just below the horizon which, as you get closer, glows like an emerald on dark blue velvet. Closer still when you can see the beige of the reef top you’d better start changing course!!
Iolani, Flashgirl and Lady Carolina and a couple of other boats were already in the anchorage. It was a pretty spot with a beach with lovely fine white sand. We had a few beach bonfires but the weather was pretty grotty. After a couple of days we moved up the coast to an anchorage on the NE side of the island which we had to ourselves. The motu here is very narrow and it is easy to walk across to the windward side – what a contrast from the hot, tranquil sandy beaches of the leeward side. The beach is a lunar landscape of sharp grey chunks of coral debris with occasional bright green blotches of some hardy succulent plant. The white surf breaks on the edge of the reef and the tide swirls into orange rock pools on the reef shelf. It is a remote, colourful windswept scene, quite breathtaking.
We enjoyed snorkelling on the coral bommies, the water is superbly clear and aquamarine from the sandy bottom. While in Hirifa Liza had showed me how to harvest clams from the reef. The clams are quite beautiful, they look like puckered up pasties with luscious, neon blue lips along the open wavy seam. I’ve become quite a dab hand at prizing them off the rocks and then out of their shells . . flash fried with onions and garlic they taste pretty good and make a nice change from parrotfish!
Normally reef sharks ignore divers and snorkelers completely, but the sharks here hover around, circling or following you. Spearfishing is very popular with the local people in the Tuamotus and an important source of food. I guess the sharks see a human and hang around waiting for a catch. They keep a reasonable distance away, but nonetheless it can be quite alarming. So when we see a shark we’ll keep an eye on it. The other day we spotted a large whitetip but before it got close some sort of jack about a tenth of it’s size intercepted it and chased it away. The fish pursued the shark for a couple of minutes, it was unbelievable!
At the end of October we departed Makemo and bid farewell to the Tuamotus. We had a five day passage to the Marquesas archipelago, once again in the company of Lady Carolina and another yacht Cattiva. Once again the weather was a bit squally, we had E- ESE winds so the sailing was good for our NE course to FatuHiva.
Suzy and Neil