Tuamotus

We spent 3 ½ tough days with a beam sea and winds to get to the Tuamotus.  The boat was always on its ear, and everyone was hanging on.  These are a group of coral atolls. The highest structures are some scattered coconut trees, and the lowest structures are submerged reefs just below the surface of the water.  The atoll rings, which are made up of coral growth on the remnants of ancient volcanoes, are littered with the decaying and battered hulls of ships that misjudged a little and ran aground without any land in sight.

Our goal was to make landfall on Takaroa a small atoll on the North end of the chain.  The fact that it was our first atoll approach and we were doing it at night made it extra exciting.  We actually found it quite easily with a bright moon and radar.  We headed for the pass which was supposed to have lighted markers.  We found the pass, but the markers were not lit and the wind started blowing through it at 30 knots.  This made standing on deck difficult and the thought of threading through a coral pass in the darkness unpleasant.  The guide indicated an anchorage area next to the pass so we thought we would try it at dawn.  We maneuvered into 40 ft. of water and dropped the anchor, but the wind was so strong that it blew us back off soundings before our anchor got to the bottom.  We spent the next hour bobbing around in high wind and seas trying to get 250 feet of chain and 100 feet of rope up and back on board from 1500 ft. depth.  Tired, and not wanting to try that again, we motored back and forth offshore trying to stay close enough to shore to avoid the waves but far enough to avoid running aground waiting until dawn.

The pass became apparent in the light and we headed in with dock lines ready and the wind now blowing at 35 knots.  It became quickly apparent that normal dock lines were not going to work since there were no cleats and only stone pillars 100 ft. from the edge of the dock to tie to.  With the wind threatening to pin us to the dock for days and no way to get the boat tied up quickly, we decided to turn around in the narrow pass and get out while we still could.  We made a quick and uneventful exit with the engine screaming.  We were very tired, and had accomplished nothing so we set a course for Manihi, the next atoll, about 60 miles away. We were on a true downwind course, and sailed wing and wing making the distance in less than 8 hours.  The seas were too wild for the spinnaker.

We found Mahini easily and entered the pass with only moderate wind.  We had some friends on Wai O Tera who we had talked to on the radio before.  They helped us on the dock with the lines and getting us secured.  The current runs out of the pass at 3-4 knots most of the time and at 9 knots during the ebb since waves breaking over the opposite reef fill the atoll up with only one way to get out.

Manihi is a friendly little town with nice people so we decided to donate more of our medical supplies here.  I went to find the nurse and had no luck.  Upon returning to the boat without finding her I was informed that a dog has been hit by a truck and Liz had volunteered my services.  Now I have seen dogs hit by trucks before but this town had 2 roads, 1 truck and 3 or 4 cars so I’m wondering, why me.  I look at the dog which is in mild shock, has a dislocated left hip, a fractured right tibia, and a couple lacerations.   I got out all the doctor stuff and with a bag of fluids hanging from an overhead pipe, morphine borrowed from the nurse, lots of flies and a gaggle of people we fixed everything up.  But that’s not why we came here, it was for one reason, and that reason is PEARLS.

The black pearl from the black lipped oysters grow only in this area.  Pearls are our quest, and we shall not be deterred.  We checked with several town’s people and got offers to sell but only second quality - Liz knows her pearls.  We took the dinghy out to one of the several pearl farms in the atoll and found ourselves going backward much of the time until we got out of the main current.  We didn’t accomplish much since this was the wrong season and they only sell wholesale only even though Liz was ready to buy an above average amount.

The day after the dog incident, we found the nurse to give her some equipment, thank her for the morphine, and get some ointment for the dog.  Isn’t socialized medicine wonderful?  Liz got a beautiful pearl and some other stuff from a very grateful owner.  I got to look at some sick puppies from another family.

We didn’t accomplish enough with the pearls so we headed off to the big town of Papeete Tahiti to pick up mail, buy some ice cream and look for more pearls.

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