Position: 16 degrees, 02 minutes South; 142 degrees, 28 minutes West

Landfall!

We saw land at about 1000 this morning. Raroia. Funny thing about the Tuamotus, they are atolls so don’t have tall mountains or trees. Just coral, sand and palm trees. We didn’t see the atoll until we about 7 miles away versus any of the Marquesas which are visible for at least 20 miles if not more.

It was pretty exciting to make landfall in a new island group. It was also nerve wracking. These atolls have a reputation of being “ugly” to enter. The tide is emptying and filling through a very small gap in the coral and they can develop fearsome tides that can overpower even a strong boat engine. It’s not unheard of for an 8 foot standing wave to develop in the pass that can swamp you if you’re not careful.

So, it was with the proper amount of caution, fear and recklessness that we entered this morning. We had been slowed down a bit the last 24 hours and thus just got here at 1100, which was over an hour past our estimate of slack water on the ebb. I decided we would try it anyway and if it looked at all problematic, we’d turn right around and wait “outside” until the next slack water at around 1500.

So…we furled the jib and started the engine while about a mile offshore. I lined Charisma up on the entry. It’s about 100 yards wide between two breaking reefs so a little intimidating. Looking through the binoculars, I saw whitewater. OK, we’re not going. Well, the whitewater doesn’t look too bad, we’ll try it. No, let’s not. Yes, it’s worth a try. All this was going through my mind. I finally decided the pass was large enough that if it got hairy, we could pivot and head out. In we go. I’m carefully watching the depth sounder and knot meter. Depth to make sure we wouldn’t end up in shallow water up on the reef. Knotmeter to make sure the current wasn’t taking us on a sleigh ride. The currents have been known to exceed 8 knots around here. That’s at least a knot faster than Charisma can go under power. The good news: depth looked OK and the current looked about 2 knots and it was still ebbing (I still don’t know why. It should have been in a full on flood by then). The bad news-we were having to make at least a thirty degree correction in order to go straight. I’m right at the edge of my comfort zone, but it’s looking good. Let’s keep going. As we got to the “commitment zone” where turning around wouldn’t be an option, things were looking good. Here goes nothing!

All in all, it was virtually a non-event. A little tricky with the side current, but easily handled. No massive whitewater. Once inside, we turned right and followed the very obvious coral heads that were menacingly lining the path toward the little village where we wanted to anchor. We got a quick lesson in how to “read” the water colors for depth. Deep blue-good/deep. Light blue-OK, but get ready. Pale blue-you’re treading close, slow down and get ready to stop, it’s less than 15 feet deep. Sometimes,much less. Yellow/brown-If you see this it’s too late. This is the coral near the surface. You don’t want to see this, you’ll hit it.

After motoring along the reef about a mile, we found a nice little spot to anchor. There was a swath of sand about 100 feet long and 40 feet wide. It is surrounded by reef, some of which is breaking the surface of the water, but it’s a good anchorage if we can hit it just right. We circled twice just to get the feeling for how we were going to line up and on the third pass, slowed down. With Ann driving and me at the anchor in the bow, I directed us right up to the front of the sand where there was a large coral boulder. I signaled “stop and back”, Ann put us in reverse and I dropped anchor. It hit the sand spot on and we dragged chain back down the middle of the sand strip. The anchor dug in and we snugged up with about 40 feet to spare behind us where there is coral sticking up and breaking the surface. As we were waiting to make sure the anchor set, two fairly large black tip reef sharks cruised by to say; “hi”. We’re going to have to get used to those guys if we’re going to do any snorkeling. They are not supposed to be aggressive or dangerous, but just the look of them….

One more thing and this is more a tip to the future cruisers reading this. There is a large coral boulder about five feet high right toward the last 30 feet of our anchor chain. Usually this would be a concern as the chain might wrap around the coral and make hauling anchor very difficult without diving. BUT! We learned a new technique from an Aussie couple in Anaho Bay. You set the anchor, then pull up the last 1/3 (or whatever is appropriate) of chain and attach a float to the chain. We’re using a boat fender for the float. You set the fender/float so that it holds the chain just above the obstruction. So instead of the chain wrapping as you drift, the float lifts it up over the obstruction and there’s no entanglement. We’re in 30 feet and the coral rock is about 6 feet tall (a typical height for coral). So after setting the anchor with the usual scope, I hauled in about thirty feet, set the fender/float line for 18 feet (for margin of error) and hooked it with a SS carabiner to the chain, then let the chain back out and set the snubber. Later I dove the anchor to check the whole rig out and darned if it doesn’t look pretty good. The float is holding the chain just above the coral. It would definitely have wrapped without it. I’m pretty pleased with this new trick and will use it again. Charisma also seems to ride to anchor better with the extra “spring” that the floating chain seems to give (sort of a super catenary).

That’s our day. Tomorrow, we inflate the dinghy and go ashore to explore, then “Orcinius” gets here. We talked with them on the shortwave today and were pleased to hear they are just behind. We invited them over for Mahi dinner. They are coming and bringing the wine! Yay.

Another day in paradise.