Our passage to and cruise around the Tuamotus — May 15, 2023 through June 2, 2023 (subtitle: A visit to a true diving and snorkeling paradise, just watch out for the tiger sharks! Just kidding, sort of.)

We sadly left the dramatic Marquesas Islands at 6:00 AM on May 15. Destination: Fakarava in the Tuamotus. As we mentioned in our last blog post, the Tuamotus are one of the five archipelagoes in French Polynesia. They are comprised of just under 80 islands and atolls and cover a broad area — roughly the size of Western Europe — making them the largest chain of atolls in the world. Needless to say, with only ~16 days to explore the area, we planned to visit just one small slice — 3 (or possibly 4) atolls but no more. With sail time in between atolls figured in, that would allow us to slow down and really enjoy individual atolls for 4-5 days each. Unlike the volcanic Marquesas islands, the Tuamotus are flat islands. They are essentially sand bars built upon coral reefs. This gives them that quintessential South Pacific look you see in pictures. We were so excited to visit these gorgeous atolls. In addition to hiking around the atolls and lounging on white sandy beaches or at a tiki bar 😀, we were looking forward to doing some snorkeling and diving. The diving is reputed to be fabulous — teaming with coral and marine life and, in some locations, a plethora of inquisitive dolphins who like to interact with underwater humans.

Before leaving for Fakarava we checked the wind direction and speed and also the tide tables. The tide tables are critically important when cruising the Tuamotus because you have to motor through narrow passes between coral reefs to get to the atolls. To ensure you can control your boat, avoiding collision with the coral (which would be very bad), you need to enter these channels during “slack” tide. That is the short period of time when the water is completely still — tide is not going in and it’s not going out. If you try to navigate these passes when tidal waters are flowing you could be pushed forward or back by the strong currents created as a large volume of water passes through a narrow area, making steering very difficult. And, it goes without saying, that you must enter these channels in bright daylight, with someone at the bow, to be able to see the coral heads under the water and carefully thread the needle. Our 6 AM departure was carefully planned to arrive in daylight on May 18 just before the high tide, with some wiggle room, so we would be positioned to enter the channel at the recommended 1 hour after high tide. (If we were really lucky and made good time we might even arrive early enough to hit the slack tide following the low water point.)

As a reminder, it was just the two of us on this passage. We can double handle Che Figata and, in fact, sailed back from the USVI to Connecticut on our own in May 2021. So this wasn’t a new experience for us. Still, we did get a bit spoiled with 3 people on watch during the rally giving us 8 hours between watch schedules and precious sleep time. Based on our prior experience, we decided on 6 hour watch schedules: 9:00 – 15:00 (Jill), 15:00 – 21:00 (Zack), 21:00 – 3:00 (Jill) and 3:00 – 9:00 (Zack). That would allow us to get a good block of sleep at “night” and one solid nap during the day.

Though the wind forecast was supposed to be favorable the entire passage it was another situation where the weather gods didn’t look at the prediction. Our first day we motored sailed most of the day through light winds. We didn’t turn our engine off for almost 24 hours. Fortunately, when the wind kicked in, it was perfect. Great direction at 10 – 20 knots (mostly) from the East/Southeast, allowing us to sail any where between 6.5 – 8 knots on a very comfortable beam and broad reach. Now this was the kind of sailing we signed up for!!! While we did run into a few squalls that delivered rain and increased the wind speeds — and then brought on the invariable lull — for the most part the favorable wind conditions persisted and we did end up making good time. This allowed us to enter the pass into Fakarava in the morning just after low tide. All in all our first double handed passage on our South Pacific voyage — albeit a short 3.3 days — was a huge success. We were both tired day 2 but by day 3 we were totally adjusted to our new biorhythms. Jill was even able to cook 2 great meals — vegan eggplant parmesan and black bean chili with corn and jackfruit — after short but refreshing afternoon naps. We think we like this new arrangement! But check in again with us on that one after a 7/8 day passage. (Incidentally our apologies that we can’t regale you with stories of fish intruders, flying squid, destructive boobies, engine malfunctions or human ping pong balls! Well, maybe, not sorry. But wait for it — the excitement is coming).

As reputed, the contrast between the Marquesas and Tuamotus couldn’t be more stark. Unlike the volcanic Marquesas that announce themselves way off in the distance with their dramatic towering cliffs, the pancake like Tuamotus are hard to see until you are practically on top of them. Still, our arrival allowed us to confirm that they are gorgeous. Small atolls with white sandy beaches around the perimeter and a what looked like a dense palm tree forest in the center. They could not be more picturesque. Our first stop, Fakarava, is comprised of a south island and a north island. Our plan was to first anchor off Fakarava South where the snorkeling was supposed to be some of the best in all of French Polynesia and, after a few days, head to the North Island where we scheduled a dive with Top Dive.

And that’s what we did. We headed to South Fakarava entering through the North pass and found a wonderful sandy anchorage with plenty of room. By 1 PM we were settled in this little slice of heaven. Though we had adjusted to our passage schedule we would not say that either of us was overly energetic so we enjoyed a peaceful day on the boat reading and writing. Our only interruption — and a pleasant one at that — was when the welcoming committee from SV Berlinetta, a member of our fleet, dinghied over to say hello. We ended up making plans for dinner together on shore that evening. There is not much in the way of development in South Fakarava. Really just two dive “resorts” that are very basic “no frills” kind of establishments — a few small cabins for guests with communal open air dining facility filled with picnic tables where meals are served. Our dinner out was joining the buffet served at one of these dive operations. Not the best meal we’ve ever had and not a lot of options for Jill but the price was right (the equivalent of $60 for 2 including beer and a bottle of bad wine!) and, most importantly, after a 3 day passage Jill didn’t have to cook.

The next few days we enjoyed snorkeling and it definitely lived up to expectations. We both believe it is the best snorkeling we have ever done. The sky blue (with a hint of turquoise) water was crystal clear giving us incredible visibility. There was an endless field of hard coral in vibrant neon colors of purple, lilac, mauve, blue and green. In places the coral looked like curated ground cover — it was low to the bottom with so many different types of hard coral, in different colors, all intertwined together. But then there would be these “bommies” shooting up towards the surface in fascinating shapes (one looked almost like an underwater scarecrow) with lots of little crevices, tunnels and arches for fish to hide in and swim around. And speaking of fish — wow! We saw all manner of colorful reef fish including some beautiful butterflyfish, triggerfish, tang, parrotfish and trumpetfish as well as huge groupers, the largest humphead wrasse we have ever seen and 3 types of reef sharks (blacktips, whitetips and grey reef sharks). Finally, the giant clams had us in awe. These clams, that can live up to 100 years, attach themselves to coral and they stay there for life. The opening of the clam has this soft fluid wave like pattern. The edges of the opening on both sides are the most vibrant colors of iridescent blue, aquamarine and purple — like someone took a thick paintbrush and applied lipstick. Apparently, these bright colors are the result of the algae living inside the clam’s body. In many cases, if you didn’t spot what looked like a colorful swoosh, you might not even notice them because they really become one with their host. We know our description is not doing justice to the magnificence of these giant clams so here’s a link to some of the best pics of these amazing creatures we found online: https://ourbeautifulworldblog.com/blog/p43esqypv487m56mlbtskmzya4o0ca?format=amp. (We also posted our own giant clam pic on Instagram.) The entire snorkeling experience was a true feast!

We could have stayed a week just snorkeling in this area. It was that good. But after 2 full days anchored in lovely South Fakarava we headed back to North Fakarava on May 21. There’s a little more civilization there including a true fuel dock (we were keeping our fingers crossed that this time we could actually fill our tanks directly and avoid the jerrycan run), a little grocery store with mostly canned goods, a boutique resort and a few small restaurants. The real attraction though was that we reserved a spot with Top Dive for a 2 tank dive on May 22. After our fabulous experience snorkeling we could not wait to explore this beautiful part of the Pacific Ocean a little deeper down.

We arrived at our destination early afternoon and were delighted to see a number of boats from our fleet in the area. After some searching, we ended up anchoring in the North end of the anchorage near our fleet mates, SV Molly Doll and SV Walkabout. Based on information Walkabout had shared, we knew that part of the anchorage had a nice sandy bottom which made anchoring easy. There are many areas in the Tuamotus where sand and coral co-exist. In these areas you are supposed to anchor in a sandy spot and then “float” your anchor chain so it runs along the top of the water away from the coral. While we understood, in theory, how to do that (it involves tying floats to the anchor chain in strategic spots as you let it out), we were very circumspect about how the anchor would hold with the chain elevated. We were also concerned about our anchor landing in a precise spot 65’ below the water (these are deep anchorages) given that the boat tends to move as the anchor chain is being lowered. For both these reasons we were keen to anchor in an area devoid of coral. We were thrilled to have accomplished that mission finding a large sandy spot with terrific holding right between our fleet mates.

Once securely anchored, we wasted no time lowering our dinghy and heading into shore to get the lay of the land. Fortuitously, right after climbing out of our dinghy, we ran into the crew of SV Chica 3 (another boat in our fleet) who had arrived a few days earlier. They were headed in our direction and kindly walked with us along the long road running parallel to the west side of the atoll, playing tour guide. We learned about the various places to eat (The Grill) or not to eat (being Italian that included the local pizzeria — they had nothing good to say about French Polynesian pizza), when to shop for food (the weekly shipment of fresh produce arrived from Tahiti early every Wednesday morning and all produce would all be gone by the end of that day), where to rent bikes and, importantly, where to shop for the black pearls French Polynesia is famous for. We walked with them for about 1 1/2 miles until we reached the lovely Havaiki Lodge and found the bar. The wooden structure built on stilts over the water with its traditional thatched roof made of dried palm leaves, was calling our names so it was impossible to walk any further. We enjoyed a beer (Zack) and sparkling water (Jill) and lingered while we chatted with other visiting sailors. All too soon it was late afternoon and time to head back to Che Figata.

After briefly returning to our boat, on the recommendation of Chica 3, we decided to head into shore to eat at The Grill that evening and ended up running into the crews from SV Walkabout, Solis and Sidetrack. Having been mostly on our own for a week at that point (save for one evening with Berlinetta), it was nice to have a large group dinner. We caught up on our respective adventures and, with the crew of both Solis and Sidetrack hailing from Australia, we got the added bonus of Australia and New Zealand travel advice. But, as much as we enjoyed the evening, we called it an early night because the next day was our 2 tank dive with TopDive!

We had high expectations for our dives and we were not disappointed. The first dive took us through the channel filled with everything you hope to see underwater in truly massive quantities. Healthy coral, colorful reef fish and tons of reef sharks — probably close to 100 — swimming just above where we had settled close to the bottom. We just floated in one place for a long time as we watched the copious amounts of marine life swirling all around us. As our bottom time got close to the limit for a no decompression dive we started our slow ascent. Soon after there was a very strong and unexpected current. So strong that even using her arms and legs, Jill was only staying in place. It was as if she was treading water. Fortunately, our incredibly attentive dive master, Sebastian, kept a close watch and came back to give Jill a hand. His timing was impeccable because just as he grabbed Jill’s hand, Jill lost a fin. She thinks it got loosened from her strong flipper action as she struggled to move forward. At any rate, the current was sweeping it behind her and Sebastian was able to retrieve it while Jill held onto a rock. After re-securing the fin, Sebastian was able to help Jill until the sudden current rush subsided and she could propel herself forward.

In between the first and second dives we stopped at a lovely uninhabited atoll where we had warm tea, water and snacks. It definitely beat waiting the hour interval between dives on a dive boat. Still, we were excited for our next dive exploring a reef. The second dive was very challenging. There was a very strong current during most of the dive because we didn’t wait until slack tide. That meant that we had to stay very close to the bottom and the experience resembled underwater rock climbing. Everyone — including our dive master — move forward by grabbing onto rocks on the seabed. As you moved forward you had to be careful to choose rocks that were securely attached to the bottom, all while avoiding the live coral, so the execution took some planning and it was physically demanding. Not a problem for us — we loved the physical challenge of the dive which contributed to the overall experience — but definitely not a dive for beginners! Plus, what we saw made it all worth it. On this dive, we saw reef fish and sharks as well as many large white brindle starfish and a ton of humphead wrasses. These colorful prehistoric looking fish are massive. In addition, the feature of this dive were the underwater caves that created interesting spaces for fish to take cover. It was fun to peer in and find sleeping nurse sharks.

We remained in Fakarava North until May 25 and kept ourselves very busy. We treated ourselves to a three course meal at the Havaiki Lodge following our 2 tank dives to reward ourselves for a job well done (we were quite impressed with with our own prowess!), got fuel at the fuel dock — a real honest to goodness fuel dock that we could pull along side and tie up to (no jerrycan trips — yay), rented bikes for a 9 km ride across the atoll to visit a black pearl purveyor (naturally, there was some shopping involved) and provisioned at the grocery store after the weekly ship from Tahiti arrived, scoring some onions, potatoes and beautiful oranges (woohoo — the things that excite us! 😀).

As you have probably noticed, by this time in our sail to and cruise around the Tuamatus, our trip was drama free. We had an uneventful passage and no new mechanical failures, breakages or sail tears. We were clearly overdue for some excitement and that first came (yes, unfortunately, there was a second) in the form of a wake up call on May 24 at 3:30 AM. When we went to refuel the day before we naturally had to hoist up our anchor to motor over to the fuel dock and then re-anchor when we were finished. As we pulled up our anchor Che Figata and all the boats near and around us — including Mary Doll and Walkabout — were oriented in a different direction than when we originally anchored (now pointing N/S vs. E/W when we first anchored). This would make it somewhat difficult to find the same perfect spot again. We should have set a mark on our chart but, of course, we didn’t think about that until our anchor was up and we had pulled away. (Oops!) Upon our return to the general location after refueling we did our best to anchor in the same spot. After letting out 150’ of chain (our general rule of thumb is double the depth plus 50 feet) we noticed that we weren’t quite in the middle between Mary Doll and Walkabout anymore. We were closer to Walkabout. Zack questioned whether we were too close to Walkabout — not because we thought there was any risk of swinging into them as the wind direction changed but out of the general courtesy of giving fellow sailors some “personal space” in an anchorage. With only one full day before we were scheduled to leave, and confident that we were more than a boat length away from Walkabout, we decided to stay put. We enjoyed a lovely night in the boat with a delicious “home cooked” meal (spicy marinara with eggplant and mushrooms over penne pasta) and a nice bottle of red. Since we get up at sunrise, like most sailors, we were both in bed by 9:30 PM.

All was well until 6 hours later when we see a bright light shining into our aft cabin (where we sleep) and hear a faint cry of “Zack”, “Jill.” Zack was the first to bolt out of bed with Jill quickly following. Once above deck we were greeted by our friends on Walkabout, owners Andrew and Traci and crew member Tom, and saw that Walkabout was now perilously close to us with their bow almost touching our stern. Traci had woken up because she heard a strange noise coming from the bow of Walkabout. When she went on deck to investigate and saw Walkabout and Che Figata practically next to each other she woke up Andrew and Tom afraid that our boats had hit. Fortunately, and we say that with a huge sigh of relief, that was not the case. As the boats continued to swing we saw that Walkabout’s bow was narrowly missing our stern. We believe that the noise Traci heard was our dinghy (tied to the stern of our boat), rubbing up against their anchor chain or possibly their chain scrapping against our rudder. Still, no one was going to be able to sleep with our boats that close together and, having been the last boat to anchor, it was only appropriate that we move Che FIgata and re-anchor. Suffice it to say that it is not easy anchoring in the dark — It is very hard to get your bearings — but we did it and by 4:00 AM we were back in bed. Crisis averted! We are still not sure how we ended up that close to Walkabout. Did our anchor drag (it seemed to be set very well) or did we fail to swing in tandem due to very differently hull designs? Regardless of the cause, it was definitely a reminder about how important it is to take a conservative approach to anchoring.

All in all, notwithstanding our near collision, it was a lovely 4 days but another atoll, Rangiroa, was beckoning. We had scheduled a dive with TopDive there for May 27 so, at 7 AM on May 25, it was time to pick up our anchor and make the 180 nautical mile trip — which would take us about 24 hours — to Rangiroa. (Again our departure time was carefully planned to have us arriving just before slack tide). One of the reasons we departed on May 25, aside from wanting to be around for that fresh produce shipment on May 24, was that the weather forecast called for no wind until that day. But on May 25 the wind was supposed to fill in which should have allowed us to sail most of the way to Rangiroa. Once again, the weather gods ignored the forecast and we had very little wind until 1:30 AM when it began to consistently hover at 11 knots, allowing Jill to unfurl the genoa. All was well at 3:00 AM when we had our changing of the guards with Zack taking the helm and Jill going to bed.

Unfortunately, that was relatively short lived. Our second mishap occurred at about 5:45 AM. Zack was continuing to motor sail even though Jill was able to unfurl the genoa because, shortly after getting on his watch, we needed to take a turn to port and would be heading straight down wind. There is just too much to do with the sails in the dark if you want to successfully sail down wind without a motor assist. So he was blissfully motor sailing along until the check engine light came on, followed in quick succession by a “safe mode” indicator and then a complete engine shutdown. We were truly in the proverbial “middle of nowhere,” approximately 4 – 5 hours away from Rangiroa. Zack quickly checked the usual suspects (empty fuel tank, overheated engine) and there didn’t seem to be anything remiss. Still, he switched racor filters.

In the meantime, Jill who woke up when she heard the engine die, contacted the 24/7 number for maritime assistance provided by rally control to report our situation and, while on that call, she tried to restart the engine. Miraculously, it started without incident. We then followed instructions to clear carbon deposits (a possible culprit) and the engine ran smoothly the rest of the way to Rangiroa. Of course, worst case scenario, we would have diverted to Tahiti, only approximately 150 nautical miles away, where there are reputable marine suppliers and vendors. We would have been reliant on the wind so it may have been slow going but hey, that’s what sails are for! We were grateful, however, that we were able to get to our destination. We were particularly looking forward to our Rangiroa dives! (Minor digression: We need to give another shoutout to Starlink here. We had fast and reliable connectivity which allowed us to Google an online owners manual for our engine (making it much easier to search for key words than with our paper manual) and also find info on troubleshooting the common causes of what we experienced from people with similar problems.)

We arrived in Rangiroa at around 10:30 AM on May 26 and decided to go ashore to explore our new surroundings. Of course, with only 2 hours of sleep Jill was pretty beat (remember, Jill didn’t get off watch until 3 AM and was awoken by the engine failure before 6 AM) but we figured she could nap later. Besides, we both needed to decompress from our engine excitement and getting off the boat for a bit was just the ticket. Once on shore we got acclimated quickly. That’s not difficult when the only establishments are two small restaurants with very limited menus that could seat maybe 25 people, a tiny pizzeria in what appeared to be the back of someone’s house, a very compact grocery store with a limited selection of canned goods, pasta, cookies, nuts and cleaning products and — the highlight — a delightful boutique resort, Hotel Kiaora. During our inaugural trip around “town,” we stopped by Hotel Kiaora to see if we could get reservations for dinner. We had been warned that being a very small resort they did not accept outside reservations when the hotel was full. We got lucky and were able to secure dinner reservations for that evening. (We didn’t realize how fortunately we were until we tried to schedule a reprise but we were told they could not accommodate us due to their occupancy level.)

By this time in our walk around the atoll it was late afternoon so we went back to Che Figata for a quick shower before returning to Hotel Kiaora for our splurge evening. It was really quite special. We enjoyed cocktails in the bar that was built on stilts over the water (with some clear plexiglass in places so you could watch the fish below) and a delicious dinner in the open air restaurant under the palm leaf thatched roof. Particularly considering that we had very little sleep the night before due to our engine failure, it turned into a very full and fun day. Still, we were glad to be back to Che Figata by 8:30 PM and we were both sound asleep by 9 PM. That was a good thing since our first dive with Top Dive was scheduled for 8 AM the next morning.

After the wonderful experience we had in Fakarava North and South, both snorkeling and diving, we woke up on May 27 excited to dive in Rangiroa and with very high expectations. Sigh . . . we will cut to the chase and say that both dives were “meh.” Rangiroa is not known to be the mecca for diving that Fakarava is but it is well known for a pod of friendly dolphins that like to swim in and near the outside of the deep pass into the atoll. These dolphins like to amuse themselves by approaching and interacting with scuba divers. We so loved the interactive experience we had in Turks and Caicos with the wild dolphins that sought us out there that we were hoping to have a similar experience in Rangiroa. Unfortunately, it was not to be. We saw one very large dolphin at the start of our first dive but that was it. And the dive itself was just okay. The endless array of healthy coral and reef fish we saw in Fakarava were just not present on either dive. The only real redeeming feature — and this was very cool — was that we saw a large tiger shark that was somewhere between 10 feet or 12 feet long depending on who you ask. (This is an ongoing debate among the crew of Che Figata with one of us thinking that the other is prone to slight exaggeration.) According to Wikipedia (the source of all things truthful), the tiger shark is only second to the great white shark in fatal attacks on humans. With its pointy snout and protruding teeth it definitely looked the part of the voracious predator! But have no fear: tiger sharks really don’t attack scuba divers. (At least not unprovoked.). They simply don’t like the taste of humans. Most tiger shark attacks occur to snorkelers or surfers splashing on the surface which, to the shark, mimics an injured prey. An unfortunate case of mistaken identity. Though the diving was a bit of a disappointment, we had a lovely evening aboard Che Figata with the crew from Zissou, members of our fleet. We ran into Hannah and Sam at the Top Dive center and invited them over for Jill’s killer G&Ts. As often happens, cocktail hour turned into hours and we didn’t say our goodbyes until 8 PM.

The next day (May 28) it was rainy all day so we made it a work day. After our brief passage and multiple days of fun, Che Figata was overdue for some TLC. We ran the generator to recharge the batteries, made water and cleaned Che Figata from stem to stern. We didn’t finish our work until dinner time so we decided to go to shore. Unfortunately, the only place opened was the pizzeria. Not our first choice but it turned out to be surprisingly good. Fresh, made to order pizzas, with a delightful crust on the thin side but still a bit chewy. Jill, of course, had a vegetarian pizza without cheese and it was loaded (and we truly mean loaded — there was not a speck of crust to be seen other than around the edges) with onions, leeks, green beans, mushrooms, peppers and bite size pieces of oven roasted potatoes. Not what Jill usually eats because of all of those simple carbs but, boy, was it delicious. Jill declared it worth the glucose spike! Zack had an equally good pepperoni pizza with onions, mushrooms and olives and a ton of cheese. It was a fantastic, albeit decadent, meal.

The next day (May 29) we signed up for another 1 tank dive with Top Dive. We were determined to have our encounter with dolphins. But, first, we decided to snorkel in an area near the anchorage called the aquarium. After jumping in the water it became immediately evident how that spot got its name. It was very close to the experience in Fakarava South. Lots of colorful coral, reef fish and other marine life in all different shapes and sizes including several exquisite Titan Triggerfish, giant clams with that iridescent wavy like swoosh we wrote about earlier, 2 of the largest moray eels we have ever seen laying side by side under a coral ledge (think Flotsam and Jetsam from the little mermaid) and some really large (maybe 18 inches in diameter) spiny creatures — perhaps some species of giant sea urchin? — that we found in the crevices between coral. (Have we mentioned that we need to buy a South Pacific Ocean guidebook to marine life?) It was a really wonderful experience and we were sorry we had maligned the diving/snorkeling in this area. We could have snorkeled there the rest of the day but by 1 PM we just had time to grab a small bite to eat and then head out for our 2 PM one tank dive.

We were glad we gave diving a second chance. Though we basically dove in the same spot as one of our earlier dives (just on the perimeter of the pass leading into Rangiroa), this time we saw many more reef fish which always makes a dive enjoyable. Plus — you guessed it — we got to interact with the dolphins! We did not see them until the end of the dive and were beginning to think that the third time was not the charm, but then they appeared. As soon as they saw us — there were two of them — they came down to say hello. Our dive master quickly engaged with them and we took turns rubbing their bellies which they seemed to thoroughly enjoy. It was like rubbing a dog’s tummy. While this dive would have been lovely regardless, seeing and interacting with the dolphins was like someone emptied a bag of rainbow sprinkles on top of vanilla icing! We returned to the surface all smiles. After a really active and special day we decided to stay aboard Che Figata that evening (we were exhausted) and enjoyed Jill’s housemade vegan pesto pasta. Jill added shrimp, lightly sautéed in olive oil and garlic, to Zack’s dish just to extend his big smile throughout dinner.

It was going to be hard to top that day but we managed to get close. The next day, May 30, we scheduled a tour to the area called the Blue Lagoon. Being an atoll, there are various places on Rangiroa where the “land” disappears under very shallow water giving the appearance of separate atolls scattered in the middle of the vast ocean. The crystal clear shallow water, home to hundreds of juvenile reef sharks and reef fish, is the most amazing shade of light blue and you feel like you are walking on water as you wade across these lagoons from one sandy spit of an island to another. (We posted some great shots of the area on our @sailingchefigata Instagram account and selected one of those as our feature photo for this blog entry.) We got our steps walking between the various places where the sand peeked up above the waterline and palm trees flourished. Our tour — which was via a small motor boat — included snorkeling before and after reaching the Blue Lagoon and a beach BBQ lunch served under a pavilion on one of the sand bars. The day ended with a ride through in the pass where we had been diving the day before and, as if they were there to entertain us as part of a grand finale, dolphins leaped high out of the water right before our bow. It was another magical day. With our late return to Che Figata — too late to cook a meal — we decided to grab dinner on shore at Lili’s, one of the 2 small restaurants right on the water next to the dinghy dock. Lili’s doesn’t take reservations. They open their gate at 6 PM and keep their gate open until all ~10 tables are filled when they then close their gate for the evening. No turning tables! We had a relaxed meal at a corner table for 2. It was a wonderful way to end a truly perfect day.

The next day (May 31) — which was supposed to be our final full day on Rangiroa (more on our change in plans below) — it was back to reality. We ran the generator, made more water, looked at the wind forecast and tide tables to develop our sail plan to our next destination in the Tuamotus (Makatea), worked on some arrangements for our visit to the States in the Fall and caught up on other “administrative” tasks. (That included work on this blog entry.) We can’t play every day but, honestly, after some really busy days we were ready to just hang on the boat. Besides, it was another rainy day so it was a good day to just hunker down.

Notwithstanding the soggy conditions, to reward ourselves for getting our chores done, we decided to head into shore for a second dinner at the pizzeria. After eating the forbidden fruit Jill could not resist one more indulgence and you never need to twist Zack’s arm. We invited the crew from Molly Doll, Derek and Letitia, to join us. They had just arrived in Rangiroa that day. We were looking forward to catching up. Unfortunately, the rain refused to let up and the high winds created big waves in the anchorage. We tried to wait for the weather to pass but the conditions proved stubborn. While we were waiting, we received a text from Mary Doll. They wanted a literal rain check. They thought the big seas in the anchorage made it a bit too treacherous to get in and out of a dinghy. They were right but, of course, we went anyway.

Though we missed the company of Mary Doll we were glad we persevered. While waiting for our pizza we ran into a New Zealand couple, Rupert and Kristin from SV Rumpus along with their crew members Karen and Bill. We had briefly met them at Lili’s the night before. The pizzeria is another small establishment with just 3 picnic tables — all of which were occupied by the time we arrived — so the Rumpus gang invited us to join them. As is customary when you meet other sailors, we talked about where we had been and where we were headed next.

It turned out that Rupert and Kristin were French Polynesian veterans, having sailed from New Zealand to French Polynesia and back every year for the last 16 years. During the course of our conversation we learned that our next planned destination, Makatea, was probably not a great idea for a crew of 2. Boats are not allowed to anchor off Makatea but, instead, must pick up one of the 4 moorings maintained by the local island authorities. Unfortunately, Rumpus shared that there were actually only 3 moorings. Of those 3, one was not well maintained and no one should use it, a second that also had questionable maintenance but appeared to be holding okay (but not recommended by Rumpus) and a third, secure, mooring (the only one they would recommend for use), which was submerged 6 feet under water. To tie up to that mooring buoy someone would have to snorkel down to grab its lines. Not an easy task with only 2 people on the boat. Ideally you would have one person on the helm, one snorkeler in the water and one person on the bow spotting the snorkeler and being prepared to grab the lines. As hard as it was to acknowledge that the visit the Makatea was not meant to be — we don’t like being told we can’t accomplish something — we both came to the conclusion that we should scratch the planned Makatea stopover and end our tour of the Tuamotus in Rangiroa. Another reminder that when traveling by sailboat, plans are just a suggestion. Despite that disappointment, we thoroughly enjoyed our evening with the Rumpus crew and ended up with another lovely group of people to visit while we tour New Zealand. And, for those wanting to know, we made it back to Che Figata very wet but totally unscathed!

Now June 1 was our final full day in Rangiroa. It was another rainy day and we spent the morning catching up with family, continuing to make plans for our visit to the states in October and planning our route to Tahiti which would now be our next destination. It was time to say farewell to Tuamotus and hello to the Society Islands. But after 2 rainy days on the boat we were starting to get a bit stir crazy (despite our ill-advised — but oh so much fun — pizza excursion) so by early afternoon we headed into shore via dinghy despite the inclement weather. Once there we decided to rent bicycles because, well, why not bike in the rain. It turned out to be a great activity. We rode down a fairly narrow road with ocean on both sides for about 2 1/2 miles, stopping along the way to visit a local pearl shop (yes, there was another purchase) and a small grocer and to grab a nibble of charcuterie, crudités, cheese and baguettes (we are in French Polynesia after all) for Zack at the lovely Maeva au Snack Raira. It was another really nice day. (BTW, you know you aren’t in the USA anymore when you bike over narrow bridges — shallow water and rocks on each side — with no guardrails of any kind. Not even a tiny lip!)

On June 2 we set sail for Tahiti at 7:30 AM. It would be a short overnight sail to cover the 180 nautical miles. Though we weren’t quite ready to leave the Tuamotus, the next leg of our circumnavigation was scheduled to leave from Bora Bora on June 25. It was time to move on to enjoy the Society Islands for a few weeks before that departure. We had some more diving to look forward to and we had boat work planned while visiting Tahiti. Time to repair our sail and canvas, check our rigging, conduct the diagnostics on our engine, fix our bent stanchion and repair the lift function on our dinghy motor. This circumnavigation is putting a lot of wear and tear on our beloved Che Figata. We will fill you in our our short voyage to Tahiti and cruise around the Society Islands in our next blog entry towards the end of the month.