Totem in the Fakarava South Passe
145* 21.9' West
Fakarava Atoll, Tuamotus, French Polynesia
June 2, 2010
We left the south end of the Makemo on Monday morning and made a quick stop at the town by the pass. We uploaded the newest edition of the Capaz Chronicle, but gmail thwarted all attempts to send out the links. For anyone interested you can view the newest issue and past issues at the following two links:
The computer frustration was tempered by the boulangerie still being open and being able to stock up on French bread.
We had an uneventful trip through the pass, but upon reach the outside of the atoll, we were greeted with 20+ knot winds and ocean swell. Around dark as we rounded the northwest end of Makemo, we were greeted by squalls. More wind and lightening to boot. It made for an interesting night of sailing. The 40 knots of wind from one of the squalls under a double reefed main got us going too fast, because we needed to reach the southern Fakarava Pass at a certain time. Luckily, the big wind lasted only fifteen minutes or so, then we had mid 30's for a bit, and then things settled down to around 20 knots for a couple hours. We were still going too fast, so Brad decided to practice our hove to maneuver. It worked really well.
The trip in through this pass was very exciting as we followed about 20 minutes behind our friends' catamaran, Stray Kitty. They reported seeing 8 feet of water right where the lowest spot was marked on our chart. We took their advice or hanging a little more to one side of the channel and didn't see it get quite that shallow. We had good way points for the trip up to the anchorage where we rejoined our fellow cruisers: Mulan and Oso Blanco.
The kids have been wanting to have a bonfire on the beach again for awhile. So, we sent them looking for wood and everyone went back to their boats to dig something up that could be cooked over the fire. Most people came up with hotdogs and one of the boats produced a bag of marshmallows for roasting.
Today we will explore the anchorage a bit more and then head back to the pass in the next couple of days because Brad really wants to do a pass dive.
Mulan and Io on the way back to the pass anchorage
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Posts
1 comment:
It looks like the two links still didn't come through.
I just subscribed to the Capaz Chronicles. Sounds interesting ! :)
Post a Comment