Visiting TOAU - Tuamotu Archipelago

We have just arrived at the atoll of RANGIROA after an overnight sail from the atoll of TOAU.

Impi is at anchor just off the hotel here in what I can only describe as another stunning spot in the Tuamotu Archipelago ... and the hotel has those beautiful little rooms on stilts over the water with the glass bottom floors ...

I took this photo below at RANGIROA today with our small camera ...

Anyway, as tempted as I am to share the Rangiroa photos with you right now, I shall rather post these in a separate letter as I have yet to share our time in TOAU with you ...

Our last letter, as you will recall was at Fakarava and since then we had not yet managed to obtain any internet connection.

We departed from Fakarava along with our American friends on their yacht ‘Tempest’ and were confronted with the arrival of the massive super motor yacht ... named 'A' ... that belongs to the owner of Dyson … the vacuum cleaner people … and what a beauty this motor yacht is !!!

Anyway, we left through the northern pass (cut) known as Passe Garue having stayed a while at Rotoara Village …

The pass greeted us with a very fast running ‘outgoing tide’ which produced huge standing waves which revealed white breaking crests … something I wanted to avoid sailing through at all costs as the speed of the tide was somewhere around 8 knots.

It is quite amazing to see how these currents churn up the water … I mean … one can literally see the ‘wave line’ standing on end across a glassy sea, but even whilst being in the ‘glassy part’ we quickly learnt how easily one can be deceived in this.

Here I was … up on the bridge we love so much … gliding along and taking some photographs in perfectly calm water …

I was directing Impi in an easterly direction as one can avoid the rough bit by negotiating the shallower ‘reef’ waters to the east of the pass … and before I could say ‘King Neptune’ I found Impi right up against the wave face as I had not bargained on the speed of the current which pulled us in that direction like steel to a huge magnet.

Thankfully our Lagoon catamaran has the optional bigger sized engines in it and I used this power to its maximum to ‘pull’ Impi around the waves …

Our friends in Tempest were not as luckily and found themselves broad sided across the wave face and sucked in …

Ana and I were really worried for them as we watched their boat being rumbled and tumbled about … the water got into their cockpit and drenched their pet dog which apparently was not amused and I must say they applied some serious sailing skills to manoeuvre the boat out of this situation which otherwise could have had disastrous consequences for them.

We had a good sail up to the atoll of Toau  passing much of the coast to our port side (left) and made way for the north anchorage of Anse Amyot.

The photo above is taken with our small camera from the ocean as one approaches the anchorage from the other side of the reef system ...

Anse Amyot is roughly 3 miles from the northern extremity of the Toau and is situated on the NW side.

The entrance appears to be a ‘cut or pass’ into the lagoon but in fact really is NOT. It is a cul-de-sac formed by a coral reef across the inner side.

Entering the anchorage requires some vigilance as although there are red and green markers the approach is at an awkward angle due to shallow protruding reefs on each side. Wind and current combined with the angle of approach can make for interesting navigational skills in certain weather and one has to trust the charts to a large extent rather than ones eyes as the optical illusion could result permanent tenure ship on one of the reefs …

The entrance between the reefs is about 65m wide and vessels carrying about 4.5m draft or less could make it into the anchorage.

There are two ‘range lights’ which can be used to ‘align oneself’ whilst entering the channel and these are a welcome ‘visual aid’.

Ana and I arrived in good conditions although the sun was in our eyes which is not good for spotting coral heads … none the less we had to make our way in as spending another night out was not an option …

In the photo above ... the port side marker in red and the two 'leading light posts' in white.

We truly felt amazed at the beauty of this place … a magnificence to behold.

The water is ‘gin clear’ and the many and various colours of blues are magnificent.

To our port side we looked at the beautiful palm tree lined island which has some old buildings and a rickety old dock … magnificent to see a place so unspoiled by hotels and the like …

In the anchorage are a number of mooring balls which you can tie to. Our friend Guido (on his aluminium Warrem catamaran) promptly rushed out to greet us by dinghy and ‘guide us’ to a mooring ball right up front alongside our other mates on catamaran Tribe in very shallow waters. We tied up to one at 15*48.2108S 146*09.0421W

In the photo above ... Our friend's yacht 'Tribe' moored in this stunning part of our beautiful blue planet ...

In the photo below ... our view from Impi once moored ... front views ...

Initially the depth concerned us and thankfully our mates on yacht Windara came out on deck and warned us about shallow coral heads nearby which we promptly avoided …

At last we had tied off to a mooring ball and I sat and watched through gin clear water as Impi moved about in the wind and cleared the tops of these coral heads.

In the photo above our view to the stern from our mooring and slightly to starboard (right side).

Diving into the water I snorkeled out to examine the chain, rope and shackle condition we were tied to … oh my word … the fish life was exquisite.

Here I observed some beautiful black tip sharks cruising about as well as a number of small spotted eagle rays and many other fish types.

Guido promptly came across again and asked if I wanted to snorkel with them on the reef which I did. Here again are many, many small sharks and it seems as if to be a shark nursery of sorts … spectacular!

The following day was as crystal clear with a ‘glass top’ sea as the day before …

Here, I found it so amazing to see how colours change in the sea and sky almost on an hourly basis as clouds roll by in the overhead skies and turn blues to greys, purples and greens ... 

I sat onboard Impi and just marveled at the beauty of our surrounds … it truly is one of the most special places I have seen and was very pleased to not have sailed past.

Difficult to see in this photo but in the foreground we can be seen snorkelling on this magnificent reef ...

Going ashore we came across a number of very friendly birds ...

We seemed to have met up in an anchorage with so many sailors we had met before and here we all forged a great friendship doing the ‘potluck thing’ on shore. Potluck for those who have not yet heard the term is when sailors bring whatever food they wish to bring and place it on a table for all to share.

Here we had a terrific evening filled with laughter and story telling through the dark hours of night and what a great couple the owners ‘Gaston ‘ and his wife ‘Valentine’ were.

Gaston does not ask for money for the use of these mooring balls but it is expected that some form of gift be given to him or otherwise $5 per night will suffice.  In the past it was ‘good enough’ to just eat a meal at their little home restaurant but Valentine now tells me she no longer enjoys slaving over the stove and she has enough wealth to only have to do that when it ‘suits her’.

We also had many friends visiting us on Impi and Chris and Sascha had convinced me to show our American friends some local South African dancing which I did to loud music ...

A good time was had by all and I must admit it was sad to wave goodbye to our friends as we left the anchorage for Rangiroa ...

Ana joined Gillie (Guido's wife) for some serious long distance paddling with their canoes which included negotiating the shallows of the reef along the way.

Ana loved this experience and came back telling us excitedly about many baby black tip sharks swimming about in the shallows of the reef as well as many other fish she had spotted.

Interestingly enough and from our moored position, looking toward the rear of Impi we could clearly see a ‘ridge underwater’, which was a shelf that dropped off into a deep blue lagoon. It seems the wind and waves have washed up the sands and corals against the reef forming this shallow area we ‘hovered over’.

These atolls are truly a beautiful natural wonder of our world and Toau is certainly an exceptionally beautiful place to visit for a few days.

The camaraderie formed here by fellow sailors was terrific and as Impi untied the ropes, Chris blasted a horn a number of times to bid us farewell ... of course this sent all the other sailors scuttling up on deck to wave goodbye which for us will always be a memorable moment. I say this because we had forged friends with so many people from all over the world here and had even built relationships with those who can hardly speak our language ...

TOAU is NOT to be missed although I must admit we got to enjoy the place in exceptionally beautiful and calm weather conditions.