ATOLL OF RANGIROA - Sailing along the south shore - a sandy spit

As you would gather from our previous letter, our exploration around the motu called FAAMA was spectacular, except of course during the nights when the wind howled and the seas became mischievous …

We had set out to explore the southern shores moving in a easterly direction, which in hindsight was a mistake … and here we learnt a valuable lesson that sometimes it is worth ones while to follow natural instinct. 

A book we had read suggested a route proceeding in an easterly direction along the south shore … Ana and I had debated why this would be when the prevailing winds are from the east and south east … I mean … surely one is going to have the full force of wind on the bow (from the front). And here we allowed our logic to be over-ruled in our minds by the author of a book … never again!

I would go so far as to say that we encourage sailors who read our letters to always follow their own instincts and not ours … use our experiences and the suggestions of others as a guide … conditions change … weather changes … and you may well find that in your given situation, a different tack would provide a more pleasurable cruising environment for you.

I guess the author had in mind that once one reached the long eastern shore, that the sail back along that shoreline in a north westerly direction would place an easterly wind on the aft quarter and a south easterly wind on the stern (from behind), however, It makes more sense to me to rather ‘hop’ down the east coast from motu to motu proceeding in a southerly (SE) direction taking cover close to shore ... and then to ‘place the wind from astern’ as one turns to move along the southern coast in a westerly direction. 

My logic and our experience in cruising up the eastern shore tells me that the ‘lie of the land’ provides shelter to the water along that coast in an easterly blow. Ok .. occasionally the south east wind blows ... even so ... we found that there were options albeit that conditions are not as ideal as when the east winds blow.

Anyway, we had lifted anchor alongside the beautiful shore of FAAMA …

And now, here we were fighting our way against the might of the easterly wind … the seas were running hard and we decided to 'press pause' and stop on account of the unpleasantness … and to rather ‘ride out’ these rough conditions at anchor … oh boy!

The alternative was to head back to anchorage off Kia Ora Village to the north, the angles which would provide a good sail with wind on the beam (from the side ). For us … we wanted to keep exploring!

We discovered an amazing spot along the coast with a long meandering sandy spit.

Ana and I decided to lower the dinghy and get out there despite the somewhat ‘unpleasant weather’ … it is sometimes these moments that actually awaken the mind and bring meaning to ... 'being alive’.

The very rough dinghy ride paid dividends ten fold when we arrived at this sandy spit where the water was a lot calmer …

Here we pulled the dinghy up onto the spit and set an anchor to the opposite side … it is NOT the kind of day nor place one wants the dinghy setting off into the deep blue …

Walking along the shores of this sand spit is amazing …

The sand seems to just meander on into forever, the water lapping from both sides, not another living being to be seen or heard … this place feels to be sacred ...

Along the way we picked up a number of interesting shells and Ana said she had to be careful when walking in the shallows on the north end for the number of little sharks scurrying about there …