We can only get through the North pass at midday when it is slack tide, so it meant we could have a leisurely Sunday breakfast. Kane from Spirit of Argo, the ex cop with his dog Quinn is also going there, so we planned to do the passage with him. Kane dropped by yesterday to confirm tide timings with Rowan, Quinn just jumped on board and made himself very comfy with us, a very cute old boy. When Kane tried to get him back into the dinghy he just leant in against me, I could sense he was quite keen to stay…. we have a lot more space than Spirit of Argo! Finally had to put his lead on and he just hopped straight back into the dinghy, two front legs on the bow, like he was in charge, very cute. We will hopefully meet the slack tide at the pass into Tahanea at 7am tomorrow morning, that is the plan.
First we had to get the anchor up, as the wind has swung around 180 degrees we knew we might have snagged some coral, Rowan had a dive on the anchor before we left and it was stuck, but not badly, it would still require some skill to get off. We were so chuffed that Rowan’s meticulous plan worked like clockwork. All a bit trickier now it is just the two of us, no young crew in the water guiding us and moving the chain around coral heads. We left at around 11 which got us to the pass for slack tide at midday. Through the binos from a distance it looked liked there were big breaking waves, which was a bit off putting, but as we got near and it reached slack tide, it was passable, with 4.5 knots of current with us. Quite bumpy in the turbulent waters but pleased to be out, and pootling down back along the windward side of Fakarava passing the airport on the other side. Spirit of Argo came through alright, it is a 43 foot monohull, so will feel the turbulence more, I felt for poor old Quinn, who apparently just stays down below on passages, too old to move, god knows how he goes to the loo, I must find out!
With the wind right behind us we managed to get Baby Spice out and up no problem. It is vey light winds and we don’t want to go too fast as we can only do the pass into the atoll at 7am. It was a lovely gentle sail, I was glad a few big stormy squalls passed us by before Rowan went to bed. I did the first shift to midnight, a good time to make bread, its too hot to have the oven on during the day, got some yoghurt on the go and caught up on the Sunday papers.
Leaving our anchorage in Fakarava
Passing the lighthouse we cycled to
Passing the narrow runway of the airport with sea on both sides, you can just see the sails of a boat on the other side
Out through the choppy waters of the North Pass
The other side of the North Pass with a lovely looking anchorage we never got to
Going from Fakarava to Tahanea
We are still just in the middles of the Pacific!
Lovely sunset with plenty of squally clouds
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