Commodore
April 16, 2023

Sunday 16 April – heading 6 miles up the atoll

We woke up at 4am to a dramatic storm with incredible lightening flashing all around us, we just had to lie and wait. We were going to turn off electrics if we could hear thunder, but thankfully the storm raged all around us and did not come any closer. The girls yoga with the Germans next door was cancelled by them, it was way too rough. We had a quick breakfast, much quicker now that we have no eggs for a cooked breakfast. We then started the process of lifting the anchor up. Rowan had dived on the anchor yesterday and had noted where it was and that is was wrapped around a coral head. In the wind this all proved pretty tricky, Han dived into the water and gave us directions but the wind was such that it was hard for Rowan to turn the boat, in the process we let out more chain to try and get a better angle and get behind the stuck anchor, sadly all we managed to do was get more tangled!

We slowly, with Han managing to dive down and free the chain a couple of times, we managed to get off, but it did take most of the morning! I wondered what Rowan and I would do if it was just the two of us!! Me useless at diving and steering this boat, especially in a wind.

We finally got going and motored the 6 miles up up, taking about an hour, to a lovely sandy beach. This is an Eastern shore and protected by trees, so all looked good for a comfy night. There were about 10 boats here at least 3 others were from the Arc. We got the anchor down in between coral heads and Rowan strung 5 fenders on the chain to stop us hitting the coral, which Han quite rightly was most concerned about the damage we were doing to the little bits of living coral.

Rowan and I snorkelled to the beach and saw a lovely Eagle ray gliding about. We had a nice walk along the beach amongst the free roaming pigs and dogs. The pigs were in their element going through all the coconuts, one had 3 piglets which were very cute. There were a few houses but all looked pretty closed and the only bar/restaurant was all closed up. The girls went in with the lads and had fun using Pachamama’s electric Foil Board.

Back on board more coleslaw for supper and the last of the tofu for the girls. Tomorrow we plan to eat out in Fakarava North as it is their last night with us, and we hear there are some nice restaurants. We were just about to start supper when the wind picked up and Rowan suddenly saw Mororo (the Mexican Arc catamaran) about 2 meters away. Two dinghies were out in a flash from Mororo and Pachamama to help and see what was going on. The wind had changed direction and lifted our anchor on all the fenders, we were dragging like crazy until with a jolt we obviously snagged a coral head. Dark now, Rowan let out loads of chain so we were far from anyone, and we went to bed rather anxiously relying on Rowan’s Anchor Watch App, that sets off an alarm if we drag.