We left Baie Hananoenoa on Tahuata in the Marqueses on
Tuesday 6 July for the island atoll of Manihi in the Tuamotus arriving at
7.00am on Friday 9 July. The sail was
not enjoyable with strong winds up to 30 knots most of the way.
The low reef atolls of the Tuamotus consist of a number of
low lying sandy islands circling inner lagoons with reefs both in the lagoon
and surrounding the outside. To access
the lagoons of these atolls, which is where one anchors, a cut has been made in
the reef. These cuts are usually not
very wide and the tide races in and out at a very fast pace. Most cruising guides recommend that vessels
time their arrival so that the tide is coming in and, therefore, one enters the
lagoon going with the flow of the tide.On our arrival, the tide was going out and at a very fast rate. Mal decided that we wouldn’t wait outside the atoll for the tide to turn, so we motored up to and made an effort to go against the tide to gain access to the lagoon. Both of our two motors were brought up to 3,000 revs, and yet we were barely making any headway through the cut. There was slight panic as we couldn’t turn around, because the cut was so narrow and the tide would have forced us against the concrete walls of the cut. We could have reversed out if need be, but we persevered, and slowly made our way through to the inner lagoon.
As we were going through, a small town on the right of the cut consisted of block houses with fences and gardens. Concrete roads weaved their way in between. A few sheds and a car park were located on the left of the cut. There was a small inlet near the village with long timber boats, dingys and motor boats tied along concrete jetties. On entering the lagoon, we could see groups of buildings on stilts standing in the waters of the lagoon. Located not too far further down the island of the atoll, a resort with accommodation huts built over the water and reef stood out. The lagoon stretched for as far as the eye could see and was approximately 25 miles long.
We anchored in water sixty feet deep in a main channel to the
right as we entered the lagoon. There
were coral heads all around so anchoring was a little tricky. During the three days of our stay, we walked
the sandy atoll near our anchorage. We
were intrigued with a couple of small settlements nearby but there appeared to
be no one living there. To our
amazement, these small settlements were derelict holiday accommodation or homes
for a small community abandoned many years ago.
Still standing, were large racks of solar panels wired to huge
generators. We were in awe that they still
remained and hadn’t been dismantled and used somewhere else on the island. We assumed that they would have been provided
by the French Government and so, were easily obtained and not valued.
The houses on stilts in the lagoon were
actually black pearl farms. Black pearls
are only found in the Pacific. Their
colour is not black but ranges in hues of blues, greys, violets and
greens. Their quality and size ranges as
well and they are priced accordingly. I
was keen to approach these farms for a tour, but once again, as we circled the
farms in our dingy, we found that no one was there.
I had always been intrigued by resorts offering accommodation
in small huts linked and built over coral lagoons. It seemed so romantic to me and the thought
of being able to go swimming or snorkelling directly off one’s accommodation
seemed an exciting luxury. As we were
exploring the lagoon, we decided to call in the resort to check it out. The resort had beautifully kept gardens and
swimming pools and offered everything that a 5* resort would offer, but there
weren’t many guests wandering around. Rates
started at US$1000 per night per cabin for a couple. We were interested in the Polynesian style
built shops and restaurants and made a note to perhaps include the designs in
our future home whenever and wherever we finally settled back in Australia. We decided to spoil ourselves and enjoyed a
lunch in the restaurant absorbing the exotic surroundings.
The exclusive 5* resort on the
coral atoll of Manihi, The Tuamotus.
Our stay was short, three days and three nights. During that time two other yachts had
anchored near us, one of them being a William Garden ketch “Broken Compass” with
twin American boys sailing around the world after completing their tertiary
education in America. Chad and Brad were
very handsome identical twins and were very easy going. During our conversations with them, we
discovered that their diesel engine had broken down and they didn’t have
autopilot. Now that’s doing it the hard
way.
We decided to leave on Monday morning 12 July 2010 for Tahiti
and Chad and Brad decided that they too, would leave at the same time. We offered to tow them through the cut as
with no engine and only sail power, it would have been quite a task for
them. We began hauling up our anchor
only too find that it was caught, and whatever we tried, we could not get it
free. Mal was considering cutting the
anchor chain and losing the anchor, however, Chad and Brad offered to
help. Wondering what they could do, we agreed, anything was worth a try. To our amazement, one of the boys free dived
in sixty foot of water releasing our anchor chain which was wrapped around
approximately six coral heads, while the other swam on the top of the water
guiding Mal so that he could steer “Hasta La Vista”, thereby untangling the
anchor chain. After half an hour, our
anchor was released and we were on our way.
Brad and Chad decided that they could sail out so we followed close behind
in case they needed assistance.
Chad and Brad on “Broken Compass” sailing through the cut and out of the lagoon, Manihi, Tuamotus.
