Tahaa - Hit a Coral Head

We left Faaroa Baie on Raiatea on Tuesday, August 3, 2010 without an anchorage in mind.  We traveled up the northeast side of Raiatea scouting possible anchorages.  Seeing none that looked interesting, we headed to the little town of Uturoa on the northern coast of Raiatea facing the southern coast of neighboring Tahaa.  Tahaa has approximately 5,000 residents.

The possible anchorage off of Uturoa was small and full, so we crossed this off our list and headed through the well marked channel skirting a major reef area across the lagoon to Tahaa.  We spent one night in lovely Haamene Baie on the southeast side of Tahaa. 

Wednesday, Haamene, August 3

The bay was deep and well protected.  We anchored in 30 feet of water near the head of the bay and the sleepy little town of Haamene.  

This town is the only town in Tahaa with the elementary and middle school.  In Society Islands, the elementary school is called primarie and the middle school for students 10-15 years of age is called college.  Children from around the island attend these schools when they are in session.  Right now the students are on holiday and the town is very quiet.  When students are high school age, they go across the lagoon to Raiatea to attend the high school.

Haamene also has a small grocery store, post office, bank, town hall, snack bar, and church.  We had pretty much explored the town in half an hour after our arrival. Upon our return to the boat, we now had some company, Michael and Jody from California on the their 47 foot Gulfstar ketch, Savannah, home port of San Francisco. Their boat has often been mistaken as a Nauticat.  Even we were wondering from a distance if they were our twin.

We invited Michael and Jody over for wine that evening and had a nice evening getting to know them a little better.  They told us of a place they had heard of from friends that is a great place to snorkel called the coral gardens on the northwest side of the island near the motus of the Perle Hotel.   The hotel is very exclusive and rooms run about $900.00 a night.  We would be happy to anchor to the side and enjoy the same scenic beauty.

When we awoke on  Wednesday morning, the bay was absolutely still and the lighting for taking photos was magnificent so of course I took some and  here they are.

Looking out from Haamene

Morning lights on Haamene

Reflection Pond!

Russ returning from a post office, bank, and bakery run.

We left Haamene about 9:00 a.m. with the thought of going out to the Perle Hotel to anchor for the night and do some snorkeling.  Some of the scenery traveling around the island was beautiful.  Worrall Wind sailed past pearl farms, churches, and morning outrigger canoes.  

Outrigger Canoe Passes in Front of a Motu close to Coral Gardens

Bora Bora Beyond the Reef

We caught our first sight of Bora Bora from the distance of about 20 miles away.   There are red and green markers defining the deep water channel which we carefully paid attention to.  As we passed the last green marker to our starboard side, there was not another green marker within site.  To our starboard side lay the motus we wanted to go to and numerous sail boats, mostly catamarans but a few monohulls, one that was well over 80 feet long.

Coral Gardens – Almost!

We examined our charts and watched our depth sounder as we slowly approached the motus.  I could see some light blue sand areas so I went up on the bow to guide Russ over to the anchorage.  We still had 30 feet of crystal clear water under us and were less than 50 yards from the ancorage.   As soon as I reach the bow, I became alarmed at how close the coral heads seemed to be to the surface.  Before I could even register the alarm, the boat bumped up and on top of one of the heads, stopping us abruptly.  Oh sh#!! 

Now what?  No Boat US here.  Russ tried to plow forward with no avail.  I could see a clear channel to the right of us, but how to get there was the question.  Should we put up the sail, use the anchor to kedge, or just cry?  By this time one of the cruisers on his dinghy came towards us from the anchorage.

“Geez, I was just out here fishing and didn’t think these coral heads were so high,” he exclaimed.  “You look like you are two inches above the water line.”  He also told us that that the heads were at least 15 feet under the water.  Although he was quite nice and it was reassuring to know that there was someone else who spoke English nearby, he wasn’t able to really help us.  We draft nearly 7 feet loaded, so these heads were probably just under the water by 7 feet in most places.  Lesser draft sailboats and cats were able to skim the surface, we weren’t.  We weren’t listing, but high centered and stuck on a bomme.

At this point Russ decided that he was going to try and backup, but then what? Back out the way we came (backing up is always a problem with our prop walk), or thread our way forward through the narrow channel.   He put the throttle into reverse and gunned it.  We could hear our keel grinding against the bomme and slipping off.  After what seemed like an eternity and which in reality was less than 10 minutes, we were free of this monster head. 

Russ put the boat into forward propulsion as I stood on the bow pointing my arms in the direction he needed to turn and calling back to him starboard, starboard, starboard, port, port, port, more port, more port, starboard now, starboard, starboard!  We were finally in an area with blue sand an in the anchorage.  Our cruiser advisor, pointed to an area of sand about 30 feet deep sandwiched between coral heads at the bow and very shallow sands behind  the stern.  “It should be ok to anchor here,” he called.

“Thanks,” I cried my heart still pounding from being grounded and doing somersaults at what looked like a recipe for anchoring disaster, “but how do we just get out of here?” 

“Just go that way he pointed, you should have plenty of water under you,” he responded.  We waved goodbye, thanked him again,  and got the heck out of there. Wish we had come in that way, but there was nothing on the charts indicating that one way or the other was the better approach.   We may have over reacted, but we wanted at least 50 feet of water under us and 200 yards of swing room from our anchor.

Wednesday - Apu Bay – Taravana Yacht Club, August 4

We sighed with relief once the water was deep blue again, but were disappointed at having to give coral gardens a pass……at least for now.  We looked for anchorages on the coast of Tahaa, but still suffering from our near catastrophe, we opted to head for Apu Bay on the Southwestern side of Tahaa where we knew we could anchor or get a mooring buoy at the Taravana Yacht Club.

Our new son-in-law has a close friend whose father owns and operates the Taravana Yacht Club.  We had made contact with Richard the proprietor the day before and had told him we would be there in a few days…that’s when we thought we would be at coral gardens for a night or two.   There are fourteen mooring buoys in the bay in front of the club.  Fortunately, there were 3 buoys available.  We snagged one and slept far better Wednesday night on a buoy than we would have anchored between a coral head and shallow beach at coral gardens.  We were treated by a beautiful Polynesian Sunset.

The Taravana Yacht Club is a lovely open air restaurant and bar that is officially closed on Wednesday and Thursday. 

It was very quiet on Wednesday night and we had an opportunity to get to know Richard a little bit while he was not having to work. He is a great guy and sincerely enjoys having fun and making people happy.  He is a father figure for many of the young cruisers and local kids.

Roz, Richard, and Russ

Thursday – Potluck, August 5

We spent Thursday finally getting our WIFI working again, doing laundry, straightening the boat, taking a walk, and relaxing.

Laundry with a View

 We even had time to watch a coconut sprout and play hide and seek with a coconut crab.

On Thursday, even though the club restaurant is closed, Richard opens the bar and cruisers are invited to bring meat to grill on the bar-b-que and side dishes to share.  Pina Coladas are the house specialty, and they were great!  We met several other cruisers and made arrangements with the dive shop to go on a 4 x 4 expedition on Friday that would also take us snorkeling at coral gardens.  Yes!