April: a month in paradise !

In order to enjoy a comfortable passage and to stay out of trouble, sailing between islands takes a bit of planning. Especially in the South Pacific where each island has its own character and particularities, such as available anchorage and pass configuration… Thankfully nowadays we have easy access to weather forecast which provides overall weather conditions but most importantly detailed wind and tide information. We had a plan but nature had a different one.

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Here we are in Raiatea, with a pretty straight forward plan to cross to Maupiti, 45 nautical miles away. It only took a couple of days to find our weather window for an overnight crossing down wind, leaving at sunset to arrive in Maupiti at sunrise. Our main challenge would be to avoid going too fast so we do not arrive too early ! Maupiti pass is known to be a bit tricky with an exposed entrance facing the South East swell and a narrow passage that bends right just after the reef. The golden rule to enter Maupiti pass is to avoid any swell above 2m. Good news our forecast shows 1.6m for the following morning. Perfect. Let’s go.

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It is 5:30pm when we pick up our anchor and 6pm by the time we set our sails and leave the Raiatea lagoon. One of these magical moments with a beautiful sunset… Trying to keep our speed below 5kts, we only set our front sail which settles us for a comfortable night. Having sailed past Bora Bora, we arrive in front of Maupiti pass just before sunrise. All good… Except that the swell which was supposed to reduce overnight is still at over 2.4m and it is very obvious now, with the daylight, that waves are crashing across the pass. There is no way we can enter the Maupiti lagoon without the risk of Wallis ending up on the coral reef. That did not go as planned.

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As we were crossing with another boat, we decided to sail around the island to find shelter and started discussing over the radio what to do next. The quieter seas allowed us to get Starlink on and check the updated weather forecast which did not look at all like what we saw the previous day. The 2m swell was now planned to last for the entire day and into the night, leaving us with little hope to reach the safety of Maupiti lagoon before the following day. Instead of spending another 24h going around in circles, the decision was made to continue on to Maupihaa which was our next destination, we will get there a few days earlier than planned. And off we go. Re-setting our sails for what is now a 100 nautical mile crossing, we should be in Maupihaa tomorrow morning at sunrise…

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The swell made our passage uncomfortable and a few squalls kept us awake during the night, our second night in the open ocean since we left Raiatea. Once again, timing was perfect and the sun was rising over the Maupihaa reef. The Maupihaa pass is on the north west side of the atoll, which means it is protected from the swell (which had died down a bit by then), but it is very narrow and is the only opening in the reef for the lagoon to empty itself in the vast ocean. Our concern was that, with the heavy rains overnight and the swell of the past few days (also combined with the low morning tide), the outgoing current in the pass could reach over 7kt and prevent us from entering the lagoon even with the engine on. Moreover, there were a few remaining squalls sending us 20kt of wind from the direction of the pass, adding to the challenge.

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With a bit of patience, we waited for some lighter wind and higher tide. At 10am, we decided to go in and pushed our engine to 2,500 rpm… It turned out that the outgoing current was only 4 kt and we were happily sailing against it, making our way through the pass at 3kt. 45 minutes later, we were dropping our anchor in one of the most beautiful lagoons in Polynesia. What swell ?