Week #12: Tuamotu magic

Tuamotu lifestyle is truly unique. Living on a rim of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean makes you one with nature and gives you no choice but to live a simple life. Between sleepy villages and mighty lagoons, this week just seemed to float by...

Tikehau to Rangiroa

After a week enjoying peaceful Tikehau, we decided to set off to the next atoll, Rangiroa, 50nm away. The plan was to take our time and enjoy a quiet overnight crossing. We picked up our anchor early afternoon, and with only our front sail on we were pushed along the lagoon for a couple of hours until we reached the pass for sunset. We then continued on along the outside reef of Tikehau watching the moon rise over the atoll in the company of a few playful dolphins.

We arrived in front of the Rangiroa Avatoru pass the next morning at 9am and we could see the water bubbling up in front of us as the tide coming in from the ocean conflicts with the flow of water emptying the lagoon. Luckily it was a quiet day with no big waves in the way, but we still had to battle the outgoing current. With our engine on, we were cruising at 5kt over water but our GPS was only showing us moving at 1.5kt… At this speed, it took us over an hour to get through to a safe anchorage spot inside the lagoon in front of Tiputa village.

Rangiroa is quite a busy spot, quite popular with tourists who come to dive in its famous passes but it is also the main stop for ships going around the Tuamotus and even all the way to the Marquises Islands further north. Time for us to enjoy a nice welcome lunch !

A lagoon inside a lagoon

Rangiroa is quite a unique atoll, so big that it could fit the whole island of Tahiti inside its reef. Most of the population lives on the north island (called motu), where 2 villages face each of the 2 passes: Avatoru and Tiputa. With a lagoon this size there are many unchartered areas to explore, but sailing around is an adventure with little shelter from wind and many coral heads to spot and stay clear of…

Rangiroa lagoon is so large that sometimes you can forget you are inside the atoll, it can almost feel like being in the deep ocean. Even the anchorages are very deep and not the best to swim around. We had a 2 day weather window, so we decided to set sail towards the blue lagoon which is on the south west side of the atoll. We had perfect downwind conditions to sail at an average of 4 knots speed. It still took us about 5 hours to get to blue lagoon - yes that’s how big Rangiroa is !

Blue lagoon is a beautiful lagoon within the lagoon of Rangiroa. During the day there are excursion boats that bring tourists here for a day trip. But since we arrived in the afternoon, the tourists were gone and we had the entire beautiful lagoon and anchorage to ourselves. How romantic right to be alone in a white sand, blue water paradise? Actually we weren’t alone, we had a lot of black tip reef sharks and the full moon to keep us company. These are the experiences we treasure the most - just us with nature!

The sailing community

Leaving aside local sailors who take their boat out for day trips and charters (rentals), there is a community of people who own a boat and call it home. Regardless of nationality, this community shares a similar lifestyle (with some differences, typically linked to the size of the boat…), but also similar values of humility (in front of the mighty oceans) and mutual assistance (you never know when you will need help). We have met several members of this community and could categorise them as follows.

Retired sailors: older couples who have decided to spend most of their time sailing as their retirement plan. You can meet them in the most unexpected places. We had good times with a 77 year old captain and his 62 year old wife in Maupihaa!

Sabbatical adventurers: groups of friends or young families who have taken months or even years to go on sailing adventures, with a plan to get back to “normal” life at some point. We met an amazing French couple with 2 children (4 and 1 year-old) who were half way through their 2-year round the world sailing project.

Boat bums: there are sailors who simply decided to live on their boat and go with the flow. They live a simple life and settle wherever they can find work. You can find them in any marina around the world.

Freedom 50 club: having a job is great to earn money, quitting your your job to spend your money living on a boat is even better. For some reason many of these sailors are in their 50s! This is where we fit in, even though it is still only Freedom 36 for some of us...)