Sailing to Ahe and Rangiroa Tuamotu Atolls- French Polynesia

Sailing to Ahe and Rangiroa Tuamotu Atolls

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Ahe Atoll

When we left Daniel’s Bay, we knew it was going to be at least a four day trip to the Tuamotu Archipelagos. We left just after sunrise to get out before the bugs began to litter our boat again. As we motored out of the bay entrance, we could tell there was some weather heading our way, since the waves were already up. We powered through the entrance almost redlining the motor to make headway. We were sad to see this amazing island fade off into the distance as we headed further and further out into the ocean. We would have stayed longer and visited more islands but knowing that your adult children were going to be meeting us in Tahiti in a few weeks, we didn’t want to take a chance. When your life and travel plans are in the hands of Mother Nature, you have to plan a big “buffer zone” into your life.

The waves really didn’t get any better for a few days and the winds were all over the place. I recall that we had to change course a few times to miss some rather large squalls. We finally saw the atoll of Ahe the fourth day out.

This was our first approach through an atoll pass and just a couple of months before we arrived, a sailboat washed up on some reefs nearby. We were on high alert and wanted to time the tides perfectly.

We made it through the pass with no worries. It was actually easier than we thought it would be.

We pulled up to a cute little village of Tenukupara and set our anchor. As usual, we got the motor on the dinghy and dinked on over to the municipal pier. Being a stranger in a strange land is always exciting.

Rangiroa Atoll

It took about 22 hours to make it to Rangiroa and here we really had to time the tides right. The lagoon on the inside of Rangiroa atoll is vast and with all the water ebbing and flowing with the tide, the pass can be very treacherous. On our iNavX chart, we could see a large vessel making way into the Passe de Tiputa, so we decided to follow it in. The vessel we saw heading in was the SSV Robert C Seamans, and she is a large 134-foot steel sailing brigantine vessel and is a study abroad ship. She timed the tides perfectly and we were right behind her.

The Blue Lagoon

We raised our anchor early the next morning and headed off for another bit of paradise. This is not a trip sailors take lightly. There are a lot of hidden coral heads and if your charts aren’t good, you could run aground very easily. We kept our eyes open and watched for changing colors of water and kept a fair distance anytime the chart said there was a chance of a coral head.

We passed by a small uninhabited island and saw that it looked pristine. We would have to check it out on our way back. After a four-hour sail, we were at the anchorage spot for our destination. There were a couple of problems. The first problem was, it was a pretty deep anchorage at around 65 feet deep and the second issue was, the Blue Lagoon was about 2 miles away, which is a long dinghy ride.

A more detailed blog on our website: https://www.theadventuretravelers.com/french-polynesia-the-tuamotus/

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