We left Fakarava on Wednesday and sailed 38nm to the top end of Toau atoll under light conditions so once again we hoisted the gennaker and had a very uneventful sail. The anchorage at Toau is a blind pass into the coral so it forms a protected spot in most conditions and has six mooring balls to tie up to at $5 per night. Once again we were blown away with the beauty of the place. We were happy to find some of the boats from Fakarava were already here so dinner and drinks was organised on HERON REACH that night. With no real hurry to be anywhere we decided to stay another night and have a bit of a look around the Motu (island). We wandered about accompanied by the local dogs as usual and met Valentine who ran a small operation with her husband including a fish restaurant. Her sister also ran a pension consisting of a few basic bungalows set on the beach. Valentine gave us her life history and a sermon on religion. She was a lovely lady and has lived on the tiny island all of her life fishing and basically living off the sea.
The next stop was the atoll of Apataki where we were hoping to get some groceries and internet which was only 20nm away to the north. We arrived to go through the pass at the right time for once and had an easy passage into the atoll but then were disappointed to find there wasn’t anywhere to anchor as the wind was blowing straight across from the east making it very uncomfortable. Mention must be made at the size of some of the atolls of the Tuamotus. They are so large you can’t see the other side, most of them at least 20nm (40km) across and sometimes larger so the wind waves can build up and make an anchorage pretty rocky if you are in the wrong place. The Tuamotus cover an area the size of Europe so we will not be able to see it all, but we do think we are getting at least a taste of the place. We motored across to a spot shown in our guide as an anchorage and dropped the anchor in nice white sand. The water was as clear as Steve has seen and the snorkelling was like being in an aquarium with schools of fish of all descriptions swimming about. Steve was blown away. The wind picked up overnight so we headed further across the atoll to a better protected spot where the guide book said we could get some provisions. On arrival we found a place that looked promising with a boat haul out yard and quite a few buildings but when we went ashore we were told the boat yard was the only thing operating but they did have wifi. We have been out of fresh food for some time now so Ange is going to get inventive with recipes of canned food. Steve might even get off his bum and catch a fish.