Photo shows one of the common spotted eagle rays in the Kauehi lagoon. The mantas are much larger but we haven't succeeded in catching them yet with the camera!


We are now anchored off the small village of Tearavero on the North East side of Kauehi atoll in the Tuamotus after a relatively benign 4 day passage from Nuku Hiva. A nasty 180 degree wind shift just before dawn on the third day had us hove to for an hour or two then we resumed towards a different atoll, Takaroa, but before the day was out we had turned back towards Kauehi. Kauehiis one of 70 true atolls that make up the Tuamotu archipelago, which stretches 1500 km from one end to the other 200 miles East of Tahiti. About 20 of them are inhabited, included Kauehi, which has about 350 people living on it.

The atolls are challenging sailing territory for three reasons. Firstly, if they a have pass at all between the ocean and the lagoon inside the atoll, the water either rushes in or out with the tide at up to 6 knots, with a short slack at high or low water when it is relatively safe to enter. Inside the lagoon, the floor is often studded with coral outcrops, many of which have never been charted. Lastly, in the winter cruising season, fronts and lows emanating from New Zealand, now not so far away, swirl below the atolls disturbing and changing the direction of the winds from their normal trade wind easterly direction and making anchoring worrying as the fetch across the lagoons can be 20 miles or more.

We mistimed the entry into Kauehi by an hour and bumped across the wind/tide chop just inside the lagoon, then got caught in the rough swirl of disturbed water en route to the village anchorage 7 miles to the north. The anchorage at least is totally flat and very comfortable after the swelly Marquesas bays and the open ocean. The atoll is ringed by low lying coral cays or motu as they are called here, crowded with coconut palms. On this atoll there are no tourists and the people make a living from black pearl farming and copra.

The lagoon water is not crystal clear, but we have been snorkelling and have been glad to see the familiar huge diversity of fish life we have been used to in Pacific coral reefs - even groupers and clams that we have not seen for a long time. The air here has also been remarkably clear and clean with beautiful blue skies and the lagoon is at its best with greens and blues of all hues.

The best diving and snorkelling in the Tuamotus is in the passes, which takes a bit of planning. Tomorrow we will try an anchorage close to the pass and then move on to the next atoll - Fakarava - a much bigger atoll 30 miles to the west. The weather is very benign at the moment with weak northeast winds so it is a good time to be in the atolls.

We nearly got flipped out of the dinghy by a careering two metre wide manta ray yesterday. There seem to be a number of these elegant fish around in the clear water of the lagoon. We're not sure if they are naturally curious or just short sighted!