Nuku Hiva and its mountainous charms are now well behind us. About 200 miles behind having left at the crack of 07:00 yesterday bound for the Tuamotos aka "The Dangerous Archipelago".

If you were to take a teacup and submerge it in a basin with just the rim showing, that's what makes an atoll in the Tuamotos. Add a small chip on the edge, maybe two, and you have a typical lagoon. Made up from the remnants of volcanoes, one sails through the "chip" in the rim, into the old crater. The challenges are many. First, the atoll rims only protrude above the ocean by a few feet, maybe 12 at the highest. This makes them difficult to see in the daylight. At night, it's sighting by radar and GPS mapped onto charts that Captain Cook himself might have prepared and radar only works if there's a swell AND you can identify the difference between a signal for breaking waves and the normal clutter.

Second, like your teacup, a wave or two in the basin will flood over the rim of your cup. In the atolls, the swell pours over the windward edges and, with no way out other than the "chips" in the edge, standing waves, whirpools and pretty much what sounds like tide races to put Pladda to shame occur pretty much all day. Only at slack water, for maybe a good 8 minutes according to the pilot books is their an opportunity to get in our out safely.

Lastly, once in, "bommies" await. These are large diameter coral heads that reach up from the depths to either give your keel a bruising or, if anchored, to wrap and snare your chain. (I'm beginning to wonder why we're going, this is not an exaggeration). Most anchorages are in 20 meters or more so if you get wrapped up, its going to be fun getting free. However, loads of boats do it, including the 7 this year that have ended up on the surrounding reefs, so it must be worth it.

Tune back in to find out.