Yesterday, we left our wonderful home of the last 2 weeks at Reporepo, Rangiroa in the Tuamoto Archipeligo. We have had a lovely stay and there are many, many photos! Coming soon? (maybe in Papeete, Tahiti the internet will be fast enough...)

We left the anchorage at 0530 (yes, that is 5:30 in the morning!) and the dawn was just beginning so we could see what and where we were going. The pass at Tiputa was very active - and that is just putting it mildly.... we saw ahead of us was hard to believe. There were approximately 5-6 HUGE waves just stacked in the center.... think Porlier Pass at it fastest and strongest current and an opposing wind.... Those waves were 10 feet high..... and we. were. going. through. that.

Well Winterlude is a big, heavy and fast sailboat - she just nailed those huge waves and powered through! We had green water over the bow (that's when you get the nose dug into the next wave and all that water rolls down the deck towards you & the cockpit!) Thankfully, the dodger and the fully enclosed cockpit diverted the water away from us! It was a tense & crazy 10 minutes! We had asked the local guy from the dive shop when he thought would be a good time to transit the pass, but he too didn't have any precise information. Oh well, we did it and all is good.

We made our way to Apataki which is about halfway to Fakarava (almost sounds like I'm swearing!). We left early enough to arrive in daylight. When we arrived and had transitted the pass in Apataki, the wind was still up around 20 knots per hour and the seas inside the atoll were about 3 feet. Not the best conditions for coral head spotting. We did the right thing and exited again as now it was dark. We circled the atoll over night and then entered the southwest pass at daybreak.

We radioed any other boats in the anchorage to get some info. Luckily, Bill from s/v Sunrise came on the VHF and gave us his latitude & longitude and said the magic words "We are anchored in sand and in 25 feet of water" .... so we too, are anchored in 25 feet of water in sand! Yippee. I think we will like it here!