Hao Atoll is 50 kilometers [31 miles] long by 14 kilometers [6 miles] wide. Hao, or Haorangi, is a large coral atoll in the central part of the Tuamotu Archipelago.The atoll is 920 km east of Tahiti. The lagoon is the fourth largest atoll in French Polynesia and has only one navigable passage, at Kaki, on the north end of the atoll where strong currents prevail up to 20 knots with bores.
The chief town is the village of Otepa, where the main economic activity is the cultivation of pearls.
We experienced the culture of French Polynesia here in Hao, watching local dance practice on the dock while sitting on boat, attended Hieve performances in Otepa and 20th Anniversary celebration at the College of Hao. We enjoyed seeing our friends from Rapa Nui, and Rikitea. We spent many hours in the gloriously warm water and made new friends.
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| Dance performance in Otepa |
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| Beautiful dancers performing on Otepa |
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| Keith said "It's hot!" |
We went for a swim outside the harbor anchorage along the concrete wall. There is a large drop off at high tide, full of fish around the coral. We saw a trumpet fish, several schools of other varieties of fish, octopus and black tip reef shark.
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| Harbor anchorage left |
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| Our friends from Rapa Nui on Nanaku outside the harbor |
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| Sunset over the house on the dock, this is where the dancers practice for Heiva |
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| Sunset from the boat on 3June |
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| Sunrise (sv Gargantuan, sv Sail More, sv Aganta, sv Gabon and sv Stella Marris) from sv Otra Vida |
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| We attended a crafts event during the day at College of Hao with Ada & Jon from sv Rhapsody |
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| Woman making woven purse at cultural crafts event in celebration for College de Hao 20th Anniversary |
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| Beach by College de Hao |
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| Polynesian Dance event first evening of 20th Anniversary for college |
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| College de Hao 20th Anniversary |
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| Keith, Nicki [sv Sail More], Jon & Ada [sv Rhapsody], April [sv Spirit of Argo] first night of celebration |
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| Heiva presentation second night College de Hao 20th Anniversary event |
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| Beautiful costumes and performance |
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| Story well told through dance |
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| Complete dance cast |
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| Culinary school dancing before serving cake |
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| 20th Anniversary cake |
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| Culinary school serving everyone cakes, so many smiling faces |
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Soroya & Thomas [sv Garulfo], Patty [sv Otra Vida], Cain & April [sv Spirit of Argo], Ada & Jon [sv Rhapsody], Nicki [sv Sail More] and Keith
We went to the Polynesian show, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and saw the group from the harbor perform. Really great evening. Keith, Ada and I were chosen for a game during a break with some others..loads and loads of laughs.
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| Our last night in Hao had a perform in the village, Ada and Keith were chosen before Wayne was chosen to do a pass the ball between our legs to the person in front of you. We all laughed, as did the audience |
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| We were excited to see the performers from the dock, smiling faces and great performance |
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| Otepa live Polynesian dance |
We made some good friends here. We enjoyed swimming over to sv Sail More or just stopping by to visit Nicki. On the morning we left sv Garulfo, sv Rhapsody, sv Sail More and sv Halcyon were at the dock. Took off our lines and pushed us off. We are so lucky to have met so many warm and caring individuals. We waved good-bye to everyone.
Exited Passé Kaki in Hao at 10:45 with 1 knot current and no waves. We have 236 miles to Tahanea.
We arrived at the pass to Tahanea around 7:30 after sailing for 2 days, came into the Passé Teavatapu comfortably and sailed around the sand hook then put down the anchor by 8:30. We are at 16°51.012S by 144°41.527W. We are anchored near Taotaona and Téuakiri Islands.
We spent 17 days in Tahanea Atoll, stunningly beautiful, pristine lagoon present jade green to turquoise blue, turning purple water. The lotus on the lagoon rim have white sand beaches, alive with hermit crabs of all sizes, coconut crab and coral flats lending protection to the atoll on the Pacific side. This is Paradise!
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| Passé Teavatapu, entering Tahanea (Tefa ta kanna [left] and Téuakiri [right]) |
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| Keith and Patty as we enter Tahanea |
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| Patty, Martin and Emma Goldman as we approach the pass |
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| Prepared to enter the middle pass, Passé Teavatapu |
Tahanea Atoll measures 48 kilometres (30 miles) in length with a maximum width of 15.2 kilometres (9.4 miles). The southern reef fringing the atoll is wider than the northern one, but the largest islands are on the narrower northern rim. Tahanea has a wide and deep lagoon with a surface of 545 square kilometres (210 square miles) . There are three deep, navigable, passes into the lagoon, which are called Motupuapua, Teavatapu and Otao.
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| Inside the lagoon - Téuakiri at anchor |
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| Tahanea between Tao taona and Téuakiru looking towards the reef and Pacific |
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| Exploring Tahanea, we have set the anchor and now time to explore, |
Keith and I went to shore with Emma and walked around the island, Téakiri. We walked through a couple of breaks in the island with some strong currents and some manta rays. We walked the Pacific side, where we saw rock and coral mounds along the edge of the sea side and some beautiful green blue fish making their way back to open water.
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| Keith exploring Tahanea, motu [island] of Téuakiru |
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| Looking into the lagoon towards Otra Vida and Caesura |
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| Looking out to the Pacific over the reef |
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| The Pacific view of Tahanea, island of Téuakiru |
We took some photos of the pass then came back to the boat for lunch. The crew on Caesura stopped by, plans for sunset have been made to join them on their boat. Nice introduction to Tahanea.
Part of our foraging went into Tahanea Coconut Cheesecake, the fourth variation. Day 5 in Tahanea, Keith and I went to shore and left some things at the campfire site then walked to the Ocean side along the coral to the spit at the point to the cove.
We snorkeled and swam for a while then bathed. We cleaned up a small palm grove area. The sun started getting lower in the sky. We walked back to the Pacific side of Tao taon then to Hotupea for the campfire. Milika, Jon and Kristi, sv Caesura, were already there.
We started the fire when the sun set and radioed Martin and Patty. They were on their way. The fire was incredible, as was the full moon rising behind us over the ocean. The depth of yellow/green and brilliant clarity of the fire’s flames was different for us all. Could be from the husks of the coconut shells and palms. Keith was the master of the fire.
We had a great time crab searching and sitting by the fire. We came back to the camp, then a hard rain and wind storm hit. We all tried to get cover but could not and stood around the fire trying to get warm and dry.
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| Tao taona cove, winds were really blowing |
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| Tao taona cove, our little private paradise |
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| Looking at Tao taona cove from the palm area we cleaned |
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| Beach fire on the full moon on Hotupae |
The following day, Anna and Paulo from sv Zoomax came over to visit, then Keith and I joined them to snorkel in the pass. Slack was around 15:00 when we were swimming. We saw black tip reef shark, reef sharks, grey shark and nurse shark. We saw some large grouper, large needle fish around 15” long, angel fish, school of jack fish, blue fish, and many other varieties.
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| Snorkeling in Passé Teavatapu |
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| Snorkeling in Passé Teavatapu with sv Zoomax |
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| School of Jack fish, Passé Teavatapu |
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| Parrot fish, Passé Teavatapu |
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| Black tip reef shark in Passé Teavatapu |
The following day, we stopped by Caesura. Jon was in the dinghy and invited us to join them for a snorkeling trip to Motu Puapua Pass (Passé Motu Puapua) to see the Manta Rays. Keith and I joined them for an opportunity to snorkel the north part of the pass to see the coral, giant manta rays, shark and fish. This was a highlight of our trip to Tahanea. The giant manta rays swimming out with their mouths open to catch food. The fish we saw from Napoleon, parrot, needle, angel fish, red snapper, grouper and assorted other species.
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| Passé Motu Puapua, swimming with Manta rays |
The giant oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris) is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae, and the largest type of ray in the world. They are circumglobal and are typically found in tropical and subtropical waters, but can also be found in temperate waters.
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| Passé Motu Puapua snorkeling with giant mantas |
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| Passé Motu Puapua snorkeling with sv Caesura [Malika in photo] |
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| Snorkeling on incoming tide |
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| Giant manta |
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| Snorkeling with these majestic giant mantas |
The giant oceanic manta ray can grow to a disc size of up to 7 meters (23 feet) across with a weight of about 3,000 kg (6,600 lb) but average size commonly observed is 4.5 meters (15 feet).
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| Coral Passé Motu Puapua |
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| Achilles Tang Surgeonfish |
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| Moorish idol: Zanclus cornutus |
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| Giant clam |
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| Wayne selfie in Passé Motu Puapua |
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| Bullethead Parrotfish |
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| Angelfish and Achilles Tang Surgeonfish |
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| Palenose Parrotfish |
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| Snorkeling in the cove |
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| Untouched photo of the cove |
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Malika, Kristi and Jon from sv Caesura and Keith hanging out in the cove
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| Keith swimming in the cove, Caesura crew in background |
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| Brown-Marbled Grouper |
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| Keith's snorkel selfie |
After 11 days anchored by Passé Teavatapu we pull anchor and sail to the eastern part of the lagoon. Wayne gets a view from the mast spreader pointing out exposed reef.
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| Wayne keeping watch for exposed reef, two hours of the most beautiful scenery |
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| The anchor will be set here, white sand bottom |
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| Tahanea beauty |
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| Wayne's selfie from the spreader |
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| Southeast Tahanea |
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| Looking forward to exploring and snorkeling |
We are in beautiful white sand with crystal clear water, 3 meters deep with some coral heads near by to investigate.
Keith and I went to shore with Emma, explored the island and the inlets along the lagoon. We walked toward the Pacific finding all kinds of floats, shells, broken items, and copra huts. We saw the beautiful sunset over the lagoon.
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| Exploring the motu near our new anchorage |
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| Starfish |
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| We took the dinghy to this motu and happily explored |
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| Sandbar of the motu |
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| Lagoon off the reef and inside the sandbar |
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| Sun is getting ready to set |
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| Sunset over the motu |
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| Fiery red, orange, peach sunset over Tahanea |
Keith and I went to shore to spend another day exploring the Motu in the easternmost tip of Tahanea, we are anchored in the easternmost point but spent the day to the south of that exploring the lagoon side and Pacific side. We crossed the first sandbar and past bommie of coral then over another part of the sandbar.
We found black noddy, birds with a white mark on their heads, in the trees nesting. We walked through the area looking for cover from the rain. We exited on the Pacific reef with crashing surf in the distance across this Mars like terrain. We considered walking on the reef but tide was coming in and the water was running very quickly in one part filling the lagoon. Amazing landscape with coral, deep and shallow water, fish, crabs and palms.
We had a fun day touring and exploring alone.
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| Sandbar looking over the lagoon |
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| Black Noddy [Anous minutus] |
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| Black Noddy nesting |
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| Water flow from reef into the lagoon at tide change |
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| Keith looking towards the Pacific |
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| Reef scape between th Motu and Pacific |
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| Coral fossil |
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| Snorkeling the bommie near the boat |
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| Coral and fish |
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| School of needle fish |
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| Coral head alive with fish |
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| Barau's Petrel flying over lagoon, wings reflect the turquoise color of the water |
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| Sunset reflecting on motu |
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| Sunset reflecting on motu |
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| Sunset reflecting on motu |
We performed some boat, cleaning the bilge, cleaning the hull and getting ready to leave in a couple of days. After dinner we went snorkeling behind the boat on a small domed bommie between us and shore.
The water is 28.9° air is warm in the mid-eighties. We are anchored here one more night with calms, 16°57.236S by 144°34.774.
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We snorkeled in the cove
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| Swimming in the small lagoon with Threadfin Butterflyfish and Striped Goby |
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| Swimming with Scissortail Sergeant |
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| Raccoon Butterflyfish |
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| Looking back into the lagoon from the motu in the Southeast |
After 17 beautiful day in Tahanea, we pulled anchor and set sail at 16:00 to cross the lagoon and go out the passage for Farkarava.
By 7:20 the following morning, we made our turn around the atoll to head towards the pass.
We entered the Passé Garud, northern passage is quite wide at 1nm. We came in at 8:01 and motor-sailed into the lagoon then put the Genoa out sailing south towards the village of Rotoava but the wind was blowing from the south with heavy wind waves. We passed the red marker for Pufana Reef at 8:40.
While entering we heard from John on Halcyon, he and Becca left the anchorage 30 minutes ago to head to the southeast corner. He suggested the second anchorage at a yacht services with mooring balls at Pakokota. At 12:45 we were attached to a mooring ball. We will spend the night here before we sail south to Hirifa to sit out the tropical storm.
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View of Farkarava atoll, as we sail north to the passage
Fakarava is an atoll in the west of the Tuamotu group in French Polynesia. It is the second largest of the Tuamotu atolls. The nearest land is Toau Atoll, which lies 14 kilometres (8.7 miles) to the northwest.
The shape of Fakarava Atoll is roughly rectangular and its length is 60 kilometres (37 miles) and its width 21 kilometres (13 miles). Fakarava has a wide and deep lagoon and two passes. The main pass to enter the lagoon, located in its north-western end, is known as Passé Garuae and it is the largest pass in French Polynesia; the southern pass is called Tumakohua (also known as Tetamanu). It has a land area of 24.1 square kilometres (9 square miles).
Fakarava has 837 inhabitants; the main village is called Rotoava. We stayed 2 nights in Pakokota and 9 days in Hirifa. We entered the Passé Garuae, northern passage is quite wide at 1 nautical mile. Fakarava is being classified by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve.
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| Sunrise 1July for Canada Day |
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| Sunsets on another perfect day in French Polynesia, Hirifa anchorage |
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| View off sandbar cove between the reef and island in Hirifa |
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| Kite surfer from Ipanema catamaran in Hirifa |
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| Kite surfer off the sandbar from Ipanema catamaran in Hirifa |
The winds were blowing off the Pacific, across the reef and sandbar. We spent 4July watching the kite surfers and exploring the motu. We sat out the storm with 45 other boats.
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| Anchorage in Hirifa, sitting out the Tropical Storm [maramu] |
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| Coral ruins built 1879 |
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| View of lagoon from the ruins |
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| Walking to Pacific and reef looking back on sandbar and kite surfers |
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| Pacific breaking on the reef and storm clouds, winds 35 knots |
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| South coast of Farkarava atoll with breaking waves from storm |
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| View from restaurant to the beach and sandbar with kite surfers |
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| Snorkeling along the shore in Hirifa |
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| Snorkeling along the shore in Hirifa, Needlefish |
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| Coral head along the beach |
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| Fish and coral in Hirifa |
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| turquoise water and good visibility |
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| Latticed Butterflyfish |
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| Hirifa from the boat |
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| Our last night in Farkarava, Zingaro joins us after recovering their anchor |
We had breakfast with Zingaro on their boat, James prepared crepes for us. We pulled up anchor around 12:30, and completed it by 13:00. Martin and Patty set the Genoa was out, while Keith and I locked the anchor in place. We are sailing north at 3.0 knots.
We spent 11 days in Farkarava, the storms past over, protective anchorage with plenty of exploring and snorkeling.
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| 7,536 km [4682.65 miles] Distance from Chile to Fakarava Atoll |
We are off to the Society Islands [Archipel de la Société] a 2 day sail. We thoroughly enjoyed the Tuamotu Archipelago, we wished we had more time. We have 90 day Visa and have spent 60 days in French Polynesia so far. The Tuamotu Archipelago is beyond expectations and you run out of adjectives to describe the magnificent beauty and peace in this wonderful place called Paradise.
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