Why Must We Always Depart Motus At Night? - Fakarava to Papeete

GPS track to Tahiti - about 240 nm.

Last Day in Fakarava - After much gnashing of teeth (Tom) and stomping of feet "We ARE leaving today!" (Sylvia) and a good weather window* to leave Fakarava, we decided that Monday, September 12 would be our "day" (snort) of departure. 

*Good Weather Window - Ideally, all these factors align to make a good passage: 
1 - Leaving the atoll. We've talked in the past about the importance of timing one's arrival and departure into/out of the atolls. Depending upon current and wind the usually narrow passes can have standing waves and powerful currents, making the transit uncomfortable to downright dangerous. Typically a transit during slack water is the best, with slack being roughly twice a day, so we try to time it perfectly, although there is no completely accurate way to time the tides and currents because they are affected by wind and weather which is always changing. And one should always transit a pass in the daylight!!
2 - Wind. We want enough wind during the journey so that we can sail instead of motor, but not so much that we get pummeled. Oh, and from a comfortable direction helps too, i.e. not on the nose and preferably from the beam (side) or aft quarter (behind but not directly behind).
3 - Ocean Swell. We hope that the ocean swell is not too big and is coming from behind rather than slapping the boat from the front.
4 - Weather. No rain please. A bright moon helps visibility.


I'm not sure I would have been able to drag Tom out of Pakokota except that the owner Matthieu was planning to leave that day as well, also to sail his boat VISKUS (means Fish Kiss in Tahitian) to Papeete with two crew, Lucas and friend Apolline. So we had the opportunity to buddy boat which seemed fun. With two boats so different in size and style it was doubtful we'd see them much during the transit, but maybe we would at least be in VHF radio range.

That morning I went into the town of Rotoava to do a last bit of shopping and so Matthieu could pick up supplies of water and food (a huge bag of baguettes and cheese) for the trip. 

Then, when we got back around noon Matthieu and Tom donned their SCUBA gear to put some finishing touches on their mooring. 

Mattieu and Tom - 10 more turns = final 2 ft.

The clock ticked on.

Slack tide for departure that afternoon was 18:30 (6:30 p.m.), the end of an ebb tide, so if we got there early, i.e. DAYLIGHT around sunset (5:30 p.m.), we should be able to slide right out with the current. (It's not recommended to transit Tuamotu passes in the dark, although you might remember that we did just that when we left Tahanea.) Anyhoo, as luck (poor planning?) would have it, we didn't even weigh anchor and leave the anchorage until 5:30 p.m., just after sunset. 

We followed VISKUS in the deepening darkness from the anchorage to the North Pass of Fakarava. We were a little worried as we were an hour past slack tide, it was now DARK, and we were anticipating having to push through an incoming tide IN THE DARK. As it turns out we had about 2 knots of outgoing current with us (a good thing); so much for the tide estimator. We followed VISKUS through the pass, the water going from 38 feet to over a thousand in about 30 seconds. I was fretting and nervous the entire time, but in the end our exit out of Fakarava was uneventful. Whew!

We had it planned perfectly: We figured it would take us about 36-40 hours to do the 240 mi. trip. If we left late in the day we would arrive at Tahiti during early daylight making a direct entrance into the marina possible.  

We had nearly perfect tradewind weather for our trip (TWD 105 M, TWS 15-22 kts), a bright almost-full moon, enough wind for sailing, and a not-too-uncomfortable 1.5 meter swell on the beam. We passed VISKUS after a few hours but were able to maintain radio contact with them throughout the entire trip. 

We were lucky, there were no squalls and we had enough wind so that we never had to turn the motor on. The swells (from SSE) got bigger during the day which made for some fun hand-steering but also a few splashes into the cockpit. It also made for better boat speed and it was looking like we would be arriving much earlier than we'd planned.

Point Venus on the northern tip of Tahiti (photo courtesy of Wikipedia/NOAA)

Once again in the dark: Early in the evening of our second night it was clear we were going to make Tahiti in the wee hours of the morning. Negotiating an unknown channel into the marina at night wasn't an option. However, the bay at Point Venus (Matavai Bay) in the north could be safely negotiated at night, especially with the bright moon, so when we arrived at 02:00 we navigated around the reef, into the bay, dropped our anchor and slowly drifted back. And back. And back some more. Oops, the anchor was obviously not holding. So we hoisted it and circled back around for a second try. We got it right the next time and after making sure the anchor was secure we celebrated with showers and a quick shot of rum. After turning on the anchor alarms we enjoyed a few hours of restful sleep before daylight. 

Good morning! View of green, mountainous Tahiti seen from CINNABAR anchored in Matavai Bay.

Later that morning we called VISKUS on the radio. They had opted to slow down and not enter until daylight. We watched them sail by as they headed for their reserved mooring at the nearby Tahiti Yacht Club.

Point Venus: So named because Capt. Cook anchored here in 1769 to watch the Transit of Venus. (click on the link for a fascinating explanation of this important event.) In fact, this was the primary objective of Cook's first voyage in ENDEAVOUR and was commissioned by the Royal Society of London. He established an observatory there called Fort Venus. 

Matavai Bay was so pleasant that we decided to spend another restful day and night there before heading into the city of Papeete. We wondered how we would like Papeete after 3 months in the relative wilderness of The Tuamotu Archipelago. 

Papeete update to follow. (Hint: Shopping!!!!)

Beautiful sunset with Moorea in the background while anchored at Point Venus

Trip Stats:
Engine - 4.7 hours (2+hrs. motoring out of Fakarava, motoring into and anchoring Point Venus)
Trip Log - 237 miles
Distance - 242 nm
Avg Speed - 7.5 
Time - 32.5 hours