What a luck

2 August 2024

What a luck

Rain was forecasted, but we got a fantastic and sunny day as we sailed to our next destination. The wind picked up to around 22 knots and half wind we reached speeds around 9, even 10 knots. Before we knew it, we were there. Concerns about the rather narrow reef passage proved unfounded. With large breakers left and right and water of an unlikely shade of green, we sailed into the lagoon without any problems. The islands of Tahaa and Raiatea are both in the same atoll and there is a very wide stretch of navigable water between the barrio reef and the islands. Slaloming a bit between the shallows and scattered “coral heads”, we sailed to Raietea. It was perhaps the most beautiful stretch of water we have ever sailed. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a place to anchor in Raietea, so we ended up anchoring further north on the east side of Tahaa in a deep bay.

The rain came during the night and it rained heavily the next morning as well. This resulted in beautiful pictures of mist and fog between the high mountain slopes, because it is always warm here and the water evaporates immediately. It looked like the wind would turn south or south-east the following day and increase substantially. That would be very unfortunate for the route back to the Windward Islands so we decided to leave that afternoon in the direction of Moorea.