Naonao Motu, Raiatea, Society Islands
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sun 18 May 2008 00:46
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16:55.002S 151:26.023W
On Sunday (5/11), we left Huahine (HOO-HA-Hiney)
through the northwest pass and headed to the island of Raitea, about twenty-five
miles to the southwest. There, we anchored in the lagoon after going
through the southeast pass in the surrounding coral reef. Lady Kay was
nearby, as was Andante. We heard Andante say on the radio that they had
some trouble anchoring in the uncharted area near the motu (tiny coral island)
of Naonao - they grazed a coral head with their boat. Not good. By
the time we got there, they had anchored safely in a slim sand patch and
indicated that we should come along side them and share their sand patch
anchorage. We moved slowly through the uncharted waters to Andante's
starboard (right) side. We inched up with Bill and Kathie on the bow
looking overboard at the bottom to warn us of shallow water and/or coral.
Bill yelled, 'It's getting really shallow!' just as the boat lurched a bit and
we ran aground in the sand. Oops. This is the first time (other than
that unfortunate incident in the bay of Plymouth, Massachusetts) that we went
aground. I panicked, had visions of having to call the local coast guard
(hmmm.... what coast guard? they don't exist here) to help us get off the
sand bottom. Don reacted quickly, yelling at me to get the pin out of the
bow thruster so he could lower it and use it to move the boat side-to-side and
rock it out of the sand. I followed his instruction, all the while acting
panicky and questioning his plan. The bow thruster went down, Don put the
boat in full reverse and ran the thruster from side-to-side until we were
free. It was only a matter of minutes, but of course felt like
hours. Once we were free, I immediately started pestering Don, what's your
plan? Where are we going to go now? This area is uncharted and the
light isn't good to pick out coral heads. We can't see, where are you
going? Swallowing the urge to yell, 'Shut up!', Don instead hissed, 'I
don't have a plan, we are going to go over here and see what it is like.'
While I pouted, Don took us safely to the other side of Andante where there was
deeper water and we anchored just in front of them in a patch of sand with coral
heads around, but none shallow enough to cause us trouble. Shew!
Crisis averted. I eventually recovered from my temporary loss of composure
and Don and Bill took the hand held depth meter around in the dinghy to ensure
the boat wouldn't swing into an area too shallow. They finished canvassing
the area with a fairly positive report (if we swing to the east, we will go
aground, but it's just sand and would be no big deal). Ok, good
enough. We stayed there two nights and never went aground, so all was
well.
Picture 1 is a motu we passed on our way through
the Raitea lagoon to Naonao Motu. The color of the water in the lagoons is
nothing less than fabulous. Picture 2 was one of our views of Raitea as we
motored through its lagoon. Very majestic with the clouds hanging about
and rays of sunlight poking through.
That night we had dinner aboard, and then made our
way in the dinghy over to Lady Kay, where the four of us spent the
rest of the evening with Michael and Jackie and Jackie's cousin Rob and wife
Virginia. This was the first time we had caught up with Lady Kay
since all the rally boats were in Papeete. Since leaving Papeete, Don and
Michael talked on the long range radio every morning and Michael, acting as
our personal tour guide to the Society Islands, gave us tips on where
to anchor, where to snorkel, where to go for dinner, etc. Excellent.
So on top of all that, Lady Kay invited us over for the
evening. Once again, I feel the need to emphasize the hellish existence we
seem to be leading.
The next day our guest Bill felt the need to clean
the entire waterline of our boat (43 feet times two), which was sporting a very
nice green, stringy garden of various oceanic vegetation species. At the
same time, Don, feeling extremely ambitious, donned his scuba gear and cleaned
the entire hull under the waterline (picture 3). Since we were anchored in
such shallow water, Don found he could occasionally stand on the sand bottom
while scrubbing the keel. We've found since then that our boat speed has
increased by two-tenths of a knot when running at the same engine
rpm. Quite impressive. In fact, our new crew has contributed so much
to the general upkeep of the boat and daily food related needs of the entire
crew that we have been trying to convince them to extend their vacation
until July when we plan to arrive in Australia. They have not agreed
to this plan, but sometimes we feel we are making headway - especially after a
bottle or two of wine has been consumed. In the morning, however, their
resolve to return home per their original plan seems to resurface.
Ah! The sad plight of working people.
We spent a gorgeous second day in our sand patch
near Naonao Motu off the coast of Raitea and snorkeled a fair bit. We saw
what first appeared to be thin, brightly colored and sometimes spotted snakes in
all kinds of blue and purple hues lying on the coral. After floating over
it for a while, we realized we were looking at some kind of clam
shell, embedded in the coral, opening and closing as food passed by - the 'lips'
of the shell were what looked like snakes, colored those amazing
shades of blue and purple and fluted in such a way that from a distance they
really did look like snakes. Each coral patch in this area seemed to have
an entire city of tiny iridescent blue fish darting about looking quite
busy. Every trip skimming the water surface looking down reveals
some new, previously overlooked wonder. Instead of stopping to smell
the roses (or smell the scotch as Don is fond of saying), we now try to stop and
view the coral.
Anne
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