Rauoro Motu, Tahaa, Society Islands
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sun 18 May 2008 18:47
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16:34.597S 151:26.972W
After our idyllic two-day stay near Naonao Motu, we
motored and sailed north, up the coast of Raitea Island and then around the east
and north coast of Raitea's sister island, Tahaa. Raitea and Tahaa
islands are referred to as sisters because they are very close to one
another (Tahaa is just north of Raitea) and they share the same surrounding
coral reef. The lagoon is deep enough in most places for a
sailboat to just about circumnavigate both islands, all the while staying
within the reef. Very nice. The perfect kind of sailing - wind with
no waves or swell.
Picture 1 is Kathie taking in the view as we
motored up the east coast of Raitea. Picture 2 is what Bill refers
to as one of his 'art' pictures - in this instance, the boat sailing nicely
through the lagoon under the power of the genoa alone, taken from the viewpoint
of the bow.
We joined Lady Kay in an anchorage just off the
motu of Rauoro, which is just inside the coral reef on the north side of Tahaa
Island. We ventured into uncharted waters again in order to get to a place
shallow enough to drop anchor. This time we were a little more cautious
and moved ahead very slowly, stopping before we reached extremely shallow
water. We could see that the bottom was peppered with coral heads, but
none seemed to reach high enough to cause us trouble. Don and Bill hopped
in the dinghy as they did two days before to canvass the area with the
portable depth sounder and came back with a positive report (picture 3).
We settled in and had a very nice evening just the four of us with the small
motu to the north, Tahaa Island to the south, and a view of Bora Bora in the
distance to the west. Picture 4 is our view of Bora Bora at sunset when a
squall happened to roll through. Bora Bora is the peak in the distance,
Tahaa Island is the land to the left and the low lying land in the foreground is
another small coral motu just inside the surrounding reef. Even a squall
in the tropics can be lovely.
Anne
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