agility @ sea

Jer:

I wrote this a couple of days ago:

I can’t get to sleep tonight thinking about our experiences over the past 10 days.
We had spent a few weeks in Gambier and I thought I understood the drill regarding reefs and entering atolls, but was completely unprepared for our entrance through the S. pass of Fakarava. We had been sailing for 5 days, excited to see the island, and the next thing I know Tim turns to port directly into a line of large breakers. I couldn’t believe that was going to be our entrance into the atoll. Sure enough, there was approximately 100 yards of calm water that we were to make our way through in between waves crashing into reefs. I was quite concerned, but it was reassuring to have Mike and Debbie from Andiamo cheering us on once we got through the entrance and yelling that they’d help guide us through the remaining reefs to get to the anchorage. I stayed on the bow and pointed out obvious collision areas and hoped the ones I didn’t see were over 3.5′ deep. Anchoring was challenging as well due to a lot of coral areas intermingled with patches of sand. Fortunately, we eventually made it in alive and happily anchored in one of the most beautiful spots I’ve ever experienced. I successfully ignored the fact that we’d also have to exit at some point.
I’ve covered our time there in previous blogs so will move on to the more logistical aspects of the leaving the N. pass of the island. After we left our anchorage in the south we headed about 35 miles north to Roatava, the main town on the north part of the atoll. There are two entrances into the atoll – the north and the south. The north entrance is maybe twice as wide, but seemed a lot longer to get through. It was crazy getting out of there. I was scared, but mainly fascinated by the high (10 ft), but very short waves. They were kind of square (if that makes sense) so we were really in a lot of sea. I stood in the cockpit braced in the doorway area and had to close my eyes at times. I wish I would have filmed it because it was impressive. Getting out of there was a huge relief.
This afternoon we spent a few hours hanging out and chatting with some fellow sailors. It was reassuring to hear their stories and to get some confirmation that we are in the wild west. It sounds as though once we get to Tahiti, we will be in more civilized territory. For weeks, I’ve been craving more civilization, but at this moment, I feel appreciative of having the opportunity to sail and explore an area that isn’t easily accessible to most people. It was tough to get here and there are challenges being here, but many rewards as well. The boat problems are shared by all and part of the experience that I hope to become more accustomed to and not always so surprised and inconvenienced by. We put Agility through a lot that requires care and maintenance.