In Heaven (with the door shut) – The Tuamotus Pt 2

Rehua against the sunset - en route to Makemo
Our buddy boat Rehua against the sunset – en route to Makemo

Our next stop in the Tuamotus was Makemo, west of Raroia. Although only 70NM away it’s impossible to do the trip as a day sail because of the need to time exit and entry through the passes at slack tide. So we opted to do a slow overnight sail to Makemo, pottering along at 3-4 knots and arriving at the pass just after dawn and just on slack tide. Trying to time slack tide is something akin to a black art, with lots of mumbling and muttering while hunched over various tide data, but mostly it comes down to guestimation – and amazingly we seem to have got it right so far. Continue reading “In Heaven (with the door shut) – The Tuamotus Pt 2”