Tag Archives: false pass

Toau: The Sister Island

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Fakarava is one of the largest and most visited atolls in the Tuamotus.  It offers several magasins (markets), fuel, propane, fruits and veggies, and yacht services.  However, 25nm down the road is its sister island Toau which is hardly ever visited and a sweet oasis. 

This little atoll does not have any magasins or provisions or services.  It used to get a supply ship once a month but that has ceased as well.  Valentine and Gaston who live on the main motu near the false pass have a beautiful garden with tomatoes, bell peppers, pamplemousse, lemons, noni, avocado, and a few other items.  They open up as a restaurant during peak season (April-Oct) and offer cruisers fresh fish, lobster, and available meats.  Super friendly and always willing to accept visitors.

Valetine and Gaston's Home on Toau

Valetine and Gaston’s Home on Toau

They have a plethora of animals.  When we arrived at the dock 5 dogs greeted us with sloppy kisses.  They have cats and new kittens.

Tons of chickens and a family of pigs.

They even have a pet frigate bird named Mumu that has been with them for over 11 years!

Pet Frigate bird

Pet Frigate bird

Valentin is very religious and had a sit down with us discussing God and her beliefs.  They even have their own church for the 3 people on the motu.

She has a large collection of shells that she gifts to visitors and shares with newcomers.

Snorkeling

We had great fun snorkeling the pass during incoming tide.  We found several black tip sharks and lots of big schools of fish as we drifted in towards the bay.  The reef behind us was a treasure trove!

The reef had lots of large coral heads (bommies) with tons of varieties of fish around, and inside them.  I think you could snorkel here for days and see something new.

Our weather window opened up and we needed to leave.  It was a short visit to Toau but we will certainly return.  On a sad note, we will be parting with our good friends on Maple (Janet, Daryl, Ella, and Iris).  We met them in Bonaire and have sailed with them across many miles of ocean, visited many countries, islands, and atolls.  They will be heading to Japan in January, then Alaska, then Canada.  It was really hard to say “so long.”  Hopefully we will see them again as they have been an amazing blessing in our lives.

We will certainly need to come back to Amanu as we did not have a chance to go inside the lagoon.  We had too much fun exploring the false pass and visiting with Valentine and Gaston.

Events from this blog post in Toau occurred around the 3rd week of November, 2020.  Our blog posts run 8 weeks behind our adventures.

Marlin, The Big Catch on Toau Passage

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We like to fish while under passage.  On the 140nm passage from Tikehau to Toau we estimated it to take us 25-26 hours at an average speed of 5kts with 12kts of wind from the North of East.  Of course, that is if we didn’t spend a bunch of hours trying to catch a huge blue marlin. 

We decided to leave Tikehau between 0900-1000 so we would not arrive in the dark.  Everything started out as planned, we raised the main to full sail and had a reefed jib as we exited the pass.  Within the first hour we were hit with strong winds (20-25kt) from a squall.  Matt took a reef in the main thinking we could shake it out after the winds died down and after we made our left turn around the atoll.

Weather routing gave a direct path (as the image indicates below) but they did not take into account that we would be sailing over other islands.  So, we went around Tikehau and avoided Rangiroa and Kaukura.

Route to Toau

Route to Toau

It was a fantastic sail with 12-15kts of wind from the North, North East pushing us along at 8-9kts.  That is wicked fast for us when you consider we usually cruise at 5-6kts.  We figured it would not last and decided to enjoy it while we had it. 

The BIG catch

Matt had all three lines out and a teaser.  I did not think we could catch anything because we were going too fast.  However, around 1415 Matt noticed our teaser bungy bounce and pulled it in to find our lure missing.  Not a minute later the line next to it went “ZING!” We both looked up and saw a marlin dancing on the water.  And then off it went, unspooling thousands of feet of line and filament. And going, and going, and going. 

Since we were under sail, we had to depower the boat and bring in the other 2 lines before we could work on bringing the marlin in.  We reefed the jib and headed away from the wind slowing us down to 5/6 kts.  Matt started the slow process of reeling the beast in as I tried to slow us down even further without flogging the main or making an accidental jibe.  The pressure on the pole was constant between the power of the marlin and the forward motion of the boat making it challenging to reel the fish in.

Matt fighting with the Marlin

Matt fighting with the Marlin

He was a fighter!  Of course, I can’t blame him.  I must admit I felt horrible bringing him in and watching him suffer (what a bleeding heart).  But we will use all of his meat to feed the locals and other cruisers.  He will not go to waste and will not be a trophy hunt.

The Big Blue Marlin

The Big Blue Marlin

Once we got the fish close enough, we attempted to gaff him to help pull him onboard.  The trick is to get him close enough to use the gaff, but far enough away where his nose doesn’t put a hole in our boat.

Trying to gaf the marlin

Trying to gaf the marlin

It wasn’t pretty as the gaff kept coming out.  We had to stick him several times before we were able to finally bring him onboard.

The Big Catch

Marlin: The Big Catch

The Marlin

He is about 2.5 meters in length (7.5’) and 70-75 kilos (155-160lbs).  His nose came across our deck and his tail is off the last sugar scoop.  Who is tougher?

A picture of a full reel (top) and the unspooled reel (bottom)

We ended up filling (6) 5x large ziplock bags. I think each bag is 5gal.  Lucky for us the engle was empty so we had a place to put him.  We filled it up and still had to put two bags in the fridge!

Bagged and ready to go

Marlin bagged and ready to go

Are we sailing?

After several hours of going off course at 1.2-5kts we finally went back on track.  We headed back on course, reset the sails and we were off again at 8-9kts in 12-15kts of wind.  Sweet!  It took Matt another 1.5 hours to cut and clean the fish while I got us underway.

We finished up with the fish just as the sun was setting and as the SSB net was starting.  What great timing.  We both were too tired to make dinner, so we prepared the boat for the evening sail and set into our passage.

It was a totally smooth and fast sail.  We ended up depowering the sails again as we were scheduled to arrive at 0300-0330 in the morning (dark).  At dawn, we turned the motors on and made our way to the false pass of Toau.

Toau

Toau is known for its absolute beauty, remoteness, snorkeling, and serenity.  It is unique in that it has one pass that leads into the lagoon and one false pass.  The image below shows us (red arrow) at the false pass and it shows the regular pass on the right with the range markers and channel.

Tao

Toau

You may ask, “what is a false pass?”  A regular pass will allow yachts to enter into the atoll into the lagoon inside.  A false pass can either be from the inside of the lagoon to the outer reef or from the pacific to the inside reef.  The false pass at Toau allows yachts to enter from the Pacific to the inner reef (but does not allow us to go inside the lagoon).

Toau False Pass

Toau False Pass

We picked up a mooring ball provided by Gaston and Valentine (locals who also run a restaurant), took a quick nap and began our explorations.

Trip Details

  • Miles to Destination Total: 140nm
  • Total Miles Sailed: 142nm
  • Hours Sailed: 20:18
  • Moving Average: 7.1kt
  • Max Speed: 11.7kt

Events from this blog post occurred around the 3rd week of November, 2020.  Our blog posts run 8 weeks behind our adventures.

Managreva on fire

The False Pass at Tarauru Roa

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On the southeast corner of the Gambiers lies two motus: Tarauru Roa and Gaioio. The wind shifted and we decided to move to the more protected anchorage of Tarauru Roa. We had never anchored in this area before and had to dodge many pearl floats on the way from Ile de Akamaru. Once we arrived, we determined that we needed to float our chain to avoid getting tangled with the bommies. Always a fun chore to add floats to the chain every 7 meters while setting the anchor. We finally set the anchor after a few failed attempts.

A very stunning sunset behind Taravai. Looks like the orange was just painted into the sky.

Beautiful Orange Sunset at the False Pass

Beautiful Orange Sunset at the False Pass

The False Pass

To the north of us is a “false pass” where there is a gap between the Tarauru Roa motu and Totegegie but the reef still creates a barrier between the lagoon and the sea. Our friends on Leela told us it was great snorkeling there so met them for an adventure. We drove the dinghy as far up the gap that we could without getting stuck during a change in tides. We then had to swim against the current to the “pit” where we encountered lots of black tip and white tip sharks. They have been trained to follow humans as they dive below the surface. The sharks think we are all spear fishing and they want the easy pickins.

A few new friends

A few new friends

We found lots of fun sea life in the coral and on the sea wall. Most wouldn’t sit for a photo session, but I was able to capture a few.

Snorkeling with some fishies

Snorkeling with some fishies

My little fish just loves hanging out near the bottom.

Snorkeling with some fishie

Snorkeling with some fishie

The coral was just starting to grow and come back to life. It was beautiful to see the brains, tables, staghorns and more thrive in this false pass.

Lots of cool coral

Lots of cool coral

Walk Around the Block – Tarauru Roa

Walk Around the Block

Our blocks are considerably different than yours. Just south of Tarauru Roa is the small motu Gaioio. Matt expertly weaved our dinghy in and out of the coral reef to get to Gaioio. Along the way, we found this boobie hanging out on its own thrown.

Now that is a throne!

Now that is a throne!

We wanted to walk around the motu along the coral shore. It was lovely, but a little challenging walking on the debris.

Rocky walk

Rocky walk

The center of the motu is covered in greenery. You can certainly tell the windward side (short bushes) from the leeward side (tall trees).

Windward vs Leeward side of the island

Windward vs Leeward side of the island

The view was considerably better as we got back around to where we left the dinghy. Back on sand. Can you see sweetie in the lower photo?

Finding our way back to Sweetie

Finding our way back to Sweetie in Tarauru Roa

On the uninhabited motus you come across a lot of trash. Primarily from the windward side (brought in from the sea). With nobody living here to clean up it is worrisome to see. At some point, someone made a plastic pile to burn and someone cleaned out a bunch of oyster shells.

Gross and Sad!

Gross and Sad!

Another pretty sunset. It looks like the island of Mangareva is on fire, but in reality, the sun set just as a storm passed by and it provided this awesome photo.

Managreva on fire

Managreva on fire

Tarauru Roa proved to be a peaceful and quiet motu that calmed our souls. With so much drama going around the world (covid19) it was nice to be completely disconnected.