The Tuamotus: Amanu, Makemo and Tahanea
After more than a month in the Marquesas, it was time to set Scout up for another passage. This time we were heading south east from Nuku Hiva to somewhere even more remote: the atolls of the Tuamotus.
It turned out to be a memorable passage. Never forget what Mother Nature can throw at you when you’re on a boat: Scout and the crew weathered an unpleasant 45 knot sustained surprise perfectly… well, almost. Suffice to say our bimini did not survive the passage.
As well as being a reminder to always stay humble in the Pacific, the storms added a few hours to our estimated arrival time. That meant our next challenge was that we wouldn’t be able to transit Amanu’s strongly tidal pass at the right time.
But we made it in, and we were soon reveling in the solitude and the big skies of the remote Tuamotus.
The Tuamotu archipelago isn’t all white sand, palm trees, and crystal clear water. That’s on the inside of the atolls! The outside of Amanu is a different matter - harsh, barren, and battered by the full force of the Pacific. It looked more like the prehistoric Outer Hebrides than French Polynesia.
We found some old rock shelters and cairns at the very northern tip of the island, miles from anywhere. How long have these been here?
Back on board, we settled in for a quiet Friday night.
We spent two amazing weeks in Amanu. We loved it, and hopefully you can see why. Oh, and the diving on the reef was incredible too!
Our next atoll was Makemo, where this beautifully clear reef was right by our anchorage. Epic colours!
From Makemo we moved on to the uninhabited atoll of Tahanea. There were barbecues and night-time lobstering with friends, but also time hanging out in the solitude of this beautiful coral atoll.
We were very much still off the grid.
The weather in the Tuamotus is not always this perfect, but when it is, we fly the drone!
On our last day in the incredible Tahanea atoll, the local rays came to bid us farewell. We’ll be back!
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