A heavenly lagoon
We sailed all night from the island of Anaa. After having tacked several times to reach Tahanea in the morning, we arrived at a time when the sun was already high and the light was ideal for spotting the coral spats.
We entered the Tahanea lagoon through the Motupuapua pass. The water is turquoise blue and we anchor in 6m of water, off one of the motus.
There is no one else here. No boat, no mobile network or Internet connection that could disturb us. The stopover promises to be rejuvenating!
A very fishy anchorage
Under our boat, it is a real aquarium: some parrots, surgeons, a huge napoleon bigger than the blacktip sharksâ?¦ the fish are numerous and curious to see a ship anchored here.
After a short dive to check the anchor, we tried our hand at fishing. With a piece of bread prepared the day before and a small hook at the end of a nylon thread, we catch in a few minutes a zebra finch, that we will eat on the barbecue!
Different landscapes on the motu
After lunch, we disembark in a dinghy on the beach of the motu to go around it:
On the windward coast, the walkers who passed by before us had fun making small sculptures from natural elements: corals, wood, shellsâ?¦ Each one had his own little creation to mark his passage, and that gave a rather original artistic stroll.
On this side, the waves are agitated and we find on the beach some objects brought back by the sea.
Crossing the motu from the inside, we find a very flat lagoon space, with a bit muddy ground âeuros mixture of sand and earth. The birds try to intimidate us by almost shaving us to make us move away.
Under the wind, we fall back on the lagoon with its calm and translucent waters, fish and black tip sharks that enjoy the warm and shallow waters. There is a lot to see while swimming.
Banks of enormous shells and some sponges cover all the beach. We collect dry wood and barks of coconut trees to light our barbecue, and also coconuts of which we shall taste the water later.
We return on board at the end of the day, well exhausted, a little burned by the sun but happy!
The desire to enjoy it again
Snorkeling, walks on the beach, reading, napping in the hammock or on the beachâeuros¦
We will be so charmed by life here that we will extend our stay in Tahanea.
We will take a lot of time for ourselves, enjoy the sun, the beach, the nature and all that it has to offer.
And then, it will be time to go back to sea. We will take the Teavatapu channel a few days later, at slack water, to leave the lagoon.
