Tahanea, Atoll #13

(Note: this blog post is something like two months late, so it’s very possible I’ve forgotten a lot.)

Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, we talked to raved about Tahanea. We know boats that stayed there for months at a time, surfacing only to make a quick trip to Fakarava for provisions and coming back. Clearly, this was one of the “must see” spots in the Tuamotus.

It’s a nice spot, there’s no doubt. Is it worth the overhype? I don’t really think it’s any better than many of the other atolls, but if you’re on a 90 day zoom through and hitting the “highlights”, this one might tick the box.

Still, we’re super glad we got there.

We arrived into Tahanea after a meandering passage from Hao that had us averaging 3.5 knots. Friends were so concerned about our lack of progress that they sent a “All okay?” message. All was fine. We just had opted for sailing in light winds rather than running the engine.

Our first anchorage was reached after 6 hours of long tacks across the lagoon and back. We stayed there for almost a week, content to just relax and not worry about much else.

*Anchored near friends from Gambiers, rainbow-style*

We socialized with friends we’d met in Gambiers, got caught up on boat chores, and Jeremy got in a foiling session.

When it looked like we might have a weather window to get up to Takaroa in a few days, we started moving quickly.

Anchorage #2: near the Lazy River - a tidal flow spot that people on NoForeignLand make sound amazing but in actuality it’s not very exciting, not from a “ride” perspective nor from what you can see. Really, snorkeling a drift snorkel in passes is far more interesting.

Anchorage #3, the Tahanea “Sandy Beach”. Probably our favorite spot in this atoll. It’s quiet, sandy, an interesting island to wander on for the five minutes it takes to see it all.

Anchorage #4: The “7”, so called because the reef looks a little bit like the number seven, if you look hard and squint your eyes anyway.

Anchorage #5: near the pass

It’s likely that this atoll gets rave reviews because it’s easy to find a protected place to anchor regardless of the weather. That it’s almost uninhabited (supposedly there is a seasonal worker on one of the southern motus who offers coconut crab dinners to cruisers) is a plus too. We did not go snorkeling due to a number of factors, but the passes get absolute rave reviews.

We’re glad we came and would certainly come back. But then again, there’s only one atoll in the Tuamotus where that’s not the case.