With dwindling supplies, we took off from our east end Makemo anchorage and cruised back to the small village ten miles away. Unfortunately, they had not gotten a new supply ship, and the shelves were bare of anything fresh. Literally, anything. We grabbed what we could from the freezers and headed off on an overnight trip to the next atoll on our radar, Tahanea.

If you zoom in you can see about ten different coral bommies. In good light like this it is like crossing a mine field with the mines sitting on top of the dirt. In bad light it’s like crossing a mine field, period.

Crossing the Makemo pass to head to town during an opposing tide. We waited a few hours before making our way out of the pass at slack tide.

There’s a little cut through the reef for the local fishing boats, and a spot to pull the dinghy up on the beach just a block from the store. It’s a scenic little place.

It was only ~70 miles to Tahanea, and we needed to wait for slack tide around 9 am so there was no rush to get there. We had light winds from behind and were able to make decent time with just the jib sheeted off to a cleat up front. Eventually, though, the jib wasn’t doing enough, so in the middle of the night the main went up as well. We arrived just half an hour early, floated around for a bit, then motored through the pass without issue. I mention the passes quite a bit because messing up your timing can really get you beat up. So far we’ve had nothing but smooth sailing.

There is coral absolutely everywhere, so all we can do is attach some floats to the chain and try to touch as little of it as possible.

Spotted eagle rays are a fan favorite.

I’m the only one who likes the eels, though.

Reef sharks are all over the place. They’re harmless and fun to watch except when I’m spearfishing. I had one follow right behind me at the surface as I swam back to the boat with the fish held high above me out of the water. He knew something was going on, he just wasn’t sure what.

I was out getting Grouper for dinner when I shot one that managed to go through a hole in the coral head. I couldn’t pull him back through, so I pulled the spear back and went up for a breath before heading back down to get him. In the time it took me to get a breath these two arrived and were very excited. I didn’t see them get the fish, but they weren’t leaving the area any time soon, so I had to give up and move on.

Friends from Mexico unexpectedly arrived just before us. Our boat is overflowing with inflatable toys left by the previous owner, as well as a 12-volt air compressor. These would be in the garbage without that.