That was one rocky-rolly passage from Pitcairn to Mangareva.
After passing through the western cut in the reef that surrounds the lagoon in Mangareva, French Polynesia, eight miles from the town of Rikitea, and the through a second pass, I brought Picton Castle in to anchor off Rikitea almost as it was getting dark with a strong wind astern though the twisty narrow channel into the inner lagoon. Kinda tense. Pretty dodgy, and definitely not according to best accepted practise which I normally strongly espouse for entering such coral South Pacific passes.
For this type of piloting you really want a high sun overhead to illuminate the reefs, or the sun at your back and maybe light headwids, coming through a pass like that – if at all possible. Not possible this time. But I knew the pass well and I very much wanted to get the ship and crew inside the lagoon. Very strong easterly winds – I wanted to be alongside the fine wharf from which the supply ship had just sailed.
Alternatively we could have anchored outside near the first – or western – pass. But this idea also had its liablities and risks in these conditions. We snaked in through the pass without incident (or heart attack) and saw that there was a yacht slipped into the wharf just before we came in. Made me pretty sour. We sent the boat in with our most charming French speaking crew to plead our case but they would not move. She was maybe a 55 footer – they said we were welcome to raft up to them. Really? That would be funny, rafting up 600 tons of Picton Castle outboard of a 55′ fiberglass yacht. So we brought the ship to anchor in good spot and good holding in hard sand on the east side of the lagoon.
The anchor held fine overnight. Yesterday morning came in nice, winds still pretty stiff. But all in a beautiful setting. Rikitea lagoon is simply gorgeous.
Now on this pretty morning Tammy, Dirk, Samantha and I got on our nicer clothes and headed off to Les Gendarmes about 0800 to clear in, a bit early it seems. We get dropped off by the skiff to enjoy a very pleasent walk down a lovely country island road in the fresh breezes, under lush canopy trees, flowers everywhere and many trees with pamplemousse or oranges. Mangareva is an hour behind Pitcairn, logically so. As we got sorted with passports and crew lists the gendarmes could not have been more cooperative or helpful and professional. They did want to see everyone and compare them to their passport pics. So all hands had to head ashore in turn (some must stay on the ship, no?) for visual inspection. Most of them looked much like their passport pictures. Most. A quick look, all done. All sorted.
Two nights at anchor to get settled and we headed into the wharf. I urged all the crew to drink deeply of Mangareva, as this will be our longest stop in the South Pacific. We hope to do small boats to the outer islands for overnight, but we will see, need less wind for that.
Stuff is not cheap here so not much buying for ship. Some dried peas and onions, maybe some veggies.
We will be having some school groups aboard once alongside, already arranged with a local school teacher.
This early morning while still at anchor, Tammy took the skiff and went in to the boulangerie to pick up a couple dozen freshly baked baguettes we ordered last night. Close to heaven this, now. But what a ride from Pitcairn Island….just wow…
