Makemo

Huzzah for a new atoll! We departed Fakarava from its North pass on October 14th in the early afternoon. Our friends on Morning Stars had departed earlier in the morning so that we would both arrive during the favorable pass current. Our destination was Makemo atoll, about 150 miles away to the SE and straight into the wind. There wasn’t much wind and we needed to charge the batteries and make water too (even our new batteries need charging) so we didn’t mind motoring a bit. It’s astonishing how fast these low lying atolls disappear over the horizon, soon the wind came up and we sailed out of view of any land, though we weren’t far away from it. We felt great, Griffin had his customary nap in the cockpit while the cats smartly kept their naps indoors. 

We sailed through the sunset and into the darkness. The wind was pretty much from right where we wanted to go, so we ended up tacking back and forth between other atolls. There was a bit of moon and the sea state was totally manageable, we had a nice night. Morning came and not long after Makemo was in sight.  We slipped through a bit of chop in the pass and entered the calm inner waters. 

Just 9 miles down the northeast side of the atoll we dropped the hook in the Punaruku anchorage with its wave breaking underwater spit to the south for the conditions. Around us were our friends on Morning Stars, Paradiso, Roller Coaster, Zoe, and Manna. Griffin and Dylan went ashore and chatted with a couple who had their fishing hut there. The boys came back to the boat with some lobster from them, score! 

“Roller Coaster” had decided to head further west this year instead of back to the Marquesas and there was a big beach party with a fantastic sunset to say goodbye to them. In the morning everyone blew their horns as they sailed off. 

Morning Stars, Paradiso, and us Rocket Scientists also picked up our hooks and went 16 miles to the town, we all followed Paradiso who’d been there before. It was another crystal clear water anchorage where I leaned over the bow, looked for a sandy patch, asked Greg to stop the boat, and dropped the anchor down to the bottom. When it hit Greg backed us up as I let out more chain and attached the 3 chain floats spaced out on the second half of whatever length of chain we put out. That all happens so easily now, how strange it will be to drop the anchor into darkness and not use floats someday!

This town, Pouheva, is just inside another pass into the atoll. We enjoyed a fast snorkeling float through it while others dove. In fact, it was so fast that we decided to do it again and again. The third time we saw the divers underneath us and we floated the last bit with them as they came up to the surface. Griffin had fun diving down to Dylan as he was coming up. Lots of sharks were seen along with a huge school of large fish, and many other cool fish and corals. Near where we were anchored was another large bommie that was easy to swim to which I did a few times. Griffin and Dylan accompanied me once and Dylan may have beat me in a swimming as fast as possible race. We saw a few turtles and lots more sharks. One evening the divers from Paradiso, Morning Stars, and another nearby boat did a night dive between all the boats. The water is so clear all of us non-divers hanging out on Paradiso could watch them traveling around underwater. 

While in town we enjoyed chats with the locals, everyone was so friendly! We learned about and checked out a big speedboat that was being built, we were offered some coconuts from a guy who spoke English well, and one of the shop keepers made sure we got our bread order in so we could pick it up fresh the next day. We had a meal at a house whose front yard was a little restaurant, listened to some great singing in the church, and gazed out at the ocean from under the lighthouse at the end of the road. Absolutely picturesque. 

Paradiso headed off to sail back up to the Marquesas for hurricane season, we’ll see them again there soon. Morning Stars and us headed back up to the Punaruku anchorage where Tino Pai (Andy and Shannon), Solar Punk (Sharon), and a few other boats were. We had another paella dinner on the beach and ended up inviting everyone in the anchorage. It’s so fun getting to meet and hear everyone’s stories. The paella included marlin from Solar Punk along with tuna and bacon from other boats. Griffin and Dylan ran in carrying some land crabs, killing them right there with their machetes, with just enough time to throw them in on top. Too much food as usual! We ended the evening quickly as dark clouds rolled in over the palm trees and the wind picked up. 

A few nights later we did a repeat event but this time with Morning Stars’ amazing fried dough balls filled with sausage and cheese. Jim and Ana and their guests on Balloon joined in and beat us all with their bocce ball skills (known as patanq here). Our days with Morning Stars were winding up and we spent as much time as possible with them. Alas, normal stuff also had to happen like school, boat projects, work (for me), and cooking projects like keeping the yogurt, sourdough, and sprouts all going. 

Amanda had a great idea to celebrate Halloween a little early and she set up an epic treasure hunt for the boys. Tino Pai had some orange spray paint and we decorated some coconuts like pumpkins. The boys followed the clues from a mysterious bottle floating by to some “pumpkins” around the bonfire pit to Tino Pai’s bow, to an “x” marking the spot to, finally, a dive float marking the spot of the final clue and reward hiding underwater. What a way for the boys (and adults) to enjoy some last time together. We finished off the day with taco dinner on Morning Stars followed by after dinner happy hour on Solar Punk with Andy and Shannon too.

The next morning was our last there. Andy and Shannon brought by their garbage to drop off in town and some Jelly Bellys for our trip. We’ll see them in 2026 back here in the Tuamotus. Amanda, Jason, and Dylan came by for a farewell, not goodbye. We were incredibly lucky to meet them so early in our time here and to share so much fun with them. I hope we get to see their smiling faces again in the new year and if not we’ll meet them in B.C. where they’re headed eventually. Smooth sailing Morning Stars!

We left the great anchorage for the short trip back to town to get ready to leave the next morning. A little grocery shopping, a walk, and we met Balloon’s crew for pizza dinner. Alarms waking us up early, we headed out the pass just after Balloon for our 450 or so mile trip to the south end of the Marquesas Island chain. Bring on the next chapter!