June 20 - Tonae, Fakarava Atoll, Tuamotus - A nice anchorage

Lat 16deg15.558S/Long 145deg32.851W Today was one of those days that started off with promise, deteriorated in weather conditions that sucked, and ended up in the discovery of a place not even mentioned in the guides. We had departed the north anchorage of Fakarava for what was to have been an uneventful motor sail down to the south pass anchorage. About a third of the way down the wind picked up until it blew 22 knots on our nose, accompanied by a short two foot chop that would have been OK, but the tide changed against us and we were doing about 1.5 knots over ground. Dark clouds were scudding past and it was obvious we weren't going to make our destination. We had previously anchored in a spot mentioned in Bonnette's "Guide to Navigation and Tourism in French Polynesia" but I recalled a beautiful small sandy beach cove nearby that anchorage that looked enticing, so we turned around and took another hour to get to that spot. What a great place (lat/long noted above). We dropped anchor in 31' of sand, there weren't too many bommies, and we listened to the wind howl in the rigging. The most I saw in one of the many squalls that poured rain on us was 33 knots, but we were snug and secure behind a small promontory of land that protected us from the NE winds in the squalls, without uncomfortable swell. We spent a very pleasant night in a beautiful spot; a nice end to the day!

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