320: PREPPING for 30 hour passage to TAHITI & FINAL Days in Tikehau

In this video we finally pull ourselves away from the manta cleaning station and sail up to the pass where we enjoy a couple of days of snorkeling and diving but also preparing the boat for a 30-hour passage to Tahiti. Hello Mr. Black Tip. We had a fabulous snorkel with the mantas this morning. Otahi, our favorite, showed up and did his classic moves of hovering. He was absolutely adorable. Man we're gonna miss him so much but we'll be back. It's been two weeks since we arrived here at the manta cleaning station. We're both really sad that we have to leave but we've got to go and head over to the Tikiau Pass just six miles that way and we'll get back in the water here in the pass but then we are prepping for a trip to Tahiti two days from now. It rained this morning but now it is cleared up and it looks like we've got a bit of a north wind. We're expecting north-northeast which means that at the pass we're gonna have great protection so looking forward to getting up there. One good thing about the path to and from the town here in Tikiau is that it's really well marked. All the bommies are fitted with these red beacons that have lights so even if you come at night you have a clear pathway to take all the way to town from the pass which is really cool. What's the chance that in an atoll that's this big that as we're heading to our anchorage there is a boat that is literally on an exact collision course with us? And of course the boys must both be at the helm because they're both speeding up trying to beat each other. You know that two boats on the water is always a race. The lagoon has pulled ahead. How are you feeling about losing? Right here is the pass and it is incoming tide right now. We see the dive boats picking up the divers here inside the lagoon so definitely incoming tide. Hopefully we'll get anchor down in time to be able to get out there. This is our anchorage right in front of us and it's supposed to be fairly sandy. There might be some bommies here so we're definitely going to need to float the chain but right now the clarity looks fantastic so we'll be able to see whatever bommies are in here. We're looking for a good spot with lots of sand and no bommies. The anchorage at the pass offers great protection from a north or westerly wind. It also provides a safe harbor to stage for an overnight passage to Tahiti and to enter the pass late in the day. Tuheiawa Pass is the only pass into the lagoon and therefore its behavior is unpredictable. Even the locals have a difficult time determining incoming or outgoing current unless they are at the pass because the direction of the current is fully dependent upon the wind. If the winds are strong they cause outside water to splash over the outer reef filling the lagoon. This phenomena then produces an endless outgoing current until the wind shifts or subsides and an incoming current is once again established. The pass is fascinating as it is very shallow and narrow making it a fantastic place to drift snorkel as well as a popular destination for diving and surfing. It's the home to many species including tuna, a variety of sharks, rays and dolphins. It is also a well-known surf spot for experienced surfers offering a famous break point. In two days we are leaving for Tahiti so one thing we do to prep the boat on a passage is we scrape the bottom of our boat so we need to get in the water and get this done before we play today in the pass. All right ready for some hammerheads some tiger sharks I'm thinking and a lot of dings could see that big old tiger that makes me a little nervous with that white face I think you'll scare them off I hope so Wow babe tell everyone what you saw on those two snorkels So we saw the same giant hammerhead twice once swimming out and then swimming back in and then on the second dive we saw an enormous tiger shark and it just looked like a submarine that's how big it was I mean What do you think about the size of the tiger to the hammerhead? One and a half Length or girth? Just everything Everything because it was so much thicker you know what I'm saying? That's kind of an adrenaline junkie thing because you're in the water with that guy and you don't want him to get curious and turn around and come over there I mean you kind of do a little bit I guess you can't have it all Boy Tikiao has been amazing Tikiao and the coral and the fish life down there and the different flavors and the fact that we are anchored just right next to I mean literally right next to the pass Very special place The best pass diving that we've ever done Definitely very special Yeah for sure And I would say scuba dive and maybe scuba dive it once but it's really good just to free dive it with the current because it's not that deep and there's a left side and a right side we like the left side that's coming from the ocean back in to the left There's so much going on out there and you just never know when you're going to see one of these big pelagics You got to keep your eyes open You got to keep your head on a swivel We are headed out to go diving We are waiting for the dive club from the town to come pick us up and this afternoon we get to hopefully dive with the great hammerhead Tomorrow we leave for Tahiti from here So I've set up jack lines out front and jack lines down the side So we are all ready with that and now I am transferring the route that we have from my phone to our chartplotter So that's the work I'm doing this morning We've got a few more things to get ready to prepare for tomorrow It's 173 nautical miles to Tahiti from here and that will take us somewhere around 30 hours So we are going to leave tomorrow morning super early probably just at the crack of dawn five o'clock and part of that is because when you get to Tahiti you have to enter into the pass by the runway of the international airport and they forbid anyone entering into that pass after 5pm So we want to leave a lot of space for a just in case and make sure we get there before 5pm We want to get in before dark anyway So to import from my phone This is the process that I take It's a route and we're going from Tikiau Pass to and I'm guessing this is it to Tahiti and then I return to the chart to see it live and there we go So the route is in and we are going to be in Tahiti tomorrow Oh no, we're going to be in Tahiti on Sunday So this is the airport right here and because we're a sailboat and have a 80-foot mast when we come in here this could obstruct any plane from landing or taking off So we have to call the airport or the radio tower when we get to this pass before we enter the pass to get into to arrive and navigate this zone here So once we get in through here once we get permission we'll come in through here and then anchor off the side of the airport over here So 173 nautical miles Not too bad It'll be a really good wind angle The wind is coming from the east So we've got a fantastic on the beam angle and so that should make it a really good sailing angle for us We will have some squalls but overall it should be okay So that's it Leaving Tikiau, leaving the Tuamotos Oh my gosh We've been in the Tuamotos since May That's all of this here and now it's time to hit the societies you