Crossing – Manihi Atoll to Apataki Atoll – 08/08/12

This crossing started with a slight problem, my anchor chain had become tangled around some rocks during the night and I was unable to raise it, luckily a couple of the guys on Annie T saw I was having an issue and came across with some scuba gear. Jerry dived the 50ft to the anchor and untangled it for me while I held the yacht forward to take the tension off the anchor and chain.

I arrived at Apataki Atoll just as the sun was setting and proceeded to enter the atoll and motor across to the northern anchorage area.

There was a huge mega yacht in the anchorage area and it had the area lit up like a Christmas tree. I found a great spot to anchor some 50ft from the shore and settled down for the night. I was awoken at 5am by the boat rocking and looked outside to see that the wind had shifted and was now driving waves across the atoll directly to where we were anchored. This wind and swell continued to build over the next couple of hours and became quite uncomfortable.

Just as I was getting ready to move the boat to calmer waters the wind picked up considerably and the rope holding the anchor chain broke causing the chain to start to run out over the winch, luckily I had a spare rope and hook, however this too broke soon after fitting. I tried to raise the anchor, however the wind and swell were too strong for the winch and it just kept running out.

I tried for over 2 hours to bring in the anchor, I even tried to call the mega yacht ion the VHF radio to see if they could send someone across to give me a hand, but obviously when you have a mega yacht all of the radio rules go out the window as I was unable to get a response. In the end I had to drive the boat forward and pull the anchor clear of the bottom. I then continued to motor until I was in 100ft of water and was then able to stop the boat and retrieve the anchor.

That’s the last atoll anchorage for me, Papeete here we come