May 23rd Taumako island first anchorage.

S 09 deg 52.953 E 167deg 11.688

Well, there is no such thing as an anchorage on Taumako
( I am saying that as I am listening to the chain
dragging on the coral on the eastern side of the
island.



The island NW-SE direction provides no shelter in trades wind. KUNA was first anchored on the eastern side as the wind was still to the SW upon arrival.


Yesterday, in order to be able to unload
all camera gear, we dropped the pick in about 10m
depth, a flat coral step with only short and flat
acropora I had all intentions of getting out of
here straight after but Mimi, the American woman
in charge of the canoe project convinced me to stay
for the welcome ceremony.


Something you can't really
refuse as it is custom for Taumako people to welcome
new visitors with a dancing and singing and speech
from the elders.


Launching the kayak in the canoe, for me to be able to return quickly to the boat at low tide if the weather turned

Despite having one of the locals
dive on the anchor to make a terribly ugly chain
and anchor knot around the biggest bommie he could
find (which was too small!) , and having tied a
buoy to the anchor itself to be able to retrieve
it at night, there was no way I slept knowing that
the wind was about to turn East, putting us on
a leeshore with the reef edge 80m away!!!. The
friction of 40 m of chain on the short coral held
quite well, though I feel really sorry for the
destruction involved. Actually, what holds a boat
in this location is the very strong tidal currents,
which half the time goes in a southerly direction,
pushing the boat against the wind. You get the picture
of a very rolly anchorage but it turns out to be
quite safe as most of the time, the KUNA was hanging
forward of its anchor!!!!