Sailing Day 10 - Nao Nao to Faaroa Bay



Entering Faaroa Bay

 Total Miles - 11nm

A sad morning as we had to depart this most beautiful anchorage. Had breaky and fed toady – the toadfish. We left early as we wanted to get to Faaroa Bay and explore the river Aoppomau. The breeze was about 20-25kn from the NE and we motored into it arriving to Faaroa Bay by 9.45am. The next bit was a bit tricky as we didn’t have a boat hook and we were going to pick up a mooring (one of the old Sunsail base moorings half way down the bay to starboard).



Entrance to the river

 So we tried the old fashioned way – with Dale doing some tight rope walking off the bow and trying to pick it up with the broom handle but the Mooring weighed a tonne! We lost the top of the broom, so Dale went for a swim, retrieved it and jumped back on board so we could try another method. This time we went along side the mooring buoy and tied a rope to it and secured it on the aft transom. We then retrieved another rope, tied this around the buoy and the bow cleat and released the aft line. Phew, we were secured and who needs a boat hook anyway…



The River Aoppomau



Faaroa Bay is directly opposite Pass Iriru therefore you tend to get a little swell rolling down the bay. We spent the rest of the morning watching all the tour motor boats heading down the bay to the river for the tour and decided to wait it out before we went for our own tour. Headed out about 11am – you have to motor very slowly with the outboard up or even row over the entrance to the river due to the debris. Very peaceful and pretty with tropical flowers (gingers & Hibiscus) lining the banks and lots of bends & turns. The water turns to fresh water about half way up and is very cool. I couldn’t believe how hot it was though with the sun beating down and not a lot of shade. You really had to be careful of where you were going as there were some very shallow parts and you could see sunken logs etc. They recommend rowing up the river & drifting back with the current – but no way! It’s way too long to row and we tried a drift back but ended up going backwards. Just motor really slowly to appreciate the beauty of the area and occasionally stop the motor for a bit of a row to appreciate the serenity.



We got to the jetty on the right hand side of the river (you can’t miss this one as it is falling apart) and headed on a walk through what was once a botanical garden. We walked past banana trees, lots of bright red & pink gingers, bird of paradise plants – we were becoming experts at taking macro photo’s of flowers! Pretty overgrown but a nice place to walk through. A nice little stream runs through some of the pathways and it was so hot & steamy. On the way back down the river we dipped our shirts in the water and poured fresh water over ourselves and dangled our feet as we went along. So nice!

Back to the boat for lunch, afternoon nap and then a swim. Definitely can’t venture too far as the current was very strong & the little swell that comes through would be hard to fight against. We were trying to eat and drink our way through the final stores we had left but this was not easy. Made some pizza dough and it was pizzas for dinner on our final night at sea.


Beautiful Ginger