[password]Tusi2284
[position]14 58.09S 147 38.23W
[speed]0kn
[heading]000T
[weather]E 10kns, seas 0m, cloud cover 30%, baro 1014 dropping
[status] We came through Avatoru Pass into the Rangiroa lagoon yesterday at 1200 and anchored 5nm further to the east close to Tiputa Pass the only other pass into Rangiroa. There are 28 boats in the anchorage at present but they are well spread out. We had a brief look onshore this afternoon and spent quite a while watching the current in the pass trying to determine the time of high tide. The tide tables for the Tuamotus are hopelessly inaccurate even when the the wind is light as it has been for a week or more now. When the wind rises the higher swells push a lot of water over the reef into the lagoon and all the water has to flow out of the two passes. With prolonged heavy swells there may be no inflowing current irrespective of the tide and currents in the pass can exceed 8 knots. We entered Avatoru Pass with 4-5 knots of incoming current so we were doing around 10knots over the ground. This current sets up a strong rip inside the pass with short steep waves up to 1.5m high. It was a bit hair raising when we hit this with only 4m water depth! However, we're here now and intend to explore onshore tomorrow before heading to more isolated places further south along the eastern side of the lagoon.

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