Time to plan

15* 57.7' South
145* 52.7' West
Toau, Tuamotus, French Polynesia
June 13, 2010

     

Yesterday, we caught the mid morning tide out the north pass of Fakarava and very slowly motor sailed the 11 or 12 miles to the Toau pass. There was just a little wind, but we really didn't need to go very fast. So, we enjoyed lunch and some down time.
I got to drive CAPAZ through the pass which was exciting even though this is a very wide (relatively) pass with no real obstructions. I still got a surge of adrenaline when the depth went to 27 feet and there was a pretty good current pushing us to one side.

We continued on down the inside of the lagoon to where our friends on Io were anchored. They gave us a little information about what they had found out about the area in the day since they had arrived.
After some time ashore, we ate a quick dinner because Mike, who is a biologist, offered to lead a reef hike after dark when many of the creatures are more active. They were also going to do some hunting for spiny lobsters. I stayed on the boat and got in some reading. Brad and Austin returned after about an hour and a half. Bryce, however, hunted lobsters and parrot fish until everyone was ready to head back to the boats around 10:30. He was so invigorated about his experience when he returned that I am pretty sure you will be able to read all about in the next issue of the Capaz Chronicle.

Lobster Life Support Set-up

This morning, we had a quick planning session before we took the dinghy and kayak down the motu a ways for more exploration. The outer reef was much closer to the ocean side of the motu than it is here where we are anchored. Brad and I had quick snorkel in fairly swallow waters with some amazing coral formations, though not as many fish as we have been seeing in some of the other places we have been.

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Civilization . . . . . Almost

Rotoava, Fakarava, Tuamotu, French Polynesia
16* 03.5' South
145* 37.2' West
June 10, 2010

   

Yesterday we dodged coral heads on our way to Rotoava the largest settlement on the atoll of Fakarava. Actually, if there were any coral heads, we couldn't see them because the light was bad for most of the two hour trip. The charts have a marked channel here, so we were reasonably confident that no big ones would sneak up on us. What we did have to watch out for as we approach the north end of the lagoon were the buoys marking the strings of pearl oysters.
Today, we took a tour of a pearl farm where we not only learned how natural pearls come about, but also how the Japanese devised a way to fool nature and use the oyster to manufacture pearls. It is a very interesting process. Then, of course, after our free tour, we were escorted to the boutique where the farm's pearls were available for purchase at a rate much less than retail in Tahiti! Actually, the man who owned the farm was incredibly nice and patient with all our questions. The Hinano Farm operation that we visited is 6 or 7 km out of town, so he brought us down in his van and we got to see a little more of the atoll.

   
We have also taken the bikes ashore and have been doing a little exploring that way also. The boys and I made it up to a structure that turned out to be an abandoned lighthouse. From the drawing of town, we had originally thought that it might have been more of an archeological site – it was old and pyramid-like, but not that old and made out of cement. It was still a great ride for the boys with a few minutes on the ocean side beach before we had to turn around and head back to town.

 
The reason that I called this post "Civilization . . . Almost" is the town seems to have everything a small town would need except a bank or ATM. It is a little bit of a mystery how the cash circulates in these small settlements as the locals seem to pay for purchases at the local magasin mostly on account, but we have also seem them using cash. Where do they get it? Is there someone named Pierre or Fredrique who has a vault in his maison where he is able to keep a large supply of cash that the locals can use to change their government checks. Luckily, if you ask really nicely (and make a fairly large purchase), the clerk at the magasin will "try" to run your carde credit.

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To a Motu

16* 15.4' South
145* 37.2' West
Fakarava, Tuamotus, French Polynesia
June 9, 2010

Yesterday, we decided to go to a motu. I thought that "motus" only described the islands or islets that make up the ring of whatever land there is around an atoll. Evidently, they can also be smack dab in the middle of the atoll also, as we are anchored off of one right now. It took us about 4 hours to reach this atoll. We had a coral head watch going the whole trip and one reason that we stopped here on our way to the north end of Fakarava which would have been another couple of hours.
Anchoring here was exciting. It is deep around the atoll - over 100 feet of water and it comes up quickly with coral heads close to the shore. There are trees on this particular motu, so we first decided to perform a stern tie like we would in British Columbia. Unfortunately, we couldn’t seem to get the anchor to bite into the underwater slope that approached the motu. Then, we tried anchoring stern to stern with Totem and then tying off the sterns. This would have been a great solution except that a squall came out of the south and made the motu a lee shore with the maximum windage of both boats working to push us onto the shore coral. As the scouting group was exploring the motu at the time that the squall came up, there was an emergency evacuation. After Brad scouted the rest of the motu in the dinghy while I held station on  CAPAZ off the motu with Totem silhouetted against a beautiful rainbow, we decided to try the other side of the motu. It was getting late in the afternoon and the light to look for coral heads was failing. The rule around here is when you are inside an atoll, have your anchor down by 3:00. We are anchored in 90 feet of water with all our chain out and almost enough swinging room to not hit the shoreside coral heads if the wind changed direction again. Which it did at about midnight. We were able to pull in enough chain to still be safely holding, but not swing so close to the motu. The squall passed and the rest of the night was quiet.
I think I have had enough of motu exploring!

 

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Back to Bonfire Beach

16* 26.0' South
145* 21.9' West
Fakarava Atoll, Tuamotus, French Polynesia
June 8, 2010

 

Southeast corner anchorage in Fakarava Atoll

We returned to the anchorage where we had initially stopped to escape the wind two days ago. It also makes the trip to the other end of the atoll a little shorter. Our charts are pretty good for this atoll with channels marked both on the chart and with actual markers, but the chartered catamaran who came in here last week taking on water proves that it is still a very good idea to have a watch on the foredeck for coral heads!

During our two nights back here, we have gotten in more beach time and had yet another bonfire to celebrate yet another birthday. The kids have been playing on a rope swing that hangs from a coconut palm and they (along with Brad) devised a "rope swing" off CAPAZ's cabin top using one of the halyards. 

  

We also kayaked up the inside of the motu and found a nice little bay that made for a very short easy walk to the ocean side where there was great shelling. In Mexico, we were introduced to a beautiful family of shells called cowries. The are a fairly precious find in Mexico. As we have traveled, our knowledge of the species has broadened. Not only have found many of the different varieties in various sizes, but we have also come to recognize the different stages of their life cycle. In Anaho, back in the Marquesas, we found big live cowries in some tide pools. They have a membrane called a mantle that extends from their soft body out over their shell and this how they "grow" from the outside. At this point, we found a great explanation of the animal's life cycle in one of Totem's shell books and realized that at their immature stage, they look much like another type of mollusk and only in their mature stage do they achieve their distinctive shape. Anyway, it was really cool to be able to find evidence of the immature stage here. It may very well be that we have been looking a these kinds of shells all along, but only now realize just what we are looking at. Such is the voyage of discovery!

Spoils of Shelling

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Scaredy Cat Swims with Sharks

16* 30.2' South
145* 27.2' West
Tumakohua Pass, Fakarava, Tuamotus, French Polynesia 
June 4, 2010

 

Everyone is shark crazy. They are so excited about shark sightings! I am not in this group. Ignorance is bliss as far as I am concerned. In Makemo, when Jamie surprised me to show me a sea cucumber while snorkeling, realized that I needed to be a little less focused on my picture taking and just a little more aware of my surroundings. Even with my heightened awareness, I had yet to see any sharks while I was in the water.

Pass Drift Snorkel

   
Yesterday, with a gentle shove from my friend, Andrew, I entered the Tumakohua Pass on the incoming tide where there would almost certainly be sharks for a "drift snorkel". We had two dinghies drifting with our group so that anyone and everyone could get out of the water at any point. I have to admit it was a very cool experience. I did not see the 42 sharks that were reported from a drift snorkel the other day, but I did see three on each of my two passes. You basically just float with the current and the whole pass and channel is full of coral and tons of fish. Where it is deep, you will see a shark swimming below you out the pass (against the current) and they really aren't paying any attention to the humans floating on the surface. There were also lots of big fish hanging out in the medium depth water.

Potluck location

Sharks in the shallows

In the evening, we were able to use the outdoor gathering area of a small resort (consisting of four beautiful bungalows on piles over the water) for a fantastic potluck. The covered area was lit which is very important as it is pitch dark here by 6:00 pm. It was also built with one edge out over the shallows a bit. The lights attracted fish which were very easy to see in the crystal clear water. The kids spent alot of time in calf deep water checking out the critters. They say the best was the small octopus that they found and would not leave alone until it squished itself into a small hole where they could not bug it any longer.  Oso Blanco and Mulan had been the only two boats in this anchorage 5 days ago, now there are 19 boats. It made for a great spread with lots of variety. We are noticing that there has been a bit of a change in cruiser demographics. Out of the 19 boats, 10 of them were cruising families with kids. Last night was fabulous for the kids to be able play on shore with so many other kids.

The “village” – really just a dive shop and snack shack, was the old capital of the Tuamotus.  Due to its small “landmass” the capital is now in Rangiroa.  There are a couple of pensions like the place where we had the potluck, but for the most part it is fairly abandoned.

Old Main Street   .

Sculpture near the dive shop                            More Sandcastles for hermit crabs

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Missing Links

Sorry for not including the links to the newest issue of the Capaz Chronicle in the previous entry. Here they are:

New Issue is at http://www.box.net/shared/j6v6g6s4ur

Back Issues are at http://www.box.net/shared/zptbclu4u0

Cheers,

The Bakers

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Overnight Voyage

Totem in the Fakarava South Passe 

16* 26.0' South
145* 21.9' West
Fakarava Atoll, Tuamotus, French Polynesia
June 2, 2010

We left the south end of the Makemo on Monday morning and made a quick stop at the town by the pass. We uploaded the newest edition of the Capaz Chronicle, but gmail thwarted all attempts to send out the links. For anyone interested you can view the newest issue and past issues at the following two links:
The computer frustration was tempered by the boulangerie still being open and being able to stock up on French bread.
We had an uneventful trip through the pass, but upon reach the outside of the atoll, we were greeted with 20+ knot winds and ocean swell. Around dark as we rounded the northwest end of Makemo, we were greeted by squalls. More wind and lightening to boot. It made for an interesting night of sailing. The 40 knots of wind from one of the squalls under a double reefed main got us going too fast, because we needed to reach the southern Fakarava Pass at a certain time. Luckily, the big wind lasted only fifteen minutes or so, then we had mid 30's for a bit, and then things settled down to around 20 knots for a couple hours. We were still going too fast, so Brad decided to practice our hove to maneuver. It worked really well.
The trip in through this pass was very exciting as we followed about 20 minutes behind our friends' catamaran, Stray Kitty. They reported seeing 8 feet of water right where the lowest spot was marked on our chart. We took their advice or hanging a little more to one side of the channel and didn't see it get quite that shallow. We had good way points for the trip up to the anchorage where we rejoined our fellow cruisers: Mulan and Oso Blanco.

 
The kids have been wanting to have a bonfire on the beach again for awhile. So, we sent them looking for wood and everyone went back to their boats to dig something up that could be cooked over the fire. Most people came up with hotdogs and one of the boats produced a bag of marshmallows for roasting.
Today we will explore the anchorage a bit more and then head back to the pass in the next couple of days because Brad really wants to do a pass dive.

Mulan and Io on the way back to the pass anchorage

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