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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Escape from the Fetch

16* 39.3' South
143* 23.6' West
East End of Makemo Atoll, Tuamotus, French Polynesia
May 29, 2010

A low pressure system to the southeast of our position in Makemo created some wind that, over its 10 miles or so from the opposite edge of the barrier reef that comprises the atoll, got some pretty good wave chop built up. We made the decision to seek shelter at the eastern edge of the atoll where our anchoring gear would not be in as much peril from the wind, waves and coral heads.
We spent the afternoon traversing the nine miles or so very slowly so that we could easily see the coral heads with the catamaran, Stray Kitty and Totem following behind us. We made our way to the other end of the atoll without mishap.

 
Once we arrived, we were greeted by beautiful turquoise blue flat water, white sand beaches and an impending squall approaching from the ocean side of the atoll. We were again lulled to sleep with the gentle lapping of our lake in the middle of the ocean.

   
This particular atoll does not have continuous motus or islets all the way around it. Most of the "land" on this atoll lies on the north side of the atoll. The remainder is formed by the ancient barrier reef that used to ring the volcanic island that once inhabited this location on the map. The reef is what keeps the water so relatively calm, no ocean swell. We are currently anchored where the more or less continuous motus give way to open stretches of reef only.
Our first morning here, a group walked out to end of the motu shelling as we went. The hermit crabs get the best shells which is a little frustrating. However, a local had taught one of our group that if you whistle the crab will poke out of his shell making it possible to evict him. After one successful eviction, I got way too much grief from Bryce and Austin, so my policy on shelling is only uninhabited shells.

Yesterday, after schoolwork was done we packed a lunch and headed into the beach for an afternoon on the beach. The made a hermit crab sanctuary and there were quite a few games of cards. The dads took the spear guns and went in search of dinner. They got a total of five fish and we decided on a potluck aboard Stray Kitty after using Capaz's swim step as a fish cleaning station.

   

Today we went in search of some good coral heads for snorkeling. Unfortunately, the wind was up a bit which made the windward side of the each coral head we tried a little too rough. The dinghy ride upwind was not very much fun for the wet snorkelers. It is really beautiful here, but we will probably move back to Makemo tomorrow and then, continue on to Fakarava.

  

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Lake Amid the Ocean

16* 37.6' South
143* 34.7' West
Makemo Atoll, Tuamotus, French Polynesia
May 24, 2010

Again, apologies for not writing until today. When we arrive somewhere, blog entries are just not the top of the priority list. At least I've gotten some great material over the last 18 hours.
Our crossing from Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas was fantastic. We were able to sail for a good part of it, but did finally run out of wind and had to do some motoring. It important to time your arrival at an atoll as many of them you can only transit the pass at slack tide. We were aiming for about 1:00 pm and Brad and Jamie navigated us here at just about the right time. Our first big reef was well marked and since the sun was at our backs, we were able to get a good look at it.
The water here is incredibly clear. We are anchored off the town in about 45-50 feet of water and you can definitely see all the way to the bottom. There is another reef behind us and we checked it out yesterday as soon as we could. The coral is amazing - the dyed stuff that is sold as curios is really that color in the wild. We saw many different kinds of fish that we haven't seen before. I haven't laid eyes on a shark yet, but that is OK with me. They boys (all of them - big and small) were very excited about a ginormous moray eel that they spotted. It inspired Bryce's comic strip for this month's Capaz Chronicle.

Today we took the bikes into town and did a little exploring. There are nice, flat, well-maintained, cement roads here! Viva la French! Austin rode his scooter. It was a holiday here which seems to be the case every time we arrive somewhere. The bakery was only open for a couple of hours this morning and we just missed them. Fresh baguettes tomorrow - we are so addicted! There was a store open, so we picked up a few things and then, had our 9:45 am ice cream break! We rode a couple of miles out of town checking out the new school, the windmill farm and an ocean side beach. The wind turbines were actually our "land ho!" for this atoll. Quite a few of the homes especially as you get away from town have solar arrays. We are wondering if the French government has subsidies for them.

 
I ended up riding toward the west end of the atoll while the boys headed back to town and the boat. The road mostly runs along the ocean side of the atoll, but in most places it is only about 100-200 yards to the lagoon edge. I didn't make it to the end of the road, but I think there must be another village because there were a few cars coming and going to somewhere. I also watched some boys spearfishing the outer reef with big pieces of re-bar. There are these little fingers of water coming in from the lagoon side that almost reach across to the ocean, maybe they do in certain weather, because many have little bridges across them. Many of these fingers have a house on them with a little dock or boathouse. I was surprised to see a 45ish foot powerboat moored in one of them.
None of us are quite able to wrap our brains around the lagoon part of this place. It is like a huge lake in the middle of the ocean. FLAT calm today, so calm I         made quiche for dinner (started it in the oven, put it in the solar oven and got the heck off the hot boat for another amazing snorkel of the reef right next the pass). If you look south, every once in awhile you can see waves break on the far reef (just reef to the south, no motus). The light on the water is pretty cool. At certain times of the day you can see in the water much better than others. The lagoon was so still this afternoon that it was hard to make out the horizon. The big squall clouds were reflected in the mirror of the lagoon making for a beautiful backdrop.
High ground, there really is none! That's why the wind turbines were the first thing we saw. I am surprised at how much growth there is. I was expecting one line of palms trees and broken coral! There are quite a few things that grow here - none of which you can eat except coconuts, but it still makes for a much greener place than I was envisioning.
I could keep going but I  don’t think that I could do this place justice. Besides that the genset just got turned off and I need battery power to send this out in the morning!

Beckel – the pearl carver

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