Tuamotu - 'Fakarava atoll'

6 Nov 13 - Interesting crossing…we left Tahanea on account of the wind forecasted to change, so out the pass we went. The wind may have changed but we would never have known it, the wind died. On account of the crossing only being 10 hours we did an overnighter but if we motored we would have to wait at Fakarava for daylight so…….we set in to drift and hope the wind would pick up. This all sounds fine until we worked out we were drifting towards two islands….motor on and off we go! We got to Fakarava 0300 hours so i turned the engine off and set in to drift. It happened to be in the wrong direction so with the little morning wind I got the sails out and kept our position by sailing against the current. By about 0500 hours however we got 8 – 12 knots of wind and with all our sail up and flat seas had a wonderful dawn sail towards Fakarava south pass.

22 Nov 13 – Well, here we are at the end of our holiday, or that’s how it seems. The Tuamotus has been truly amazing, but before we conclude lets step back to our arrival in Fakarava South.

Fakarava South, we're anchored half way down the picture on the grey trim on the right side, ....nice.

We had read that the pass can be done in settled weather at any time, regardless of the tide…oh yeah? Let me tell you….it was an outgoing tide about half way through, and it had certainly been calm weather for some time. We edged up into the pass and all looked okay, we headed around the bend until we were off the resort, where the pass started to narrow, the current got stronger, and small standing waves were present. I put the revs up a bit on the engine to ensure we kept moving forward at a slow pace while countersteering to the eddies and whirlpools that were starting to occur beneath Zenna. We moved closer to the ‘Y’ junction of the pass where we were to go to port, over a shallow section. My countersteering was becoming more erratic, the boat was jostling one way then the other, it took all my effort after a sleepless night to keep her on course. I was getting tired, and realised that although the water was ripping past us we weren’t actually moving. Instructions from Marion on the bow were to keep going straight, heading for a reef at the junction, so I gave Zenna all revs she had while countersteering like a wild man (I’m not sure what the people at the resort 50m away were thinking about all this). ‘Keep going, keep going’ Marion yelled back, my breath was getting short, my arms were burning, ‘are we there yet, I can’t hold her much longer’ I yelled back to Marion. Zenna was slowly inching forward through the surging current at the shallow section. ‘I can’t do it’ I yelled to Marion, ‘we’re nearly there’ she yelled back, my lungs were bursting, I could taste blood. ‘okay, go to port a bit’ came the instruction from Marion. I turned the wheel, took a few deep breaths, and it was like Zenna went over the crest of a hill and started to move forward, and we found ourselves in the lagoon within 5 minutes and reducing the revs. ‘What was that’ we both enquired to ourselves. What next?... we still had to anchor!

It was a really really special day upon our arrival. As mentioned before the weather had been calm for some time, so much so that the water in the lagoon was like a mirror, I mean glassy like you wouldn’t believe. Now to anchor Marion had to guide us through the coral heads, and in some respects I wish it wasn’t so clear so Marion could not see the coral 8m down with it looking like it was 2m deep. ‘Go this way’, ‘Go that way’, instructions were coming from the bow until we reached our safe anchorage; behind some motus, away from shore, away from any shallow coral heads. Looking out towards the reef it was hard to distinguish the horizon line, until there was a flash of white above it. The flash of white turned out to be waves crashing over the reef and reflecting off the calm and tranquil water on the lagoon side…..it was being mirrored, and that’s why we couldn’t see the horizon. Truly amazing!

resort restaurant, right on the pass

We settled in and decided we had to do a dive with the resort, along with a meal, yippeeee! The dives, we ended up doing two as we couldn’t move the boat on account of the weather blowing consistently for days on end from the south east, totally opposite to Tahanea. It turned out the pass drift dives were not to be missed and are world famous. We had a meal prior to the first dive where we saw so many black tip reef sharks Marions nerves became unsettled. The dive presented so many BIG fish we couldn’t believe it, including Marion getting up close (she had no choice in the matter) with black and white tip along with grey and black finned sharks. I think Marion got over her fear somewhat, but it is still unnerving having a shark come towards you and veer off within 2m distance.

enjoying the dive Marion........



'LOOK OUT!!'



......now below you.....keep your arms close now!

While not diving, and when the wind allowed us, it was more motu exploring, coconuting, and fishing……what else could we do, imagine.

coconut haul, hit the motherload here

this is how the locals do it....




ready for drinking, eating, & pina coladas

The weather finally swung around to the east prompting us to move, we had been there close on two weeks and it was time to explore the east side of Fakarava on the trip north. We settled in at Tonnae for a couple of days, shell collecting and enjoying the crystal clear water, but we had to keep moving before the wind kept swinging which would make Fakarava north uncomfortable, if not untenable.



Marion's hand line caught, and landed, a 'crocodile needlefish'......becoming quite the expert eh!

 

Tonnae, nice spot

shell collecting

 

along crystal clear water. . .  .  .  .   .    .    .    .

 So here we sit at Fakarava north with the weather system stalled. There is no wind so we are waiting for the wind to increase, a little, and allow us to sail to Tahiti. We have been keeping an eye on all our systems and provisions wondering what will keep us from staying in the Tuamotus. Gas! we have just moved onto our last bottle, a small one, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for it lasting to Tahiti. On shore provisions are limited but we can get baguette, brie, and beer, along with limited fruit and veges, so otherwise its all good!