April 30, 2012
So two weeks ago we were in the Tuamotu's. This group of 78 islands, all but two being coral atolls are part of the French Polynesia, and are administered from Tahiti. In contrast to the lush vegetation of the Marquesas, the atolls have little greenery except for palm trees and short grass.
Our first stop in the Tuamotu's was Manihi. It was an easy access on our route. This is a small atoll, measuring 5 miles by 3miles with a population of 200. As we entered in through the pass, there was a very strong currant.
I am thinking a least 5 knots, as we are working our way into the lagoon we see what must be a pearl farm, cages sticking up in the middle, looks more like a fish trap fence that funnels at one end, you might see on the Chesapeake Bay. We see several young men with snorkels and fins diving down many times inside these cages. But not sure exactly what they are doing.
The next thing you notice is the color of the water, its so blue and clear, it's really quite beautiful. We stayed here for three days exploring and swimming and snorkeling. Walked around town several times, and went to the small market. Bought fish off a local at the dingy dock, who just swam up on the beach after pulling a big plastic box that floats, filled with a dozen fish he had just spear gunned. I picked out 3 nice grouper and gave him 5 f. He was happy.
Next we sailed to Rangiroa. This was a 20 hour sail. We left at 3 pm and arrived the next day. Rangiroa is the largest atoll in the Tuamotu's. It's 100 miles in circumference, it is about 40 miles long and 17 miles wide at it's widest point. The ring is formed by some 240 motus or islets separated by 130 channels called hoas, most being very shallow. We anchored here, just outside a very nice resort and spa, The Kia Ora. There were a dozen other World ARC boats there. So we met up with many of them for happy hour and found out every Wednesday and Saturday they have a big buffet and Polynesian dancers display some of their dances. This is Wednesday, so we must go.
A dozen of us sat at one table and had a feast. The food was great and the dancers in full costume with drummers drumming put on a very good show. Until they came to our table and picked out a few of us who have no rhythm and pulled us into the center and made us swing our hips like they have never swung before, not a pretty picture, but brought many laughs.
We spent five days here snorkeling and swimming everyday. There was a very colorful coral reef close enough to dingy to, where we snorkeled with 4 ft sharks and several 6 to 8 ft moray eels swimming outside of rocks just 15 to 20 ft below us. As soon as we jumped out of the dingy we had small fish swimming 2 to 3 inches away from our face. I think they were use to being feed by people.
One day we rented a Dune Buggie and got to see about 10 miles of the island. All the paved road part of the island and stopped in many local art shops. Dave and Eve did a day tour to the Blue lagoon. It was a small motor boat ride to the other side of the lagoon and this shallow lagoon filled with black tip Sharks and fish hang out. They hand you food and you stand in knee deep clear water and feed the sharks. This was the island where we took a really informative Pearl Farm Tour. We watched workers sitting at old wooden desks inserting tiny balls made from oyster shells in the oysters before the oysters were taken away in baskets to go back in the water. The next group of workers are drilling a small hole in the shell and stringing them together to hang them inside netting. This protects them from there predators, such as turtles. They will remain in the water for two years before being harvested. On average 25 percent will produce a cultured pearl.
So it's time to move on, our next stop is Tahiti. It takes us 35 hours before we are entering Papeete, Tahiti, WOW! Here we are at the city docks, it's been months since the last time we could just walk off the boat. Here we are in the center of town, so we can walk to so many stores, bars, grocery stores, and the large famous open market.
The second night we are here, we have the World ARC rendezvous and awards Ceremony. Southern Cross got a prize for the third leg. After the awards were all handed out, Tahiti Polynesian Dancers came out and performed. Each island has their own dance, I must say this dance was intense, and the costumes were very colorful in bright red and black.
So our lifestyle here on dock is so different. There's at least 10 World ARC boats coming and going. They go to an island close by and come back. Then the other half of the dock is filled with boats traveling on their own from all over the world. This has been the most interesting happening here in Tahiti. We all jump on different boats meeting people and hearing their fascinating storys. People from South Africa, France, Denmark, Galapagos, and all these Blue Canoe people from so many islands here in the French Polynesian Islands. It's so challenging but fun and so interesting communicating with them. While inspecting how different their boats are. Some more elaborate, others more primitive. Every night we light a large grill the guys made out of a sheet of tin roof. So at the end of this dock we all grill our own food while standing around watching the sun go down with our new friend and enjoying the beautiful scenery.
We also have 7 so called Canoes from " pacificvoyagers.org" Check this out on line. You can see a trailer of the movie coming out in 2013.They all travel together as far north as Hawaii and as far west as Fiji I believe. Anyway they are promoting clean water through out the Pacific Ocean. Each boat has 16 people on board with only 45 gallons of water. Each hull has 8 small bunks. They have no electronic navigation devices on board. They only navigate using the stars, the swell, and the wind. I have been on board to see this for myself and it's true.
The World ARC arranged for buses to take all of us on the Tahiti Tour. There is one main road that goes the whole way around the island. All day we stopped at so many little tourist stops. Like Point Venus, Blow Hole Arahoho, Faarumawaterfalls, Gauguin Museum, Vaipahi Gardens, & waterfalls, to name a few. Sorry to say it rained hard all day, even with rain coats we were soaked head to toe. But it was an interesting and fun day.
So we said Good Bye to Eve 2 days ago, she returned to Juba, the boat she paid to travel on for the entire trip. So here the 3 of us sit waiting for the Generator guy to run some tests and see if it needs replacing. It's not got enough compression.
That's my story up till now,
Kathy ,Steve, & David