It is Saturday, 5/25 and we are underway to a village called Rotoava on Fakarava atoll. And, Happy Memorial Day…..we actually have lost track of time and would not have known about the holiday had it not been for several emails from people mentioning their plans.
Our last update was a week ago when we just arrived at the south pass in Fakarava. South Fakarava is a gorgeous anchorage and the diving is everything people have said or you read about and then some. You mainly dive the pass as it has been too rough to go outside. But, there are a gazillion sharks…..can’t know how many……maybe 300+……someone said 800 but how can you know…..all very peaceful…..just floating in the current…..like their asleep……very graceful……then a gazillon other fish…..it’s like you don’t know what to look at….whoa!!!! And the coral is alive and as beautiful.
We did a total of 5 dives and thoroughly enjoyed each one. The only challenge was to time slack current at the pass. The first dive we timed perfect…..maybe 0.5 kt current with us and by the end of the hour it was slightly against us. The next 4 dives we had pretty good timing but the current was still stronger. So we spent about 20-30 min in the pass and then were scooted along a channel towards the anchorage that had beautiful coral and lot’s of fish.
The first 3 dives we did with s/v Persephone, Brian and Sandie. They had another couple on board and only 2 dive gear setups. So, one couple dove with us while the other couple snorkeled above us and managed the 2 dinghies…..very convenient for us. The 4th dive we did by ourselves towing the dinghy. We did ok until we left the pass and entered the channel and the wind pushed the dinghy close to a reef. Fortunately, Kathy sensed we were close and told me to go up…..which I did and we were maybe 30 yards away….yikes…..it was then a mad scramble to get in the dinghy and get away…..which I did successfully but somehow in all the hustle, Kathy lost her weight belt……she was still in the water marking the spot…..so I had to go back, anchor the dinghy and then I dove and retrieved the weight belt…..of course, there was a 5′ gray shark watching the whole scene just waiting for something to gobble up….yikes!!!! Well, no harm no foul and we’ve had a few giggles since picturing how the scene must have looked.
The last dive we did with Mark and Christine on Gray Matter, a Nordhavn 62……side bar – there are only 4 trawlers in the Pacific Puddle Jump this year – 3 Nordhavn’s and one Selene…..so, it’s nice to meet and socialize with a fellow trawler. Anyway, they have a 14′ dinghy that can take 4 divers so they volunteered to tow their dinghy….sweet…..but, it turned out their dinghy is pretty heavy and would move them much faster than we could go so we got separated…..we ended up in the usual spot, actually pretty close to the anchorage…..but Mark and Christine did not make the turn and got swept out to another reef……arghhhhhhh……when Kathy and I popped up, there was another dive boat who thought we were their divers…..so, who are you……did you see other divers….no, but have you seen a dinghy…..yes, it is way over there on the reef…..ugh, stay here and I’ll go tell them, but in the meantime look for my divers…..ok…..Mark makes it off the reef and is glad to find us and we are ok and about 10 minutes later we see the dive boat picking up their divers……the challenges of diving a pass……arghhhhhhh!!!!!
One night we were able to have dinner at one of the small resorts…..wood fired oven pizza, fresh salad, unicorn fish on the grill and fruit for dessert……sweet…..we went w/Persephone and their friends……they did this trip in 1988…..now doing it again sans kids…..whoa, the stories they have!!!!
While anchored in the south pass, Kathy and I had our 37th anniversary…..whoa…..like our ages, this is getting to be a big deal!!!! We celebrated with a great rib eye/grilled tomato dinner out in the cockpit with a 1997 Stags Leap Cab…..can you believe we still have steaks and tomatoes (these are the last ones from Nuka Hiva!!!!)….can Kathy/Rose provision or what….at first we weren’t sure on the wine…..but, it just needed to be decanted…..which we don’t have on the boat…..after about 10-15 min in the glass OMG…..it opened and was one of the better wines we have had…..yummers!!!!
Oh, in my last blog update I forgot to describe my birthday dinner a few weeks ago…..here is what I wrote to a few friends: Last night PK fixed my birthday fried chicken dinner….biscuits, gravy, mashed potatoes, cole slaw…..the works….yummers….but, half way into cooking, all AC power went out….now I’m relaxing in the cockpit, having a scotch and stogie, watching the stars listening to Pavaroti….ok, WTH….get up and look at the electrical panel…..breaker is off….turn it on and nothing….look at the inverter panel….it says communication error….crap, WTH does that mean…..go down into the commissary and look at the inverters…..all is quiet…..not good, smell a little electrical…..still not good…look at the fuses…..joy, one is blown……so 30 minutes later…..these are 250 amp fuses and not easy to get out…..takes every tool you own…..but we get it done…..Kathy finishes dinner, we eat and drink and watch Master and Commander then fall happily asleep on the settee 🙂 ))))) We figured it was the electric frying pan…..we had not turned on the GEN yet…..ugh!
After the South pass we went to another beautiful anchorage called Hirifa. We didn’t dive or snorkel but just walked and combed a beautiful beach and met and talked with 2 couples who live on this motus. One was retired and another was copra farming (drying the coconut meat to sell for soap and oil). There are not a lot of good paying jobs in the Tuamotus so many people turn to copra farming. A few hours after we had the anchor down Adam and Cindy on s/v Bravo show up…..we met them in Isabela in the Galapagos and did some diving and exploring with them. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing a few coldies and catching up on the last 4000 nm for the two days we were in Hirifa!!!!
Sunday, 5/26:
We are anchored near a village called Rotoava near the north pass of Fakarava….pretty nice……and INTERNET…yeah!!!!
We went in and found the supermarket closed but supposed to open at 3:00…..ugh. Manihi, the owner of the small resort where we had the excellent pizza, was here and he said it is closed tomorrow (Sunday). But, there was a fruit/veggie stand that was open so we got some good stuff. We went back after 3:00 and found both markets open…..so we are all stocked up on fresh veggies/fruits to last the next 10-12 days before we reach Papeete.
Then Manihi said there is a steak/hamburger/BBQ like dinner on the pier every Sat night that we should check out…..so we did that……not really what we had thought….just a little shack serving steak and fries and/or chow mein…..it was pretty good and the best part, no cooking for PK!!!! And, just before we left for dinner a lot of boats came in and one was s/v Enchantment……again a small world…..we met them in the San Blas islands and had not seen them since the Galapagos!!
So here we are…..most places are closed on Sunday which is just as well as we will probably just chill and catch up on the internet and then eat some of our fresh produce…..LIG!!!!
Monday is pearl looking/buying and touring a pearl farm…..any requests 🙂 )))) There are many shops in the village and farms around so it should be a fun day!!! I’m just soooooo happy the stock market is up as this could be a very expensive day…..ugh!!!!
We will probably leave Wednesday for Toau, our final atoll. Then early next week we will head for Tahiti, a marina, maybe a few boat projects and then more exploring in the Society islands for a month or so…..Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora et al!!
Thank you for taking the time to do this. Love Kathy