South Pacific Dreamin'

With another 4 day/night sail under our belts from the Marquesas to the Tuamotos we were ready to get back in the water for some beach action.

The Tuamotos are an archipelago of atolls that would be our cruising grounds for the next 2 weeks.

Entering and exiting atolls can be tricky business as there is usually only 1 or 2 passes which all of the tidal water needs to flow in and out of 4 times a day. Passes can be quite narrow so the current’s surge can be strong, posing problems for boats trying to enter and exit. It’s recommended to time your entrances and exists at slack tide – i.e. just when the tide has turned. Essentially timing is everything so we choose a series of atolls that are known to be relatively easy to navigate - Kahuei and Fakarava.

Our first stop was the secluded SE anchorage in Kaheui, a beautiful stretch of clear water and coral sand. It was bliss and the perfect antidote after a 4 day sail. 

We had caught a large wahoo just as we entered the pass and invited our buddy boats Chilli Cat, Maloo and Lateral Thinking over for a fish BBQ with of course freshly speared octopus as an appetizer. Having learned the importance of tenderizing, Mike spent a good half an hour on shore pounding it with a mallet to get a softer consistency. We then boiled it so we could easily remove the skin. 

We then cut it into morsels and lightly pan-fried it with olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs. Tasty!

Our friends Charles & Heather off Chilli Cat

Our days were spent lazily snorkeling in the crystal waters and of course spearfishing! After speaking with a local fisherman who assured Mike that the grouper were safe to eat here, he went out and caught a huge coral trout, egged on by Brian off Lateral Thinking who claims these are the best tasting fish you can eat!  Still, having read countless stories about the frequency and nastiness of ciguatera (a toxic algae that grows on coral) in the reef fish, we were a little hesitant to eat it. In the end we survived but, two days later when we bumped into the same fisherman and showed him the photo, he told us "no no, that is not [tahitian word for Grouper], that is [some other tahitian word for special kind of grouper that will kill you]".  BLAH!  Guess we got lucky on that one.

We were also lucky enough to celebrate our 1 year anniversary in this idyllic paradise, with a chocolate cake to boot!

It was nice to stretch our legs on land by beach combing the windward side of the island where we found lots of unusual debris, including numerous fishing rafts, which we quickly pillaged for some rope and floats and a huge amount of discarded fishing balls, which Mike was quick to grab and add to our storage lockers.

Mike thought the locals would be appreciative if we collected a few extra for them but after a few more trips ashore we found that they had stock piles all over the island... pretty sad how much junk ends up on the windward side of islands the world over!

We had been told that the Sunday church services were not to be missed as the singing and ukulele playing were really something special. So we pulled up the anchor, navigated our way through the uncharted waters and ended up in the town of Kahuei – population 200.

The church service was beautiful and conducted all in Tahitian. Most women had fresh flower leis in their hair and wore bright, colourful dresses and the men mostly wore tiki shirts - all very relaxed. The service was only an hour with a lot of music and singing. What a great experience!

The Tuamotos are famous for their black pearl harvesting and up until a few years ago it was a thriving business before the government imposed severe taxes. We were lucky enough to meet James (the fisherman mentioned above) who worked on one of the pearl farms and who generously spent half a day showing us the various stages of pearl farming. Talk about labour intensive!

These are the beads, made from oyster shells, that are inserted in the oyster to form the nucleus of the pearl.

There’s a portion of the mantle which the locals eat. James kindly opened up an oyster for us to try it!

Salty!

And then of course you have the end result, which is thousands of pearls! All different shapes, sizes and colours. Even though Megan isn’t a ‘pearl’ kinda girl, there was no harm in looking!

These atolls are really isolated and rely on the supply ship from Tahiti, which visits them every two weeks, delivering provisions, cars, building materials, etc. We were lucky enough to be in town when it arrived. What a gathering! EVERYONE comes down to the wharf to watch the unloading of the goods.

You can also place vegetable and fruit orders with the captain.

Fresh cakes for sale!

Local ladies chatting the day away - maybe our cultures aren't too different after all!

After a great week in Kahuei, it was time to move on to the atoll of Fakarava. We picked up the anchor and set sail for the 35nm journey to the south pass. With only 3 full time families living on land around the south pass it was a real 'castaway' experience. 

The diving in the south pass is some of the best in Pacific. Renowned for its shark population, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get in the water. Luckily, we arrived just in time for the annual spawning of the grouper, where thousands of groupers from all over the atoll congregate in the pass during the full moon to lay their eggs during the outgoing tide. The sharks (black and white tip) are quick to realise that a meal is easier at this time and hundreds of sharks hunt the groupers. We had 1st class tickets at 24m to watch the show. It was amazing! In order to be able to stay at such a depth for 30+minutes we had to dive with enriched air - Nitrox. A first for us but definitely worth it. We have some amazing video footage but the Internet connection is too slow to upload :(

Luckily the wind died completely and a real stillness fell on the anchorage for 2 days. The water was the calmest and clearest we've seen yet. Mike took the opportunity to go to the top of the mast to take some amazing pictures of our surroundings.

That's Megan in the middle of the picture!

See the shark Megan's trying to swim towards...

There are A LOT of sharks in these anchorages, at any one time we would have 3-4 black tip reef sharks hanging out behind the boat. Awesome.

Beautiful sunrises

And sunsets

Mahini - the owner of a local pension hosted our group for lunch. On the menu - poisson cru in coconut  milk and pan fried parrot fish. Tres Delicieuse!

We LOVED our time in the Tuamotos and ultimately wished we had allowed ourselves more time there. It really was the idyllic South Pacific destination. It's going to be hard to top that!