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The Tuamotus Atolls |
last updated 08/16/06 |
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Our first Atoll- Makemo Pouheva Pass Mekamo is great! There are some wonderful and unique things about this atoll including the people. The snorkeling is great and the shark sighting was rare save for one experience. The water is the clearest I have ever seen. One of the coral heads was right out of Finding Nemo! We saw a dozen or more clown fish. Upon arriving upon the wharf of the town, I felt like I had just stepped onto a movie set. The sun was shining, the water was sparklingly clear-blue/green, the fish were abundant and the buildings glowed in the sun. My first impressions could be colored by the fact that the crossing from the Marquesas was a bit trying and had a few moments of seasickness. SO needless to say, land was feeling like a miraculous thing. We walked the town and visited a couple stores, the largest church, the lighthouse and the food shack on the wharf. They had the best hamburgers and only for $5! The ice cream cones were $1! (we stopped many many times for a burger, or toasted cheese for Laura) On our trip in town, we discovered how to order fresh baguettes. If you wanted bread you need to make your order before 8:30am and pick up is at 11am. You can find the Boulangerie by tying your dingy up to the main dock and taking the main road into town. Take a left at the big Catholic Church and walk until you see a beautifully varnished slab of wood with the words "Boulangerie Makemo." If you pass the bridge you have gone to far. The 5 boats we knew (including us) in the anchorage would take turns on who went for bread each morning so we all did not need to go everyday. It was great having so many boats there we knew. We had a girls night out on one of the boats while the boys played high stakes poker on another. Makemo is the home a famous artist. The only artist in French Polynesia who carves on black pearls. (though we found carves pearls in Tahiti- they were not nearly as artistic or finely carved) It is well worth the visit as they are fun and wonderful people and they love to trade. Laura traded two pounds of salted almonds for 34 flawed black pearls. The carved pearls sell for $50. It is reported that each carved pearl sells for $200 in Tahiti. Ross was skeptical and found himself speechless when he first saw them. We ogled so much and praised the artist in our enthusiasm and he in turn generously pulled out his master pearls for your viewing pleasure and possible purchase (at the same price!) The artist's name is Beko and his wife is a school teacher named Jacquelyn. We had wonderful visits to their house. Beko's oldest brother is Victor who is the other must meet in the community. Tell Beko you love to fish and want to meet Victor. At the foot of the dock is a map of town on the side of the big municipal building, Beko is denoted by the word 'Artist.' on his house. Victor is a master fisherman. Two days before we arrived, it was reported that Victor returned with an entire boat load of Dorado and when questioned as to how he caught them, he pulled out a spear. Ross and his father had the opportunity to fish with Victor on our last day at this anchorage. He said he was going to take them spear gun fishing in the middle of the channel at slack tide. On the way to the channel he indicated that it is good Dorado fishing and they see Victor in action. First he located the Dorado by following the birds then when we were close we could see the fish under the water and he made chase darting this way and that until the Dorado briefly stopped and in a single movement Victor stopped the boat and threw the spear at the Dorado about a foot under the water and nailed it. He carefully pulled the tether and brought the stunned fish on board. Wow. We then returned to the channel and spear fished. On Ross' first dive he was stopped by his 25 foot tether to his float. Nothing helps surpass barriers than a little encouragement from a professional. Ross removed the float and continued to follow Victor into deeper water. The channel is 60 feet deep and Ross must have gone to 45 myself. He said, "I am still in disbelief. This was the only time I saw more than one shark and there were seven white tips swimming around as we made dive after dive for our prey."
On Sunday we went to Church in Makemo. The church is centrally located in town and of grand proportions for a village of only about 200 people. Services start at 8:00 am. We had looked in on the church the day before on our walk through town. The church was decorated with shell chandeliers and there is a choir loft at the back. We arrived about ten minutes early and were surprised to find the church grounds overflowing with people. We made our way inside and it was packed, the only seating was along the wall on narrow ledges which we were glad to get. Within a few minutes the kids, about high school age, were getting up and offering us their seats. There was not dissuading them so we graciously took seats on the wood benches. Every person on the island must have been there. Not only was the church filled with people it was also very quiet. The service was conducted in combination of French and the local language but the singing was a universal Hallelujah chorus that was accompanied by an electronic organ. The incredible acoustics of the great hall and enthusiastic participation was very moving. The singing was my favorite part. It was also fun to see Jacqueline and Beko there too. Their open friendship made us feel a part of the community.
We then headed to the North entrance of the atoll. Nereid and New Dawn were the only boats at our next anchorage, halfway through the atoll. The traveling from one anchorage to the other was tiring for a few reasons. We needed to be up early to catch the sun while one of us went to the bow of the boat to watch for coral heads and navigate a safe path. The one at the wheel kept a close watch too. We were amazed at how many we saw. They are usually a brilliant green flash on the horizon if they are close to the top. Others had sticks pounded into them as an aid for navigation. Still others had huge boulders on them and some you only saw when you were close. We anchored and went to shore for a walk. We traveled to the ocean side of the atoll and found many shells. My collection, which started there, is now grown to a box full. Ross, Ray, Judy and Laura went shelling that day. On our way back to the boats we saw over 40 large red hermit crabs. They were converging on a tide pool with a bit of an octopus in it. the next day we went to the other pass Tapuhiria Pass Not too much to say. We searched for sand to place our anchor on amidst the coral. We were also looking for some place not too deep since our electric windlass had started acting up in the Marquesas and was now out of action. Hand pulling up 200' or more of 3/8 chain is a tough job. The place was pretty. Makemo Pictures
our arrival
The atoll Tahanea Passé Teavatapu This is one of our favorite atolls. We caught up to 3 boats we had made friends with in Mexico and had seen off and on. They are great boats with people our age- Moorea, Capaz & Ohana kai. We went snorkeling a few times. Laura started to learn to free-dive and Ross had fun pointing out all the fish he had spear-gunned in Makemo. Not too much spear fishing here we think since the fish were not skittish at all. We got right up to them and touched them. The snorkeling was nice, though not as clear as Makemo. Thought the colors of the coral were much more diverse. Our friends on Kabuki, Ross from Alaska and Ed from South Africa, came in to anchor and we had a potluck cookout on the beach. We cooked over an open fire hours old Yellow fin tuna from a boat named Cheers. Cheers is a fun couple our age, Steve and Toya, from Namibia. We all ate the three different salads, the fish and the chocolate cake in the moon light on a rocky beach. The next night we had another beach fire, this one was to burn our burnable trash. Trash management, no matter how much you work on not having any, is an ongoing struggle. So we were all glad to get rid of a bag or two. The two Ross' (Emerson and Novak) went lobster hunting with the evening tide. 3+ hours later, they came back with 6 lobster. Their way to hunt is to go at high tide with wet suits, snorkels and flashlights. They float on the water and look into nooks and crannies on the rocks to see the eyes of the lobster. I am always glad when they return home. It just sounds dangerous to me. All three boats came aboard New Dawn for lobster the next night.
North end of atoll The weather began to sour, so we- Kabuki, Nereid and New Dawn- traveled to the north end of the atoll to find a more sheltered anchorage. We found a beautiful beach to go shelling for Laura and for the two Ross' to fly their acrobatic kites. While we were there, waiting out the weather, a large motor yacht names Senses anchored near us. The funny story is that Judy calls us up on the radio to say," Just a heads up, there is a large boat heading toward your stern." And we hear Senses call back- "we just wanted to stop by for a cup of sugar." Ha, one does forget that everyone monitors channel 16 on the VHF radio. The story is even funnier because Senses is a large (?200'+) fully equipped luxury yacht with six auxiliary boats including a sail boat, hobby cat, inboard all-weather motor launch, and several inflatables and even includes a helicopter. I do not imagine they needed anything, let alone a cup of sugar. The Boys, Ray, Ross and Ross, wanted to go scuba diving, but had used up all the air in their tanks and were wondering what kind of compressor Senses had and wouldn't it be nice if we had a compressor and what should we do, when the skipper of Senses broke in and offered to fill our tanks. We took him up on his gracious offer and the Boys headed out for a dive with fresh tanks topped up to 3200 pounds. For a dive, especially with three people, the dingy is packed with gear. They had a wonderful dive and even found some Serpulids of Ray's graduate school days. Ross brought me back some empty trocus shells with just a little bit of reef growing on them. It was sad to leave this paradise. But we had friends in Toau who were celebrating a birthday and we wanted to be there for that- so we packed up the boats and headed out for an overnight sail to Toau. Tahanea Pictures
our sunset cookout on the beach
Toau- Anse Amyot Anse Amyot is a little indented bay on the north side of the atoll. We attached ourselves to a mooring ball and stayed 2 weeks. (we had intended to stay 3 day. this is typical of how plans change :) ) We arrived in time for the birthday party for Niki from Lawur, an Austrian couple with two kids we had met in Mexico and became fast friends, There were over 20 people who show up for the celebration. We had three different types of cake, chocolate, coconut cream & tomato. (I guess you have to grow up with tomato cake to really understand it) Anse Amyot has one family who lives there - A mother, her two daughters and their families. The mooring balls are run by Gaston and Valentine. They run a little restaurant and pearl farm here. They are a truly lovely couple and create such a warm atmosphere and community it is easy to stay a long time. Our friends on Lawur stayed 6 weeks. In exchange for using their mooring ball, you eat at their house on what they call Restaurant Night for $25 per person. It was amazing. The evening starts during the day. The Boys were invited to go fishing and clamming for the upcoming dinner. To go clamming, you bring a large screwdriver, dive down as deep as you can and pry these clams out of the coral. After returning, Gaston cleans them with practiced ease. The calms then made a chowder that is reported to be the best ever (I did not have any since I do not like clams). The boaters are invited to come to shore for a game of Botchy Ball and then eat Poisson cru, coconut crusted parrot fish, lobster, clam chowder, BBQ chicken, coconut bread, rice and coconut banana cream pie for dessert. All the food was delicious. There were 18 of us that evening, mostly from boats we knew. A couple of days earlier Kabuki, Nereid and us had watched the film Barfly. It has been quoting now and again ever since. SO at the meal we kept toasting, "To all our friends." funny. Gaston and Valentine's house is broken up into several buildings. There is their living room and bedroom in one, the bathroom and laundry facilities in another, a small church behind the house and a kitchen with a large dinning room over the water. Each of these buildings has a water catchment system. The water runs off the roof into gutters to huge storage tanks. I think there were 5-6 water tanks on the property- each one as big as a small storage shed. The dining room was also a meeting room for the locals and the boaters. Niki would home school her kids at the tables there, Ross Novak tied flies for fishing, I sewed a bit and everyone would come for a cold beer or soda. One day we went to see Gaston and Valentine's pearl farm and have a picnic on the motu. (a motu is a small island inside an atoll.) We traveled there, in a carefully navigated path between coral heads, by powerboat with a 150hp outboard. The trip was fast- a lot faster than our dingy. We snorkeled, speared our lunch and watched the booby hatchlings stretch their wings. The star attraction was an estimated 10 pound camouflaged grouper. Ross has hunted these groupers before with his spear gun but they were in the 3-4 pound category so this guy was huge. According to the locals he hears the motor and moves near shore into a small cove at the anchoring site and awaits his friends to come and feed him. As we wadded ashore from the boat he was at our feet bumping against our legs. The other attraction was a large coconut crab. We just looked at him since they are becoming extinct even though I have heard they are tasty. One of the evening Ross Novak and I were craving Pizza so we made enough for everybody- 10 pizzas- we were working from 4pm-10pm whew- they tasted great. It was fun to cook in a real kitchen again. My galley on the boat is a little small. We made pesto pizzas, pepperoni, vegetarian w/ asparagus and artichokes, meat lovers ... anything people had in their cupboards. Toau Pictures
New Dawn traveling to Toau
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This site was last updated 08/12/06