Tuamotus

Tuamotus
Originally uploaded by mlingswiler.

We Traveled the four hundred miles from Fatu Hiva and arrived in the Tuamotus without incident. The Tuamotus are mostly made up of atolls, which are circular stretches of land and reef with deep lagoons in the middle. In some atolls, one or several passes exist to get into the lagoon. The motus with passes were preferable to visit because the boat is sheltered from the Pacific swell. The diving was nothing short of spectacular. The rest of the guys also enjoyed some nice surf spots.



After leaving Fatu Hiva, our first destination was Amanu. When we arrived, we were the only boat in the lagoon. The main settlement on this atoll had about eighty people living in it and from what I could tell most of them were kids. One of the pictures is a group of them that were trying to teach me to juggle, make mud pies, and speak French. I think I learned more French from them than anyone so far. The kids insisted on communicating with me.



The kids of these islands have so much fun just playing in and by the water every evening. Since planes don’t land on this atoll, whenever one would fly overhead they would all scream Avion…Avion…Avion! I could hear them playing, yelling and screaming from the boat every night. They would swim and splash in the small boat harbor uninhibited by the small black tip sharks swimming around them. It was fun to listen to. I don’t hear that much in Miami. I think they are all playing X-Box games.



The people were very friendly. When we first arrived we were invited to join a few of the locals in a game of petanque. This game is very popular amongst the islands and as far as I can tell, this is the same game as Bache ball. Another older gentleman spent about two hours telling us three generations of the island’s stories. He explained some of the lighter haired inhabitants were decedents of a wrecked Spanish trading ship before the turn of the 20th century. He also explained the effects of French nuclear testing on a nearby atoll. This was stopped in the mid 1990’s.



Diving inside the lagoon was incredible. Coral reefs followed the shoreline and would come up from 30ft to just below the surface. Further in the middle of the lagoon, coral heads would come up from 80ft to just below the surface. We stayed here three nights before departing to Hao.



We sailed most of the day and arrived at the pass into Hao that evening. As with most of the atolls, boats like ours have to wait until slack water before entering the lagoon. The current can run up to 10 Knots at other times. This time we had to anchor outside the pass until morning. This gave us a chance to dive outside the atoll, and again it was awesome. The reef here came straight up from very, very deep to about 40ft. When you would dive down 20 feet and lookout over the edge in the crystal clear water, we could see all sorts of fish. I was wondering when the really big ones were going to come in view. In the pass, there was a local spear fishing parrot fish until after dark. He would swim about ¼ mile from the shore with a floating box to put the fish in. Rob asked him why he was spearing parrot fish. His answer was that they die quick therefore the sharks leave him alone.



Hao was the location of the French military based used during the days of nuclear testing. You could tell the island once had a thriving economy, and infrastructure. Now there doesn’t appear to be enough money to maintain it. About 1500 people live on the island.



The only story of possible interest is the search for beer. A majority of these islands only have a small store and don’t sell alcohol. Many people make there own, but it’s called pig water for a reason. We were combing the streets in search of beer when we stumbled on a night club of sorts. This was a tin roof extending from Lady Blue’s dilapidated residence covering several homemade benches. Lady Blue was a 50 plus year old overweight transvestite with no teeth and festering wounds on his/her leg. After one beer and watching him/her try to pick up guys on the street, we ran from the establishment.



Transvestites are quite common in Polynesia, and accepted by their culture. We saw many in both the Marquesas and the Tuamotus.



The next island we wanted to visit was Haraiki. This was a small atoll with the potential for surf. On the overnight trip the wind and seas really picked up. We arrived at the Haraiki pass in the morning only to find waves breaking across it. Since we couldn’t get into the lagoon, we couldn’t stop. Ben and Rob are still sulking over missing the well over head waves. We had to sail another day for Makemo.



We arrived at Makemo the next day and it proved to be a fantastic place. It had something for everybody aboard; diving, booze, fishing, surfing, good people, and more booze.



There are two passes into Makemo. We arrived at the uninhabited Northern pass and spent a few days diving while anchored off a deserted Motu (Island). The coral reefs in the pass were beautiful with all sorts of fish that were reported ciguatera free by the natives. Unfortunately, we were not as brave as the fisherman in Hao. The sharks kept us from getting supper. One dive we were watching 4 reef sharks circling a fish under a rock when a 6ft lemon shark came by and started to push his head into the hole while rolling and thrashing to get the fish. They didn’t pay us any mind, but I didn’t hang around long.



From the Northern pass we motored inside the lagoon to the main settlement. We had to keep a close lookout as coral heads were everywhere. We anchored off the settlement that evening.



It was Rob’s birthday so I persuaded everyone to take the inflatable ashore and find him a beer. I was thinking I would be back to the boat by 8:00pm……….wrong. We met the first of what was to be several parties of the evening. This party consisted of Yanik the school teacher, Paul the shaper (boat builder), Domino and the fisherman. Four hours and many beers later this party ended and we decided to make our way to the inflatable when we “stumbled” into another larger, but younger group partying. Honestly I can’t remember anybody’s name beyond this point. The next two hours were spent in the back of a local’s pickup drinking beer and listening to Polynesian music. Once that party started to wane, so did I. I reluctantly followed Rob and Ben to the next and even younger group sitting on the rocks. I figured all my fun tickets were cashed in when the group transvestite kept asking me to sit next to him. I left for the dock and fell asleep next to the inflatable while waiting for Rob and Ben. The next thing I know the whole group is piled into the inflatable and telling me to get in. Once on the boat, the group found my camera and started shooting pictures of everyone. Of course the transvestite wanted one of us together. The shot was taken with him putting his arm around me and pushing his cheek close to mine. The sensation of razor stubble did nothing for me and I was quick to get up, but not before he managed to jump on my lap. I quickly removed him and ran below decks where I locked myself in the aft cabin away from everyone. The party lasted until dawn. I heard Ben slurring in Spanish at about 5:00AM (They speak French) asking if they wanted a ride back to the dock.



The next day I rolled out of my bunk around lunch time and found the cockpit covered in mush. Kitty was flying in the next day and I needed to walk to the airport to see if it had a dock that I could pick her up at with the inflatable. No sooner than ten minutes into my walk, there was a group of people sitting on a porch calling me by my name. I walked over to find Yanik the teacher, Paul the Shaper, Domino, Simon the baker, Prosper and his wife Audret all having lunchtime cocktails. I was then poured a drink and they asked that I sit down. I could not be rude, so I did. Three hours later I asked if they would like to continue the party on the boat. I’m not sure why I did this. I still didn’t even know where the airport was!



We walked to the dock and took the inflatable back to the boat. We woke up Ben and Rob climbing onto the boat. The look on there faces when they saw the group was “No, Not again”. I “Cooked” up some popcorn for the group. We played music, drank and sang until about 11:00PM. Everyone had a great time. The second picture is of Simon and Domino enjoying the popcorn and beer. Simon asked if I had any Credence Clearwater Revival. By coincidence I downloaded their greatest hits album (MP3s for the younglings) before leaving on this trip. Simon knew every word. We also played Van Morrison for Domino and Bob Dylan for Prosper. I distributed CDs to everyone a few days later. Thanks to Prosper and Audret, They offered to pick Kitty up at the airport and told me to meet them at the bakery at 7:00AM.



Needless to say, I was a little late and Kitty wasn’t very happy. She waited long enough to wonder if she flew to the right island.



Later that afternoon Ben, Rob, and I went surfing with Prosper in the pass. It was so nice, even I had fun surfing. They were head high rights. No paddling through the break was necessary to get out. A couple of strokes into the pass and the current carried you into the lineup. The big surf news on the island was that Kelly Slater surfed a couple of their breaks. If anybody wants a real getaway vacation they should lookup Prosper. He rents some simple bungalows on an island with practically no tourism and could arrange surfing, fishing, or diving.



After surfing I took Kitty to the town store, and made every attempt to make it ashore and back without a drink. I failed. In the store we saw Yanik the school teacher. He bought us a beer and introduced us to Roro the mechanic. Roro means computer without lightning or human computer in Polynesian. Yanik, who spoke English very well, explained how close he and his friends were and how they count on each other for so much.



It’s so nice to see close friends together. You can always tell when it happens. There never seems to be moments of uncomfortable silence. These people were as happy together saying nothing as they are telling stories. These islands have so little, they are literally rocks in the middle of nowhere. Yet everyone shares what they have, and they wouldn’t trade it for anything, and I don’t blame them. Even with us total strangers they shared their food, booze and friendships. The food and booze on these islands are expensive, but the friendships are priceless. They were more than generous with us on all of it.



The next day Prosper invited us to a barbeque with the gang. We took the inflatable to his house and had some great food and fun until about midnight. The best story of the evening was when I asked about some old pilings in the water outside Prospers house. He said when he was building the house and unusually large 7 meter swell hit the island. It came across the lagoon for days and transplanted his house to a new address. I asked what he did. He pointed to the coconut palm up the way and said he sat there, played the ukulele, sang, and drank rum until the swell subsided. He then started rebuilding his house. I guess there is no FEMA to help these folks.



When we decided to leave the moon had already set and we were wondering how we were going to navigate our way through the 2 miles of coral heads back to the boat. One of Prospers friends, who didn’t speak any English, would say dingy (inflatable) waive his hand in the air as to show a boat going through the sea, then made a clack, clack, clack noise, and then rotated his arms to mimic someone swimming. That was supposed to be using hitting the reef, popping the inflatable and swimming ashore. Prosper tried to get us to stay the night, but we declined. He then made us follow him in his boat to make sure we got back safely.



The next night we kicked back and watched the petanque tournament in town. We reluctantly left the next day.



It was an overnight sail to Faaite. We spent two nights there. Ben and Rob spent some time surfing the pass, while Kitty and I did some more diving. I opted out of the surfing. It was a shoulder high left, and if you made a mistake the wave would pitch you onto the reef in about two feet of water. As with all of my endeavors, I make more mistakes than not.



From Faaite we sailed to the South pass of Fakarava. Once again the diving was awesome. We motored the inflatable out the pass and drift dove in about 60ft of water on an incoming tide. As you looked down amongst the coral on the bottom you could see sharks circling. At one point there were about 12 of them. We would watch a portion of them circle a school of bait fish. They seemed to herd the fish together and then one would roll. I assumed they were trying to get lunch. It was fun watching the as long as they stayed on the bottom and me on top. Soon we drifted into shallower water and they took notice to us. They then started to circle to the surface. I was the first to launch out of the water. Then we heard Ben, about 20ft from the inflatable, call in a stressed voice to come get him. Kitty was watching the affair with only her mask lens in the water while the rest of her was safely in the inflatable.



The settlement near this pass only had two or three families and a dive center for tourists.



We then sailed inside the lagoon for the main settlement of the island. We didn’t pay attention to the marked channel and ended up in the middle of a pearl farm. The locals came out and directed us away. They weren’t too happy with us. We anchored off the settlement late that afternoon.



There were about 400 people living there and a 4 star hotel a couple of miles away. The people in this town must see many tourists because they weren’t overly friendly like some of the other islands. In addition, it was quite sleepy compared to Makemo.



We all wanted to get to Tahiti, which was 250 miles away, to do some work on the boat. Unfortunately it started blowing 25-30 knots and we decided to stay a few more days to fix the steering system and service the engine. Two days later we finished our work and it was still blowing. I then made my fastest passage of the trip. The 250 miles took One hour and ten minutes.



Kitty wasn’t up for 30 knots of wind dead astern and 15 foot seas a beam. She made plane reservations. I really looked forward to the sail, but felt I should accompany my wife to help her check into the hotel on the beach with hot water, cable TV, Internet, air conditioning, and a king size bed. So here I sit. I waited two grueling days and the sailboat just arrived to pick up us again and head for Raiatea.



To get back at me for not sailing to Tahiti, Ben and Rob anchored next to "Hypnotic voices and the Trance Terminator".



We will spend until July fourteenth sailing around the Society Islands. The French government will then request our departure. Unless the Tahitian Bikini team joins the crew, Rob will depart for the UK, Ben will likely stay on, and I will stay for the 10-12 weeks after leaving French Polynesia. The plan now (it’s ever changing) is to get the boat to Australia before I go home. Since all my friends are productive members of society, we will be looking for crew in Tahiti to replace Rob. The route to Australia is via the Cooks, Tonga, Fiji, and New Caledonia.



On a side note, during this trip I have discovered the answer to one of the many unasked questions. The notion of an unasked question sparked some debate on the boat. My friends insisted that there are an infinite number of unasked questions. This is not true. By definition an unasked question is one that is in many peoples mind, but is too trivial to ask or inquire into an answer.



This question applies to most males employed in a business casual environment. These are the guys that get up five days a week and drudgingly put on their underwear, socks, slacks, undershirts, over shirts, possibly a tie, and pretty tasseled shoes. They get into their cars and sit in traffic for three hours a day only to do it again the next.



This is done day in and day out until that break from the norm occurs. That might be a weekend trip to Key West to see the three inch cliff of doom, the three day trip to Cedar Key to cash in all your fun tickets, the occasional trip to Bimini to lose your teeth, or a 9 month trip to the South Pacific.



You get the break all planned and you can’t wait. You throw the collared shirt, slacks, tasseled shoes, socks and underwear in the corner of the room and put on a pair of the oldest surf shorts you can find a tank top, flip flops and make for the door. On the way you pass the full length mirror and it stops you dead in your tracks. The excitement drains. You see the one thing that is going to label you as the poser you really are. It’s that unmistakable absence of hair on your ankles and upper arms caused by that entirely unnecessary day in and day out dress code. You then ask yourself “Will that hair ever grow back or am I permanently scarred”. The answer to that unasked question is YES, it will grow back so long as you wear flip flops, a tank top, and surfer shorts everyday for six months.



That’s all for now. Stay tuned to see how the Societies go and if the Tahitian Bikini Team joins the crew.



PS-Kitty just proofed the blog and said “You must be extremely bored”……….

Makemo

Makemo
Originally uploaded by mlingswiler.