Bora Bora (Part II)

including short stay in Raiatea

July 25 - August 7th
By Chris



We ended the day with a gift of macaroni and cheese from Island Sonata. It’s amazing how the simple things in life can make you happy. KT was in heaven!! The next day we rented bikes from Club Med (our land base) with Island Sonata, Ascension, and Whisper. Wow, are we out of shape. Our butts were sore within two miles as we struggled around the island. It was interesting to see the difference between the back side of the island where the locals live and the front side where the main town and tourist centers are. We stopped at various sites and had some great views we could have only seen from the bikes (or a very long hike).

The next day was Robin's (from Whisper) birthday. The girls had a swim team meeting and enjoyed sites of a moray eel, trunk fish and a stingray all within the anchorage on the various coral bommies that littered the bottom. I was trying to weave Robin a head piece like KT’s (after all she did coin the princess term that has stuck the entire trip). I wasn’t having much luck so I wove her a princess fan out of a palm frond. I saw one the day before and thought it would be fun to try. KT came back and asked me where I bought it, she didn’t believe that I made it. Oh well!! We had Island Sonata and Whisper for homemade fondue, for some reason the recipe we used required 10 times as much cheese as it called for but it was a hit and we may have future investors in our fondue restaurant when we get back (one of the many crazy ideas we have now that the “slate” of our careers has been cleared). We continued the birthday celebration on Island Sonata with a music night, and wrapped up another full day in paradise.

I had been having some issues with my bladder, and tried to discuss my symptoms with people at the party. Hey, without complete medical care we all need as much support and sound boarding as possible. It’s amazing the things that become table conversation out here, which most normal people would feel strange talking about to their doctors behind closed doors. Oh well, turns out it looked like I might have a bladder infection, which of course is uncommon in men (because of the difference in the length of our urethras compared to women… see there I go). Anyway someone told me I should definitely get it looked at because it can turn into a kidney infection, one woman ended up in the hospital with IV antibiotics for a week to get that taken care of. Yikes! The next day I went straight to the Doctor's office, I had to hitchhike around to the other side of the island, but luckily this time I got a ride quickly. Fortunately the symptoms were worse than they had ever been so I could pin point them to the doctor (who spoke broken English). She said she thought I had an infection and gave me a prescription for some anti-spasmodic, antibiotics, and some pain medications (all for $35). It provided almost immediate relief. We spent the next couple of days relaxing around the boat, emailing from Club-Med and trying to get Emerald on the SSB (we were waiting for them so we could go to Suwarrow).

We moved back to the front side to start our final provisioning and preparation for the 700-mile trip to Suwarrow. After the shallow water experiences of the backside of Bora Bora, the “shallow” reef pass on the front side of the island could be taken at full speed. KT started slowing down as was typical in twenty feet of water, I was like “What are you doing?”.. “Slowing down like usual”, “Come on, we’re in 20 feet of water.. Full speed”. It’s funny how your perceptions change as you experience things ... after the blows of Maeva Beach, my tolerance for winds has increased to 30 –35 knots (provided there is not a lot of fetch for the waves to build up).

After a couple of days near Motu Toopua (on the front side), we decided to move to a mooring at Bloody Mary’s for Emeralds anticipated arrival. Bobulona called us and told us a boat was leaving and we immediately hauled anchor and motored over. We jokingly suggested they sit on the mooring while we were motoring over ... luckily they did - turns out they had to turn four boats away while we were “getting fuel”. We played Homies (like Mexican Train Dominos but we don’t have trains so we use these Homie figurines), on Island Sonata while enjoying some amazing banana cake that KT made. We spent the next day provisioning some more and enjoyed another Bloody Mary’s dinner to celebrate Emeralds arrival. The next day we moved back out to Motu Topua where we spent a couple days prepping the boat while KT pre-cooked all of our passage meals (so she doesn’t get sea sick). All we needed now was a good weather window and we were on our way.

We spent the next day doing some last minute emails and more town stuff. I had just taken my last scheduled antibiotic (they gave me a ten pack and told me to take eight). I don’t like drugs of any kind so I stopped …LUCKILY. The next day I woke up and was in pain again, and took another trip to the doctor. She examined me and suggested I might still have a kidney stone stuck in my urethra. I thought no way, it had been over six weeks, and doubled check with emails and phone calls to Flipper and Dr. Stan. The only way to be sure was to go to Raiatea or Tahiti for an ultra sound (they don’t have the equipment in Bora Bora). I looked into ferries, etc but decided the safest plan was to bring the boat in case some bad weather came through.

Back Track to Raiatea



On Saturday we watched Emerald, Equanimity, Ascension, and Endless sail west without us. I heard them describing the awesome sailing and had to give them some flack for “rubbing it in”. The next day we motored “backwards” towards Raiatea with Bobulona (who was planning on leaving their boat for a trip to Hawaii) and picked up a mooring ball at CNI. We spent the afternoon walking along the shore where we saw 1000’s of crabs along the road in little holes. We had sunset drinks on the dock in front of Bobulona and met Sea Bride (a Tayana 37 about to finish a 10 year circumnavigation) and Dragonfly. Graeme and Janna are about our ages and would be great to hang out with. It is amazing how many younger people are out cruising, and how well everyone gets along.



We spent the next day hiking around town looking for the hospital, only to find out that the only ultrasound technician was on vacation for the entire week. We finally found another outfit and made an appointment for Wednesday (he was also on vacation). We saw Raya on the town dock and said hi as they invited us on board. They are an older Dutch couple, who designed their own boat and have sailed it around Cape Horn and spent a season sailing in the fiords of southern Chili. They also traveled all the way up the west coast and spent some time in Northern Washington/Canada. They don’t mess around; they are planning to sail non-stop from Cape of Good Hope to Europe (about 6000 miles). They both have lots of energy and love to talk, I can’t believe they actually like very un-crowded anchorages, and spent six months cruising without seeing another boat; maybe they are trying to catch up. Turns out they know our friends from Stardust.. it’s a small world out here. We finished the day with dinner and drinks on Bobulona with Dragonfly.

We finally got to see the doctor on Wednesday and he immediately saw the Kidney stone on the ultra sound machine, stuck right there at the end. He did a whole bunch of X-rays and injected dye into my veins so he could watch the flow through my system, into my kidneys, and down to my bladder. It was amazing to see that it all happened so fast. The X-rays showed that my right urethra was partially blocked and that I was VERY lucky that I didn’t head out to sea in my condition. He gave me some more anti-spasmodic medication and more anti-inflammatory medication, and told me to drink some special water (lower pH??) in a couple of days to see if I could flush it out (that was $600). Our outboard died on the way back to the boat so I had a boat project to occupy my time, but we didn’t do much while we were waiting. We had dinner on Dragonfly and they were planning on leaving on Saturday or Sunday… great we'd get to watch them sail off too!! Well I drank my water like a good boy and the stone finally passed, I was glad to be free of it and the pee filter to catch the bloody thing. I woke KT up and told her we could go. I rode to town with Graeme to do our final provisioning while KT pre-cooked all the meals again (for the second time). This time we were going for sure.

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Bora Bora (Part I)

July 16th – July 25th
By KT



Bora Bora is a beautiful island … a combination of the Tuamotos with its white sandy beaches and turquoise clear waters, and the Marquesas with majestic mountains and varying colors of green. After all that motoring it was a relief to sit in the calm and quiet anchorage of Motu Toopua.  We spent the next two days mostly lounging around the boat.  Chris kayaked over to a nearby hotel to ‘borrow’ their email services (attempting to blend in with the other guests who were paying $1000 per night!).  And I began “swim team” … my new daily exercise program (one year having passed since the twins I feel that I can no longer call this extra weight ‘baby fat’).  Robin from Whisper joined me, and so far we seem to have a somewhat decent consistency record!  We also enjoyed appetizers and rum drinks aboard Billabong with Robin, Duncan, and Duncan’s visiting sister (Susan) ... yes, I realize that rum and apps are counteractive to swim-team!



Monday was a bit more hectic … it was time to try and cash in our bonds and coordinate paying for our dinghy (which had arrived in Tahiti) so that it could be shipped to Bora Bora.  Chris was up early (as usual) and headed into town (with no dinghy and one kayak lost it was easier for him to go alone). Town was quite the trek from where we were anchored but he made it … only to discover that in order to get back my bond money I had to be present (even though my bond was paid with Chris’s credit card).  Chris called me on the VHF from town asking me to try and find a way in … hmm guess I’ll just start swimming???  Luckily, Whisper was going snorkeling so I hitched a ride with them to a local hotel on the Motu and from there took the hotel's water shuttle to town (more than one person asked me how I would get back to Billabong, but I figured we’d deal with that later, right now we just needed to get our dinghy paid for so it could be shipped).  We made it to the banks just before they closed for lunch … all in all the entire process went extremely smooth.  We called Michelle to let him know the money had been deposited, and to our delight he told us that the dinghy would be put on the 4pm cargo ship to arrive in Bora Bora by 2pm the NEXT DAY!!!  We also lucked out running into Bobulona in town, so I was able to hitch a ride back to Billabong.  That evening we joined Donna and Ralph aboard Ocean Girl for a few sunset drinks.

The next morning Chris went with Bobulona to the shipping docks to check out what he would need to pick up our dinghy later on.  As it turned out the ship had already arrived.  There was some language difficulties but good fortune was one our side and they were able to tell Chris which container our dinghy was in … even BETTER it so happened that they were opening that particular container!  Chris returned to Billabong with our new dinghy in tow.  We instantly threw on the engine and zoomed around the anchorage, huge smiles lighting up our faces!  It’s amazing what having easy accessible transportation provides … this was better than getting my first car back when I was sixteen.  We made Ocean Girl climb in so we could test out if the dinghy would plane with four people (it did).  The next few days we couldn’t help but smile every time we went somewhere!!! After days of debate we settled on the name Boomerang.  We figured we cursed our first dinghy with Myles Away (because it is now literally miles away), so this time we wanted something that would encourage it to stay around.  Spirit Wind (a couple we met in Mexico) actually gets the credit because we learned from Whisper that they kept calling Billabong Boomerang, when we heard Boomerang we thought PERFECT ... it's another Australian word and boomerangs always come back!!!



Midday we moved Billabong to the mooring balls in front of Bloody Mary’s restaurant.  It was the first time Chris and I had ever picked up a mooring … I was quite impressed with my driving, I approached the mooring such that by the time we hit the ball Billabong was going just about zero knots.  PERFECT – my sailing instructors would have been proud.  Chris seemed a bit impatient up on the bow, wondering if we were ever going to actually get to the ball … okay, perhaps I slowed down a bit early (but better too slow than too fast was my theory)!

That night we splurged on an outstanding dinner at Bloody Mary’s with Whisper, Bobulona, and Bobulona’s two guests Harvey and Ann.  We had known of Harvey and Ann since La Paz, Mexico, when we talked to them on the SSB.  They were in Mag Bay on their boat (Calabasa) along with our friends from Sea Pilgrim.  Since Sea Pilgrim didn’t have an SSB radio, they had contacted us from Calabasa.  Greg and Lisa (two of our friends in Ventura on Panacea) had also met Calabasa when they had cruised Mexico the season before!  Harvey and Ann also taught Sea Pilgrim a version of Canasta that they had then passed on to us, and we are now hooked.  In other words, we were quite excited to finally meet them and were once again amazed at what a small world it can be!

Dinner blew our daily (possibly even weekly) budget, but it was fantastic!  We shared a tuna appetizer, followed by fresh fish entrees, and some of the best cheesecake of my life (perhaps it had something to do with not having had cheesecake in many many months).  The restaurant had a great atmosphere with dark wooden tables and stools, and a sandy beach floor (you check your shoes at the door).  It was the first restaurant I’ve been in where the men, wearing short red sarongs with no shirts, were more scantily dressed then the women.

Wednesday morning we went looking (hooray for having a dinghy again) for a good snorkeling spot. We didn’t have a lot luck, although when we dropped in at one tourist spot we were instantly surrounded by tons of tropical fish … apparently used to being fed (they would get so close and were so trusting that I was actually able to touch one).  I felt a little giddy-happy at being completely surrounded by so many fish!  Unfortunately, there is a lot of dead coral, which is heartbreaking to see. We hear stories of even the dive instructors standing on and touching the live coral.  That, along with all of the new hotels being built (which all stand over the water), seems to be taking its toll on nature.



After snorkeling we moved anchorages again, this time moving to the anchorage in front of the town so that we could easily get diesel and provisions.  It was another first for us … first time anchoring in 83 feet of water!  It was odd, especially after having been spoiled over the last week with all the shallow waters.  Knowing that Bora Bora was such a tourist center I had expected a much larger town.  While it is overrun with tourists, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Bora Bora still has a small-island feel.  The downside of a small town is, of course, less supplies and higher prices (I actually paid five bucks for single cantaloupe!).

Moving to the back side



We only stayed one night … it was not a very comfortable spot, with tourist boats zooming in and out, slight chop, and general discomfort about the depth.  The next morning, we moved around to the other side of Bora Bora, settling down at Motu Toferi.  It was another turquoise clear anchorage in shallow waters (about 11 feet).  The pass was curvy and shallow, but we managed to not scrape bottom!  Roger and Nancy from Equanimity invited us over for a potluck dinner along with Bobulona, Jadara, and Flusofeta.  With exception of Bobulona, we had only briefly met everyone else, so it was wonderful to meet new people and hear of their experiences.

Friday we decided to go ashore and see if we could find a bike rental place.  After a lot of walking we gave up, deciding that the rental shop must be farther South.  We did however come upon a guy selling banana stalks from his yard and were thrilled to purchase one (oddly you can’t buy bananas in the store).

The next day we set off on a new search, looking for sandy beaches and good snorkeling (as described on our charts).  We seemed to keep missing the sandy portions of beach, both times we came ashore and walked across to the outside of the Atoll we hit rocky craters.  We gave up on the beach and went looking for some good coral.  We dropped in at one spot which looked like it had some potential, and although I briefly spotted a single black-tip shark, the fish were minimal and the coral dieing.  The second spot we dropped in at was much better, tons of live coral along with numerous fish.  We had heard there were also manta rays in this area (in the deeper channel between the two reefs we were snorkeling), but we didn’t spot any.

The snorkeling was good enough that we convinced Whisper and Island Sonata to dinghy over (they were anchored at Motu Piti Aou, just South of us) and join Ascension and us the next morning.  This time the snorkeling really paid off.  From the start we spotted a large manta ray about 45 feet below us and a curious (and rather large) barracuda kept following us around.  We also sighted a spotted eagle ray and then, for the grand finale, two gorgeous manta rays circled below us (at about 30 feet). These two rays had markings that Chris and I had never seen.  It was as though their backs had been tattooed with intricate designs in white ink.  And let’s not forget all the little guys, the hundreds of tropical fish that occupied ever space around us.



We decided that since the bike rentals were further South, as was Robin (whose birthday was coming up on Tuesday and we were planning a party for), that we would move Billabong down there as well. Although we knew the channel was easily passable (seeing as hundreds of boats before us had gone through, including at least five the day before), it still didn’t stop us from being a bit nervous as we curved through what felt like a rat maze, trying to remember what all the various markers meant and which side the safe water was on.  Luckily the pass was short and ten minutes later we could relax as we went from 10 feet of water to 35.  After anchoring (now near Motu Piti Aou), Island Sonata called us for some Canasta.

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Moorea

July 10th  – July 15th, 2004



It was such a liberating feeling to finally pull up anchor out of Maeva Beach in Tahiti.  I thought it would be a struggle because of how hard we were set but the anchor came up smoothly and we made our way up the anchorage to the small southern pass.  We waved goodbye to a couple of boats and said FINALLY to a couple of others that were hauling up anchor besides us.  There was no wind for sailing so we motored the 23 miles to Oponahu Bay.  As we saw after the blow in Fakarava there were at least 12 boats on the move to Moorea.  Moorea was beautiful with Cooks Bay (miss-named because Cook actually visited Oponahu Bay) further to the east.  We anchored just inside the reef in 12 feet of water.  Not only could you see the bottom, you could see all the chain out to your anchor.  It felt SOOO good.  We played cards on Island Sonata, it wasn’t even a question they just showed up and brought us back to their boat so we could finally finish the game we started before the last blow. The next day we got up and went to a place where the tourist feed the stingrays.


This text will only appear on after the reader clicks "continue reading.." Delete if NOT needed It was truly amazing.  We were standing in about 4 feet of water.  They would come right up to you, ride up your front until they were almost “standing” in front of you like they were ready to dance. They would open their mouths, which are on the bottom, and take whatever piece of fish you had right out of your hand.  You could pet them and scrape their backs, which they seemed to enjoy and left cool patterns in the sand silt that covered them.  It was quite an experience to watch people who were at first rather taken aback by their aggressiveness, to finally sitting there laughing and dancing with them.  We headed back to the boats for an afternoon of wakeboarding and knee boarding behind the dinghies.  It was fun but I was sore and tired after only about 5 minutes, hey this paradise living is harder than it looks.  That night we finished the day with a girls/boys night on Waking Dream and Billabong.  I guess a couple of the boats needed some same sex bonding time.  We ate dinner and played poker while the girls did the same on Billabong. I think there must be something in the theory behind drinking and gambling, because I stayed the soberest and lost the most, while Ben was hammered (and didn’t even really know how to play) but kicked everyone’s butts.  Oh well come to think of it I never really paid up!!

On Monday, we walked to the local resort, amazing at $500 a night, to reserve some motor scooters for the following day.  We kept walking into Cooks Bay to visit the Pineapple processing plant and sample some of their juices.  It was funny, they gave you all the free shots of booze you could drink but the samples of fruit juices (which they actually made) cost $1.  Oh well, after taking the cheep way out, we continued walking to the head of the bay and saw a couple of boats we knew anchored deep within the bay.  They had a great view of the mountains but the water wasn’t as clear as our anchorage and some moved over later the next day.

We hopped on our scooters at around 8:30 the next morning.  Waking Dream, Island Sonata, and us each shared one with our significant others.  They could move pretty fast and kept up with the local traffic.  We even took them “off-road” and they handled it fine until I popped my fuel line and it almost drained the tank, just barely missing the hot exhaust (now that would have been interesting).  The best view was from Belvidere, which was on a mountain between the two bays.  The foliage was amazing; pine trees in some places, cool Joshua like trees with large fields of pineapples in between.  It was a great way to see the whole island, although we were exhausted by the end of the day (hey keeping that throttle pinned down all day is a lot of work).  I can’t imagine how tired we would have been if we actually rented bikes like I wanted to initially.  There were some very cool anchorages that Waking Dream will get a chance to explore during their visa extension time, and the southern edge of the island looked like it had some HUGE surf.  We ended the day with a combined dinner on Billabong, as we prepared to say goodbye to Waking Dream (who we probably won’t see until New Zealand or Tonga).  They left early the next day, and spotted whales right at the entrance to the bay (oh to have a dingy).  We hung out on the boat and lazed around while we prepared for our trip to Bora Bora.  We knew it was time to leave when I woke up the next morning to two huge cruise ships arguing who was going to anchor where within the bay.

It was 140 miles and we tried desperately to sail.  We only averaged 2.5 knots for the first 6 hours and gave up when hit the swell outside the lee of the island.  We then motored all night until we arrived at Huahine at around daybreak.  The wind picked up (to about 10 knots) so I raised the sails and we bore off for Bora Bora.  Almost immediately it died so we were back to motoring ... 26 hours all together.  What really sucked was we got about 20-25 knots of wind just as we rounded the northern tip of Bora Bora and had to motor into it, along with 6 foot swell just to get into the pass.  We found a nice little spot in the lee of a motu, right off the outer reef. It is rather protected from the wind so it is starting to get a little crowded.

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Tahiti Wrap-Up

July 8th  – July 11th, 2004



Well we finally got off the boat and went into town to get tickets for the big dance festival.  It was still blowing 25-30 but we knew we weren’t going ANYWHERE (our anchor set by two blows) and we needed to get off the boat. By now it was Friday July 9th, and we had been here two weeks!!  Time for some fun.  The artisans’ festival (the real one) had just started so we decided we would go and check it out.  We finally found the right bus to take us out of town to the festival; it was a new modern bus that was only $1 instead of the $1.30 we were paying for the le truck!!  Figure that one out.  The festival was pretty large, with representatives from the Marquesas, Tuamotos and the Gambiers.  I really wanted to find chief Marc to see if he had the bone carvings for us.  I did a fast track looking for him while KT and Corbie methodically went booth to booth (funny I thought the guys were supposed to be the organized ones and girls just kind of shopped hap-hazardly).  Oh well. I found a couple of booths from Fatu Hiva but they didn’t know Marc, turns out they were from the other village on Fatu Hiva, the one we didn’t visit.

Marc was on the other side of the tent and he recognized me immediately.  I showed him my bone carving and he said he sold three of them the night before (before the festival was even open).  He also sold of the hatchets he made and a bunch of other things.  I quickly ran over to KT and told her I had found Marc and that she should come over immediately.  They wanted to finish their row and by the time they showed up (only 5 minutes later) Marc had sold EVERYTHING to a hotel in Bora Bora. Luckily Island Sonata had bought a tiki from Marc, but they were the only ones.  KT was bummed.  However I did find the woman from the village who I was going to buy the drum from (until Matarua said they wanted it but didn’t end up getting it).  We even tried to get other boats that went back later, to pick it up for us. Sitting right there was the EXACT drum we had been pining over since we left it behind 11 weeks before, without hesitation we bought it.  KT bought a bowl, also from Fatu Hiva.  Of course I ran forward like a little kid, not wanting to miss anything.  I ran into a guy we met on Oa Pou, who did some amazing wood and stone work.  He was all dressed up in Native  garb and was excited to see someone he recognized.  This time I grabbed KT and Corbie and brought them over.  Corbie was really looking hard at a necklace and I was checking out some of the flower stone (only from Oa Pou) and Marquesian jade necklaces.  I figured I had enough but they were so beautiful.  Turns out that Ocean Girl and Dances de La Mer bought them for their husbands.  Mary wasn’t sure so she put it down to think about it, and we talked.  She turned around and it was gone, she freaked, the minute the person who was looking at it put it down again she jumped on it like it was a Million dollars ... “Mine” she said!!  We finished our tour and bought a beautiful platter and a wood/bone fishhook carving for a wall hanging.  We were excited and a little broke, but satisfied that we had a good collection of things to go with our memories.

That night we went to the dance competition.  It was very interesting to watch as they told their stories through dance.  There were a bunch of different scenes where large groups and then some individuals performed their portions.  It was amazing to watch as they moved in ways I didn’t think the human body was able, it reminded me of Circ de Sole’.  I swear one woman was going to blow out her hips and poke some ones eyes out the way she moved so fast.  It was hard to get the whole gist of the story but it was entertaining (when the spoke they spoke in Tahitian and French).  They also had a chanting portion but that got old after the first 5 minutes.  We were all rather tired, cold (if you can believe that) and the seats weren’t padded so I was like a little squirmy kid with ants in his pants.  We settled into the boat for a good nights sleep, and a trip to Moorea planned for the next day (would we FINALLY be able to leave).

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Stingrays of Moorea Video

These Sting Rays show up at a certain part of the Moorea reef everyday to be fed. With eyes on top and mouths on bottom, they have to feel there way around you to find the food.

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Tahiti, Society Islands

June 24th  – July 8th , 2004
By Chris

Our plan was to get in, re-provision in modern stores, get Internet access, a few boat supplies, and get out to other more remote islands.  The first difference is that you have to call Port Control to ask permission to enter the harbor; the second is that you are in the company of freighters, cruise ships, and huge inter-island ferries.  The ferries travel at 30+ knots and throw up a rooster tail that would completely cover the boat in a 20-foot high wall of water; and they have a schedule to meet.  They don’t care about some little sailboat trying to get in the entrance; they just blast right in front of you. As we called, Bobulona heard us and gave us some more info about the anchorage (Maeva Beach) we were heading to.  I asked him if it was crowded, “Just you and a couple hundred of your closest friends”.. ugggh!!



 The channel to the anchorage goes around the airport and you have to check in to make sure you don’t pass the runway while a jet is taking off (they COULD actually clip your mast if they used the entire runway).  We arranged clearance and motored as we watched a 747 taxi for takeoff ... “Come on Baby, don’t fail me now” I thought.  I really wanted to get a picture of it taking off behind our stern but just as I went below to check the chart, it took off, and so I didn’t get the picture I wanted.  We came around the point and tucked in to the northern end of the VERY large and crowded anchorage.  We anchored close to Bobulona and Waking Dream, as I was finalizing my anchoring Dennis asked, “What are you anchoring for a storm?”. “Always” I said; little did I realize how important it would be!!!!



We spent the first day walking around town with Waking Dream and Bobulona as they tried to figure out ways to extend their visas and get out of their bonds.  First you take “Le Truck” (literally a truck with the flat bed covered by a handmade wooden roof/sides and bench seats, cushions are optional). The roads, traffic and associated noises had become strange to us, we were used to sharing the roads with chickens, roosters, and dogs not semi’s, cars, and motor scooters.  The buildings actually had stories, more than two or three extra ones at that.  It was interesting to watch as they talked to various travel agents (more hip to what was happening than the officials) and settled on flying out of the country to extend their visas; we decided we would just pay the bond and wait to see what happened with our extension request.  We stopped and had a beer to relax; but I was having a hard time already. The energy of the city had gotten to me, I was already go go go; we didn’t get anything done that we needed to accomplished except to find our way around.

I must say I am NOT very impressed with the way the French Government communicates amongst its various organizations and locations.  No one knows what’s really going on, until you have to deal with one person and then they make the law, which is usually NOT in your favor and NOT what you were planning on.  When we first applied for our Visa we had to show proof of funds, health insurance and various other boat documentation to show that we would not be a burden or freeload off the French Government once we got here.  When we got here, they also want you to post a bond (equivalent to a one way ticket to the country on you passport), which I can understand for people just arriving without visas, but we showed them our financial records that prove we can cover ourselves.  It’s not that bad because you get it back but you pay a fee and lose $$ in the translation to and from their currency and have to coordinate the return blah blah blah. I’m sure I’m not getting any sympathy.  

The visa is the big thorn in my side.  While we were in the states getting the visa, the Consulate said we could easily extend our visa by requesting on once you arrived in French Polynesia (this was similar to what we had read in other peoples cruising journals from a couple years ago).  So like little diligent people we wrote out our request and asked for only a one-month extension (by the time we were in Nuka Hiva we heard extensions were hard to get).  We checked at the American Express address we gave them in Tahiti and there was no reply letter.  We then went to at least five different locations in town (all based on the previous officials directions) to try and find the person we could talk to.  We finally found him and they said they have been denying them since 2002 .. hmmm too bad they didn’t tell the LA office!!  The only chance for an extension was to either have medical or boat problems (no thanks; although my body had other ideas) or to leave the country and reset the clock (at a cost of five to eight hundred dollars each plus expenses).

The next day we went and checked in, at least here the offices you need to visit are all in the same building next to the visitor’s center (which provided us maps to make our way around town).  We then spent the rest of the morning trying to track down our visa extension (see above).  Lunch was interesting, you can get anything you want ON a baguette, chow main, hamburger with French fries, chicken with French fries, salads, even the occasional normal looking ham and cheese.  We settled on grilled hamburger and cheese sandwich, and finally took the load off our feet.  We followed that up with an Internet chaser, finally finding a place that has I/O ports so that we could copy email and answer them on the boat, and update the web site.  Fast access, English keyboards.. we were in heaven, sad yes!!  It has been so hard not be able to share our experiences and get updates from friends.  Most people (95%) have email access on board (via the Ham radio) I think we’ll look into it while we are in New Zealand.  Not only will we be able to keep in better contact, but also provide important weather data not available via weather fax.  They also allow people to access our last reported location automatically on the web, along with actual weather reports of boats in your general area.  The modems are about $750 and it looks like I might have to get a new radio (mine’s not fast enough) so it could be a $2000 undertaking.  Yikes!!

We also did a little city exploring of our own; we went to the two-story Billabong store, I was looking for a Billabong Tahiti shirt, KT bought a hat.  We are probably the only boat that could have our boat name on ANYTHING; clothing, key chains, wallets, backpacks, stickers, sunglasses, or playing cards.  We checked out the municipal market that sells fruits, vegetables and local crafts including black pearls.  KT had the pearl we got from the pearl farm in Fakarava mounted in white gold for a necklace, along with some other pearls that were drilled for necklaces as well.  We also went to the HUGE grocery store right by the harbor, where you could actually bring the carts back to the dingy dock.  We stocked up on some essentials for the next couple of days and stared longingly at the vast array of vegetables in the produce section.  I think a woman thought I was having a seizure, as I stood in the same spot staring in awe with my mouth wide open for at least two solid minutes.  That night we did up the town, and spent some serious time at a brewery that sold AMBER beer.  You have no idea how good it tasted, but it must have been fantastic because we paid $24 a pitcher.  After that bar closed we went to another small hole in the wall where three bar fights broke out in about fifteen minutes.  Ian, a NZ bloke here to go boat to boat to advertise marinas and services in Wangerea NZ, was our local guide trying desperately to keep us out of trouble.  We finally caught a bus back home at around three in the morning, and had to jump the marina gates to get back to our dinghies.  For some reason we ended up on Waking Dream until about 4:30.. UGGGHHH!! The next day was a VERY slow day to say the least.  We had to get up at seven AM to drop off the laundry; KT was ecstatic to have someone else do the work, it was her treat to herself.  We lazed around the rest of the night and turned in early, only to be awoken at 3:00 am by a HUGE blow.

BIG BLOW (….#1)

For some reason I woke up to lightening (there was no thunder), and went up on deck to install our lightening protection, at this point it was an eerie dead calm.  The electricity in the air caused our wind instruments to read 250-350 knots.. yikes.  We were getting a little close to Soweulu so I asked KT to come up and start the engine so we could move away.  All of the sudden the wind slammed out of the south at 30 knots with strong rain.  The biggest problem for us was that we were at the back of the anchorage with two hundred boats ready to drag down on us.  KT was ready to put the engine in gear in case we needed to motor into it.  I put on my rain jacket and went forward to check our chafe gear, the wind kept building, and soon it was hard to see.  I grabbed my goggles (yes I actually have a pair ready for bad weather) and went back to the bow, the rain stung like little rocks as it pelted me at 45 knots.  I watched as the boat Soweulu, drug right by us. We tried to contact him on the radio, as well as Bobulona, who he was about to hit.  They slammed together and started dragging backwards towards the bungalows of the hotel about 200 feet behind them.  Bobulona tried to power into it and started to head towards Magmell who was anchored to port.  All three boats were tangled together as we watch helplessly.  Somehow Soweulu got free and reset his anchor, but he was stuck dangerously close to a big channel marker and the reef/hotel behind him.  The three boats ended up about 100 feet from checking in to the hotel and ordering room service.  Now it was in the upper 40’s to upper 50’s and we were motoring to keep the tension off our chain.  I got a cushion, some water, and some coffee and sat in the forward chain locker with a bag of spare chafe gear.  KT and I coordinated the engine throttle by flashing my headlamp on and off.  We tried to slacken the snubbers so that they lowered into the water a little but didn’t want to take any pressure off for fear of causing increased shock loads on the anchor.  A ketch in front of us started motoring up on his anchor too hard, and was flying back and forth across the anchorage at about 6 knots directly in front of us.  He would slam into the end of his chain it would tack the boat back the other way only to continue the fiasco.  He came VERY close to the boat on his starboard on each tack, and was taking up at least five anchoring spots with his movements.  The shock loads he was ADDING to his gear were much worse than just sitting back on his anchor.  My whole entire focus was coordinating a ditch plan that got us out of the way if he dragged down towards us.  I got our second anchor ready to go but didn’t deploy it in case we had to ditch our primary anchor if someone drug into us.  The VHF was alive with chatter, as boats drug all over the place.  Waking Dream came up on deck to find their bow pointed at the shore as their anchor drug.  Ben quickly threw out his second anchor catching him 50 feet from the shore.  He later added two more anchors and had to watch as boats in front of him drug closer.  Emerald swung close to a seemingly unattended moored small steel boat and had to motor to keep out of their way.  The funny thing was, the next morning a guy pokes his head up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes like “what’s going on here”.  Island Sonata drug back past the boat behind them only to find out the next morning that their anchor drug up the other boat's anchor chain and was sitting at their bow roller holding them in place.  Stardust got the worst of it, they were at the front of the anchorage when a boat drug down on them and tripped their anchor free.  The boat ground down the side of their boat bending all the stanchions and breaking a shroud.  Their dingy was also set free, and they were drifting through the crowded anchorage at about 4 knots.  Bob fended off boats on his way down and finally got a chance to motor free after they had traveled ¾ of the way through the anchorage.  The wind and swells were too strong to power into, so he steered down the anchorage at about 7 knots.  People who saw him said he went by in a flash.  They ended up motoring on the INSIDE of a reef with exposed concrete and metal pilings through about six feet of water (they draw six feet), and final hooked onto something and swung around; they were in ten feet of water, the boat deepest into the anchorage.  Turns out they hooked a metal 55-gallon drum that held them until they got their second anchor out.  The boat that hit them ended up calling a mayday as they hit a reef further down the other side of the anchorage.  Ben from Waking Dream was the local hero, rescuing dinghies from the beach behind him and helping people set second anchors.  Stardust’s dinghy ended up on the beach; the engine had fallen off and was underwater, Ben retrieved it.  Magmel’s dinghy had a hole punched in it and flipped over with the engine still attached, but it was still tied to the boat.  We lost a kayak; the handle tore right out of the boat in the middle of the strongest winds.  The entire episode was rather scary, but I think the things we were doing kept our minds active.  We got out ditch bag out and added some $$ and other important things like a CD backup of our pictures.  When the time comes to prepare for the worse, it’s strange thinking about what’s really important; I stood there and couldn’t think of anything (other than pictures) that I could add.  After talking to Stardust we decided to add shoes for getting through the surf to land.  The winds continued for nine hours straight; high 30’s to 40’s for a hour and a half, high 40’s to high 50’s for another hour and a half and then 35 for the rest of the blow. We saw gusts to 62 knots (in the wind shadows of the other boats), others reported gusts to 75 knots; a Hurricane starts at 64 knots!!!  Luckily we had the reef to protect us from the major ocean swell but we still stuck the bow under the water a couple of times.  I think my sense of what we are capable of has changed dramatically.  I use to get “nervous” around 25 knots; now maybe 35 knots will get me thinking.  We have a good plan coordinated on what to do in various anchoring situations and it seems to work VERY well; we didn’t move an inch the entire blow.  KT was closer to the radio and not doing as much busy work, so she had a different experience.  She had to listen to the maydays and panic in people’s voices as they dragged; she did think about what would happen if we hit the hotel, “would it damage the boat?  If we lost the boat would we be able to continue on or would we have to go back to our old lives.”  Once it was over and we had a chance to let it sink in, was when I started to realize what we had gone through.

KIDNEY STONE #2

The winds died to 30 knots and we tried to sleep on Sunday night, KT was still a little anxious and didn’t sleep at all.  I slept on the settee because I didn’t want to bother her while I kept checking our gear.  I also took our remote, which showed the wind speed, so every time she heard the wind increase her heart rate jumped.  The winds were still in the 30’s for all of Monday until they calmed just before sunset.  KT finally settled in for a night of sleep.  I was still fidgety, so I slept in the cockpit only to be woken up by a very strong pain in my back, at 1 am.  Oh crap another kidney stone!!!  I woke up KT and told her what I felt. She instantly turned into a nurse; she got out our medical kit, which included a urine test kit Flipper gave us. This allowed us to determine if blood was in the urine, usually a sign of a kidney stone.  Sure enough I was reading the highest blood level but no nitrates so I didn’t have an infection.  KT gave me a Vicodin for the pain and took notes while I got the boat ready to bring into a marina.  I showed KT how to undo everything we had done for the big blow, double checked everything else with her and then went back to the cockpit to practice the Lamaze breathing we both learned for the twins.  It didn’t help much and I kept begging for more painkillers, this one was definitely more painful than my last one.  Speaking of which, two stones in one year is a little much as far as I’m concerned.  I thought I was being a REALLY good boy by drinking lots of water, but I guess I didn’t drink enough.  The pain finally went away at around seven am, but we still were trying to decide if we should move into the marina in case another blow came up and we had to leave the boat to go to the hospital.  We decided to stay put, our anchor was NOT going anywhere after the winds we saw.  I drank more water and pulled the top filter out of my Baja fuel filter (everything has to have two uses on a boat) to use as a strainer to catch the stone, so that I could have it analyzed (to determine what diet changes I needed).  We finally got back to the grocery store, by sharing a dinghy with Ascension.  We were planning on doing our full provisioning so they took their time, only to find out the store was closing early for the holiday (we didn’t know about).  We settled back onto the boat and FINALLY got a good night sleep.

They next day was insane, we ran all around town trying to find boat parts and to replace our lost dinghy. The one store was way too expensive so we decided that we would wait until New Zealand to purchase one I had seen while I was there before. UGGHH!!  When we got back to the boat we just wanted to relax for the evening.  After dark, I was lurking on the VHF (listening in to someone else’s conversation) when I heard them talking about another blow, but this time from the North or North West.  The locals call it a Maramu, but I had read they are typically from the South.  He had heard it from a local and it was translated into English.  One thing we had learned was that the French get the days of the week screwed up as well as directions.  We got numerous directions where the person would say. “go down there and go left” as he pointed to the right.  He wanted to announce it that night, but I broke in and suggested that he double-check his facts early the next morning.  If it was from the North we would all have the same time to move, AND people would have had a good nights rest instead of worrying all night.  The translation was wrong, it was supposed to come from the South, South-east so everyone felt OK, still a little gun shy, knowing that their hooks were set very well for the southerly attack. Nothing came, everyone exhaled!! We had someone lurking on one of our conversations suggest that we try a local boat in the anchorage for a better deal on dinghies. We called Teva and he would import the exact same boat I wanted to get in New Zealand and would deliver it to the island down the way (Bora Bora) for $2,300, which is what we paid for our old dinghy.  We ordered one!!  Yeaaaah we wouldn’t have to depend on anyone anymore.

We ran more errands, and at my walking pace, KT would we agree we RAN. We bought some fresh tomatoes and basil at the market and had Waking Dream over for Kari’s famous basil and Brie pasta. We tried to find the Artisans festival that Chief Mark from Fata Hiva told us to meet him at.  I noticed a sign at a grocery store that said they presented the “le Heiva des Marques”.  I knew le Heiva was festival and I thought Marques was the Tahitian version of the Marquesas (I mean there were only two letters missing). As we walked through town I found the actual brochure which we took immediately to the tourist office and said “Where is this?”.  “The store?” she asked. “No the festival” I said, as she gave me this VERY strange look.  It was a sale flyer for the store, kind of like a Forth of July sale.  Dooooouugghhh.  As I walked out of the office with my tail between my legs, I reminded myself to take some French lessons.  It was almost as bad as when we were looking for flour in the grocery store in Fakarava.  We asked our friend François how you say flour, he replied fleur.  When asked the woman at the counter for some fleur and she looked at us funny.  I said “baguette”, she looked at me even funnier, she said sandwich.  It wasn’t until later that we learned we were asking for FLOWER not flour.

The next day started with Ocean Girl, Tackless II and Dances de La Mer arriving.  I gave them a couple of anchoring hints and then we headed into town to do our final provisioning.  We went a little nuts but we are set for the basics until New Zealand. $500 later (with an $18 block of Parmesan) we walked a VERY heavy full cart back to the dinghy dock and filled Stardust's dinghy. We shared the dinghy while they had their engine fixed, and our grocery load required our ENTIRE 15 horsepower engine just to move it.  I took the new boats out for a beer to celebrate Mary’s birthday, KT was exhausted so she stayed behind.  I didn’t eat anything except a piece of bread with a little mayo to get rid of the dryness ... well something didn’t sit right and I woke up with a nasty stomach flu.  My gosh, could anything ELSE happen this week.  While I slept (and xxx) the day away, KT had hamburgers on Tackless II and got to meet the others she hadn’t the night before.  They were making fun of us, “sure Chris is sick, KT was tired.. you guys have relationship problems and just don’t want to admit it”.  I offered to show them irrefutable proof that I was sick but no one took me up on my offer.  KT also tried to fix Ocean Girl's computer, for some reason people seem to think of us as the computer fixers (because we used to write software on UNIX computers). S he ran the supplied Dell diagnostics, which took ALL day and reported that everything was fine.  The next day as I disassembled Waking Dream's laptop for spare parts, KT ran fdisk which fixed the problem.. they were sooooooo happy.

July 4th came and went without incident or fanfare.  The only boat that did something special was a British flagged vessel.  He flew a big American flag from his port spreader and “dressed” his boat up the backstay to the top of the mast back down to the bow, with colorful signal flags (each letter in the alphabet has a flag to “talk” via signals at a distance).  I’m not sure whether he was celebrating for us, or being a Brit, the fact that they actually got rid of us.  Anyway July 4th isn’t the same for me, unless I’m at Shelburne Farm making fresh homemade ice cream.  On Monday we checked out of Papeete and did some last minute errands.  As we were going back to the boat we discussed the fact that other than one night of drinking we hadn’t done anything really fun here.  Mostly just running around, buying this and that, as if we would NEVER see another store again.  We decided that maybe we should spend the next day looking for the Artisans Festival, which started on June 24th (via the web).  We talked to Waking Dream and Island Sonata and they decided to join us.  The weather report sounded nasty (from the North) and I wanted to check my anchor before we went in, so we suggested we meet them in town.  We met them at the Internet cafe, helped Ben order some computer parts, and I went to get directions to the Festival.  It turns out that they changed the date until July 9th.  KT was so bummed, all she wanted was a fun day and she got a rainy day stuck in Papeete.  We recovered slightly by going to McDonalds for lunch and playing a card game on Island Sonata.

BIG BLOW #2

The rumor started about another big blow that was due to hit that night, another Maramu from the south.  We settled into the boat for the night and tried to get as much sleep as possible.  The wind picked up around 7 am and blew all day long, spending most of the day in the mid to upper 30’s with gusts to 45.  This time only one unattended steel boat drug, I watched helplessly as his bow turned downwind and he slowly headed right for the wall.  I tried to get some help via the VHF, but couldn’t do much without a dingy.  He ended up stuck in the mud right behind us and luckily wasn’t banging against the concrete wall that was five feet away.  In fact, he looked more comfortable than most of the other boats in the anchorage.  Later, after the owner returned, I coordinated some spare anchors with other boats and found Whistler who was willing to donate a spare anchor.  He introduced himself as Chris with his wife Katie, I laughed and introduced ourselves.  We planed on getting together after the blow.  I helped Freya drop a line to the boat so that a bigger powerboat could drag them off.  It was kind of a fiasco because the powerboat kept going after they floated free and ran over the anchor the sailboat had put out to kedge them off.  I couldn’t help except by pointing and waving because none of the other boats understood English.  I met the owner of Freya, a beautiful 80-90 foot sailboat.  As we helped I asked him about his trip, he has been out 12 years. He had Freya built in New Zealand a couple of years ago and is about to complete a circumnavigation on her.  His previous boat went around twice.  I asked him about where his favorite place was, and he said “on my boat”.  We’ll have to get together for a beer when this is all over.

We didn’t have any tacking boats in front of us but our scary moment of the day was a huge barge moving up the channel full of sand and concrete.  I tried to wave him back but he thought I was waving AT him, and he waved back.  He entered the anchorage and was barely making headway against the 40-knot winds.  Of course my mind went into planning mode and we started the engine just in case we had to get out of the way. The channel that usually existed was filled with boats anchored with extended scope.  A huge 70 footer, Concerto, was sailing at anchor right in the middle of the channel.  I don’t think the tug driver understood that boats move a little at anchor (although he had plenty of time to watch).  As Concerto was out on the left side, the barge tried to pass on the right.  As the tug got beside Concerto, Concerto tacked right in front of the barge.  He had to put it in full reverse to avoid T-boning him which caused his barge to hit him and then turn the whole mess sideways into the 40 knot winds.  They were now drifting sideways directly upwind from us (3 boats away).  I’m not sure how he recovered but he did and we could finally breathe again.  I couldn’t believe the faith the tugboat had in their machinery, if anything had happened to their transmission or the engine overheated they would have wiped out the entire anchorage.  The only other excitement was when I tried to tie up our wind generator while it was blowing 40 knots.  I have to grab the top of the arch with one arm and put my feet on the stern railing besides our entryway to the swim step while leaning back out over the water.  It looks a lot like a self-inflicted game of twister.  While one arm is wrapped around the support pole I then have to grab a line tied to the back of the wind generator, which sounds very similar to a troop transport helicopter when your head is one foot away, and turn the whole thing into the wind. THEN, I have to stop the blades and tie them to the pole to keep them from spinning, all with one arm.  I tried Velcro but that kept slipping down the blade.  After only 15 times, I finally settled on rope with three blades tied to the center post.  KT was not enjoying my acrobatics one bit.  She had visions of me falling, smacking my head, getting knocked unconscious.  OK she’d have to jump in rescue me and bring me back to the boat.  Could she get me on?  Maybe she’d have to swim to Ocean Girl with me.  Would they hear her scream?  Yikes, We’ll have to work on this planning stuff so that it DECREASES stress for her instead of increasing it.  At nightfall the wind started to die and stayed in the low 20’s until it died completely before bedtime. The wind stayed calm all night and I gave it the nickname the “Polite Storm”, because it seemed to revolve around our sleep patterns. The next day we awoke to calm and before long the wind was back up to the mid to upper 20’s with gusts to 35. Luckily we got in a couple of games of cards on Island Sonata before it started, and now we are working on journal pieces and photo albums. UGGHHH!!  I can’t wait until this is over and we can ENJOY these islands.  The wind died like clockwork for our evening sleep but they expect similar winds as yesterday for today and tomorrow

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Passage to Tahiti

The one problem with everyone being stuck on the boat waiting for weather is that once it clears EVERYONE goes on the move to their next destination. In this case Billabong, Emerald, Stardust, Solstice, Magmell, and Ascension all headed for Tahiti (Bobulona, Waking Dream and Island Sonata left a day earlier and had rough swell left over from the blow), Freebird went to Taou while the two remaining boats went to the south anchorage.  Three boats entering from Kauehi immediately filled the vacancies as we crossed paths near the entrance to the atoll.


Passage from Tuamotus to Tahiti

We had planned on about a one and a half day passage with the wind just barely allowing us to go down wind on the track to Tahiti.  For some reason (maybe our whisker pole), we where able to steer right on course while everyone else was about 10 degrees below us. They were still within VHF range but not in our faces.  A couple of times I looked at the pack below us; it looked like a highway.  Even as the boats started to spread out they still were in packs of three (too much for me).  It is nice to have boats around for safety in numbers, but we had an incident with Stardust that makes me want to stay away from the pack.  They had jibed and were going to cross our path so they got out their camera.  We talked on the VHF and both took pictures as the boats got closer, and closer, and closer.  I had the right of way but was getting uncomfortable letting the autopilot steer in such close quarters.  I took the helm, and headed us down to get out of their way (they are a 43’ Hans Christian Ketch and weigh twice as much as us). Just as they were crossing our stern about 20 feet behind us, we got stuck in the trough of a wave and they surfed down the front of another and they got within about 10 feet of our arch with their bowsprit.  Our fishing line got caught on their bow as it rode DOWN their bobstay to their bow.. YIKES.. KT was a little upset.  No more close mid-ocean sailing for us.

We realized we would be a little early if we kept up our speed, so as the wind shifted behind us we dropped the main and sailed only with the poled out Genoa.  It was kind of funny watching all the boats jibe back and forth across our path at 45 degrees like little mosquitoes.  Everyone was worried that the wind might die, so they tried to keep up their speed strategizing what the best course/trim was.  I guess most people thought that using their whisker pole was too much work (too heavy or too big).  The funny thing was that we just kept our course trucking on slowly but STRAIGHT towards Tahiti, and made it there before all of the other boats accept one and we did less work (if you can call it that), which is my key to a successful cruising life.  As we approached Tahiti, the shipping center of the south pacific islands, the increase in ship traffic was noticeable.  We all kept a good watch on the radar for Emerald (who lost their radar in the Marquesas), but would lose track of who was who within all the other boats.  We did an occasional flash of lights to synchronize locations and entered into the lee of Tahiti at sunrise without incident.

I was down below double-checking the charts and radar when I heard this REALLY loud noise.  I had been up since 11:00 pm (it was my choice because KT looked so peaceful when I went to wake her up and I wasn’t tired); my senses weren’t exactly spot on.  At first I thought that we were just about to be run over by a huge freighter… but wait I would see them on radar …or maybe they are too close for the radar… no, that doesn’t make sense.  Ok not a freighter!!!  Maybe it was a HUGE rogue wave like the Perfect Storm, reaching up to swallow us whole; mind you all this ran through my mind in about 5 seconds. As I bolted up on deck I realized it was a 747 on final approach to Papeete airport.  Come on you must be able to understand my confusion; I hadn’t heard a plane of that size in at least six months.  It would be the beginning of our strange re-integration into civilization.  I know most of you wouldn’t consider Tahiti/Papeete a city or anything that required “adjustment” (unless it was a native drink), but we were used to one-shop towns of a couple of hundred people max with flown/shipped in vegetables that everyone gobbles up in two minutes.  Tahiti would be a big change for us.

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Fakarava Snorkeling Tale

May 28th - June 21st
By KT

I had heard that snorkeling and diving in the Tuamotos was going to be great, but never could I have imagined the potential that existed.  After Chris’s dive in Kauehi, I was extremely jealous, I felt as though I had missed out on something … worse, not being certified I felt that I would never have a similar experience.  Outside of an aquarium I had never seen a (live) shark … and I was longing to see them first hand.

When we arrived in the Southern anchorage of Fakarava, Emerald came by, reporting on the great snorkeling in the pass and the huge quantities of sharks.  I was psyched, I couldn’t wait to go.  They picked us up the next morning and off we went.  The water was crystal blue and the visibility the best I’ve ever been in.  The quantities and variations of fish and coral were amazing.  Rick pointed out a sleeping gray at the bottom (about 60 feet away).  I was instantly thrilled … this it!  We’re going to see some sharks!  In the first few minutes of being in the water we saw two or three grays swimming around, but they felt pretty far away, and part of me couldn’t help thinking, where are the mass quantities I heard about? It was at about that moment that Corbie popped her head out and said, “Are you guys seeing this?”  I quickly swam over to her and looked down, tons of gray sharks were circling below us, like 747’s in a holding pattern over LAX.  Wow!  Wow!  Wow!  That was pretty much all I could think.  We had the video camera, so I instantly started filming (as Chris said the film/pictures just don’t do it justice).  Rick also had his camera and would free dive down to get closer shots.  I’m not very good at free diving, especially in a wetsuit, so Chris eventually took the camera to get some closer shots.

It was hard to pull myself away from the grays to move down the reef, I could’ve watched them all morning.  We came across a few white tips as well; they reminded me of typical shark-movie sharks (only smaller).  They were so graceful and swift.  They would also come a bit closer, which left me with mixed feelings … on one hand disturbed to think I was swimming so close to them, on the other elated that I could get a closer view!

We slowly moved into the shallow coral area, where hundreds of fish reside, including the large Napolean Chris talks about.  I couldn’t believe how big he was.  Then came the black-tips.  I never realized that sharks swam in such shallow waters.  And they were everywhere; there wasn’t a direction you could look that you wouldn’t see at least three of them.  It felt unreal to watch them swimming all around you.  For the most part they just ignored us, going about there own business.  I was also shocked to find that the other fish didn’t run and hide when a shark came by … I guess they know when it’s feeding time or not!

I was pumped up when we finally got out of the water.  I couldn’t stop talking, smiling, and laughing.  My first question was, “when is the next slack tide?”  We easily saw two hundred sharks that morning!  We snorkeled nearly every day (sometimes twice a day) after that, and while the water clarity or number of sharks was never has good as the first day, ever time I was still in awe.  I felt as though I had jumped into the Monterey aquarium.

The more times we got in the water with the sharks, the more I began to relax and realize that they really didn’t seem to care that I was there.  Of course there is always the exception, which I realized on day five!

We had started actually doing more drift snorkeling (rather than hitting the pass at exact slack), which would push us through the pass and around, almost to where our boats where anchored.  It is an amazing feeling to be pushed through the water while watching the underwater world zoom by you.  It seems that the sharks on the ‘other-side’ of the pass were a bit more curious.  They would actually swim towards us, and then turn after a quick investigatory glance.  On the drift it wasn’t always so easy to stay in the group, you were fighting the current as it was.  It so happened that a cute, small black tip was nearby, and I followed him for a bit, not noticing that I was no longer with the group.

Let me get a visual going for you … imagine this … you are snorkeling (therefore lying, if you will, horizontally on top of the water), looking down at a small black-tip shark who is swimming away from you (ie no threat), when into your view, directly below you, from behind, swims in a six foot shark!  This shark is longer than you, perfectly parallel and right below you, and so close you could easily reach down and touch it!  First I was a bit shocked (as I’m sure you could imagine).  I had periodically been looking around and behind me, and had not spotted this white-tip shark anywhere. Where had this guy come from? And why was he so close?  I was also quite excited, thinking, Wow this is so cool, I wish I had the camera!   The shark swam out a few feet ahead of me, then turned, heading straight back in my direction.  At this point in time I was still running on excitement thinking that it was great that he was so close, and cursing myself for giving the camera to Chris.  The excitement lasted for about five minutes, as the shark continued to come towards me, turn away, and then circle back.  Sometimes he would circle under me, coming up before retreating back down, other times he would head out in front (or side) then circle back.  EVERYTIME he came just a bit closer. It was about then that my thoughts turned on me … Why was he so interested in me?  Shouldn’t his curiosity have died by now?  Doesn’t he realize I’m bigger and he should be afraid (like the other sharks)?  Time continued to go by … I’m not afraid.  Can you smell fear underwater?  It doesn’t mater I’m not afraid.  I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid.  It’s just a shark.  Shit, it’s a shark!  I want to say that perhaps ten minutes has now gone by, I’m swimming vertically, always sure to face this shark that I’m now convinced is frowning, scowling at me.  I started doing quick surface checks looking for Chris and the dinghy.  It felt as though they were miles away.  I was trying to swim towards them, but did not want to turn my back to this shark, and therefore was not making very good progress towards the dinghy.  Rather I was just spinning circles in the same spot.  I wish I had the camera … it would make a good weapon.  Should I take my fin off so that I have something in my hand to hit it with if he comes too close?  Should I make a fast movement towards him to scare him, or will he fight instead of fright?  Should I just turn and “run”?  Finally I saw Chris (and everyone) getting into the dinghies, but they were still far away.  With my head underwater (watching the shark), I started waving my arm in what I intended to be a “get over here” motion.  Apparently nobody noticed.  When I popped my head up again Chris yelled, “KT come on”.  “Come and get me,” I shouted.  “What?”  “COME AND GET ME”.  I guess they didn’t hear the panic in my voice because they took their sweet time in coming.  The shark continued to circle and come towards me the entire time … more than half the time he came within easy reach!  Finally, after what felt like hours, they were close, I yelled out “I’m being chased!”  “What?”  “Get me in the dinghy a SHARK is following me!”  I took one last glance down as the dinghy approached; the shark made one more turn towards me, but quickly turned away when the dinghy came into site.

As I pulled myself into the dinghy, adrenaline coursed through me.  I couldn’t believe that a shark had just followed me for more than fifteen minutes!  At first I was pumped up, any fright I had had in the water quickly dissipated.  About an hour or two later the fright returned, and I vowed to never separate from the group again!  Oh, and the next time we snorkeled I took along a poking stick … just in case!  Later on I borrowed a fish book from Emerald where, under white-tip reef shark, I read, “Aggressive and Dangerous”.  I’m glad I didn’t have that bit of information before!

Curious what it might be like to have a white tip interested in you?

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Fakarava, Tuamotos

June 6th – June 21st, 2004

By Chris

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Fakarava is the second largest atoll in the Tuamotu’s with two passes, one on the north and a smaller one on the south. We entered the northern one and motored sailed to the village in the North East corner. The village was much bigger than the one on Kauehi, with two “stores” and a bakery. We anchored in front of the church (the bakery was right next door) and met up with Island Sonata who we hadn’t seen in a while.



They had two friends from Toau (the neighboring atoll) onboard, who they had met while staying there. They are both younger fishermen who sell their catch in Fakarava every week. Ciguatera is a toxin that gets stored in reef fish and works its way up the food chain, it can cause sever pains and nervous system problems in humans so you have to be VERY careful. I guess most of Fakarava had a problem but Toau didn’t, so these guys had quite a good deal going. They played local music on a ukulele, while MJ tried to play with them on her keyboard. It was funny to hear songs that we knew with French words. We went out to our first dinner in a while, and enjoyed catching up with old friends. The dinner wasn’t bad, steak and fries for $10, but the steak was a little chewy to say the least. Hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

The next day I paddled in at 6:30 and got us some fresh baguettes hot out of the oven. The other specialties like croissants, plain and chocolate, were already gone. I guess you have to get there right when they open at 5:30 for those (which I did for the rest of our stay). We did a little provisioning and got some phone cards at the post office (which was in an outhouse size building). We met up with Renaissance 2000 and went to the local black pearl farm for a tour. I didn’t realize how complicated a process making a black pearl is, I thought it was like a regular pearl (maybe that’s why I didn’t find one in Kauehi). In this case, to make them black, they actually take some shell membrane from another one and cut it into little pieces. This is the membrane that causes the inside of the shell to grow colored (green, blue, champagne and mostly black). They take a seed (actually a round rock from the Mississippi), and place it in a sack in the oyster. Then the small slice of membrane has to be inserted with the shell side touching the seed, so that when the oyster (more like a scallop) coats the seed it uses the genetic material from the shell coating. I got to dive in a fish park to get the two shells we would open. He showed us the entire process of seeding and then the removal of the pearl. They seed when the oyster is young and then wait about a year and a half before the pearl is ready. During this time they hang them in the water from buoys with nets/baskets and have to clean the shells every month or so. This farm was rather small but still made about 10,000 pearls a year. Most of them are imperfect, with small bumps or color changes. We got to look through his bags of cheaper pearls as well as his REALLY nice jewelry. I thought I was “safe” because KT said she didn’t really like pearls but once we got there she sure liked some of the more expensive stuff. Luckily the pearl we got from our shell was worth about $100, which wasn’t bad considering we paid $17 for the tour.

We then walked about six miles to a hotel in the beating mid-day sun to get to the only Internet place on the island. It was pretty expense ($16 an hour) with a French keyboard and no I/O devices. Oh well I guess our Internet connections in the South Pacific were going as well as planned. Most people have email on board, but I didn’t think we could justify the cost (I’d need a new radio $1500 and modem $1000). I didn’t realize that they also keep track of your position, and have easy access to weather data, which is VERY handy (Maybe in NZ). We decided we deserved some ice cream, but the place was closed!! The next day we rented bikes and went with Bobulona and Waking Dream on a tour of the island, it was rather strange being on paved roads with not much around (must be nice to have the French government picking up the tab). Waking Dream used these motorized skateboard things that got quite a stare from the locals. We stopped for lunch (hamburgers and fries) before returning for some well deserved ice cream (our legs were screaming from the abuse we gave them).

South Anchorage



The next day we decided to move to the south anchorage where the snorkeling/diving was supposed to be unmatched. We motor sailed the entire way, arriving late afternoon and played a game of Canasta with Island Sonata (hey you’ve got to do something out here). We went snorkeling the next morning in the pass,.. it was soooo amazing, there were sharks everywhere. I (black box man) brought a Bahaman sling spear in case they got too close. The visibility was over 100 feet and you could see the gray reef sharks on the bottom in 60 feet. There were 100’s of them. The white tip reef sharks stayed between the bottom and about ten feet while the black tip sharks stayed on top of the reef down to about ten feet. They were so amazing to watch. We must have hit the pass at perfect slack tide because for the next couple of days we could drift with the current back to the anchorage.



When the current is moving the gray sharks tend to school in certain areas, the divers would actually drift right through the packs. Rick had learned a Fijian shark call, which would literally turn them right towards you. We got some good pictures and video but nothing will ever do it justice, the energy/excitement in the water was electrifying.  (View short video clips to get an idea of how many sharks there were:  clip 1,  clip 2 (if the video does not start automatically go here for help). There was some amazing tropical fish near the reef including a huge Napolean fish that was as big as us and would stare at you with his big beady eye no matter where you were. It was literally like he had eyes in the back of his head. KT dropped my spear into 60 feet and I had to free dive to get it .. I almost didn’t make it back up (lost a few black box points on that one). She also had an exciting incident a few days later where she was “followed” closely by a six foot white tip for about fifteen minutes. She had wandered off on her own (more points lost) and the white tip took interest, we found if you hang with a group of divers they don’t bother you.  (Read about KT's shark experience here, additional link at bottom of this page).

The rest of the time was spent doing the typical cruisers stuff, more snorkeling, playing Canasta, watching movies, and drinks on other people’s boats (usually with deep conversations). We reviewed the video footage that Rick had shot in the pass, the funniest part was a big trigger fish that fell in love with his reflection in the lens and started kissing it. He could make some money off America Funniest Home Videos (see part of this clip here ... if the video does not start automatically click here for help). We paddled over to the other side of the pass and discovered a whole different landscape, small motus with shallow light blue water, and multiple passages out to the reef. The outside of the reef looked like a lunar landscape, harsh jagged coral grayed by the sun. On the inside there were lots of palm trees and more than one perfect postcard picture of the sandy beach with the palm tree bent out over the water. There was even a pink beach. We decided to have another potluck on the beach over there to get some other boats over to experience it. We started it around 2:00 so people could head back across the reef to the anchorage before dark. Of course no one did and we all swapped “well that was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done” stories the next morning. We had six people in one dingy with some pretty good size waves coming over the bow. Gordon (from Ascension) was our wave deflector, KT our bailer, and the rest of us just hung on for dear life. We “only” ended up on the reef twice.

You’d think we would have learned. The next day we kayaked over to Island Sonata, who had moved their boat for the party. It was getting dark but we thought we could make it back easily in the dark. On the way over we had played with some very small reef sharks (one foot). On the way back the tide was out and we kept running aground, we didn’t have any shoes on so we couldn’t get out and walk across the reef. Every once in a while you’d here a pretty big slash and we’d shine our flashlight into the water and see a black tip sticking out, must have been the babies mothers/fathers. Then we had to paddle against the current back to the anchorage, which was rather scary at times. The view of the stars was incredible; you could almost guide yourself by the starlight.

The next day a few of us decided to dive the outside of the atoll so we headed out in two dingys to a place just east of the pass. As we slowed down to have Rick look at our location underwater, the tube he was sitting on exploded. We were right behind them and I thought that someone had dropped their wetsuit in the water because it looked like they were dragging it behind. It turns out that a shark attacked the dingy; he was going for the propeller but got the back end of the tube. We didn’t discover this until AFTER our dive, right in the same waters; Yikes!!! It must have been a pretty big one because the bite mark was about 9-12 inches in diameter; he “only” got half his jaws on it. We all had a new found respect for the creatures we had just spent a week playing with. KT spent a couple of hours diving with Rick. They started out in shallow water, but ended up going to 60 feet because KT was so comfortable. She loved it and may look at getting certified in Tahiti or Bora Bora. While KT dove I hung out with the locals and fed the sharks and Napolean fish. Magmell spent their entire stay hanging out with them and learned how to fish, gather coconuts, and weave baskets in the traditional way. We ended our southern pass anchorage stay with a steak dinner on Emerald (oh to have a freezer), we brought chocolate fondue and we all slept like babies in our food induced comas.

North Again

There was supposed to be northerly winds coming, so we moved back to the north anchorage (with only one mile of fetch instead of 28). The wind came from the north for the first night but then shifted back to the southwest/south for two days. With 20 to 30 knot winds, we had some pretty big swell in the anchorage; sometimes our transom was half under water and we buried the bow about once an hour. I had to constantly be on the lookout for chafe on our anchor snubber lines, it got so bad that people were making fun of me. At first they would see me go out and check (once every fifteen minutes or so), and they would follow suit. Finally they realized that I was having problems and stepped it back a notch. They all joked at dinner that every time they went out, they’d look over and there I was. The snubber takes the shock load of the swells as the rope stretches, instead of passing it directly to the chain. Because my line stretches so much, it moves in the chocks that guide it cleanly over board. These chocks have the designer’s logo in a raised casting EXACTLY in the spot where the snubber rubs when it is fully loaded up (nice job guys). I burned through 2 sets of hose, a new thin set within ten minutes. A couple boats snapped their snubbers, it was pretty touch and go because they were sitting about 50 feet from a bunch of huge coral heads. It was VERY uncomfortable and we couldn’t get off the boat for two days. Of course we celebrated our “release” by having another steak and fries dinner with an ice cream chaser. After the blow we all dove on our anchors to find them completely wrapped around coral head … ours was like a figure 8, with our anchor and boat at the bottom and a huge coral head at the top. It took Rick from Emerald, suited up in full dive gear, to get everyone’s anchor up before we left for Tahiti.

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Sharks + More: Underwater Fakarava Video

The diving and snorkeling in Fakarava is top-notch. The coral and fish were fantastic, but it was the abundance of sharks that kept us coming back.

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Kauehi, Tuamotos

May 28th – June 5th , 2004

After entering the pass, we hosted our sails and SAILED eight miles across the atoll to the village. Yeah that’s right we sailed. The cruising fleet had all discussed their fears of coral heads reaching out of the depths and ending their trip and I added my Murphy’s attitude on top of that, so the last thing I expected to be doing was sailing across the atoll. However the people already anchored had done it, and there were two boats ahead of us acting as coral bombie locators, AND I was standing in the rat lines (webbing tied 5-6 feet in the rigging to get a better viewing angle) just to double check that they didn’t somehow just barely miss one that we would then smack into. Of course we made it across the atoll without incident and anchored in front of the little village.



Now this was paradise!!! The water was the most incredible azure blue that I have ever seen. This was surrounded palm trees, coral reefs and a very “cute” church at the center of the village. We anchored in 35’ of water and could watch the anchor hit the bottom (turns out that this was not even the best visibility). The difference between the Marquesas was like night and day. The Marquesas were awe inspiring because of the amazingly green landscape and mountainous volcanic creations unlike anything we have ever seen.



The Tuamotus were exactly what you would expect to find in a south pacific postcard. The black volcanic sand of the Marquesas was replaced with white or pink coral sand, and the temperature/humidity was much more acceptable.  We spent a couple of days exploring the village area, which literally sat just above sea level. Our first nights sleep was the deepest we have EVER had, dead flat calm, cool breeze and no bugs. On our first day, we relaxed and enjoyed our tranquil anchorage and did a little snorkeling off an abandoned pearl farm. I actually found a couple of shells (more like scallops than oysters) but there were no pearls inside. Our friends following us arrived just at dark and had to spend the night hove-to in the lee of the atoll. On Sunday we paddled to the village and enjoyed a quick walk around the little village, the one store had a couple of shelves with really no provisions (no beer or bread). The church was made out of coral blocks sealed with coral limestone and was, as usual, the centerpiece of the village.

I really wish we had learned French prior to our arrival. Our French friend François has such a different experience. He camps in the villages, usually in someone’s yard and becomes part of the village and part of a family. Luckily we have our kayaks, which seem to be a huge hit with the kids. We spent a couple of hours playing with the kids using the universal language of laughter and smiles to make our basic connections. It is so much fun to watch the interactions between all the kids, our function was to make sure that everyone got an equal chance (including the little ones and the girls). We met a younger Dutch couple on Max who had left Holland in October and had already sailed 10,000 miles on a boat they had bought just before they left. We pulled out some canned Gouda cheese from Holland (that we bought at Sam’s Club in Mexico!!) to share and found out they are giving themselves two years to sail around the world. They had been diving in the same spot and had found three black pearls in four shells… I was determined to find my own pearls the next day.

KT and I swam back over to the area, where I was sure that I would find my pearl. I must have spent three hours looking, opening shells, and finding nothing. KT gave up on me and went back to the boat, when I arrived I was so water logged I must have looked like a 90 year old man (with no pearls). Ugggghhhh! Our friends had settled into an anchorage on the southern end of the atoll where there was no village, so we decided to join them and sailed back across the lagoon (a different way than before).



It was blowing a good 20-25 so I was up in the ratlines the entire time, even though the chart showed there were no hazards on our course. We had the music going enjoying the sail, when I happened to look down at the exact moment the knot to the ratline I was standing on started to undo. I stepped over to the mast just as it gave way, KT and I stared at each other with the “wow that was close” look. I re-attached it; leaving a little more tail this time, and re-assumed my position. I took a look forward with the monocular, and noticed a huge uncharted coral head just off our starboard side. It rose straight from 100 feet deep to inches below the surface, I was thankful we ignored everyone’s advice that there were no worries and you didn’t need a lookout (a few more “black box” points for Billabong).



The southern end of the lagoon was like a Hollywood set of an uncharted island. There were three other boats (Emerald, Bobulona, and Waking Dream) anchored off of four small motus (little islands), we could each have our own private island if we wanted. The water clarity was amazing and we went ashore for some snorkeling in a beautiful coral area that felt like we were diving in a fish bowl. Ben from Waking Dream got out his Hooka hose and KT and I both got to take a turn. Even though the water was shallow (15 feet) it still made a difference for KT because she gets to stay down on the bottom and enjoy everything in more detail. She’s a natural underwater and the divers are all suggesting she take it up.

Afterwards we all gathered on the beach and enjoyed eating some coconuts and playing with the hermit crabs, the beach was literally covered with them.  I have a new found respect for the coconut, what an amazing feat of natural engineering. They carry their own water, food stores and protection (another tough fiber coating that covers the nut) on board, yet still float to remote places. Everywhere we looked there were coconuts floating in the water and seeding on the beach. We enjoyed eating the green, mature, and germinating coconuts. The green coconuts have an amazing juice that seems to have a sparkling essence to it and the flesh is soft and gelatin like. The mature coconuts are like the ones you get in the states, harder meat and milkier liquid. I used one of these to make coconut cream for a curry dish that night. You grate the flesh (inner meat) of a mature coconut and then add warm water. You kneed the mixture for a while and then squeeze it through cheesecloth (ps. It’s easier to buy the cans). The germinating coconut has the liquid inside replaced with a soft foamy ball known as a coconut apple. It has a light coconut flavor to it, which I enjoyed but others didn’t (mostly a texture thing). We all made coconut spears to break through the outer husk using the techniques we learned from Daniel in the Marquesas. The divers were planning a pass dive for the next day and invited me along. It had been about 10 years since I dove so I wanted to make sure it would be a relatively easy.

The next day we set out on Bobulona towards the pass entrance. There was a good breeze blowing and the fetch across the atoll made the swell uncomfortable enough that Dennis decided not to anchor the boat for the dive (he stayed aboard). Dennis brought Bobulona through the pass and we got KT and Lisa loaded into the dingy as diver pickup people. When I first looked into the water I couldn’t believe my eyes. From the edge of the reef on the surface it dropped down at about an 80-degree angle to about 150 feet deep, where it dropped off like a sheer cliff to 3000 feet. The visibility was easily 200 feet, and at first I was disoriented because I didn’t recognize that I was actually seeing Rick and Corbie from Emerald clearly at around 75 feet. The quantity of sea life was incredible, we saw hundreds of small tropical fish close to the reef, with a spotted eagle ray suspended at about 50 feet not even moving his “wings”, followed by a huge school of barracuda that were being “worked” by a couple of sharks. I can’t describe how small I felt around all the sea life, like I was part of the world’s largest fish bowl. We dropped to 90 feet where we ran into more sharks. Then the current started sucking us back into the lagoon at 3-4 knots. We go sucked up to 30 feet and then pushed back down to 90 feet again by the current. Shari from Bobulona broke hear ear drum, got vertigo, lost her sense of direction and had to be helped to the surface by Ben. I stayed down with Rick and Corbie as sharks in the murky water surrounded us. It was kind of strange because I have always been afraid of them, but I was in awe as they swam around to check us out. Corbie was funny because she was pointing out one or two in front of her and I had to tap her to get her to see the 5 or 6 behind her. We took a long time rising to the surface and the sharks kept circling. When we finally broke free we were in 4 – 5 foot standing waves caused by the current against the wind. After we were done Rick said that it was the most dangerous dive he had ever done in 30 years of diving. I reminded him that he told me it would be easy and would let me get back into diving slowly, He just smirked and smiled.

We spent the next day kayaking around the motus near the anchorage. I tried to “hunt and gather” for us and realized we would probably die in about a week after being stranded on a dessert island, because I needed another coconut to recover the fluids I lost to sweat trying to open the first one. Oh well, glad we had the boat, refrigerator and water-maker.

The next day Waking Dream organized a beach potluck, complete with a small quiet generator that provided music and Christmas tree lights for the trees. We all brought in chairs, hung out around the bonfire playing various musical instruments. It was a great night as we celebrated our private paradise and the adventures we had experienced getting here. On Saturday I did some boat maintenance, while KT recovered from the festivities. We left early the next morning for Fakarava, about a six-hour motor sail away. We took advantage of the extra power to rip my CD collection into mp3s and KT worked on journal entries/picture organization

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