July
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7/2/01 |
We're
in the south anchorage of Fakarava now (adjacent to Passe Tumakohua) .
Attached is a picture of
Greg conning for coral heads and pearl farms. Talk about pearl
farms... we ran into a huge farm, in the middle of the transit. There were
also oyster farms (for food instead of pearls), which are about 4 feet
below the water (you can't see them until you're almost into them). We
were doing a good job negotiating thru, (pretty tricky with coral, pearls
and oysters) when a pretty excited farmer greeted us, and escorted us to
the outside of the farms. We went snorkeling yesterday. Also met a local
family. This guy named Manihi came from France 20+ years ago. France has a
sponsorship program for locals and French; if you have a business plan
that generates tourist dollars, they will give you 50% of your 10 year
anticipated income! As a result, Manihi built a beautiful pension (bed and
breakfast) that is as nice as some of the Pearl Beach Resorts. Its unclear
whether he really will generate the income he stated in his plan in 10
years, but he (and his family) is really enjoying himself! He greeted us
at 6:00 am with fresh dog tooth tuna. He said the best part of a tuna is
the back area, which he gave to us, with a few other steaks. And here's
something exciting....one day a year, there's a very large school of bass
that makes a run thru the pass here for spawning. Our friend here has fish
traps in the pass. Any given week, he catches about 100 fish. On the night
of the run, he catches 5 TONS of fish!! Yes, 5 TONS. He hires a large,
boat to sell the fish in Tahiti. This happens on the full moon, on
Thursday. We're going to be working with him, maybe diving in the pass if
we think it's safe enough. Well, we're getting ready to snorkel the pass
here; we'll let you know if we meet up with the shark school!
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7/03/01
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We
went on a great dive today in the south pass at Fakarava. The fish were so
thick, it was like a carpeting of different types of fish, as far as you
could see. The water visibility around here is ~120 feet! We out to sea in
a dingy caravan about 1/4 mile just after the turn of the tide. There is a
sharp drop off on the outside of the pass and started the dive by going
down to about 100 feet where we saw huge wrasses, shark, octopus, and you
name it. Coral was also very nice. Ended the dive inside the pass, with a
slight current taking us to our chase boat. There are 5 of us who dive; we
each take turns being a chase/safety boat for the others. We also snorkel
the pass in about 20-30 feet, which is superb. Yesterday I went fishing
out of the pass in our dinghy, with 2 other cruisers. Within 20 minutes, I
had a nice 4' wahoo, then someone caught a dogtooth tuna. We just got the
tuna on board a few feet ahead of several sharks who were a little slow on
the draw! We're saving this for the July 4th party we're having, either at
the local's place, or on Bravo Charlie. Got just a little wind today;
looks like enough to bring out the windsurfers. We still have alot of
exploring on various atolls to do. We're going back to the north anchorage
on Monday, in time to get some fresh produce off the weekly flight from
Tahiti. Starting in 2 weeks we have a pretty constant stream of visitors,
which we're really looking forward to.
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7/09/01 |
There's
been lots of things happening here, so we're attaching 9 pictures! We're
still at the south end of Fakarava, leaving today for Toau. Pic 508
is sunrise at the south pass at Fakarava. 515
is our local friend, Manihi's, daughter. She's always with him fishing.
She loves to talk to us (in French) and is a real cute kid. 516
is our friends, Chris and Marcus, on the boat Pez Vela, at Manihi's fish
trap. We've been diving and fishing with them. Marcus is a professional
fishing guide from San Diego. They're both great divers and fishers. 519
is Greg, Marcus and Manihi, putting the fish from the trap, into a new
lagoon at Manihi's house. Since Manihi didn't get a boat to take his fish
to market (except for a few hundred) we helped him move the fish to this
lagoon. Unfortunately, we had large swell from the south, creating huge
breaking waves over the reef (a surfers dream!), raising the level in the
lagoon, allowing the fish to escape. Pretty sad for Manihi. 523
is one of the many pink sand motus, at the west side of the south pass. 529
is another shot of another motu. 532
we call 'dances with sharks'. These little black tips come into the
shallows at high tide to feed. Also a good place to hunt for lobster. 535
is a pic of this hippie dude we met ;-) check out the colors of the sand
and water. We never quit marveling at the beautiful colors, which are more
intense and beautiful in person. 537
is a shot of some bones we found on one of the atolls. Supposedly a
tsunami washed some bones up, probably from a cemetery, but I'm sure
there's lots of stories floating around. Last week a charter cameraman
went on the reef outside of Rangiroa, and was a total loss (no injuries).
This made me think to remind people who use charter boats, to check the
captain's credentials. They should have both sailing experience and local
knowledge (and legally be licensed). Sometime charter companies get short
captains and hire cruisers. Some of the cruisers don't have the sailing
experience you would want, and almost none of them would have enough local
knowledge you would want. I don't know what the circumstances of this boat
were in that regard. They left the atoll in the dark, and turned too soon
out of the pass, right onto the reef. They might have had all of the above
but just got careless. This year is lighter on accidents than last time we
were out here, although the sailors seem to be less knowledgeable over
all. |
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7/26/01 |
Since
we've been falling down on the job of writing logs we persuaded the kiddies to
write one.
Eric: Wow! Windsurfing,
tennis, sashimi, drift snorkeling, Hinano, Ridge Zin, Fred's
beef, biking, diving, 80
degree weather, WWW surfing, Dr. Strangelove/007,
Led Zepplin/Doors, no suits, no traffic, no Starbucks, no BMW
Z3s.Rangiroa rocks. Greg and Ruth really know how to do it.
Paula: HAPPY 33RD BIRTHDAY KERI -WE LOVE YOU ! ALAS
we met Rangiroa: the jewel of the South Pacific..Can't brag about our mighty sea legs since we've been anchored all week, but am
proud of our ability to keep the head de-clogged.
Obviously Bravo Charile III edict "you clog it,
you clean it" works. Dad (Johnny O), O how you would love it here. The best sashimi ever, crystal blue water, tropical fish
galore, and non-stop 'sea legs' talk . have met all
of ruth and greg's fellow boater friends; an
outgoing little community in the middle of paradise. No seasickness,
James Bond movies, crankin tunes, mai tais, mai tias and more mai
tias. Have determined that the best restaurant on this motu is chez Page. Ruth is a wicked chef and the best captain aboard
(who said that?). I think Greg has discovered his
own personal paradise..there's so many things to
solve, fix and re-configure. Saw dolphin in waves today, free-diving yesterday, ocean swimming, snorkeling. If we could have one
wish aboard mine would be the ability to use more
than 3 squares of TP per head usage, and not
surprisingly eric's would be to have chloe out on the windsurfer with him. Off to bora bora tomorrow. Lots of love to all, paula
(aka pollywog). |
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