The 3 day sail to Fakarava was horrible, fluky winds and choppy seas and dark nights with nasty squalls all the way. The captain got a very bad rope burn on his hands during one panic situation and the other crew took a large chunk out of his foot during another and all three of us were continually seasick, basically just endlessly nauseous and unhappy.
Fakarava is a large atoll. The huge volcano which was there millions of years ago eroded completely away in the very distant past and all that is left is an impossibly tiny thin shoelace of coral marking the place where it once was.
Fortunately it's the classic perfect cruising destination. As soon as we arrived we were happy to be there. From the moment we sailed through the pass into the calm water of the lagoon, dropped anchor, jumped into the water to snorkel, and then took a cold fresh-water pre-nap shower it was all absolutely lovely.
Today the population is about 800 happy and (relatively) prosperous people. The atoll is blessed with amazing pink sand beaches, world-class bucket-list quality diving, and a pass deep enough that small cruise ships can enter. Like many other atolls there is one single flat road leading from the airport, along through the town, and beyond. The town has a church, two small stores, and several dive shops, restaurants, pensions (BnB’s), and artist’s galleries. On the day of the week that the cruise ship arrives it's decked out in its best party frock with music playing, bicycles for rent, and handicraft stalls lining the street. You can buy beautiful (and very expensive) pearl necklaces from the local black pearl farms or intricate (and very cheap) seashells necklaces made by the local women. Everyone is out and about. On other days it's calm and relaxed and just super chill, midday is too hot to get excited and so locals and yachties gather in the late afternoon at the different waterside eateries to nurse a beer and check their email and then sit back and trade stories as the sun slowly sinks into the sea, maybe even stay for supper ($10 for a huge plate of meat or fish, fries, and salad).
First stop Rotoava AKA Heaven on Earth.
Our boat, along with about a dozen others, anchored a couple of minutes dingy ride from town. Every boat was different, some with young families others with old sea salts, some who had been there forever others who were on their way round the world. It seemed there were more languages spoken than boats! While there we biked the road, snorkeled to our hearts content, and even went on a SCUBA dive during which we saw several huge manta rays, hundreds and hundreds of sharks, and about seventeen gazillion fish. The captain spent hours and hours repairing the damage caused on the short trip over and Daniel and I, when we weren't needed to help him, wandered the town, swam, read, played scrabble, and took naps. It was wonderful.
Second stop Hirifa AKA Heaven on Earth.
After a lovely relaxed visit in the north we sailed one full day inside the lagoon (a wonderful combination of wind but waveless water) a lovely relaxed sail with the spinnaker pulling us south past plenty of pearl farms and the occasional interesting mansion, and towards evening we anchored in a sheltered corner at a place called Hirifa (which must be Polynesian for Paradise) where we were the only boat. We walked the deserted beaches and swam over fine white sand and in the middle of the night the stars not only filled the bowl of the sky but were reflected perfectly below on the mirror-smooth water of the bay. It was wonderful.
Third stop Tetamanu AKA Heaven on Earth.
Eventually, as our time was running out, we motored a couple of hours over to the south pass and hooked onto a free mooring ball. Tetamanu was capital of the Tuamotus many years ago before being destroyed in a hurricane. Now all that remains is the old church, a couple of small low key yet upscale resorts, and two diving outfits. Here the trick is to dingy out through the pass to the edge of the ocean just before the tide turns and then jump into the water with your mask and snorkel on so the incoming tide carries you through the pass and into the lagoon sweeping you gently alongside a steep coral wall with fish fish and more fish all around you, and sharks, and rays, clams and conchs and crabs, and all manner of other amazing underwater life. The water is crystal clear, the only problem deciding in which direction to gaze at any given moment as there are awesome wonders in all directions, and the only thing missing David Attenborough’s voice-over explaining the ecosystem. Wow. It was wonderful.
The three day sail back to Tahiti from Fakarava was a mixed bag. Some days we flew a sail called a code zero, bigger than a genoa but smaller than a spinnaker, and zipped along at 9 knots (very fast). Most nights the squalls were relentless with the wind repeatedly jumping almost instantaneously from 12 knots (a good strong breeze) to 42 (a nasty blow) and we spent our shifts nervously awaiting these. (When a squall arrives, usually with a shifting wind direction and heavy driving rain, you have to act FAST, in the dark, to furl the sails into tiny triangles and monitor the direction of the boat and be ready to loosen the sheets to let wind spill if a particularly brutal gust threatens to knock the boat over. It's great fun.) Daniel, there to have his very first sailing experience, certainly got a lot of experience!
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| Water so clear it seems almost not there. |
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| Boat on anchor at Rotoava. |
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| Squall on the way - but at anchor during the day. |
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| Post sail drinks. |
The only really big mistake I made on the whole trip to Fakarava was not taking my youngest son along with me to keep me company and make a visual record of the wonders of the atoll.
