French Polynesia 2019: The Tuomotu Islands
Kauehi, Fakarava and Makemo, then Raroia and back to the Marquesas
Nuku Hiva to Kauehi 4 – 8 August
We set sail in the afternoon, weighed anchor at 14:30 and headed southwest after clearing the harbor. It was a nice afternoon and a relatively good, though rocky passage.
5 Aug – Willem’s 66th birthday! I decorated with big polka-dotted balloons (the only thing I could find in Nuku Hiva) and sang the obligatory “happy birthday” song several times over throughout the day. I made him French toast with dry baguette, which he loved, and then we baked two loaves of honey cornbread birthday cake – same as for my birthday a few weeks earlier. It was delicious hot out of the oven with a little butter and honey – yum!!!
8 Aug – We arrived just at daybreak and rounded Kauehi atoll from the east to enter the pass at the south west. Amazing to see water with little “motus” (islets) and know that there is a circle of reef all the way around. We had some eddies in the entrance of the pass as we arrived about 1 ½ hours after slack with incoming tide, so tide against waves. This is supposedly an easy pass, but many others in the Tuamotus are trickier and need to be timed more exactly. We followed the two waypoints given to us by our cruising friends Don and Tessa, and dropped anchor in beautiful turquoise water in the lee of a white sand islet.
Kauehi 9 – 20 August
We spent the first week at Kauehi in the “bottom right” (SE) corner of the atoll as Don put it. The motus (islets) were lovely and we snorkeled around the bommies (coral heads) in the area. There were some small black-tipped sharks and very nice fish. My favorites were the unicorn that gathered around the boat in the mornings, probably waiting for brekky, since we started feeding them. Imagine, some people don’t believe in unicorns! Hee hee. We enjoyed a little socializing with Don and Tessa, taking turns hosting sundowners. It’s nice to have met several lovely couples we like and enjoy “buddy boating” around a bit.
We prepared to head off to another location after a week, but just as we were going to hoist the anchor (engine was already running), a sailboat headed over and it was David and Margaret, our Canadian cruising friends. We first met them in Fatu Hiva and were hoping to catch up with them again before they turned north towards Hawaii and we sailed south to the Tuamotus.
They came into Nuku Hiva the day we sailed out and told us they were thinking about coming to the Tuamotus as well. As Willem says, “the best plans are the ones you can change”, so we decided to stay for at least one additional day and enjoy some time with them. We wound up staying two days. They have an IridiumGo communications system just like ours and we used this opportunity to troubleshoot the issues we’d been experiencing. I won’t go into all the details as it makes me totally crazy (and no need to bore the reader with that in any event), but we spent a technical day trying various combinations of hardware and comparing all settings in software. Two days later we finally said goodbye to David and Margaret and planned to see them again in Fakarava the following week.
We motored slowly northeast and anchored midway on the eastern side of the atoll. We took a nice walk on the narrow stretch of land and then enjoyed the relative quiet and comfort of this location despite higher winds. We stayed two nights and then motored up further north to anchor in front of the village, following Don and Tessa who had anchored one bay up from us.
We dinghied in to shore and walked around what was a small (smaller than I suspected) and somewhat dilapidated village. They used to do pearl farming here but no longer, as there was a problem with the water. So many of what looked like derelict houses may be as a result of that former industry. We visited the three little stores and bought some small items from each to support the local economy a bit. We tried to connect to the ViniSpot for internet – after two weeks I’m feeling the need to reconnect and check on the status of my Carte de Sojour (long-stay visa) but it was dismal, only Facebook and a few WhatsApp messages squeaked through and I couldn’t connect to email at all.
As we were walking back to the dinghy, we passed by the church, which is the most-(only)prominent landmark in the village, and people were starting to gather there. Several guys with guitar and ukulele said they were going to play and there was singing involved so we decided to wait and join. We snuck out after 30 minutes when the more serious portion of the religious service began and made our way back in the dark to the boat.
Unfortunately, without a light and not really familiar with the shallow areas, crunch…. we hit a bommie on the way. Oops. Off we go tomorrow to our second atoll, Fakarava. This is the second largest atoll in the Tuamotus and also has an easy pass in. Supposedly, this is one of the best places to get black pearls (yippee!!!). Our friends from Canada and Trinidad are both going tomorrow as well, and another boat, which has been in Raroia for several weeks and now working their way northwest, will join us in a few days. That’s a lot of boats, but also some good fun and socializing.
Kauehi to Fakarava 21 August
We motor-sailed the 6+ hours to the north pass of Fakarava, with our friends on the cat following close behind. We timed the transit of the passage for low slack tide, and we found just a little current against us, indicating we were just a bit earlier than actual slack. At this pass it isn’t critical, as it is deep and wide, but other atolls will prove more critical. The Tuamotus tide “guestimator” spreadsheet works very well and is very helpful because tide/current indicators are few and far between. Once inside the passage, we had another 5 miles to go to reach the town and the location of our other buddy boat was anchored.
Fakarava 22 – 31 August
We spent the first week anchored by the village in the north. We took the dinghy to the beach and set out to find Fakarava Yacht Services, which turned out to be a house a block back from the beach. A couple provide services to the yachties including free internet (assuming you’ll be using their other services), laundry, transportation, a book-lending library and bike rental. We spent several days catching up on internet, which was good and fast (for a change).
I finally got an email from the French Polynesian officials saying that my Carte de Sojour was ready and would be sent to Nuku Hiva for when I return there… yippee!!! I can stay a year! We also rented bikes for a day and the whole gaggle of buddy boats set out on a day’s adventure. Along the way, we passed the Hinano Pearl farm, which is where I wanted to go to do a tour and buy some pearls… a girls got to have her pearls! I have wanted/planned south seas (aka Tahitian) pearls from the Tuamotus since the time I decided to sail around the world, and finally – different boat, different skipper – here I am! The pearls were all gorgeous and I bought a few lovelies for myself, one for Willem, for my Mom and for Michele, and some as gifts for others.
One of the very nice things about our time here in the Tuamotus is the lovely group of boats we are buddying with… Margaret and Dave, Tessa and Don, Barbara and JB, and Marcella and Enrico. We have been socializing and enjoying everyone’s company here and there along the way, which is so nice. Several are headed back to the Marquesas for the cyclone season, and although others are not, we will stay in touch with them surely! Also looking forward to meeting up with our AU cruising friends soon.
Wednesday, the provisioning experience! – The cargo ship comes into Fakarava weekly on Wednesday morning. We heard that you really need to be there on Wednesday to get any of the small quantities of fresh produce and other items brought in weekly. We had arrived on Thursday the previous week and there were a few apples, potatoes, onions and the like, but nothing else. We decided that we would time our expedition to the supermarket (more of a mini-market by US standards) in order to catch the first wave of produce being put out. 6:30am and Willem was already watching the ship start to unload on shore. 6:45 and Willem spotted dinghies starting to make their way over to the landing area. 7:00am and Willem was ready to abandon our partially-full coffee cups and head over with haste, LOL!
Off we went at break-neck speed… hurry up and wait. The off-loading of the (mini) cargo ship was in full swing, but the super-mini-market was still closed. We waited and saw two bags of fresh baguettes being delivered from the boulangerie (which itself was sold out by 6am, so no chance there) and milled about the entrance waiting for them to open. Finally, the doors opened and we were admitted. We hurried over to claim our baguettes – one to eat then and there, two for our company later (Don and Tessa were coming over), and one for them for earlier.
Still, there was no sign of produce. As the moments ticked by, and the baguettes disappeared, a group started to gather around the empty stands where the produce promised to be displayed. More and more people circled the area like expectant sharks. Several women already had the small brown produce bags open for the ready. And then, a box of apples came out. They were gala and I was holding out for the NZ Rose variety we had the prior week, but the swarm descended upon them with relish! Next came a box of pears, and although from NZ, they didn’t seem firm enough to stand the test of time on a yacht, so I let them pass too. One by one boxes were brought out with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. People pounced, grabbed, passed things back and forth, reached over and under one another, and in a few minutes flat, the boxes were emptied! Red cabbage?… I grabbed 2 and then cleared out so I didn’t get trampled. Rose apples?… several bags filled and handed to Willem for safe storage in our cart. Melons and even grapes (from the US – costly but oh so heavenly!!!), golden kiwis (costly but delicious and had proven themselves well under the duress of being jostled around in the fridge), celery (only three or four bags put out and all were gone in a flash), and then lettuce and a variety of other quite lovely produce. The tomatoes were a pleasant surprise as they were very flavorful and in very good shape. Okay, so not to bore the reader any further with the minute detail of our complete provisioning, but it was quite the scene and within a few hours the entire place was fairly well cleaned out again. It wasn’t just the produce… dairy products came out box by box and were taken out of the refrigerated sections as soon as they were put in, or never even made it in at all! There was a lively and urgent, yet good-natured energy to the entire event and we felt it worth the early-morning race over there to not only fill our coffers, but also to enjoy the experience!
We decided to leave that afternoon and head 10 miles south (mid-atoll) to the other yacht services location. There were about 8 boats anchored there and the only reason anyone was there was because they had internet. We spent two nights there to catch up on some of our life maintenance items like online banking and such, then prepared to head to the south of the atoll to do some diving and snorkeling. Unfortunately, with the weather outlook as it was, we needed to leave as soon as possible or risk being stuck there for up to two weeks. We decided to head on and skip the south pass (Willem learned he couldn’t dive anyway until he has his hernia repaired in Dec… otherwise the decision might have been different, LOL!) and move to Makemo, an atoll 100 miles to the east. The forecast was for light to no winds and calm seas… very good since we needed to motor into any winds we’d have. The night before leaving, as we were preparing everything for an early departure, we were treated to a delightful experience. We had the deck lights on, which are very bright. I saw something white in the water beside the boat and when I looked more closely, there were two HUGE manta rays doing back flips. All preparations ceased as we watched these amazing creatures gracefully swim two and fro, making turns and lazy back flips at the surface. One of them had a completely white belly and the other had some gray spots on his tummy. We were mesmerized. I hope we have the opportunity to swim with mantas back in the Marquesas! How lucky are we to see and experience the wondrous creatures sharing these waters with us!!!!
Fakarava to Makemo 31 August – 1 September
We caught the morning slack tide and exited the south pass of Fakarava, heading east. As we motored the 18 miles to the south pass, we had a visit alongside from our friends Barb and JB. They were anchored about 5 miles south of where we were and dinghied out to the channel to say a quick “hello and goodbye” so we wouldn’t miss them entirely. We’ll see them back in Nuku Hiva during cyclone season, but it was fun to have a short conversation and a hug before heading in opposite directions. For the first several hours after we cleared the pass, we had good wind and sailed… wonderful to have the quiet and listen only to lapping waves and sails. Then the wind died and we were motoring along. Our plan was to catch the mid-morning slack at the east pass of Makemo, but Willem decided on the 6am slack in the NW pass. There wasn’t really a slack as we had some current and lots of whirlpools and small overflows moving us this way and that. But we got in safely and had enough light to see our way over to the anchorage around the corner.
Makemo 1 – 12 September
There were lots of bommies and some sandy patches where we set anchor. We deployed several buoys to float the anchor line above the bommies so we wouldn’t damage coral or get stuck on rock. We got the anchor set, but mostly it was caught behind a rock. Willem set some floats to keep the anchor chain above the bommies. This was a new approach to us both but seems to work well. The water was crystal clear and, delightfully, we had the place entirely to ourselves! Although I really enjoyed the company and socializing with other boats, it was nice to see only natural landscape for a few days.
We continued on about 7 miles to an anchorage recommended by our friends. It had a bit of protection from waves behind a little reef that jutted out from shore and we anchored in a very shallow 4m of water. There were bommies around so we deployed our floats (fishing floats we found along the beach) and were well set. There was one boat already there and they probably thought, “well there goes the neighborhood!” when we arrived, but we left them plenty of space. A few days later, the folks on a cat came in and anchored a bit down from us. They were friends of friends who had been traveling together, but we hadn’t met them yet. We invited them over for sundowners after going for a snorkel and walk ashore, and we had a lovely evening, one which didn’t end until way after the sun set and possibly almost until the moon set as well!
We invited them to come over for dinner a day later and had another fun evening. Ilona and Franz are Dutch and I felt bad that everyone had to speak English on my account. But so it is with international groups and cruisers… you pick the language that the most understand the best, and you have fun filling in the gaps with charades. While in Columbia and Panama, I was able to get on pretty well with my Spanish. I’m not anywhere near fluent, but know enough to be able to communicate. Now that we are in French Polynesia, and because my French is limited to words like bonjour, croissant, baguette and oui, I am struggling to communicate even the basics unless some English, Spanish or German is understood. In fact, I have purchased a program and have started learning some basic French. I am not particularly gifted in learning language, and now that I am over 60 and retention is not what it used to be, I’m sure this will be an uphill battle. Not only that, I am sure that I will be speaking some hodge-podge of languages – there seems to be only one language buffer in my brain, so things get mixed up. Still, I feel a need to be able to speak a few sentences and understand some basics. We’ll see how that goes!
Introducing “Kevin” – During the previous evening’s conversation, the topic turned to making yogurt. Cruisers often share tips for life aboard and we have gotten quite some good advice along the way. Ilona was very excited to tell us about how she makes something similar to yogurt using kefir. I’m not exactly sure what that is, though I have seen kefir drinks in the supermarket. She told us that she has a culture that looks somewhat like small cauliflower nodules and when put in milk overnight or for up to 24 hours, it forms a yogurt of sorts. She said it was great and she had fresh yogurt from it daily. Because it is a “live” and active culture, she said she felt compelled to name it. And this is how we were introduced to “Kevin”.
We actually met Kevin the following day when Ilona dinghied over and brought her Kevin with her. She demonstrated the care and feeding of Kevin and then left us with half of her Kevin. So, all of a sudden, we had Kevin too. She said he’d start growing and at first we might wish he’d produce more, but in short order, he would be off and running and we’d have a hard time eating enough yogurt (or keeping enough powdered milk aboard to feed him) and to keep up with him. In that case, she said, we could put him in a small container of rich milk and in the fridge – which he doesn’t like very much – and that would slow him down considerably. This whole thing took us somewhat by surprise, like new pet owners who all of a sudden have a huge responsibility for the care and feeding of a new family member… we now have a new crew member: Kevin.
We put the dinghy in the water and took a little tour around the motu. Then we met our new friends on a beach halfway between where our boats were anchored. We had a great BBQ and bonfire on the beach. Ilona made pizzas, which she cooked one at a time on a charcoal grill. They were excellent with a crispy crust and a variety of lovely veggie toppings. We built a fire with wood we found on the beach and it was quite a nice evening. Surprisingly, no mozzies (mosquitoes). They brought their two huge white adorable polar-bear dogs. Of course I couldn’t keep from patting them, but was able to rinse my hands in the water immediately, so didn’t have an allergic reaction. Willem was very sweet and did the same.
Back to Kevin – The next morning, we had to somehow deal with Kevin. We used a cloth to strain him and we made something like mascarpone cheese. Then we put Kevin back in the jar and added milk, then placed him in a dry dark cabinet as instructed. That evening, we had yogurt. Then the following morning, more yogurt. And so it continues… trying to keep up with Kevin. Yikes, such a lot of work and how much yogurt can two people each eat day we wonder?
Okay, enough about Kevin. It’s time to move on and head to the anchorage by the village. It was a motorboat ride against wind and current, but once we arrived and set the anchor, we were comfy. The winds died down and it’s actually a beautiful little anchorage and a lovely, oh so friendly, tidy, colorful, little village. We walked to the boulangerie (out of bread but ordered some for the next morning), then made our way to the egg farm. No more today, but ordered a bunch for tomorrow – for us and for our friends who we’d meet again shortly. Fresh eggs from the egg farm, wow! And there’s actually a ViniSpot tower here, though pretty slow internet (but any internet here is good internet when you can get it!) We found several croissants (regular and chocolate) at the second magasin (mini grocery store… sort of), and they were quite delicious, much better than any of the others in French Polynesia so far. I’m gaining weight with all the fresh bread and croissants and socializing sun-downers and such. Good that I’ll have some time in the US and on the boat alone to try and take it off again.
The water here is crystal clear and there is a heard of unicorns that are swarming around the boat and waiting to be fed. We took some video of them chowing down on a piece of pizza we gave them… very funny. You can actually see them nibbling on the edges as they stay close by and at the surface – fearless little buggers! We had planned to leave this afternoon on the high slack water but with the internet and the lovely location, we decided we could go tomorrow instead. We’ll still have enough time in Raroia and get back to Nuku Hiva by the first few days of October. Wow, this year has gone by so quickly!!! But what a year!
Makemo to Raroia 12 – 13 September
We left the village anchorage at 16:30 as planned to transit the pass at slack. I was at the helm and with only a little bit of current, whirlpools and eddies, we were through. The winds were light but we were able to sail some then motor mostly. In the morning, as we approached the Raroia pass, we spotted our Canadian friends who had been ahead of us by about 15 miles and were trolling while waiting for the low slack tide to enter the pass. They followed us in and as we made for the NE anchorage where friends and several other boats were, but they turned south to the village for some supplies first.
Raroia 13 – 28 September
We wove our way around bommies and shallows on a more-or-less direct course to the anchorage. It was a beautiful day – Willem says that about each and every day, but this one was particularly lovely and we had a clear view of obstacles in the water. When we approached the anchorage, David and Leeanne (Lenny) dinghied out to give us guidance on entering around the reef and to avoiding the “black spots”, which were rocks in the shallow water. We anchored in 4m of turquoise blue and crystal-clear water. We found a good spot a short distance away… not so far away that the other cruisers would be offended but also not so close as to be able to hear conversations and be on top of one another. It was Friday the 13th and a full moon. Our cruising friends invited us to join the full moon party on their lovely Amel, and we enjoyed a great, but thankfully early, evening with three couples plus us.
We had a nice relaxing day, some rain, and I decided to “chill” on board. The group was doing a “burn party” on shore – burning trash – but I decided to skip that and let Willem go socialize on his own. I’m feeling a need for some solitude and down time, but with such a lovely social group here it may have to wait a bit. In fact, two more boats came in this morning so now we are 6 yachts. One boat is hosting a game of “Mexican Train”, which is some sort of domino game. I have heard about this game all over the cruising community from Turkey to the Caribbean and now here, but I’m not so much for games and would much rather be on board and read. Plus, there’s French lessons to be attended to… bonne apremidi (have a nice afternoon!)
The wind picked up for two days, up to 20 knots, but with two anchors deployed, we were snug on board. After the wind died down and after two days without being in the turquoise blue water, it was time for a snorkel and to go explore the reef we are all tucked in behind. We dinghied over to where our friend was snorkeling and she told us she had seen octopus! We explored the bommie and there they were!!!… two beautiful big octopus! We tried to stay as quiet as possible in the water so they’d come out and show themselves more clearly, which worked for a few minutes until our neighbor boat showed up with their three kids and all the splashing around sent the poor creatures into hiding. After the kids moved away, we stayed and hoped the octopus would come out again, and they did!!! At one point they even swam off to another part of the bommie. They can and did change colors so that they are most perfectly camouflaged in the environment. What a special sight to see.
There were two black-tip reef sharks as well – or maybe it was one shark twice? Lovely little tropical fishies swam all about in a rainbow of colors. That on the backdrop of turquoise waters and white sand was truly amazing. But there is always something amazing to see if you look around. Tomorrow, everyone is planning to pile into their dinghies and head over to what I have affectionately named “Booby Island” where there is a rookery of red-footies (read red-footed boobies). David and Lenny said there are chicks over there now. Can’t wait to see for myself!
Off we went, a convoy of four dinghies. There are lots of red-footies there and many nests. The birds were all of flying age, so no little chicks, but we found several sitting on their nests.
The next day it was an excursion to the pearl farm (Yip Pearls) about 2 miles on the west side of the atoll. There were only a handful of people there, but they showed us the entire process and explained everything. That was only because we had cruising friends with us who speak French. Otherwise we would have been hard-pressed to communicate enough for them to know we only wanted to have a look, and understand anything they said. It was a great visit and filled in some of the gaps for us. All of the pearls farmed here are exported to Hong Kong… none sold locally in French Polynesia.
Willem and I went back for more boobies and visited “Booby Island 2” which was one motu over from the original island. Boobies galore were flying, nesting, and just generally being wonderful company. There was also a nice little black-tip shark in the vicinity. We stopped a few places on the way back to do some snorkeling, but the water wasn’t that clear so we didn’t stay long. A few days later we went off for a reef dive with the group. It was quite shallow, so everything was right in your face… colorful fish and coral and a few sharks. Graham is an amazing photographer and shared a few of my favorite of his photos with me – who says the Universe doesn’t have a sense of humor!!! Check out these wonderful photos he took in Raroia:
This one below left looks like a Photoshop job in an aquarium, but it really isn’t!
We didn’t spend as much time ashore as Willem would have liked… or nearly enough time snorkeling. It seems we were too busy socializing and taking care of this and that. With five other boats (one with three precious kids aboard), we were always having people stop by or we were going visiting. We had several sessions of media sharing, hair cutting, technical discussions, and of course, the ever-popular “not the 9 o’clock net” led by David on the Amel. He did an excellent job leading us through social planning, duffel bag (misc.) items, and the like.
We enjoyed regular gatherings at the “Twin Palm Beach Club” (the group hung a sign between two palms and declared it the place to be for afternoon gatherings), dinner on the cat and dinner on our boat with the Canadian friends, then a Pot Luck on the cat again – the only boat large enough to host everyone – once again before it was time for us to begin our journey back to the Marquesas.
Raroia back to the Marquesas 28 September – 2 October
We left on Saturday morning the 28th and motored the 10 miles within the atoll to reach the only pass in Raroia. We timed the slack well and had minimal current against us on our way out. The forecast was for 10-15 knots the whole way and we thought we’d be motoring quite a bit. It turned out that we had more wind and sailed almost the entire way. It was a fast journey at three and a half days, and we only ran the engine to charge batteries twice. The auto-pilot is a hungry beast, but happy to keep him (Fred) fed and not have to hand steer most of the way. The last 6 hours was into the wind, once we rounded Ao Pao island and needed to change course to Nuku Hiva so we motor-sailed and made it in by mid-afternoon. We found an excellent spot to anchor, closer to the dinghy pier and (more importantly) the ViniSpot for internet than last time, but still with enough privacy and comfort.
The following day I picked up my Carte de Sojour which allows me to stay in French Polynesia for a year. Yippee!!! Only a few days left then off I go for 6 weeks of travel to the US, then return and watch the boat while Willem heads back to the Netherlands for 7+ weeks.
And so ends the Pacific Adventure for 2019… an amazing 7+ months sailing and exploring, from Panama to the Galapagos, on to the Marquesas and Tuamotus, then back to the Marquesas. This was a dream come true for me, especially the Galapagos. Though maybe not quite as spectacular in his estimation, also a very enjoyable trip for Willem.
Willem my dear, thank you so much for taking me with you across the Atlantic and half of the Pacific. You’re a lovely, kind and considerate person. You’re delightful company and a great skipper. Enjoy your onward journeys!