Hello, It is Sunday evening and we are now in Fakawara atoll on the south end. It is beautiful here with more white beaches, some rose coloured, green palms and blue waters of every shade. We arrived Friday afternoon and were invited onboard another Amel for drinks. Saturday morning we went with these folks, young people, Jamie and Lucy, to the pass on the south end and drift snorkeled through with the incoming tide. It was amazing as we were swimming with lots of black tip sharks lots of little fishes and some huge Nepolian fish which are amazing. You can google them and see what we saw. They were 50 lbs at least.
None of them take any interest in us which we are thankful for. It is quite intimidating when confronted with a six foot shark coming straight at you and does not turn away until it is four or five feet away. Once you have drifted through the deeper part of the pass you end up in a two to three knot stream 15 feet over corals of all shapes colours and sizes. It is like being in an Imax movie or just flying. We tow the dinghy all the way, not much work as it moves on its own, and when we stop we are back to where the boat is anchored. That is about 2 kms or more. It was so much fun we went back and did it again on our own. Later in the day we went for a dinghy ride and came across three nine foot Manta Rays which circled us. I should say that we are anchored in fifty feet of water and you can see the bottom clear as a bell so seeing sea life if wonderful. It is like swimming in air. That evening a Tahitian who owns a place invited all the cruisers for dinner. It was a great night with seventeen other yachties and we got back to the boat around eleven which is two hours after yachties midnight. The sunset was orange and totally surreal. It was a great day. Today we snorkeled through the pass again and again it was wonderful. We explored around this afternoon and had Jamie and Lucy over for sundowners. Another wonderful day.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Hello all. Time flies and now it is June 07. We really enjoyed our time in the Marquesas. We loved the time cleaning up the boat Tahuata with the blue blue waters. Then we went up to Nuku Hiva where there are more facilities. Ice cream and pizzas which were a nice change. We celebrated Marian's Birthday by driving around the island and finishing the day with chocolate cake.
The drive around the island was a real surprise as we were up above 3500 feet elevation with cool winds which we found very strange. Now if the temperature goes below 27 we start looking for sweaters. In the inland parts of the island we found pine forests and grazing land for cattle and in the west we were in dessert. We left the main road as we had a 4x4 and drove along a rough road on the north coast which is very indented with small coves and beaches. There is
one town on this side of the island, which we walked to a few days before from Anaho Bay where we had a great lunch. John Cheryl and Ian (Sea Mist) were with us and we finished the day back on Kilkea having chocolate cake made by a French pastry chef which was magnificent.
We did move around different anchorages on Nuku Hiva and did some wonderful walks. In Danials Bay we walked for a couple of hours up to a water fall in a canyon that is said to be the third highest in the world. It was a beautiful walk even though we had some showers on the way. All over the islands here there are all these fruits that you just pick up and our boat is full of bananas, mangoes, grapefruit which taste so good.
We left for the Tuamotu atolls some 500 miles away. It took us three and a half days to do the crossing arriving in Kaueai in time for drinks on Sea Mist. This crossing was not the nicest as we had squalls and cross seas with winds up to 40 knots. Probably the worst weather we have had since the Med. Once you come through the reef which opens into the lagoon everything calms down. The inside of this atoll it is 10 miles across and 15 or so long and you cannot see
one side from the other as the highest points are palm trees. The people we have met are very friendly and the children interested in us. The main occupation here is copra, pearl farming and collecting sea cucumbers that they smoke and send to Japan. There are 76 atolls in the Toamotu and if you have a chance check them out on Google earth.
We plan to be in the atolls for another couple of weeks or so and then move to Tahiti which is now less than two hundred miles away. We will be in that area all of July then in August we will fly back to Vancouver for Natalies first baby, our fifth grandchild, a wedding, and seeing family and friends before coming back in September to continue towards Tonga, Fiji, and on to New Zealand.
The drive around the island was a real surprise as we were up above 3500 feet elevation with cool winds which we found very strange. Now if the temperature goes below 27 we start looking for sweaters. In the inland parts of the island we found pine forests and grazing land for cattle and in the west we were in dessert. We left the main road as we had a 4x4 and drove along a rough road on the north coast which is very indented with small coves and beaches. There is
one town on this side of the island, which we walked to a few days before from Anaho Bay where we had a great lunch. John Cheryl and Ian (Sea Mist) were with us and we finished the day back on Kilkea having chocolate cake made by a French pastry chef which was magnificent.
We did move around different anchorages on Nuku Hiva and did some wonderful walks. In Danials Bay we walked for a couple of hours up to a water fall in a canyon that is said to be the third highest in the world. It was a beautiful walk even though we had some showers on the way. All over the islands here there are all these fruits that you just pick up and our boat is full of bananas, mangoes, grapefruit which taste so good.
We left for the Tuamotu atolls some 500 miles away. It took us three and a half days to do the crossing arriving in Kaueai in time for drinks on Sea Mist. This crossing was not the nicest as we had squalls and cross seas with winds up to 40 knots. Probably the worst weather we have had since the Med. Once you come through the reef which opens into the lagoon everything calms down. The inside of this atoll it is 10 miles across and 15 or so long and you cannot see
one side from the other as the highest points are palm trees. The people we have met are very friendly and the children interested in us. The main occupation here is copra, pearl farming and collecting sea cucumbers that they smoke and send to Japan. There are 76 atolls in the Toamotu and if you have a chance check them out on Google earth.
We plan to be in the atolls for another couple of weeks or so and then move to Tahiti which is now less than two hundred miles away. We will be in that area all of July then in August we will fly back to Vancouver for Natalies first baby, our fifth grandchild, a wedding, and seeing family and friends before coming back in September to continue towards Tonga, Fiji, and on to New Zealand.
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