We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.
Anonymous
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| One of our rides on Fakarava - comfy and colorful |
Atolls are mostly for water sports.
If you don’t dive, snorkel, fish, kite surf, etc, there is not much for
you to do in such locations. There are however
always people to meet.
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| No longer in-use lighthouse - Mike on bike to the right |
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| Yep - there's a sign that says - Do Not Climb... Where is Mike? |
After Bora Bora I caught some type of ear/throat infection
so I don’t dare go in the water until it clears up, giving me few options in
the realm of water sports. A bad ear
infection may mean not being able to fly and we still have 3-5 flights to go (I
can’t keep track) so I don’t want to take chances. Mike however gets to enjoy drifting the South
Pass 3-4 times (and I enjoy watching him…). Drifting = floating along with the
current with mask, snorkel and fins on.
For an atoll pass that can be quite rapid (upwards of 10 knots). The day we are there it seems the water
travels at between 6 and 8 knots. So
fast that a dinghy with a small motor cannot fight the current to return to
their sailboat anchored up a way. Our
guide is kind enough to give them a tow.
Although going that fast is fun it’s more enjoyable to take the time to
watch the multitude of fish below but with 6+ knots pushing you, you cannot
slow down easily…
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| Small giant clams with blue lips |
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| Oh this guy was watching us |
At one time I see a black tip shark approximately the length
of Mike drifting right underneath him.
The water was too dark to get a good picture but I couldn’t wait to ask
Mike how it felt to be drifting with a shark and he never saw it… He was paying attention to what was ahead of
him… Large blue Napoleons about 3-4 feet
long, other black tip sharks, silky sharks, nurse sharks, needle-nose fish,
Picasso fish, anemones, etc…
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| Some type of open and empty crypt |
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| Palm leave weavings on headstone |
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| More beautiful weaving |
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| Shell necklaces too |
Of the three atolls visited, this one is definitely our
favorite. Cleaner, friendlier, nice
beaches, good cycling roads, etc. We
would return here with Déjàlà, no reason to stop at Tikehau and Rangiroa.
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| Small church - chandeliers and links between them made of shells |
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| Church door - simple... |
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| Ceiling décor - part carving, part shells |
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| Shell chandelier |
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| Altar - simple and elegant |
We see people who left Mexico a couple of weeks after we
did. They made it here fine. It is so good to see people’s progress and
know they are OK. The cruising community
is small and it’s amazing how often you run into one another and where….
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| Mike to left and furthest back |
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| Mr. Napoleon the fish |
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| Now to put his size in perspective - Cute little one year old Rocket is nearby |
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| Underwater view... of a smaller one |
Fakarava has the nicest paved roads (thanks to President
Chirac who had made a promise of a visit but never showed up) so we bike 35 km
one afternoon and saw an old lighthouse (no longer in use), a couple of
cemeteries with interesting decorations on their tombstones, a couple of old
churches, and beautiful mother nature… We
speak with a proud copra farmer. It’s
peaceful.
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| Famous pink sands |
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| Water is rising |
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| Our ride here |
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| Pink sands - how can you go wrong? |
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| Pink patterns |
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| Cliché footprints in the sand but pink? |
The weather is still a bit of a challenge but we are making
the best of it – sure beats rainy west coast or cold Canada… Today the winds are from the NW, something
rarely seen in these parts… Go figure!
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| Mike getting towed out of an eddy where current was too strong |
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