Fakarava
Thursday 7 July – Since October 2006, the commune of Fakarava has been classified as a Biosphere Reserve in UNESCO’s World Heritage due to its specific characteristics and its natural and cultural heritage. The little village of Rotoava in the north of the island is indeed a beautiful place.
We took the dinghy in to the village early this morning as we had discovered yesterday afternoon that you can order baguettes and pain au raisins from the supermarket (this had immediately grabbed my attention and had my name all over it!) and we had also found a lady who sells coffee. In we went and had a lovely peaceful morning walk, the scenery is so breath taking, it’s everything you imagine it to be, swaying palms, white sandy beaches and clear turquoise seas, We’ve been told that there is a little beach where the nurse sharks come in, and are so tame you can even pat them! We thoroughly enjoyed our pastries and coffee and then walked to Fakarava Yacht Services to sort out the gas and catch up on emails. We also heard about a resort on the island so we checked it out and it looks perfect for us to have a visit once the family has arrived. This afternoon we had a bit of a working bee on the boat to get ready for tomorrow’s guests so a pretty quiet, easy day for us.
Friday 8 July – A final bit of organising on the boat this morning and then into the dingy dock. Geoff went to the airport to meet his son Nick, his wife Kate and their three boys and I made a reservation for dinner for us all that night. They were very excited when they arrived and we all took the dinghy back to Salanjo where the boys couldn’t wait to get into the water and have their first swim. We had a lovely afternoon and then a fun dinner before they all crashed out after a bit of a long drawn out trip from Auckland to get to this little atoll in the middle of the South Pacific!
Saturday 9 July – Geoff took the boys off to the beach to see the sharks while Kate, Nick and I went for a morning walk and we checked out the diving options, before we all snuck into Havaiki Lodge and found ourselves a bunch of sun loungers on the beach right next to a sign saying “beach is for guests’ use only”! Fortunately we did not get sprung and spent a delightful afternoon enjoying lunch, drinks, swimming and lounging – it was heavenly. Back to the boat for dinner and we had lots of visitors tonight – in the form of little nurse sharks who were subsequently joined by a much bigger relative, which gave us all a thrill.
Sunday 10 July – we’re up early this morning and sailing 3 hours to the southern end of Fakarava to Passe Tumakohua where Geoff and Nick have booked a scuba dive for tomorrow and it is apparently the best place on the island for snorkelling and spotting sharks, napoleon and grouper! An easy sail and we arrived this afternoon and took the dinghy over to Top Dive to confirm the scuba dive. Lots of currents around as well as coral, so we had to be very careful and keep a good look out for the bombies (coral lying just beneath the surface of the water). We also went over to the only restaurant which was in a small resort with tables over the water, unfortunately for us it was booked for tonight and tomorrow night! However, we did manage to book a snorkel for me, Kate and the boys tomorrow – the husband of the lady in the restaurant is going to take us out!
Monday 11 July – A big morning for everyone. Nick and Geoff went off for their dive and we went in for our snorkel. Ar’ni (sp?), our snorkelling guide was absolutely hilarious and we had the funniest safety briefing you can imagine – he had two noodles for the boys to share and an orange lifejacket which he was going to pull along the water so dinghies and speedboats could see us!!!!
With my broken French and his funny demonstrations putting the noodles around his substantial girth and then guffawing with hysterical laughter, it was like a comedy act! After giving us a set of gestures and his imitation of fish, we followed him around for our first snorkel. We mistakenly thought he was taking us out in a boat, but no, he took us to the side of the restaurant and instructed us to get into the water, complete with flippers and masks and to swim and follow him around for our first snorkel.
The water went deep quite quickly and we could see so many beautiful fish, some sharks and coral, it was a great snorkel and eventually we went into the shore and followed our jovial host around to the other side of the restaurant where there was a crowd of people waiting to go out on a scuba dive. Ar’ni persuaded one of the Top Dive captains to motor us out to the edge of the channel and drop us off for our second snorkel experience. Getting into the water was one of those throw -yourself-backwards-over-the-side jobs – no time for me to bottle out now, and it was a lot higher than the dinghy too. Anyway I managed it and once we were all in the water the captain of the dive boat left us to it.
With the current from the tide we were pushed down the channel whilst we marvelled at the magnificent world under the sea – we even saw the scuba divers amongst the sharks deep down below us! It was a fabulous experience, only enhanced by the personality of our guide! Back to the boat and after lunch we sailed back to Rotoava so we can go back through the Garuae pass on our way to Rangiroa atoll tomorrow.
Tuesday 12 July - A quick trip to the supermarket before we left and at 9.00am we were off. It’s a 24 hour sail to Rangiroa but to break up the journey we pulled into a small atoll called Toau around 3pm where the boys had a swim and a snorkel and we had a little explore on the beach.