M/Y Iron Lady

One of the “must do’s” in Fakarava is the South Pass. The journey down is via a “lane” of surveyed area with channel markers. Outside the channel is a no man’s land of reefs and pearl farms – not a fun place to navigate.

There are resorts along the way pretty typical of all the resorts here – tiki huts on or over the water.

The anchorage was like our own personal aquarium – the reef fish showed up at the boat within minutes of our arrival.

Along with he reef fish came the black tip sharks – at various times we had up to 12 around the boat never far out of range. Harmless but a bit disconcerting.

Across from our anchorage was this affair which we learned was actually a resort and wood fired pizza joint.

We made reservations for the following evening but there were requirements to meet. More about that in another post. We also made reservations for a drift dive thru the South Pass (snorkelling) for the following day and that was indeed a spectacular affair.

We used Tetamanu Diving by Eleuthera who also own the main resort at the South Pass and were most pleased with them. (As an aside, son George and Gel spent a night at the resort which is where they got engaged and loved it – no pictures unfortunately). The dive boat picked us up from Iron Lady and ran us to the seaward side of the pass at slack tide. We exited the boat and a guide went with us. At the conclusion of the dive, they brought us back to Iron Lady. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Scuba enthusiasts dive the deeper water near the centre of the pass while we drifted along the reef walls at the side. The attraction for the scuba folks is the sharks but we got to see our share.

Some more up close and personal then others. These guys were all squabbling over some fish. Int he last pic, it seemed like one shark was attacking another shark.

George tried out an introductory scuba dive and now wants to get certified.

At the beginning of the dive, we were barely moving but as the tide came in, we reached speeds up to 2 knots and the sensation was that of flying over the reef. Very cool.

One final comment about the condition of the reef here. It was just about the best we have seen. Without engaging in editorial commentary, the vast majority of the reefs we have snorkeled on in Fiji, Tonga and French Polynesia have been in poor condition and under obvious duress and stress – it is a very sad thing to see – especially when you see something like the South Pass on Fakarava.

A good dinner aboard and a nice sunset and the good ship and tired crew were off to bed early.

Cheers

t was an overnight run from Rainy Rangi to Fakarava. The weather was beautiful (as the rain had passed) and we had a full moon and a beautiful sunrise with dead flat seas.

Our timing wasn’t perfect for slack water at the pass but we only had 2 knots of current (it can reach 8 knots) so we decided to head in rather then wait. The passes tend to look deceptively tranquil until you get in to the heart of the flow.

Then the seas begin to build in the shallower sections.

And at the point where it is shallowest the picture is quite different.

And just as quickly, things settle down once you are in the lagoon. One of the big attractions in Fakarava are the drift dives in the north and south passes. This is a dive boat headed out.

And our anchorage – just the way we like it – glass flat.

Going back to the first time we were in Fakarava, Deb saw some remoras and thought it was cute to feed them. Bad idea as they are now attached to the boat quite literally. At the peak, we had as many as 12 hitching a ride and removing our bottom paint. We didn’t lose the last of them until we made our three day passage to the Marquesas. New boat rule – no feeding remoras.

First stop was Havaiki – our favorite lunch spot with Iron Lady anchored just off shore.

A wedding was in progress at the gazebo at the end of the pier.

George and Gel were due in the next day and we were all a bit tired from the overnight passage so it was back to the boat for a little paddle boarding and off to bed early.

Cheers

Well, we nicknamed Rangiroa Rainyroa. In fairness, it rained throughout the Tuamotus for three days – locals were happy as fresh water is mostly collected into cisterns and they were running low.

We tried to fit in as much for Gel and George as we could but options were a bit limited – until Spa Day. A bit of snorkelling when the weather permitted and hanging out around town.

In desperation, we tried to head down to Blue Lagoon – an out of the way spot where the coral and fish were supposed to be nice. The path is charted but just outside of it, the area is completely unsurveyed.

Another bust. We got there and the water was too shallow for the dink to enter the small lagoon and the current was far too strong to negotiate on foot or with fins.

While we were trying to get in, the wind came up (unforecast as always) to 30 knots from the east. If you look at the pictures above it doesn’t take any imagination to understand how nasty things got with the long fetch of the lagoon blowing us on to a lee shore. The first challenge was getting people back aboard from the dink as the swim step was lurching up and down 3 feet and filling with seawater at the same time. With good timing, everybody made it back aboard safely albeit with some bumps and bruises.

The next challenge was getting the dinghy back aboard. We thought about towing the dinghy but we were really concerned about rolling it and losing it. Finally we made the call to haul it up. Just as we cleared the rail, another large set of waves rolled thru and we almost lost George and Steve trying to restrain the dink when it rolled outboard despite having it tethered with the boom holding it out and a line to the BBQ to restrain its swing as well. I quickly dropped the dink back on the hip (rub rail on the boat to the flotation collar not the dink) and we held it there until we had time to make the final lift. Deb released the jammer on the boom fore guy as I winched the dink up and George and Steve tried to control the bow and stern. Once clear of the lifeline, I helped pull it in and George and Steve held it while I dropped the dink in what amounted to little more then a crash landing. We gradually manuevered the dink into position by lifting just slightly and dropping it again. Once home, we had to quickly secure the boom as it was whipping back and forth and threatened to yank the dink off the chocks.

Time to head back to the barn and call it a day. Next day, the Admiral issued orders for a well deserved Spa Day. Steve and I got to do a main engine oil change.

Time to leave Rainyroa – next destination was our favorite in the Tuamotus. Fakarava.

Cheers

One of the things we hope that everyone gets to experience is wrestling with one of the large finny critters that swim around our here. Unfortunately, things had not been going well for son George and he was batting 0 after a number of hookups.

Well that changed pretty dramatically this time around. George arrived at the back of the boat to see a large marlin tail walking across the horizon. At first blush, he thought things would be pretty straight forward.

But it wasn’t long before the marlin decided that wasn’t the way it was going to be.

Some 45 minutes later, the marlin showed himself.

And then promptly dove straight down 150 feet or so. It was at this point that we noticed something else hanging around.

Nest time we got the marling near the boat, we noticed it was lacking a significant number of its body parts.

And as we tried to boat the marlin, the oceanic white tip sharp wasn’t the least bit bashful about attacking the marlin right at the transom.

The shark was aggressive enough that we simply cut the marlin loose and the last we saw was the shark following the marlin as it sank. In fact, it was disconcerting to see how it had virtually no fear or concern about our presence – it was going to have its way with the marlin.

We all felt bad for the marlin as we intended to release it but mother nature had other ideas. It was an amazing thing to see but also was a stark reminder about how things operate out here.

On this one, all complaints about killing a bill fish should be addressed directly to the shark.

Assam’s place is near the southeastern corner of the lagoon. We learned about it from one of our guides which highly recommended it as a stop. The guide billed it as a pearl farm but indicated that it was much more as Assam loved to have visitors and thru wonderful feasts for those who stopped by.

While there are many pearl farms along the eastern side of the lagoon (making navigation difficult with all the buoys randomly scattered about), it turns out that Assam has moved on to other things. What we found was a full fledged slipway with a storage yard. There were as many as 10 yachts on the hard on high ground off the slip way. Came as a complete surprise to see such a facility in such a remote location. Don’t know why I didn’t get any pictures of it – oh well.

Once ashore, Tony, another member of Assam’s family invited us to come in for an island feast in the evening. We offered to bring steaks, sausages and some wahoo we had caught.

The proceedings began by burning coconut husks down to hot embers.

Added next were fish that Tony had speared that day in 60 feet of water free diving – yup – that’s 60 feet. He can stay down for 2 minutes and 50 seconds.

In the back, Deb watched Tony prepare poisson cru with the fish we had brought.

While diner was being prepared, Tony put on a little island music. THose speakers are over 6 feet high with lighting that changes colours with the music. If the picture looks blurry it is due to vibrations emanating from same.

A couple of shots at the dinner table. It was interesting in that, like Fiji, the parents and guests were served first and no one else ate until they were finished.

After dinner, it was time for a little ukelele music – Tony was much better at it then Gel or George.

It was just a wonderful evening and Tony would not accept anything in the way for payment from us other then the food we had brought. They just enjoy the company and apparently generate enough income form their yard operation to keep things afloat. Highly recommend this as a stop if you get out this way but you can only get there on a private vessel.

Next morning we set off for a northern anchorage near the pass which was favoured by winds from the north. A rare chance to visit some lovely beaches that were generally not tenable as they are fully exposed to the south east trades. Unfortunately, the weather was against us and heavy rains washed out our plans.

So our day turned in to one of reading and hanging out with plans to move on to Rangiroa in the morning.

More about that along with a story about George, a black marlin and a shark.

Best

George and Gel (son and girl friend) arrived in Fakarava on a Sunday and we were off Monday to Apataki as our plan was to spend a significant amount of time in Fakarava at the end of their stay.

Apataki is almost rectangular in shape and is of average size – approximately 18 by 15 miles.The primary population centre is Niutahi and has roughly 400 inhabitants. There are two primary passes in to the lagoon – Pakaka Pass near the village on the southwest corner of the atoll and Tehere Pass on the northwest corner. While Pakaka Pass is billed as the main pass, in our estimation, Tehere Pass was a better choice and was our primary means of entry. During our pre trip, we circumnavigated the lagoon on the inside but it is important to note that the lagoon is, for the most part, uncharted so you are on your own.

After passing the town and seeing its very limited appeal along with the currents and nature of Pakaka Pass, we concentrated our exploration on the northern and eastern side of the lagoon. The eastern side sports a number of pearl farms and beautiful beaches. The northern moths are charming but require settled weather and light trades as it is exposed to the south and untenable in heavy winds from that direction.

Our guide also highly recommended Assam’s Pearl Farm which was indeed a highlight and will be covered in another post.

Our first stop due to failing light was just inside the pass. Once again, slack water in the passes determines both departure and arrival times in the Tuamotus unless you want to really get the adrenalin pumping. This necessitated a late arrival at Apataki and the uncharted waters of the lagoon are no place to be wandering about in poor light.

There was time for a bit of dip off the stern.

And some time to test out our Mark 2 Boom Swing.

Dinner was fresh fish meatballs with linguini and a salad – wonderful.

And a bunch of happy campers who retired early.

Next morning it was down the coast a bit to a lovely beach for some walking, swimming and snorkeling. Most enjoyable.

But then Gel and George got conned by Debby in to a trip to the dreaded pearl farm. Finally George and Gel left Deb – they couldn’t take anymore.Kind of like the “Hotel California”, you can check out any time you like but you can never leave. We finally had to drag Deb away – pearless, kicking and screaming.

Next it was on to Assam’s place, but more about that next time.

Cheers

I’ll pass over our 1 week pre trip before Gel and George’s arrival as I will cover each of the destinations in more detail when they were with us – all except for terrible Taou which we did not go back to.

So here goes without much commentary. Two shots of a pretty crummy beach.

Two shots of a couple of abandoned and rundown shacks.

One shot of a lonely hermit crab.

And one shot of Iron Lady anxiously waiting to leave.

And we along with her.