Fakarava South Pass

On May 21^st, we left the Marquesas, headed for the Tuamotu Island group. It would be a 5 day passage, our first since the crossing. The sunset heading out was glorious and we had dolphin come swim with us, as if to say, “bye, come back soon!” It was a bit of a rough passage with strong winds (up to 35k) and some wild looking clouds.

We finally saw our first Tuamotu, just 5 miles from it's shores. These islands used to be called the “Dangerous Archipelago”. And it was quite true in the days before GPS and satellite. It is still true today, even with GPS, as you have to play the tides and currents in order to enter an atoll pass. When we arrived at the South Pass of Fakarava, it was perfect timing, with 2 more hours of an incoming tide before sunset. We slipped right in with big surf on both sides of us, but smooth water ahead. One must seriously pay attention to driving the boat and stay on course!

Coming in the pass, we see the restaurant, dive shop and pension (small hotel cabanas, with shared bathrooms) to the right. It was paradise for sure! We had to negotiate around a well marked reef, and we anchored in the most beautiful turquoise water I have ever seen. We were right behind a white beach with palm trees! We found out later is was just small pieces of broken coral, bleached white from the sun, not sand.

The next morning, we were ready to go snorkeling! Immediately checking us out were the local Black Tip Reef Sharks. At first it does take some getting used to, being able to swim with sharks. They are everywhere and not really interested in you, unless you are making a lot of splashing like you are hurt. The coral was everywhere, and so many new kinds of fish we had never seen before. The blue lipped clams were spectacular. Actually each clam had a different shade of lips, some blue, other purple, some black and some green. The coral formations were impressive and make great fish homes.

As we kept swimming, occasionally a shark would cruise by to check us out. I swear you can see him looking at me in that one photo! The little Ramora fish liked to latch on to the sharks and we even had a few trying to latch on to us and had to chase them away!

New kinds of fish were everywhere, but our old friend the Moray Eel still lives in these waters, just like in the Sea of Cortez. The Moorish Idols and butterfly fish were beautiful. Parrot fish look blue and green, like a Macaw. Schools of fish cruised the reef, all different sizes. The youngest corals seemed to be purple in color and had many nodules of coral.

When navigating in these waters, it is critical not to hit these coral heads with your boat. Depending on what type they are, they can put a hole right in your boat, which is why all the cruisers call them “bommies”. You can see how close to the surface some of them get! Luckily, the water is crystal clear and you can see them coming most of the time and avoid them! The key is keeping the sun at your back. It is virtually impossible to see into the water when the sun is ahead of you.

The sharks keep cruising by and many kinds of little black and white fish live in schools among the coral where they hide, when danger approaches. I even saw a fish that looked like Nemo's best friend swimming thru a hole in the rocks. We saw many kinds of sea slugs, most black and ugly, but this one had cool spots on him. The markings on many fish, make their enemies think their eyes are in a different place. The trumpet fish were huge, the size of your forearm! Then we spotted the big Tahitian Trigger fish. He was larger than the diameter of a basketball and about as thick as a softball. Beautiful lips and yellow markings on his face and fins. The clams were so colorful. Another new fish was the Unicorn fish, with a big thing sticking off his head, as you would expect.

There are about 3 or 4 Pensions on the South part of this island, one is on it's own little island. Only 10 people live in the village, but it used to be, this village was the capital of the Tuamotu's! They have a big solar panel system which charges a large battery bank and runs all things electrical with a huge inverter. The huts on the beach looked inviting, decorated with oyster shells showing off their mother of pearl. The big orange church was built in 1874, reminding us of how long people have lived here. It was surprisingly ornate inside and very colorful. I did not see any dates on the grave stones, but they looked quite old. We did see a few old cars that looked like they no longer ran, but there was a very obvious road that was still being used for walking. The people took great pride in maintaining their homes and plants. We have found this to be true everywhere we have been so far.

I think we have finally found Paradise!!!

Leaving the Marquesas

Clouds creating strong winds

Squall line coming!  Reduce sail!

First view of an atoll from less than 5 miles away

South Pass entrance to Fakarava

Breaking waves just outside the pass

Cute cabanas at the local Pension

Restaurant, dive boats and diveshop

Reef inside atoll to avoid!

The most beautiful water I have ever seen!

Looks like white sand, but actually broken, sun bleached coral bits

Black tipped reef sharks swimming near the boat

Mike snorkeling

New kind of fish

spotted and stripped fish with raccoon fish

blue fish swimming by blue lipped clams

Possibly a stag horn coral, but cool formation

The blue fish love this coral formation

Black tipped reef shark checking me out!

Black tipped reef shark with Ramora attached to his fin

Orange spot and yellow spot fish

Moray eel peeking out of the coral

Moorish Idols

butterfly fish with black "eye" spot above his tail

parrot fish

school of black fish cruising the coral

parrot fish with Nemo's friends

Green lipped clam

purple baby coral heads

Mike swimming around the coarl

Pedro snorkeling

Seriously shallow coral 

Black tipped reef shark cruising 

little bitty black and white fish

Nemo's friend swimming thru a hole in the coral

More beautiful coral formations that you don't want to meet with your boat!

Black and white fish hiding in the coral

Spotted sea slug

Stripped fish swimming around

Big coronet fish

Tahitian Trigger fish

Tahitian Trigger fish

blue lipped clam

unicorn fish

isolated island pension

Solar aray for the village

Back side of the cute cabanas we saw sailing in

Old Orange church

Been here a few years!

So colorful inside

Very old grave stone

road through the village

a lovely drive with no cars!

plants in someone's yard