AdventuresAboardAvatar: July 2016

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Sail to Tahiti

After waiting several days for the winds to lay down below 25 knots, we finally left Fakarava on June 11. The conditions were still not great, but we had to get to Tahiti for paperwork. We motored out of the North entrance, based on the tides I had gotten in Nuku Hiva, but we were about an hour late, as we had our anchor chain wrapped around a bommie! The current was making fairly large standing waves in the center, so we tucked over to the West side of the channel and missed most of the big waves. I did not get a picture of those waves because we were too busy making sure we did not get too close to shore and were driving up and down the waves best we could.

Once outside the channel the sea state settled right down and we rolled out the jib and started sailing. Jade and Morning Light were ahead of us. When we got to the end of the atoll and were entering open ocean, the seas got a bit bumpy again. Under jib alone we were sailing 7.5 knots in 15 to 20 knots of wind with a SE swell of about 10 feet. We could not used the main sail because several of the rivets holding the sail track to the mast had broken. We were afraid if we tried to use it, they may all have come off like a big zipper and we could loose not only the track, but our brand new main sail as well, so in the bag it staid! About 10pm that night we tried to roll up some of the jib, but the wind was strong and tangled up the jib sheets (lines to pull it in and out with). The wind had picked up to 30 and we only had a small amount of sail rolled out, but no way to bring it in, so we just prayed the sail did not shred in the night. Both Jade and Morning Light decided to heave to (a way to stop the boat when conditions get really bad), but because we had no main sail, we could not make that maneuver and had to keep going. This was the most wind we had seen since leaving Mexico! The gimballed stove, rolls with the swells and a few times it swung up in the air, but always staying level. It does show how far over the boat was healed as some of those big SE swells rolled under us!

In the middle of the night we had one big swell that rolled us pretty good and got water all over the deck and splashed the cockpit. By the next morning the wind had subsided back to 15-20 and we were doing 4-5 knots with our flogging piece of sail out that would not roll up. Thank God, Fritz, our windvane was steering the boat quite well. By the morning of June 13 we were 30 miles off Point Venus in Tahiti. As we approached the island at sunrise, we saw all the lights of the city. As we got closer we could see all of the people traffic, Ferries going to other islands and planes taking people back to where ever they came from. There were also several ships waiting for the pilot boat to take them into the harbor.

We motored around to the pass near Marina Taina. The surf on the South side of the channel entrance is apparently world class and there were boats anchored just outside the channel with no people, just surfers in the water. The North side also had some waves, but the pass was relatively flat and easy to pass through. The French do a great job of keeping up all the channel marks and it was easy to follow the path around the reefs and shallow waters toward the Marina. We passed one lovely home with a nice trawler anchored out front. Wondered how long ago he had come here with his boat?! At the marina there were several VERY large sailing yachts. They had anchored out as well as lines provided by the marina and were stern to the dock, Med Moor style. All the slips in the marina are that way. No finger piers to tie up to, just lines from their heavy anchor chain and backed into the dock. The marina was quite full and we anchored just past it on the inland side of the channel. We watched the sun set behind Mo'orea as it turned the sky a glorious orange. Jade and Morning Light made it in the next evening.

We got all our paperwork done right away with Tahiti crew. Then we headed downtown to Pape'ete (which means water basket) to the Haute Commissioners office where we dropped off our papers for our “Carte de Jour” (our one year visa!) This was already approved, from when we applied back in January at the Embassy in Mexico City. All we had to do was drop off the appropriate forms and photos and in less than a week we got our papers, yea!!

We toured a bit around Pape'ete and took photos of some of the sights. There was a statue of a tattooed man at one of the shopping areas and some of the streets are blocked off from cars, only for walking. They were done up in mosaic tiles showing off some of the fish and critters we had seen when snorkeling. The big red glassed structure is the open air market. This is a well known place with fresh veggies and meats, places to eat lunch, and shop for arts and crafts. It was a lovely place and the prices quite good compared to the grocery stores. Several of the downtown houses had lovely carved doors too, with a sea turtle and a lady preparing bread fruit. We stopped in at the well known sailor hang out, the Bora Bora Bar. I had my photo taken with one of the pirates and Scotty took a photo of us behind the face board structure. We saw many fabulous arts and crafts made from wood and pearls. There are several stone carvings and murals painted on buildings down town which make it very festive. One of the whale, reminded us of the Waylan whale painting in La Paz. The other is of the asleep and awake god. At Marina Taina, they have several cool ship artifacts, including this big old anchor and cannon.

The day Sea Otter Jimmy arrived, we had a big reunion dinner aboard Patsy's boat Talion. All of us had come from La Paz, and Jimmy flew in to welcome us, with much needed outboard parts for all of us! Thanks Jimmy!

Before heading to the downtown marina to do our mast repair, we went back to the pass to check out the very impressive surf. The waves had increased in size since we got there and were loudly pounding on the reef. The waves were spectacular, especially with Mo'orea in the background.

Stormy skies

Big wave coming at us from the port side

The gimballed stove staying horizontal

a really big wave!

The Isle of Tahiti

Tahiti as the sun is rising

Lots of people live there!

Airplanes and fast ferries move people on and off Tahiti

Port side of the channel entrance

empty boats anchored on the stb side of channel entrance (surfers)

following the channel markers inside the reef

Nice house and boat!

Big dog mega yachts

Sunset from Tahiti looking at Moorea

Statue of tattooed man

Mosaic art in the walking street

Entrance to the open Market

Inside the market with lots of vendors

Carved door

Carving of breadfruit tree and lady

Shelly with Pirate

Mike and Shelly play tourists

Lovely artwork in a store

Stone carving by Tourism office

Whale mural

Asleep and awake gods

Mike with big Fisherman anchor

very old cannon

Pedro, Patsy, Mike, Jimmy, Shelly and Mike reunion dinner on Talion

Surfs up by the channel entrance

Spindrift as the big wave breaks

Surf on the stb side of the channel

Moorea in the background of wave crashing on the reef

While in Fakarava, we all took a tour of a pearl farm. There are many through out Polynesia, and several on Fakarava. Pearls are a huge industry here and you can get reasonably priced pearls where they are grown and lots of them available in Papeete. You can buy them raw (as is) or drilled or already made into jewelry.

Our host was Gunther, who was a German man that spoke, German, French and English (lucky for us!). He retired here, and married a local gal and has been doing quite well as a pearl farmer.

We went out to the shack over the water, as a fellow cruiser was sailing by on their boat. As with many of the places we have seen, they hoist the local boats using big wheels to bring it out of the water into a boat house. This way the boat is kept safe and no bottom paint is required. Next to the boat they have several planks which have baskets at the end of lines hanging down into the water. These are the older oysters and they use them mostly for tours when they are pulled from the water.

The younger oysters are placed in long skinny tubes of chain-link (like a fence) to grow the oysters. But first they are inseminated with a nucleus, which is a small round piece of plastic which the pearl grows around. This is a very scientific job, as the nucleus has to be placed inside of the gonad of the oyster (ouch for the oyster!). Then a graft of mother of pearl must be made to touch that nucleus so that the oyster will roll it around inside of himself and form the pearl around the outside of the nucleus with this graft. For Polynesian pearls, the pearl coating must be at least 8mm thick. Gunther told us that the pearls from SE Asia only have to be half as thick, which is why Polynesian pearls are worth more. This process takes 18 months!!, so time is a major investment!

Gunther opened one of the oysters from a plastic bin, to show us how they remove the pearl and where it is placed inside the oyster. An oyster can be used up to 4 times to make a pearl, but each time the nucleus has to be the same size as the whole pearl that was removed.

Old oyster shells are discarded everywhere. The ones that still have mother of pearl in their shells are hung in mesh boxes and displayed for decoration. The farm we went to had a nice picnic table under a cover and many unused floats that were used to mark the chain-link tubes that held the working oysters out in the lagoon.

Pearls are classified by not only size and shape, but by shininess and how many surface defects it has. They are graded A, AB, B, BC, C, CD, D etc, depending on all of those classifications added up.

Once the tour is over, they take you to their sales room and you can pick from many pearls, plain or already set. The photos here show Scotty getting the ones he chose to be drilled to put on a bracelet or necklaces and the tools they used. Looked like a mini drill press! We all bought pearls, knowing they would be more once we got to Tahiti. Mike bought me a lovely pair of earrings and a matching necklace pendant, all a shade of green about 10mm. Some of the pearls were very black and others were shades from black purple to blue green. It all depended on which part of the mother of pearl was touching the nucleus as it was rolled around in his gonads!!

Now you know how pearls are made! Creepy huh! But they sure are pretty!

At the pearl farm

A boat sailing past

boat shed and lift

Oysters kept in boxes underwater

fence tubes where new oysters are kept safe underwater

Gunther showing us how to open an oyster

The pearl inside the oyster

discarded shells

decorative shells

Lunch spot at the pearl farm

how to classify a pearl

The workshop by the sales showroom

Scotty getting his pearls drilled

the smallest drill press you have ever seen!

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Fakarava North Rotoava Village

We took two days to sail the 30 miles inside the reef up to the village of Rotoava. We passed many motus, which are little islands on the barrier reef. The seas were flat, even though it was windy and there were wild looking looking clouds along the way. We passed by Hirifa, a very inviting looking anchorage, in the SE corner of the atoll. There is a marked channel along the inside of the reef, as well as a large wide one going up the middle of the basin. We and Jade went up the reef pass and Morning Light would meet us later where the two channels come together, after he got some divers to help him get his anchor out from around a “bommie” at the South anchorage. This can be a regular occurrence in Tuamotus. Pay close attention to where the next mark is, because they are usually located on top of a “bommie”. There were so many fish in the water, the birds were happy and easily fed.

WE anchored in Kakaiau near a gorgeous little cove. It had actual white sand on the beach! And the water was incredibly clear and turquoise over the white sandy bottom. In the next little cove over was the home of Toko. We had seen him waving us in for a visit, so we decided to meet the local on the beach. He had lived here his whole life he said, and grew up here with his parents, who have long passed now. He was alone and enjoyed visitors. His main job was making copra, a process done to coconuts that turns it into oil and is sold in many products world wide. He showed us his very humble abode and kitchen. We were amazed that anything could grown in the raised coral ground. But there seem to be plenty of green plants abound, especially coconut trees! He took us on the trail over to the ocean side. He said this is where he catches lobster! The sea was covered with white caps and looked rambunctious. Glad we were cruising inside the atoll! The “dirt” road which was over crushed coral, continued just a bit past Toko's property, where the ocean crossed over the reef, the end of the biggest motu on this atoll. If you took the road to the North, you would eventually meet up with a cement paved road that led to the village of Rotoava in the NE corner. Toko would collect the huge hermit crabs running everywhere and use them for fishing bait! We also saw big grey land crabs. Still have not yet seen one of those coconut crabs, which are reported to be huge! Toko raises coconut trees from sprouts and keeps his property very clean under the trees. He offered us two green coconuts to take back to the boat and drink, so he plucked them from the tree top with a big long special made stick. Another gorgeous sunset graced us, as we were all back together again.

The next day, the wind was perfect for a great sail, strong beam reach on flat, inside the atoll seas. The Avatar flew out in front of Jade, who staid right on our tail all the way, because his depth sounder had stopped working. Morning Light, with his huge Polynesian flag, followed along and we surely looked great in our 3 flock formation!

When we arrived, we found that Rotoava, truly was at the end of the rainbow. There was a big wharf where the supply ship tied up when in town, and inside of it was where we could tie up our dinghies. The houses on the water looked quite quaint, with most of them having fishing boats on hoists.

In town, we bought a phone card and called our families from this amazing payphone by the beach. Too good to be true! Most of the roads were “sand” dirt roads in town, but the one paved road goes out to the airport. I am still mesmerized by all the green plants after living in the Baja desert for so long. Most houses were quite well maintained, and had either a fishing boat or Proa (paddled outrigger canoe) in the yard. And the trees that have flower blossoms are still my favorite, so pretty! Of course not everyone had those trees, so they decorated their leafless ones with pieces of coral. Growing plants seemed to a big thing in most yards, not much grass here to mow! There is a big white and red roofed church overlooking the road and the lagoon. Some houses with tin type roofs used big lines run over them, tied down to sandbags, just in case the winds got too strong and tried to blow them away. All the roof edges were lined with gutters, which sent the water into big tanks. Rain is their main supply of water here, although we were told some people did have wells. It does rain a lot, so it is handy to be able to collect it for use! Some places had beautiful murals painted on them too.

When one fisherman brought in some of the biggest Dorado we had seen in ages, a big sting ray passed under the dock where the blood was dripping into the water. Soon sharks came as well, but this was the first big ray we had seen. The fisherman said he goes outside the atoll and catches these fish with a harpoon. He finds them under the big flocks of seabirds out there. Nice catch! And he had cute kids too!

Another man had built a custom sailing outrigger canoe. We had seen his sign explaining about his sponsors, with the boat under a tarp. One day he showed up and put it together to go sailing. It is built in the traditional way of tying together the beams, but the materials used were all modern. The hull was built of fiberglass and resign, the beams were tied with high tech lines like the ones used in America's Cup type boats. With a traditional type sail, he said the thing sails at 18 knots easily. It was quite impressive!

Rotoava has about 900 residents, but only a few have cars. Most get around on bicycles. We kept passing this one house where the kids were gathering to play music. Then we found out, there was to be a big show at the local school, and we were invited! Some of the teachers showed their stuff as they danced with big lays around their necks. Then the kids came out and showed off their drumming and dance moves in great costumes. These were the dances of their Marquesan ancestors. We felt privileged to see this show, not meant for tourists, but for parents and kids of the school. How special for us! The moon was so happy he was smiling down upon us, having just returned from being new and completely blacked out.