North to Rotoava Village

2 July 2017

It was time for some new provisions, so we made a slow trip up to the North end of Fakarava to the village of Rotoava. As we sailed up the channel, we came across one of the mega yachts we had seen in Tahiti, the Plan B.

They have plenty of toys including the helicopter. We think this boat belongs to Plan B productions a movie company owned by Brad Pitt, but we did not see him as we went by.

We were sure to stick inside the channel to avoid the bombies, like the one this marker guards.

We stopped half way up the atoll to see if our friend Toko was there, that we had visited the last time we were here. We anchored just in time to see a lovely sunset.

The next morning we took a walk on a white/pink sand beach which had been calling our names.

From the beach it was pretty dense jungle growing, so we staid on the sand.

Until I found this tree to climb. Guess I will forever be that tomboy at heart.

We walked until we ran out of sand, but the water and the palm trees (plus my Miguel) were all so beautiful!

So we walked back toward Toko's camp.

From the camp we saw Avatar between the trees, anchored in the turquoise water.

We anchored the dingy in Toko's lagoon, but did not see his boat.

The sun was shining brightly through his many coconut palms where he usually collects them to make copra.

Toko was nowhere to be found and looked like he had not been here for some time. He always kept the ground very clean, but it was covered with palm frans. We did see many crab holes though. And this was the biggest one headed under a rock.

We used his kitchen area to burn our trash. Too bad he was not there because we had brought him some clothes and other gifts.

And another gorgeous sunset!

For a while now I had asked Mike if he was up to cutting my hair. There are no salons out here! So he decided to day was the day. It came out cute, even if it was a bit shorter than I expected. Turned out to be much cooler too!

We kept making our way North to the village of Rotoava. We saw several resort looking places along the way.

As well as several pearl farms.

These pensions are small hotels and look quite inviting to have someone come and visit us!!

At the NE corner of Fakarava, at the village of Rotoava, the sun now sets behind the North side of the atoll. Still quite lovely....

We spotted a restored old race boat called Tiger Beetle, which is a boat I sold while still a yacht broker in San Diego! Turned out Rob, who I sold it to, was still the owner! What a great surprise! He bought it in 1998! What a joy after all these years to meet up with him here in the South Pacific!