South Fakarava - Something For Everyone

Fakarava atoll is the second largest atoll in The Tuamotu Archipelago (after Rangiroa). It is roughly rectangular in shape and measures 37 mi. long by 13 mi. wide. The town of Rotoava (where we rented our bicycles in the last post) is in the NE corner. Generally speaking, since the prevailing strong winds come from the east to the south, boats usually anchor in the protected southern portions of the atolls. Occasionally the winds clock north and become quite mild, making the northern anchorages bearable and even pleasant. Such was the case when we were in Rotoava, however we knew the winds were predicted to become much stronger and would be from the SE, so we left north Fakarava and headed back to the very protected anchorage of Hirifa.


HIRIFA is in the SE corner of the atoll and offers a well-protected anchorage, good beach walks on both the leeward and windward sides (finding cowry shells became almost boring after a while!), a restaurant on shore, and the opportunity for windsurfing and kiting which became our primary focus. There are other things to do when the winds are down...

...such as dining at Liza and Tori's restaurant...

...and gathering on the beach for a sunset BBQ...
L to R: Dave (MALUHIA), Linda (JACARANDA), Andrew (EYE CANDY), Tom, Claire (EYE CANDY), Kim (MALUHIA)

...but when the wind becomes strong enough to kite all the boats that enjoy this sport pack their dinghies with gear and head for the launch spots. As in Tahanea, we were very grateful to have our friends on NAOMA in the anchorage with us to help us select the best launching sites, etc.

Ryan from NAOMA entertains the dinghy watchers. Nicole (NAOMA) and Jan (L'AVENIR) enjoy the show.

The first couple of times Tom was able to launch from the nearby beach which was pretty easy. But when the wind shifted more easterly we had to dinghy out to a sand spit in the middle of the hoa (shallow channel where water goes in and out of the atoll) and launch while standing in ankle-deep water, quite a new experience! I'm not sure we would have thought to do that, except the local kiting hotshot Adrien was out there giving lessons, so we figured if he could do it so could we. 

We inflated the kites on this sliver of a sand spit out in the middle of nowhere, the kiters had to stand in the water to launch.

I usually go with Tom to help him launch and to be ready with the dinghy in case the wind drops and/or the current becomes too strong and he gets stranded downwind. I've actually had to "rescue" him a couple of times. 

Retrieving the kite from the dinghy, not that easy.

It's great fun to anchor the dinghy right in the middle of all the kiters and windsurfers and watch them zipping back and forth doing their tricks.

One day while I was siting in the dinghy in very shallow water watching Tom I noticed something racing toward me at torpedo speed. I thought for sure it was going to hit the dinghy but at the last moment it veered away into deeper water. Tom had startled a small black-tip reef shark so badly that it swam at top speed, half out of the water, to escape him! 

Tom terrifies the reef sharks.

The snorkeling is not very good in Hirifa, but I did get in the water a few times and managed to see a number of black-tipped reef sharks and one afternoon was startled by a very large gray shark. 



SW ANCHORAGE: We had already tied up to a mooring on the north side of the South Pass by the quaint Tetamanu Village and it was a bit bouncy for our tastes. Tetamanu is a tourist destination with dive operations, pensions and a restaurant or two. (On the up side, it is a lot easier to grab a mooring buoy than to set the anchor and reports from someone who dove the moorings is that they appear to be robust.) 

Our friends aboard Jacaranda had moved to the anchorage on the other side of the South Pass and reported it was flat water. We'd heard it was a coral bommie mine field but they sent us their waypoints and assured us it was doable for Cinnabar. 

SW Anchorage - Tom launched from the little motu far right

Also, Adrien the kiting instructor was anchored there and kiting up a storm with his students. 

Adrien and girlfriend Dianne aboard their 28' boat on which they keep 12 sets of kiting gear!

The added bonus of this location is that the diving is much better so I was all for the move. 

As we entered the anchorage we saw Google's 240' luxury yacht DRAGONFLY leaving. They must have heard we were coming!

This anchorage features beautiful sand beaches, long scenic hoas and of course the kiting and diving.

We dinghied far into a hoa for a fun "jungle cruise". The water was so shallow we had to lift the motor and row in. Tom made a cool little video of our journey HERE.

Launching the kite was much easier in this location because it was so exposed to the winds.

Tom kiting, Cinnabar in the background (far right)

The South Pass is a world-renowned dive site and the snorkeling was excellent. We did a couple of drift dives on the incoming tide through the pass. On one dive we saw a school of 12 spotted eagle rays! That was the day we forgot to put the SIM card in the GoPro. 

The place had good visibility, tons of reef fish and hundreds of sharks - we saw black-tipped reef sharks, white-tips, gray sharks and lemon sharks.

A fun day snorkeling the South Pass.

The South Pass is famous for its spawning groupers

Graceful spotted eagle ray

We saw hundreds of black tips of all sizes

Moorish Idol with Ornate Butterflyfish

The sunsets from south Fakarava were magnificent and we saw 3 green flashes in one week, so cool! But this full moonrise just as the sun was setting was pretty spectacular too.

Full moon from the scenic SW anchorage.

The inevitable happened, we nearly ran out of some essential provisions. We had NO fresh fruit or veg left, we ran out of yeast and flour to make bread, and we were getting perilously low on beer and cheese, so we had to leave South Fakarava and make our way north again to provision and to get ready to leave for Tahiti. 

We are back in NE Fakarava enjoying internet access and waiting for a weather window to sail to Papeete. More on North Fakarava later.

Sylvia
Pakokota, Fakarava

Cinnabar Update

(Sylvia)

We finally have a decent internet connection after 5 weeks without wi-fi and in between snorkeling, kiting, boat work and socializing I've managed to put together a couple of online photo albums.

Some exciting kiting in Tahanea. Here Ryan from NAOMA jumps the dinghy that Nicole and I are sitting in! Read on...

Album: Nuku Hiva to Tahanea - The pictures of our journey to and 2+ weeks in Tahanea. Lots of pics of green and blue.

After we left the great snorkeling of the north anchorage we headed south so Tom could enjoy the reportedly epic kiting in the SE anchorage. Finally the wind strength and angle were good enough for Tom and Ryan of NAOMA to do some beach launches. We're still waiting for Tom to do a piece on the kiting (in between his numerous boat chores and responsibilities), but for now here are a few pics of the days (incl. 4 days of kiting) we enjoyed in Tahanea, SE anchorage:

Right after anchoring we check out possible launch locations. Beautiful, yes?

Tom's first day of kiting!

Tom and Ryan of kiting in a picture perfect location.

Nicole (NAOMA) and Sylvia on dinghy patrol.

GoPro on kite - Tom at bottom, I'm in the dinghy picking him up, Cinnabar in the background.

Under the heading of better late than never:
Album: Last Days In The Marquesas - Yes, I realize we left Nuku Hiva 5 weeks ago but we did a terrific land tour our last day in Taioha'e. We visited the Taipivai Valley which inspired Herman Melville's book Typee. He actually escaped from a whaling ship in Taioha'e and somehow made his way through the jungle and over the steep mountains to the neighboring valley, supposedly populated by the fierce Taipivai cannibals. Instead he found happy and generous people who nursed him back to health, fed him, and entertained him. 

IMPULSIVE, SCOOTS, and CINNABAR overlooking the Taipivai Valley

Tom inspects a very recent landslide along the narrow, steep road.

This would be our goodbye to Debbie and Morris on IMPULSIVE who would be returning to the Pacific Northwest. And who knew if or when we would see SCOOTS again? It was a fun way to spend time with some of our favorite people.

Morris, Tom and Eric enjoyed their goat curry at Chez Yvonne in Hatiheu Bay.

We toured the island and even though the guys had already hiked to Hatiheu back when we were anchored in Anaho, this was an opportunity for Debbie, Vandy and me to visit, as well as get detailed info from our tour guide about large population of ancient people who once lived there.

I knew once we left Nuku Hiva we would not have access to any kind of store for at least a month so I was lucky to find an assortment of fresh fruit and vegetables before leaving Taioha'e. 

I couldn't believe my luck in scoring lettuce, tomatoes, apples and avocados along with the usual cabbage, long beans, pamplemousse and limes.

Finding fresh produce in The Marquesas and The Tuamotus can be challenging, so we are always on the lookout for the opportunity to stock up. But that's remote island living for you.


Cheers, Sylvia
Pakokota, Fakarava

La Ventana - Kites and Wahoos!!

A number of years ago, in 2000, Tom and I traveled to Israel for the wedding reception of a close family friend. The family invited us to tour through Israel and part of Egypt for some scuba diving and ocean recreation. While at the beach at Eilat we spied some people who were trying a sport we had never seen before. They were on smallish boards, like snowboards, and were being pulled through the water by giant, crescent-shaped kites. They didn't seem to be in great control of their kites; in fact one poor guy was heading straight for Jordan and was soon lost from sight. Hopefully he got rescued or figured out how to tack his kite before hitting land on the other side of the Red Sea! Forget about that sport, it looks ridiculous. 

Skip ahead ten years, the equipment and safety evolves, and there are GoPro videos of sane people enjoying euphoric kiting session in the S. Pacific tradewinds across the warm, idyllic turquoise waters of the Tuamotu Archipelago (French Polynesia). That, combined with running across a few a cruisers who are avid kiters, was enough to overcome the old bias. Since then Tom has been dying to learn this sport. 

Last week, after installing Cinnabar's new batteries, we decided to take a break and visit La Ventana which is renowned for its steady winds, excellent kiteboarding, and bluewater spearfishing tournaments. People go there from all over the world to take kite lessons and to enjoy the warm, flat water and mostly reliable winds.  Palapas Ventana was personally recommended to us by our friend Mike (of Mulege fame). So Tom made the arrangements, we rented a car, and headed down the dusty road to La Ventana, just an hour or so from La Paz.

The welcoming patio at Palapas Ventana

After some initial confusion, trying to check into "the office" when we actually needed to check into the restaurant (silly us), we got ourselves sorted out and were told that Tom's instructor was ready for him. His instructor, "Chente" (Mexican nickname for Vincent) was a strapping young Belgian man with a huge smile and a big bag of ice on his leg. Uh oh, kiteboard injury? No, just too much dancing the night before!

Chente, instructor extraordinaire

We dropped our bags off at our casita and Tom headed down to his lesson while I grabbed a cold drink and settled myself on the patio to watch the antics on the beach below. Tom was down there several hours while Chente gave him very concentrated lessons. I could see that Chente was focused at all times and not at all distracted by everything else going on around him. Tom was very impressed! 

See Tom and kite down on the beach?

The next day I got up early, sat on the porch of our casita, and was amazed at all the wildlife in the area. Out on the water was a huge school of dolphin following a bait ball of fish and accompanied by sea birds squawking overhead. There were so many birds around me, flitting among the cactus and scrub, that it was hard to keep track of them; vivid golden hooded orioles, yellow-breasted chats and dainty goldfinches, frenetic gila woodpeckers punching holes in the cactus, perky red-crowned cardinals, energetic hummingbirds, and morning doves who claimed our foot wash basin for their bird bath. 

Tom's lesson began at 10:00 and would last the entire day. Chente started by taking Tom up the beach and giving him instruction on how to control the kite in the air (NOT easy) while at the same time getting your board set up in the water, getting your feet onto the board, and then preparing to have the powerful kite rip you out of the water. The challenge is to stay balanced on the board while the kite wants to yank you over and slam you face first into the water. Fun stuff. 

Chente makes it look so easy

Tom eventually went into the water and "body-dragged" (key kiting skill) himself from one end of the beach to the other, while Chente rode along on his quad giving instructions to Tom via the radio on his crash helmet. 

Tom's excellent body-dragging technique

The next challenge, like with water skiiing, was to stand up on and ride the board. Chente was very impressed that Tom actually got up a couple of times. This back-and-forth-up-and-down the beach went on all day.

Chente drives Tom back up the beach

Later that afternoon the owner Tim showed up at the beach with his friend Ross (an impressive guy from Boston who skippers expensive oil crew boats down in the Gulf of Mexico) and spearfishing guide Stan with FIVE wahoo, the result of their day of spearfishing off nearby Isla Cerralvo! Tim explained that due to the unseasonably warm water the wahoo were showing up early. 

Tim, Ross and Stan with their wahoo

Tim whipped up two kinds of poke and a plate of sashimi and served them to us up at the restaurant. What a feast!

The weather forecast for the next day was no wind, so instead of kiting we elected to go on our own spearfishing expedition in the hopes of getting some fresh fish for our freezer. We talked Chente into joining us as his last hurrah before heading off to a new 2-month kite instructor job in the Bahamas.

The next morning we headed out early for our expedition. Spearfishing guide Stan, from Bulgaria, was a diving machine. 

Spearfishing guide Stan, the fish should be very worried!

He gave clear instructions on how to lure and shoot the fish (don't look 'em in the eyes!) and with no further ado he got the spearguns ready (7' long bluewater 'rifles') , threw his "flashers" into the water (shiny, sparkly things to attract the wahoo), threw everyone's floats into the water (the floats track the fish once shot), and the divers followed. Ideally the wahoo are attracted to the flashers and can be seen from the surface. Easy, right? Well, not so easy as wahoo are long skinny fish. It's much easier to shoot a fat fish! 

While the divers drifted in the current eagerly scanning the blue abyss for any sign of big gamefish, I happened to land the first fish from the boat, a small bonita caught with rod and reel. Near the divers, elusive wahoo would warily alight into view, in small groups of 2-5 fish, do a quick scan of the scene, and soon continue away on their continual cruise for food. Sometimes the fish were shallow, sometimes deep, and with just moments to prepare, getting a good shot was a challenge. After a couple of near misses and one escape (Stan's "chingon" ("effen great") shot - sure!), we eventually got a wahoo and a pargo before Tom and Chente needed a landlubber break on Isla Cerralvo. While they got their equilibrium in order Stan continued to free dive and when Capitan Yonni and I got back from a few spins trolling for yellowtail Stan had shot a large cabrilla.

It was getting late in the afternoon and we had just enough time for a couple more drifts to look for wahoo. Hopefully we would get at least one more. Just as Capitan Yonni said "El mar está vacía" (the sea is empty), Tom spied a wahoo and missed it, he alerted Chente, who also missed, but luckily Stan was prepared and shot it as it swam by him. After a good fight, and a second spear to prevent escape, Tom was able to land the wahoo... 

Tom terminates the second wahoo, avoiding sharp teeth

...and the day's take was 2 wahoo, 1 cabrilla, 1 pargo, and 1 bonita. 

Chente, Stan and Tom with the day's catch

Stan and Yonni filleted the fish and shared it all around, so we went home with a freezer-load of fresh catch. Hooray!!!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner of fresh fish with our new friends and I trundled off to bed, admittedly slightly nervous about leaving Tom with Chente in the kiteboard equipment store adjacent to the restaurant.

All in all we had a great time at Palapas Ventana. Owner Tim does a superb job of having all sorts of activities for his guests, or you can just read, relax and walk on the beach. I'm certain we will be back.

A great time at Palapas Ventana!

More pictures of our fun time in La Ventana are HERE.