North Fakarava - Bonjours et Adieux (Hellos and Goodbyes)

One of our favorite anchorages so far - Double rainbow over Pakokota in east Fakarava

(The inside calm water belies the racous open ocean on the other side of the palm trees, only a mere 350' away - the atoll is very skinny indeed.)

(Sylvia)
Provisioning in Fakarava: We've traveled up and down the motu of Fakarava a couple of times in the 2+ months we've been here. One of the benefits of this motu is that it has a town for provisioning. The town of Rotoava is in the NE corner of Fakarava and it is there that cruisers can anchor or grab a mooring (free) and visit the town to provision and stock up (3 stores and an excellent fruit/veg stand), leave garbage at the very nice dinghy dock, get fuel/gas/butane, use internet (at Fakarava Yacht Services), visit the ATM at the post office, eat at some restaurants, and as we've already seen, rent a bicycle. One of the down sides of Rotoava is that the prevailing winds come from the SE and, after a fetch of 30 miles, the anchorage can become very bouncy and uncomfortable. It's best to visit Rotoava when the conditions are very flat and/or when the winds are more northerly, hence our stop along the way...

 We "discover" Pakokota Yacht Services: Free wifi and free moorings! The first time we went north we stopped at an anchorage along the way that we'd heard about over the cruiser's HF radio net. It was about 11 mi. south of the town, more protected (less bouncy) than Rotoava and it actually had some internet and yacht services, so we decided to give it a try. Unlike most other motus, Fakarava has fairly well-marked channels, so we had an uneventful (although windy and fast) trip up the channel, navigating from green to red buoy, until we saw NAOMA ahead of us drop their sails and motor into an anchorage. By the time we furled our jib they already had their anchor down and as we approached the anchorage looking for a good spot to drop the hook we heard someone hail us on the radio. "Red boat, red boat, this is Matthieu at Pakokota, you may take that free mooring." Wow, what service! 

Beautiful Pakokota, and check out that antenna!
(The top antenna is the microwave backhaul to bring internet from town (6 nm away) to the resort and anchorage. The lower antenna near the base is for wifi.)

After determining that the offer was for real, we grabbed the mooring and told NAOMA we'd buy them a beer on shore for leading the way yet again. Once on shore we met Pakokota owners Matthieu and Agnes. Matthieu, who is French and speaks very good English, was happy to tell us about their services. Turns out the internet is free, you just need to go in and get a password from them. There is also a common room/bar where you can purchase beer and a few soft drinks. He sells butane (propane substitute) on site, diesel when he has it (usually has a barrel, otherwise can get in town), and for a small fee will drive cruisers into town for gas, provisions, and other errands. They are also a pension and have a bungalow to rent if anyone feels they must get off the boat. 

Agnes can do laundry on site and the charge is less than anywhere else we've seen. They also provide dinners (order in advance) and we enjoyed some excellent meals of items grilled on the BBQ and hamburgers served with a mountain of pommes frites.

For our first visit at Pakokota we were there for just a couple of nights to check it out. We discovered that Matthieu, an antenna engineer and professional diver in a past life (actually, I think he still does diving for the gov't maintaining channel markers), is the one who installed the wi-fi antenna at Pakokota as well as a relay antenna in the middle of the whole atoll that allows South Fakarava to have internet. So thanks to Matthieu there is internet to the rest of Fakarava, not just in Rotoava. He also personally installed the mooring buoys in his anchorage and assured us of their strength. (Yes, we asked!) 

Matthieu and his daughter Hani. Someone said of him, "For Matthieu there are no problems, only solutions."

On our second day there Matthieu drove Nicole and Ryan (NAOMA) and me into town to get gas for the outboards, to pick up our fruit and veg orders from Faka Faapu (more on that later), and to visit the three magasins (stores) in town for supplies. 

Matthieu and his "limousine" for transport into town.
(The rust is barely holding together!)

He also hooked us up with the only guy who sells stalks of bananas, so Nicole and I split a stalk. 

Nicole loves her bananas. Can we eat them before they all ripen? Hope you like banana bread!

We truly enjoyed meeting Matthieu and Agnes and loved Pakokota but our friends JACARANDA and MALUHIA were moored in Rotoava and reported that conditions were calm and flat so we thought we'd better head up there to check it out. 

Tom presents an American flag to Matthieu and Agnes.

Town of Rotoava: The town provides moorings that we heard were just installed this year and quite strong, so when we arrived and found one available and we grabbed it. We were glad to get a mooring because there are a lot of coral heads in the anchorage and one must pick an anchor location carefully and float buoys from the anchor chain to avoid wrapping chain around bommies. 

We were delighted to see that the dinghy dock is easy to get to and, unlike Marquesan wretched/rusty/loose/stab-the-dinghy ladders, Rotoava's ladders to the concrete pier are robust and easy to climb. 

Dear Marquesas, could you PLEASE make dinghy docks and ladders like this? 

The town is not big and it's easy to walk from one end to the other. We had already provisioned from Pakokota so all we really needed to do was order fresh baguettes and croissants for the next day (the magasin boulanger sells out early). We'd heard that the July 14th celebrations were supposed to be happening, but that was all a bit of a bust, so we rented bicycles instead for a day (as seen in a previous post). As mentioned in that post, our favorite restaurants were La Paillote and Rotoava Grill. We've heard the Pearl Havaiki is very good, but we were never in the mood to dine inside, preferring to have a view instead. Maybe next time. 

Faka Faapu: This is a fruit and vegetable stand owned by the charming Sophie. I was able to place an order in advance via sailmail email and to pick up my box of fresh food when Matthieu drove me into town. 

Sophie provides a wonderful service to cruisers. 

In addition to my order I also purchased some fresh herbs, green peppers and lettuce from local gardens. Her prices are the same as the magasins in town; she said she started the advance order service because cruisers used to mob her stand as soon as the fruit and veg was unloaded from the supply ship COBIA and it made her crazy, so order in advance if possible. She also provides to the restaurants in town. For outstanding service call or email her to get the price list: Sophie Devillechabrolle
email: fakafaapu@hotmail.fr 
PH: 87 32 56 78 

Fakarava Yacht Services: we rented bicycles from them, used some internet, and purchased gasoline. They also have a laundry service, sell fresh eggs, and provide airport transfer services. 

While we were in Rotoava there were some July 14th celebrations taking place and the anchorage was a bit noisy at night with people playing loud music, etc. Also, the winds were supposed to clock back around to the SE and we didn't want to get bounced around, so after a couple of days in Rotoava we'd had enough of the "city life" and went back down to Pakokota.

Back in Pakokota: This time when we arrived there was a glut of boats in the anchorage including an Italian charter Cat and a couple of very friendly French boats with kids. Word had gotten out and Pakokota was a popular place! We spent the next 1.5 weeks enjoying meeting new friends and re-connecting with old ones before heading down to South Fakarava for diving and kiting.

International gathering of cruisers for happy hour. We represent the U.S., France, Italy and French Polynesia. (And Chuck has an Irish passport.)

Chuck and Tom - we have coffee aboard JACARANDA

We haven't seen Nico of YELLOW FEATHER since we left Nuku Hiva. We first "met" him by radio as we were crossing the Pacific. Who says you need a dinghy with a motor?

Pakokota Trois: And here we are now, third time in Pakokota. We like it here because Matthieu and Agnes are wonderful and helpful, the internet connection is very good (this is where I've done the previous 4 blog updates), and we're close to town without actually having to be IN town. This time when we arrived NAOMA was here...

Nicole (NAOMA) sups by to say hello

...along with COCCINELLE, a French boat that was anchored here to get some boat work done before their long sail to The Australs. We'd seen COCCINELLE (means Ladybug, pronounced coke-see-nell) a couple of times before and knew it was a family of four with two adorable girls aboard. 

Camille (9) and Apolline (7) of COCCINELLE

However, Matthieu was not in Pakokota; he was in the neighboring motu of Apataki to pick up his sailboat and bring it back to Fakarava, so Gilles of COCCINELLE offered to drive us into town to provision up after our 4 weeks in South Fakarava. We planned the trip on the day the supply ship COBIA arrived. The dock was very busy with cars and trucks arriving to pick up their goods, as well as cruisers standing in line with fuel cans to buy diesel directly from the ship.

The COBIA supply ship offloading goods.

We ran into Simon and Johan, two of four very interesting Swedish guys we met in SW Fakarava aboard the boat KENOBI, buying fuel from the dock. These young men took a year off from their jobs in January, bought a catamaran in the Caribbean, and are sailing it to Australia by December. There, they will sell the boat and then return home. Talk about 'gettin' it done'!

At Pakokota we got into the habit of going in to the bar every evening for a beer, which COCCINELLE would do as well, and we really enjoyed getting to know papa Gilles, mama Armelle, and girls Camille and Apolline. Giles has circumnavigated the globe single-handed and Armelle is a naval architect and was one of the designers for the marvelous reconstruction of the replica of General Lafayette's French frigate L'Hermione. So cool! 

Gilles explained to us that since their names all included a double "ll" they wanted a boat name with double "ll" too, hence COCCINELLE. 

Armelle has Sylvia, Agnes and (baby) Hani aboard for coffee. (Hani drank milk)

After a few days Matthieu sailed into the Pakokota anchorage along with his helper Lucas, a fascinating French photographer traveling the world who happened to stumble into Pakokota (literally, he was on foot!) and was staying for a while to help Matthieu with some projects. 

The next couple of weeks we socialized with NAOMA and COCCINELLE, Lucas and of course Matthieu and Agnes. 

Lucas helped Camille and Apolline build a boat for a school project. Camille holds her discours (speech) about the project that she will present to us for credit.

Even though the visibility isn't great at Pakokota I still got in a fair amount of snorkeling. I would have Tom drop me off at the point about a half mile away, then would slowly snorkel back to the boat.

Drop-off point behind me in the distance.

Nudibranch close to the Pakokota dock.

While here, Tom helped Matthieu install a 4th mooring buoy for cruisers to use. 

Check out that beefy mooring screw!

The mooring screw is about 5' long, made of solid 2" square iron bar, weighs about 80 lbs, costs about $450, and is rated to hold a 20 ton (40,000 lb) boat. (Cinnabar is about 15 tons)

Our dinghy "Quickie" loaded down with mooring gear and scuba tanks.

I watched from the surface and it was very interesting to see them drop the equipment from our dinghy into the water, submerge, screw the giant mooring anchor into the sand, and then shackle the mooring line+buoy onto the screw eye. Before committing to place 'the screw', a 6' iron rebar rod was pounded into the sand to be sure there was no underlying rocks or coral. Then it was removed and a giant 'cheater bar', about 18' long (!), was used for leverage to turn the mooring screw. A lot of circles were swum until the anchor was completely buried. It got really hard to turn near the end but finally, "Voila!", a new mooring was available!

Mooring screw held upright by buoy, about to be screwed into the sand.

We originally came up here with the plan to stay a week and wait for a weather window to sail to Tahiti, but we have now been here THREE WEEKS. Tahiti = work, so we've been dragging our heels. Still, our new sails are due to arrive and we have a lot of boat work to do, so we must make our move. 

NAOMA left a few days ago for Papeete. 

Ryan (driving) with hitchhiker Dianne who lives in Papeete, Nicole on bow.

Then COCCINELLE left for The Australs.

Au revoir to les Coccinelles. Tom was sad to lose his pals Apolline and Camille.

Now it is just CINNABAR along with a lovely multihull with the great name CHEEKY MONKEY, plus Matthieu's boat VISKUS (means fish kiss in Tahitian). Matthieu and Lucas plan to sail VISKUS to Tahiti and we are looking for our next weather window. Maybe tomorrow? 

Next stop Tahiti?? 



ALBUM: North Fakarava HERE


ALBUM: South Fakarava HERE

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

One Of Those Perfect Days - Rotoava, Fakarava

Why does she look so happy? Check out that beach!

Why does he look so happy? Read on...

Don't you just love those days when everything works out wonderfully and you know it will become a day for the memory books? 

After leaving south Fakarava we sailed north until we anchored in the lovely town of Rotoava. It actually felt like the "big city" after 5 weeks without internet or stores. The town has free mooring buoys and we were able to pick one up right between our friends JACARANDA and MALUHIA. We were told that bicycle rentals were available from Fakarava Yacht Services on the far side of town, Linda from JACARANDA contacted them and they agreed to bring the bicycles directly to the quay were we tied up our dinghies.

When we arrived at the quay they were already unloading the bikes from the back of their van. These were comfy beach bikes in excellent condition that would be perfect for the unpaved, coral roads ahead.

We head out to the North Pass on our bikes.

We headed north through town, cheerfully wishing everyone we passed a hearty "bonjour" and "ia orana" (Tahitian greeting), past the airport where the paved road ended, and continued on the more challenging road of dirt and coral. 

Shells? No. Road? Yes!

Eleven kms later we reached the end of the road, the remote and windswept Fakarava North Pass where Cinnabar will eventually exit the lagoon. 

Linda and Sylvia watch the water rushing out of the north pass.

As Linda and I stood there gazing at the water rushing out she wondered out loud "I wonder where the people go to SCUBA dive?" About 2 minutes later a spiffy, large inflatable blasted by us, out the pass, and dropped a boat load of divers into the water. Question answered.

SCUBA divers dropping over the wall outside north pass. photo courtesy of Jacaranda

MALUHIA had done the ride a couple of days before and told us about a picture-perfect beach with fine, white sand at km #9, so on our way back we took a short detour off the road and ended up at a quintessentially south pacific beach where lush palm trees drooped over alabaster white sand. Tom and I jumped in while Chuck relaxed and Linda looked for treasures.

A perfectly beautiful south pacific beach. photo courtesy of Jacaranda

Ready to roll. (photo courtesy of Jacaranda)

Luckily the wind was very light that day so we had almost no headwind on the return trip. As we road through the quaint and picturesque town we stopped at the bakery/store to place our baguettes and croissants order for the next morning, then continued to Fakarava Yacht Services to return our bicycles. We were now on the far end of town so we had a pleasant walk back to the quay to look forward to. However our fun day was not about to end.

Linda had seen some in-water tables at the nearby "5 star" resort Pearl Havaiki and she was not about to continue on until we got a picture of her sitting at the table. In spite of the numerous "Tables For Hotel Guests Only!!" signs littering the area Linda and I shed our outer garments, stepped over the guests lolling in the sand and made our way to a table while Tom followed with a camera.

Linda and Sylvia - scofflaws enjoying the Pearl Havaiki. Photo courtesy of Jacaranda

Unfortunately the snack bar was closed so we were denied drinks. It was now 5:00 p.m. and we were starting to get hungry. We had plans to eat at Rotoava Grill, home of some famous cheeseburgers, but since they didn't open until 6:00 p.m. we stopped at a charming beach cafe for drinks. It was the perfect place to watch the sunset.

Drinks at the wonderful La Paillote, perfect spot to watch the sunset.

When the grill opened we found a table outside next to some flaming tiki torches and enjoyed some of the best cheeseburgers we'd had in quite some time. 

Cheeseburgers in Paradise

After dinner we enjoyed a wonderful stroll back to the quay under the stars, and agreed that our day was one of those special ones that would stick in our memories for a long time.

Linda, Chuck, Sylvia and Tom  - all smiles