Hey everybody,
I've spent the last few weeks in
Fakarava, an atoll near Tahiti.
But first... I had to leave Australia.
I'm not gonna lie, I teared up a little bit on my last day in OZ.
Flying out of Sydney and seeing the sea cliffs and the harbor from
above just as I did when I arrived last December made me nostalgic.
Even if I never make it back, I'll never forget that view. Coming to
OZ was a major leap in my life; I booked a one way ticket, I packed
just about all my shit worth keeping. I had no idea what to expect. I
abandoned the whole life I had built back in the bay area to embark
on this no plan journey down under. Sydney looked so beautiful the
day I arrived. I was excited about all of the possibilities of the
trip. I was excited surf in warm water, go rock climbing, party like
an Aussie. Maybe I would land a sweet job and just settle there.
No such luck; the Oz leg of my trip is
over. It didn't last as long as perhaps I had hoped but in the end I
accomplished just about everything I set out to. I didn't really fall
into the job of my dreams and enjoy any of that good Aussie money.
Instead I spent most of my savings financing an epic road trip around
that giant hunk of land. As far as my 'balance sheet' in life, I'm
probably worse off than when I left: I have a lot less money, a big
hole in my resume, no job, apartment or girlfriend. I might be in a bit better
shape physically but even that is hard to say. All told that's a lot
of 'cost' for this trip. But shit, that's life and the journey was
incredible and life changing. I'm truly grateful for all of the
experiences I had in OZ and especially the people I met along the
way.
Now I'm off on the next adventure.
After 2 days of air travel and an interesting night spent in the
Papeete airport, I arrived on a remote atoll in the Tuamotus Islands
called Fakarava. This 'island is actually a sunken volcano that has
left behind a ring of sand and coral that is 20 or 30 miles across.
The scenery is straight out of a magazine: Lush palm tree's, pink
coral sand beaches sitting atop the bluest water on the planet. The
island is pristine (apart from the disconcerting amount of plastic
that has accumulated on the windward shore).
I touched down in Fakarava on the
evening of my second Friday the 13th in a row. I
hitch-hiked into town. I easily spotted Tusitala from
shore and knew Dave and Briana must be nearby. I wandered around
until I ran into them at a tiny grocery store that sold pricey but
refreshing bottles of beer. We knocked a couple back and got all
caught up before loading up their dingy with all of my luggage and
schlepping it to the boat. It was good to see them and the boat in
good condition this far down the road. They have sailed from San
Francisco to Costa Rica to the Galapagos to the Marquesas to here.
Both Dave and B are salty vets of the cruising game now and have a
pretty mean tan going.
I spent the first couple days getting situated and helping with a bit of boat work.
Then we did some grocery shopping, I had a nice long run with Dave and we went to a pearl farm which was a cool experience for sure. I
learned a lot from an interesting German ex-pat who had been in the
pearl farming game since the 70's. Turns out, even with modern
techniques, it's difficult to produce a perfect pearl. After getting
an in depth rundown of the process, we visited their boutique. The
quality of their best pearls was stunning. Given the difficulty to
produce these shiny nuggets and their beauty, it's easy to see why
they fetch such a premium.
Once
we were done with town stuff in the north we set off to the 'South
Pass', some 30 miles away at the other end of the island. The passage
was smooth sailing on the inside of the atoll with flat water and a
nice consistent breeze. There was still some excitement: a nice windy rain
squall would pop up here and there; we also had to have somebody on
deck keeping an eye out for rogue unmarked coral bommies. Fortunately
the water is so clear you can see them from a mile away. Halfway down
the island we threw out an anchor near a nice little beach. We
paddled ashore and set up a sweet little slack-line between two
palms. It was good times, save the mozzies and sandflies that showed
up in force at dusk.
The next day we
arrived at the pristine anchorage next to the 'South Pass'. The
anchorage is protected on one side by a shallow sandbar and then a
'motu' or strip of island on the other. Immediately after dropping
anchor we see a couple of small but intimidating fins cruising along
the surface. Blacktip sharks. The's fella's aren't particularly
dangerous but they can get up to about six feet and they aren't
afraid to get close to you (especially if you've speared a fish...
more on that in a few).
This place is great
and there's no shortage of fun stuff to do. The first day we went to
the 'South Pass' to snorkel. The pass itself is a few hundred yards
wide gap in the reef. Simply put, the diving and snorkeling here is
world-class. We jumped in the water outside the pass and let the
current sweep us past a half mile of amazing scenery. The water
clarity is stunning: you can see the bottom clearly in 50+ feet of
water. The coral is vibrant and colorful, interestingly similar to in
appearance but quite different in formation to the Great Barrier
Reef. The wildlife, however, was on a whole 'nother level. In the
shallows there were a brilliant array of reef fish of various sizes;
this was a very healthy and colorful ecosystem to be sure. Towards
the center of the channel is where things got interesting. There were
dozens of massive schools of fish, swimming in unison, avoiding
predators etc. Oh and the predators... laying in wait on the inside
of the pass were dozens and dozens of sizable sharks who were having
a grand time snacking on the fish passing by. We also saw a couple of
big barracudas, which were both odd looking and intimidating at the
same time.
Seeing all of this
fish made us hungry. Dave was keen to put his sweet spearfishing rig
to use. We spoke with some locals about where was good hunting and
which fish were good to eat (many fish are contaminated with algae
called siguetera). They told us to avoid the pass because it was too
sharky and pointed us in the direction of a few bommies inside the
atoll. We cruised over, suited up and jumped in. Spearfishing, as it
turns out, is really good fun. It goes like this: You snorkel around
and look for a good fish to shoot. You hold your breath and dive down
deep while trying to relax and equalize the pressure sinus's with the
depth as you go. Then you try and sneak up on the fish by hiding behind
coral heads, playing dead etc. Then, if you're lucky and you get
close enough, you shoot the fish in the head. Now's the fun part...
within seconds there will be a half dozen or more sharks worked into
a frenzy vying to get a nibble of your kill. At this point you can
either, hold the spear and fish out of the water, which confuses the
sharks since they don't know where the dying fish went. Or you can
swim like hell to the dinghy trailing the speargun and fish with a
long leash so that at least if all hell breaks loose with the sharks
you are a little ways away. Most times I chose the latter.
For the most part
our spearfishing was successful and uneventful. Unfortunately, on one
occasion, I was a little over aggressive with my free-dive and didn't
equalize properly which resulted in a bit of a bloody nose. I was
fine, but this meant I needed to give the freediving and spearfishing
a rest. Good thing the wind kicked up for the next couple of days. At
long last, on borrowed gear, I was able to give kiteboarding a try
for the first time. This is something that I've been wanting to do
for ages, and now that I've done it, I just want to do it more. The
first day went surprisingly well. After 10 minutes of getting dragged
around by the kite in no particular direction and swallowing a lot of
saltwater, I found myself skimming across the water, in near silence,
at breakneck speeds!! My sailing speed record is officially
shattered, I musta been going 20 knots. I haven't quite figured out
how to ride on port tack since I'm terrible at surfing with my left
foot forward. On day two I got a little carried away on starboard and
ended up a mile or two downwind in the atoll and had to be scooped up
by Dave and our other friends in the dingy.
All in all our time
in Fakarava was amazing. We hung out with other cruisers on the beach
and barbequed our fresh fish, crabs, konks etc. We did loads of fun
activities. Dave and I played lots of chess. I also had ample
opportunity to reflect on my previous trip and my life in general. I
was tremendously grateful for the change in scenery. Next stop:
Tahiti!! Stay tuned :)
