Good Morning to everyone! Family Circus has sighted land! Tahiti is dead ahead, maybe 24 miles out. Its quite a mountainous island, and the largest in French Polynesia and quite a visible change from the atolls of the Tuamotus, where the first sight you'd see would be palm trees, and only when you were within a few miles of them.
Sighting land for the first time never seems to get old, even though this trip we've been on is very short- only 230 miles and one overnight. (Its funny how our family now gauges trips by "How many nights, Daddy?" - Alina and Amaia I cant imagine what it would have been like for sailors who would have been for see for multiple months, in crappy conditions, hoping that their navigation was right. We've had a very easy passage from Toau, having left yesterday morning at 0345 in sparkling moonlight, flat seas and unfortunately no wind.
Our starboard engine (we generally only run one on passage to conserve fuel) has gotten a workout over the last 27 hours, but I just was able to turn it off for this final run in to Papeete. The wind is up to 9-11 knots and Family Circus is moving along smartly at 7-8 knots on a close reach. Heather took the 11-2 shift, Mykaela 2-5, and I got to sight land at 6am- with Tristan and Lexi sleeping in the cockpit, Amaia we moved to the couch, and Alina crawled in to our bed. (Tristan got up for 2 groggy minutes to see land and is now back asleep). I am sitting on the aft deck, in a bean bag, with a coffee at my side, a blanket wrapped around me as the temperature has dropped a bit, the sun rising over some squally clouds to my left, and Tahiti getting closer to my right - I have had much worse mornings.
We're running out of time!!!!! Thats the realization I'm coming to. The French government allows us a 90 day visa for the visit unless we apply for a long term visa ahead of time in an embassy in the US. Given our plan to sail through much of the vast Pacific and arriving in New Zealand this winter, we cant afford much more time anyway, but just the same, it feels rushed to do the "Society Islands" (Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Bora Bora, Maupiti) in one month and four days, which is all we have left on our visa. I probably shouldnt complain too publicly, as I do remember the "real world" from just 9 months ago, but nevertheless, thats whats running through my mind.
Several cruisers have minimized the Tuamotus in conversations with us, while others raved about them and I am glad we listened to the latter. Pristine water with visibility past 100 feet, endless fish and coral to peruse, nobody around - it was an easy environment to get used to. Unfortunately our underwater cameras dont seem to capture the visible experience close to what our own eyes do, but they'll have to do. We also got much more used to sharks than I expected us to, although on the second to last day a grey shark reminded us that we are guests in their world.
After talking with the locals about which fish would have ciguetera (none in this atoll- its an atoll by atoll thing) and which fish were good eating, we decided to try spear fishing. We had done much less than I had hoped since starting this trip. Back home, when I dove with my brother Mike, the main challenges are going deep enough, finding the fish and staying warm. Here staying warm was replaced by "you have somewhere between 30 seconds and a minute to get the fish out of the water after you spear it" - it was an interesting new wrinkle. I also had heard that some people think that the sharks now know the sound of speargun triggers firing, or spears hitting coral, and they start paying a visit. We had picked a fairly rough first day to hunt around with the boys from Shine, but it was exciting for Tristan to be hunting as well. I finally hit a flounder/flat fish and landed it in the boat without an issue, so I started feeling good about it.
About 10 minutes later, I was chasing a grouper, and popped up to check on where the dinghy was so that I knew where to swim to. Everyone was back in the dinghy and Tristan was beckoning me over with a frantic wave. I put my head down and started kicking over, and when I was within 6 feet I saw a large movement in the periphery of my goggles. I glanced over and saw a very large grey shark making circles and eyeing the neighborhood- he was probably only 5 or 6 feet long, but unlike the other svelte black tips, he was a very portly, powerful looking beast. Apparently, Patrick had hit a grouper, and the boys were poking at another one, when the shark turned up and started nosing really closely to where the boys were. Patrick said the boys jumped in to the dinghy powered purely by strong leg kicks, barely using their hands. I kept glancing down as I jumped in to the dinghy myself, and we decided to end our hunting for the day. It was a lasting memory, and one that Tristan wont forget soon- what at adventure!
Well, the sun is now revealing the green hillsides of Tahiti, and I've got to go put the fishing lines in the water, read about port entry and get the kids breakfast, but we hope to write and send pictures soon. We hope you are all doing great and emnjoying your adventures! CHRIS
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Family Circus
Wild Oaks Family Farm, Shenandoah Valley, Plymouth, CA
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Leaving a slice of paradise for the chaos of Tahiti
Hello Everyone,
By the time you are reading this we are half way to Tahiti. We are finally leaving the Tuamotus for Tahiti. We have really enjoyed our time here in Anse Amyot. Gaston and Valetine have been the most hospitable and generous with their home here. It is truly a little slice of paradise. We really enjoyed all the fantastic snorkeling, speared a few fish, collected some shells, had a BBQ on the beach, played with puppies and little piglets. The snorkeling the last few days has been unbelievably clear and there are so many fish to see along with the casual black tip reef and grey shark. Today we went out to the edge of the reef and snorkeled out there. It is so amazing to be able to see this shelf that just completely drops off into the Abyss.. Took some selfies under water there, Chris speared a grouper and a red snapper that he is now cooking for dinner. The sunset is amazing and a full moon is just peeking up from the east horizon. It will be the most amazing star studded night.
We will be leaving here around 4am to get a good start on our 240 mile passage to Tahiti. We are looking forward to chow mein and some ice cream. We have truly been spoiled since leaving Mexico being in such remote places.. we are a little nervous about going to the big city... It seems since forever that we have actually had to look both ways before we cross a street or have been in a crowd of people or heaven forbid a line in a store... I think the most people we have seen at one time was at the dance in Nuka Hiva. Ugh... back to civilization... I feel so spoiled saying that in a way I don't want to go to Tahiti... but we have so many things to take care of and some boat maintenance to catch up on... Plus on the bonus we have a few visitors coming to see us that we are very excited to see. Kevin, Mykaela's boyfriend, and Grammy and Grandpa Carl will be joining us for a little polynesian adventure... We are all so excited!
I am hoping to upload some pictures finally and get some laundry and provisioning done while we are at the marina... I hope and cross my fingers that the wifi is strong enough to upload some of these amazing photos that we have taken... they don't do the justice to the locations or give the feelings that we have been experiencing along the way but hopefully you will get a taste of these amazing atolls.
Hugs and love to everyone,
Heath
----------
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By the time you are reading this we are half way to Tahiti. We are finally leaving the Tuamotus for Tahiti. We have really enjoyed our time here in Anse Amyot. Gaston and Valetine have been the most hospitable and generous with their home here. It is truly a little slice of paradise. We really enjoyed all the fantastic snorkeling, speared a few fish, collected some shells, had a BBQ on the beach, played with puppies and little piglets. The snorkeling the last few days has been unbelievably clear and there are so many fish to see along with the casual black tip reef and grey shark. Today we went out to the edge of the reef and snorkeled out there. It is so amazing to be able to see this shelf that just completely drops off into the Abyss.. Took some selfies under water there, Chris speared a grouper and a red snapper that he is now cooking for dinner. The sunset is amazing and a full moon is just peeking up from the east horizon. It will be the most amazing star studded night.
We will be leaving here around 4am to get a good start on our 240 mile passage to Tahiti. We are looking forward to chow mein and some ice cream. We have truly been spoiled since leaving Mexico being in such remote places.. we are a little nervous about going to the big city... It seems since forever that we have actually had to look both ways before we cross a street or have been in a crowd of people or heaven forbid a line in a store... I think the most people we have seen at one time was at the dance in Nuka Hiva. Ugh... back to civilization... I feel so spoiled saying that in a way I don't want to go to Tahiti... but we have so many things to take care of and some boat maintenance to catch up on... Plus on the bonus we have a few visitors coming to see us that we are very excited to see. Kevin, Mykaela's boyfriend, and Grammy and Grandpa Carl will be joining us for a little polynesian adventure... We are all so excited!
I am hoping to upload some pictures finally and get some laundry and provisioning done while we are at the marina... I hope and cross my fingers that the wifi is strong enough to upload some of these amazing photos that we have taken... they don't do the justice to the locations or give the feelings that we have been experiencing along the way but hopefully you will get a taste of these amazing atolls.
Hugs and love to everyone,
Heath
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Sunday, May 31, 2015
New paradise in Anse Amyot before the Big City!
Hello from Anse Amyot!
We are in another idyllic location - not quite inside the atoll of Toau, but not quite outside either. There is a false pass on the northwestern end of the atoll, and it is here that Gaston and Valentina, and their relatives, have established a small paradise that they willingly share with cruisers, even setting up moorings in the false pass so that you don't have to navigate anchoring. We are currently sharing the anchorage with two aluminum French boats and Shine, the family we have buddy boated with for a bit and had a great time with.
After South Fakarava, North Fakarava was a bit of a let down visually, though we certainly enjoyed some internet access (catching up on the Warriors!), and fresh baguettes. One day we rented bikes in the afternoon, along with the "Shine" family, and biked about 10 miles along the only paved road on the atoll. We made it down to the pearl farm we visited earlier, and the small grocery store that was next to it, that had cold ice cream, water and beer. It was fun to do a "Land activity again" and to bike big "beach cruiser" bikes carefree on a wide open road with almost no traffic at all. I'm especially proud of Amaia who made it the whole way on her own bike, with smaller 20 inch wheels it was quite a haul!
We had met "Shine" in South Fakarava for the first time, and had sailed down the Fakarava channel together- we have similar 47 foot catamarans which helps keep our sailing edge when we are sailing in company. In North Fakarava they invited us for a pot of curry and we enjoyed a great evening with Patrick and Ana and their kids George, Xesca and Archie (their oldest son Max is off crewing on superyachts and making real money!) During the evening the kids decided to go back to our boat for a movie, and somehow in the dinghy shuffle our dinghy was cast free, something we unfortunately didn't realize until 90 minutes later when Heather and I were about to head back. We were lucky that Shine has a very nice 13 foot dinghy with a steering console and 30 hp engine and they offered to help us search in the pitch black night. Using two flashlights and approximating the wind/drift current we slowly scanned a corner of the atoll, the most treacherous part being coral heads that we couldn't see. It felt quite hopeless after a while, and I was about to call it a night when we spotted our "family car" sadly bouncing on a coral shelf and being pounded by wind waves. We careful maneuvered it free and towed it home- elated to find it and our new engine, but cautious about the damage that had been done. Fast forwarding to today- we are on our third day of trying to find and patch all the holes to have it hold enough air- its probably a 50/50 proposition right now - certainly a bit troubling for one more of our most important adventure vehicles.
Having done a quick provisioning run right after the supply ship came in on Thursday morning, Shine and Family Circus raised our anchors for the 40 mile sail down to Toau and Anse Amyot. The breeze was almost perfect and we enjoyed a fast fun sail, using our gennaker and even patching up a two foot tear in our asymmetrical "Womper", and flying it successfully. We were gybing back to our destination, when one of our fishing reels started clicking wildly! Fish On! Setting the hook, I saw the fish jump and knew we had finally hooked a dorado again. We reeled it in fairly quickly, with Heather masterfully slowing the boat down both with the engines and the sail angle. Tristan handled the final few feet and I gaffed and boarded the largest iridescent green Dorado we had caught to date. It was as tall as Tristan and weighed in at 28 lbs. We quickly entered the false pass and picked up a mooring, and as I cleaned the fish we were circled by many sharks who patiently waited for scraps.
We are on our fourth night now, enjoying so much that is offered. We had Shine over to our boat for an amazing night of Farkle and Dibble games. They enjoyed learning these new games, and even Amaia and Alina participated in Dibble and charcoal marked faces by the end of the evening. We'll have to get some photos uploaded soon! The snorkeling is quite fantastic right next to the boats and the beaches are fun to forage around, but the stars of the show are the compound that Valentina and Gaston have - and for our kids - five 3 week old puppies, three adult dogs, and several piglets with two day old piglets. Our kids are regular visitors every day! The compound is shared with a few family members, and is completely self sufficient, catching rainwater and using a diesel generator and solar for power. The operate a part time restaurant and we made reservations a day ahead, and on the morning of we heard part our dinner being caught and silenced. Cooking the meal for the three boat crews attending was an all day affair. In the afternoon we joined Gaston and his nephew as they went over to their fish trap on the other side of the pass. It was actually quite a fascinating experience, as the pen was completely full of many different kinds of fish, as well as a few uninvited predators. As we arrived to watch, Gaston used a very long harpoon/spear to hit and pull a large 4 foot barracuda out of the water before spearing a 5 ft moray eel. Some of us put our masks on to watch from in the water- and Gaston moved to the entry pen where a reef shark was patrolling the water. Standing from the boat he speared the shark behind the head and landed it in his boat and then he jumped in to the pen with what looked like a garbage can made of chicken wire. He simply cornered the fish in to a corner, but the "can" down and hoarded 15-20 fish in to it- it was amazingly simple. We followed him back as they cleaning process apparently has a fun shark feeding aspect. The kids were fascinated as he gutted and cleaned fish, attracting sharks with the scraps, with the highlight being when he tied the barracuda to a line and we watched as 15-20 sharks thrashed around, getting a bite. It was quite a spectacle to watch, including instinctively pulling your kids just a bit back from the edge of the deck. The most astounding thing might have been the two medium size dogs that patrolled the dock, barking at the sharks, before one of them jumped in and chased them away! Apparently she does this all the time, and she stood on a shallow coral reef, barking at any shark that dared get close. It was great to see, and certainly not what I would have expected to happen!
We cleaned up on the boat and Shine dinghied us back to shore, as we are still without a functional car, and we sat down around a beautifully decorated, large square table with the other crews. The food came out quickly and was astoundingly good! A focaccia appetizer, coconut rice with parrot fish poisson cru, fresh pork in oyster sauce, BBQ pig, coconut bread, delicious french fries, pig cooked in its blood and a really wonderful moist cake to chase it down. It was all amazingly well prepared in a small kitchen and completely delicious. After dinner we were slowing down, and the kids were playing next door when our hosts invited us outside in a circle where they were tuning their ukeleles. With their nephew visiting, they were short a ukelele or guitar, and our kids headed back to the boats to get three ukeleles and two guitars. I was happy sharing the rhythmic duties with Gaston as he and I played the spoons and an empty 6 gallon water container. Our hosts played and sang some beautiful Polynesian and French tunes, under a starry night sky. They urged us to play our own songs- but unfortunately between us we had a very very limited repertoire- Xesca and Mykaela both strummed and sang some beautiful songs, but mostly our hosts strummed away, drinking their homemade, well fortified beer. It was great to see our older kids engaged and glimpsing at a very cool part of another culture. I hope they remember nights like that.
We probably wanted to leave today or tomorrow but the weather forecasts show "reinforced trades" that should calm down in a few days. Its only a 230 mile run to Papeete, Tahiti from here, but we will try and get the best window we can, knowing that we need to get to the Big City soon to start working on our more serious repair projects. Walking on a Sunday sunset beach stroll tonight, we were thinking what a shift it will be to leave the very remote and deserted Tuamotus and head to Tahiti and the next islands, where remote, small anchorages are much harder to find with all of the development and population. I am sure it will be welcome in some ways, but we will miss places like this for a while.
Hope you are all doing great and supporting the Golden State Warriors! CHRIS
----------
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We are in another idyllic location - not quite inside the atoll of Toau, but not quite outside either. There is a false pass on the northwestern end of the atoll, and it is here that Gaston and Valentina, and their relatives, have established a small paradise that they willingly share with cruisers, even setting up moorings in the false pass so that you don't have to navigate anchoring. We are currently sharing the anchorage with two aluminum French boats and Shine, the family we have buddy boated with for a bit and had a great time with.
After South Fakarava, North Fakarava was a bit of a let down visually, though we certainly enjoyed some internet access (catching up on the Warriors!), and fresh baguettes. One day we rented bikes in the afternoon, along with the "Shine" family, and biked about 10 miles along the only paved road on the atoll. We made it down to the pearl farm we visited earlier, and the small grocery store that was next to it, that had cold ice cream, water and beer. It was fun to do a "Land activity again" and to bike big "beach cruiser" bikes carefree on a wide open road with almost no traffic at all. I'm especially proud of Amaia who made it the whole way on her own bike, with smaller 20 inch wheels it was quite a haul!
We had met "Shine" in South Fakarava for the first time, and had sailed down the Fakarava channel together- we have similar 47 foot catamarans which helps keep our sailing edge when we are sailing in company. In North Fakarava they invited us for a pot of curry and we enjoyed a great evening with Patrick and Ana and their kids George, Xesca and Archie (their oldest son Max is off crewing on superyachts and making real money!) During the evening the kids decided to go back to our boat for a movie, and somehow in the dinghy shuffle our dinghy was cast free, something we unfortunately didn't realize until 90 minutes later when Heather and I were about to head back. We were lucky that Shine has a very nice 13 foot dinghy with a steering console and 30 hp engine and they offered to help us search in the pitch black night. Using two flashlights and approximating the wind/drift current we slowly scanned a corner of the atoll, the most treacherous part being coral heads that we couldn't see. It felt quite hopeless after a while, and I was about to call it a night when we spotted our "family car" sadly bouncing on a coral shelf and being pounded by wind waves. We careful maneuvered it free and towed it home- elated to find it and our new engine, but cautious about the damage that had been done. Fast forwarding to today- we are on our third day of trying to find and patch all the holes to have it hold enough air- its probably a 50/50 proposition right now - certainly a bit troubling for one more of our most important adventure vehicles.
Having done a quick provisioning run right after the supply ship came in on Thursday morning, Shine and Family Circus raised our anchors for the 40 mile sail down to Toau and Anse Amyot. The breeze was almost perfect and we enjoyed a fast fun sail, using our gennaker and even patching up a two foot tear in our asymmetrical "Womper", and flying it successfully. We were gybing back to our destination, when one of our fishing reels started clicking wildly! Fish On! Setting the hook, I saw the fish jump and knew we had finally hooked a dorado again. We reeled it in fairly quickly, with Heather masterfully slowing the boat down both with the engines and the sail angle. Tristan handled the final few feet and I gaffed and boarded the largest iridescent green Dorado we had caught to date. It was as tall as Tristan and weighed in at 28 lbs. We quickly entered the false pass and picked up a mooring, and as I cleaned the fish we were circled by many sharks who patiently waited for scraps.
We are on our fourth night now, enjoying so much that is offered. We had Shine over to our boat for an amazing night of Farkle and Dibble games. They enjoyed learning these new games, and even Amaia and Alina participated in Dibble and charcoal marked faces by the end of the evening. We'll have to get some photos uploaded soon! The snorkeling is quite fantastic right next to the boats and the beaches are fun to forage around, but the stars of the show are the compound that Valentina and Gaston have - and for our kids - five 3 week old puppies, three adult dogs, and several piglets with two day old piglets. Our kids are regular visitors every day! The compound is shared with a few family members, and is completely self sufficient, catching rainwater and using a diesel generator and solar for power. The operate a part time restaurant and we made reservations a day ahead, and on the morning of we heard part our dinner being caught and silenced. Cooking the meal for the three boat crews attending was an all day affair. In the afternoon we joined Gaston and his nephew as they went over to their fish trap on the other side of the pass. It was actually quite a fascinating experience, as the pen was completely full of many different kinds of fish, as well as a few uninvited predators. As we arrived to watch, Gaston used a very long harpoon/spear to hit and pull a large 4 foot barracuda out of the water before spearing a 5 ft moray eel. Some of us put our masks on to watch from in the water- and Gaston moved to the entry pen where a reef shark was patrolling the water. Standing from the boat he speared the shark behind the head and landed it in his boat and then he jumped in to the pen with what looked like a garbage can made of chicken wire. He simply cornered the fish in to a corner, but the "can" down and hoarded 15-20 fish in to it- it was amazingly simple. We followed him back as they cleaning process apparently has a fun shark feeding aspect. The kids were fascinated as he gutted and cleaned fish, attracting sharks with the scraps, with the highlight being when he tied the barracuda to a line and we watched as 15-20 sharks thrashed around, getting a bite. It was quite a spectacle to watch, including instinctively pulling your kids just a bit back from the edge of the deck. The most astounding thing might have been the two medium size dogs that patrolled the dock, barking at the sharks, before one of them jumped in and chased them away! Apparently she does this all the time, and she stood on a shallow coral reef, barking at any shark that dared get close. It was great to see, and certainly not what I would have expected to happen!
We cleaned up on the boat and Shine dinghied us back to shore, as we are still without a functional car, and we sat down around a beautifully decorated, large square table with the other crews. The food came out quickly and was astoundingly good! A focaccia appetizer, coconut rice with parrot fish poisson cru, fresh pork in oyster sauce, BBQ pig, coconut bread, delicious french fries, pig cooked in its blood and a really wonderful moist cake to chase it down. It was all amazingly well prepared in a small kitchen and completely delicious. After dinner we were slowing down, and the kids were playing next door when our hosts invited us outside in a circle where they were tuning their ukeleles. With their nephew visiting, they were short a ukelele or guitar, and our kids headed back to the boats to get three ukeleles and two guitars. I was happy sharing the rhythmic duties with Gaston as he and I played the spoons and an empty 6 gallon water container. Our hosts played and sang some beautiful Polynesian and French tunes, under a starry night sky. They urged us to play our own songs- but unfortunately between us we had a very very limited repertoire- Xesca and Mykaela both strummed and sang some beautiful songs, but mostly our hosts strummed away, drinking their homemade, well fortified beer. It was great to see our older kids engaged and glimpsing at a very cool part of another culture. I hope they remember nights like that.
We probably wanted to leave today or tomorrow but the weather forecasts show "reinforced trades" that should calm down in a few days. Its only a 230 mile run to Papeete, Tahiti from here, but we will try and get the best window we can, knowing that we need to get to the Big City soon to start working on our more serious repair projects. Walking on a Sunday sunset beach stroll tonight, we were thinking what a shift it will be to leave the very remote and deserted Tuamotus and head to Tahiti and the next islands, where remote, small anchorages are much harder to find with all of the development and population. I am sure it will be welcome in some ways, but we will miss places like this for a while.
Hope you are all doing great and supporting the Golden State Warriors! CHRIS
----------
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Thursday, May 28, 2015
Pictures Daniels Bay on Nuka Hiva and Swimming with the Manta's
Mykaela, Chris, Alina and Amaia with a giant Manta Ray in Nuka Hiva
Mykaela above a giant manta ray
Mykaela trying to swim along with
Pass into waterfall in Daniels Bay Nuka Hiva
Waterfall inside rocks of Daniels Bay Nuka Hiva
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Internet????? Really slow but here are some pictures
Hi Everyone,
We are still in Fakarava but anchored in North Fakarava for today and then leaving tomorrow after the supply ship arrives. It has been wonderful. We have met a really nice family on a boat called shine and they have 3 kids with them ages 12 (Archie), 15 (Francesca) and George 17. It has been a lot of fun here. We went on a pearl farm field trip yesterday and the kids got to see how they seed the pearls and learn about how the farms work. We even did a little shopping in the store...
The internet is extremely slow and we have to pay by the minute... this has been a reoccuring theme here in F.P. so I wanted to try to upload a few pictures... Believe it or not it took me 2 hours to get these out but it is well worth it... These are all pictures of our time in South Fakarava.. I am still trying to up load additional photos so you can see some of what we are taking about when we say screen saver country. Hope all is well at home...
Hugs and love to all,
Heath
Thursday, May 21, 2015
What the Fakarava are we doing????
Well we're still anchored at the South pass of Fakarava, our anchor chain is still wrapped around a coral head, and the water is still absolutely beautiful.
Heather eggs me on to write the next blog update, but there isnt that much to say! We are anchored in "Screen saver country" as my brother Andreas calls it and he's right. We are having a really good time mixing our days with snorkeling, diving, homeschooling, and visiting tiny islets that have a few palm trees and coral pink sand. We have brought most of our "toy" fleet out as well, the kayak and paddleboards have been out, the sailing dinghy has been sailed and is out of the way so the kids (and adults occasionally) can jump off our cockpit hardtop, and the dinghy is our workhorse that gets a daily workout and treats us well. It still leaks some air, but its good enough and the engine has been perfect, in spite of my diesel experiment a week ago. I also found a new "Mexican panga" setting where the engine can be propped most of the way out of the water so that you can navigate in super shallow water- about 8 inches, which is what we have a lot of around here.
When we arrived there were two other boats at this end of the pass, and both were anchored on the north side of the pass, so we discovered our own unique anchor spot, in 8 feet of water, and surrounded by reefs and islands on 3.5 sides. I think we arrived a week ago-ish, and since then we've seen more and more boats come and now there are thirteen at this end of the pass, but there is still plenty of room. Our anchor spot is tempting for many but seems to be best suited for catamarans with skippers who like to explore, and happily our friends Bob the Cat are anchored in our little coral pen. We've already had one "TexMex" night with whatever we've been able to scrounge up, and we even were able to make some successful margaritas. Amaia and Alina like having two boys their ages to play with and explore, and Heather and I enjoy the adult company- we enjoy hearing different stories and backgrounds, and comparing notes on cruising with kids, homeschooling etc. We also tend to gather more information on destinations down the road for us, which is helpful.
The other way I can tell that we have been here for a while is how comfortable the kids are getting with the reef sharks. When we first got to the Tuamotus, we were all a little hesitant to jump in to the water that visibly had sharks. Yesterday though, Amaia and Alina were rinsing off on the back steps of the boat after having played in the water, and Amaia spies two sharks that started swimming around the back of the boat, and all I heard in a sharp, loud voice was "Alina! Sharks! Quick lets jump in and scare them away!" and the two tanned, freckled Rancho Colorados swimmers go cannon-balling off the back, frightening the daylights out of these elegant sharks! We have come a long way.
Deeper underwater we do give the sharks a greater berth. I've done three pass drift dives with my scuba buddies Tristan and Alexia and its quite amazing. We have developed a routine now where we load everyone and the gear in the dinghy- drop off Mykaela and the two girls at the beach and coral reef, and then Heather drives us out to the edge of the pass, fighting the current slightly as we go. We have only dove on an incoming tide as its safer, and there are more sharks to see, though on the outgoing tide there are more fish and feeding sharks, though less visibility and the risk of shooting out in to the Pacific Ocean. We suit up quickly, put on the heavy tanks and flop over the side of the dinghy and the three of us start descending fairly quickly. "Drift" diving is exactly what it is, you equalize your bouyancy, and just start drifting with the current- which is anywhere from 1-3 knots usually, and watch the scenery go by- sort of an advanced, immersive version of the yellow submarines ride at Disneyland. The fish are generally small, as the big pelagics are farther out, but they are quite indifferent to us, and we cruise down a sand "highway" which gives way to fields of coral. We stay to the right of the pass and then after the first field of coral, we edge to the middle a bit more and find some dead coral to hang on to, and simply watch the show. There are usually 60-100 sharks- Greys, white and black tips - all just hovering in place, slowly swimming against the current. Occasionally, they will loop around and swim to the back with the current. Its quite a spectacular site to see and quite mesmerizing-the only tinge of concern I get is one one larger one will occasionally stray from the pack and slowly loop around us- even at a distance. By hanging on to the coral, we let our bodies drift horizontally downstream with the current and look somewhat like a flag or pennant fluttering on a flagpole. After a while we let go and continue our drift, stopping at two more shark "walls" and eventually heading back to the right and up a 30 foot coral wall that gets more spectacular as you get to the surface- there are tons of fish and its where Heather and the little girls do their own version of drift snorkeling. I am sure there will be other great snorkeling and diving spots- but this one ranks pretty high.
All the recent arrivals have also helped confirm that this is a pretty special spot, and we've decided to linger a while longer. We will most likely head to the village on the north end over the week end, and hopefully visit a pearl farm, internet and have some baguettes and ice cream early next week, but for now we are quite happy to make do with our dwindling provisions. We are getting caught up on some small boat projects, but are still frustrated by some consistent issues, and some untimely new ones- our dive compressor has failed to cooperate (probably electrical) - but we have thankfully had other cruising boats fill our tanks- the price is one beer per tank. All in all things are holding together well enough, with the generator and watermaker doing well- which guarantees our self sustainability in remote areas.
We're sending a big hello and lots of hugs from ScreenSaver Country- and hope you are all doing well! CHRIS
----------
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Heather eggs me on to write the next blog update, but there isnt that much to say! We are anchored in "Screen saver country" as my brother Andreas calls it and he's right. We are having a really good time mixing our days with snorkeling, diving, homeschooling, and visiting tiny islets that have a few palm trees and coral pink sand. We have brought most of our "toy" fleet out as well, the kayak and paddleboards have been out, the sailing dinghy has been sailed and is out of the way so the kids (and adults occasionally) can jump off our cockpit hardtop, and the dinghy is our workhorse that gets a daily workout and treats us well. It still leaks some air, but its good enough and the engine has been perfect, in spite of my diesel experiment a week ago. I also found a new "Mexican panga" setting where the engine can be propped most of the way out of the water so that you can navigate in super shallow water- about 8 inches, which is what we have a lot of around here.
When we arrived there were two other boats at this end of the pass, and both were anchored on the north side of the pass, so we discovered our own unique anchor spot, in 8 feet of water, and surrounded by reefs and islands on 3.5 sides. I think we arrived a week ago-ish, and since then we've seen more and more boats come and now there are thirteen at this end of the pass, but there is still plenty of room. Our anchor spot is tempting for many but seems to be best suited for catamarans with skippers who like to explore, and happily our friends Bob the Cat are anchored in our little coral pen. We've already had one "TexMex" night with whatever we've been able to scrounge up, and we even were able to make some successful margaritas. Amaia and Alina like having two boys their ages to play with and explore, and Heather and I enjoy the adult company- we enjoy hearing different stories and backgrounds, and comparing notes on cruising with kids, homeschooling etc. We also tend to gather more information on destinations down the road for us, which is helpful.
The other way I can tell that we have been here for a while is how comfortable the kids are getting with the reef sharks. When we first got to the Tuamotus, we were all a little hesitant to jump in to the water that visibly had sharks. Yesterday though, Amaia and Alina were rinsing off on the back steps of the boat after having played in the water, and Amaia spies two sharks that started swimming around the back of the boat, and all I heard in a sharp, loud voice was "Alina! Sharks! Quick lets jump in and scare them away!" and the two tanned, freckled Rancho Colorados swimmers go cannon-balling off the back, frightening the daylights out of these elegant sharks! We have come a long way.
Deeper underwater we do give the sharks a greater berth. I've done three pass drift dives with my scuba buddies Tristan and Alexia and its quite amazing. We have developed a routine now where we load everyone and the gear in the dinghy- drop off Mykaela and the two girls at the beach and coral reef, and then Heather drives us out to the edge of the pass, fighting the current slightly as we go. We have only dove on an incoming tide as its safer, and there are more sharks to see, though on the outgoing tide there are more fish and feeding sharks, though less visibility and the risk of shooting out in to the Pacific Ocean. We suit up quickly, put on the heavy tanks and flop over the side of the dinghy and the three of us start descending fairly quickly. "Drift" diving is exactly what it is, you equalize your bouyancy, and just start drifting with the current- which is anywhere from 1-3 knots usually, and watch the scenery go by- sort of an advanced, immersive version of the yellow submarines ride at Disneyland. The fish are generally small, as the big pelagics are farther out, but they are quite indifferent to us, and we cruise down a sand "highway" which gives way to fields of coral. We stay to the right of the pass and then after the first field of coral, we edge to the middle a bit more and find some dead coral to hang on to, and simply watch the show. There are usually 60-100 sharks- Greys, white and black tips - all just hovering in place, slowly swimming against the current. Occasionally, they will loop around and swim to the back with the current. Its quite a spectacular site to see and quite mesmerizing-the only tinge of concern I get is one one larger one will occasionally stray from the pack and slowly loop around us- even at a distance. By hanging on to the coral, we let our bodies drift horizontally downstream with the current and look somewhat like a flag or pennant fluttering on a flagpole. After a while we let go and continue our drift, stopping at two more shark "walls" and eventually heading back to the right and up a 30 foot coral wall that gets more spectacular as you get to the surface- there are tons of fish and its where Heather and the little girls do their own version of drift snorkeling. I am sure there will be other great snorkeling and diving spots- but this one ranks pretty high.
All the recent arrivals have also helped confirm that this is a pretty special spot, and we've decided to linger a while longer. We will most likely head to the village on the north end over the week end, and hopefully visit a pearl farm, internet and have some baguettes and ice cream early next week, but for now we are quite happy to make do with our dwindling provisions. We are getting caught up on some small boat projects, but are still frustrated by some consistent issues, and some untimely new ones- our dive compressor has failed to cooperate (probably electrical) - but we have thankfully had other cruising boats fill our tanks- the price is one beer per tank. All in all things are holding together well enough, with the generator and watermaker doing well- which guarantees our self sustainability in remote areas.
We're sending a big hello and lots of hugs from ScreenSaver Country- and hope you are all doing well! CHRIS
----------
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Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Fakarava South Pass... We can't seem to depart :@)
Hello Everyone,
We are still here in the south pass of Fakarava, we have been here for about 4 days now and will stay for another few.... it has been amazing here! We are enjoying the down time being in one place for awhile. We have been diving, snorkeling, laundry, cleaning, swimming, beach combing, paddle boarding, kayaking, shark watching, and some boat repair trouble shooting... (mostly our dive compressor is on the brink).
I can't even begin to explain the area we are in except for to have you look it up on the internet and check it out... Our Lattitude is 16.31.112 south and our longitude is 145.28.166W. We are anchored between 2 shallow coral reefs on both sides and an island in front of us. There are patches of white sandy beaches close by that the kids can play on. Not to mention the amazing snorkeling right under our boat since we are anchored in 7 feet of water. The kids can sit on the end of the boat and see the fish without even going in the water. We also are visited by 6 or 7 reef sharks that swim all around the boat all the time. They also bring with them the really pretty pilot fish that hang with them. It feels like you are swimming in the largest swimming pool ever. The kids even enjoyed a game of sharks and minnows (typical Rancho style with a twist..) They really had to swim from the sharks. Hee Hee. Just kidding. Unfortunately when you go in the water the sharks swim away and stay on the perimeter of your boat until the splashing goes away and then they come back in to look.
The south pass of Fakarava is one of the most popular dives world wide to observe the sharks in the pass. The pass is lined with a coral wall and a partly sandy bottom. When you dive down about 20 meters you can grab on to some dead coral and just hang on and watch the sharks swim all around you and especially in the channel in front of you. There are literally hundreds and hundreds swimming through. They call it a wall of sharks and they aren't joking. While Chris, Tristan and Alexia scuba dived the pass, Mykaela, Alina and Amaia and I snorkeled on top... we of course stayed on the side and close to the coral wall. It was really beautiful. I have never seen anything like it. The water was so clear and the fish so vibrant and then of course the occasional shark would swim by you on its way to the others... Okay more than occasional in fact it was a little eerie swimming with the girls in this channel in their floaties and having the sharks swimming by... They really are beautiful but I can't help get a little nervous still when I see them 10 feet away (sometimes closer). There is a dive shop and a small dive resort that is run by a woman named Annabell. She has been here for 25 years and is very welcoming. Her office hangs out over the water along with all the little huts for her guests to stay in. There are docks leading out into the water to her restaurant and of course to catch the boats that take the guests back and forth from the north end. On our drift dive we start at one end of the beach and then swim out into the channel and drift with the current down to Annabells restaurant and swim into the cove and then walk back to the beach and do it again. I love it! In the cove there are also a lot of sharks because the restaurant throws all their scraps out into the water right off the dock, so the sharks all know where to get free food. There is also a large fish called a napoleon that is about 4 feet long, green and blue and he just hangs out there waiting for scraps as well. The girls had a fun time swimming with these guys and trying to touch the napoleon fish..
We have been hanging out with a few boats here and diving with them. Bay Dreamers (which is a boat of 7, 5 swedish and 2 german) girls and guys. They have been a lot of fun to talk to. They are younger and have a different energy that the kids really enjoy plus the dog on the boat that runs around trying to scare away the sharks. Also, Bob the Cat just joined us and the kids had a great time swimming and jumping off the top of the bimini for hours today. They are all completely exhausted... It is always nice to run into the crew on Bob the Cat! I look forward to drift snorkeling with them tomorrow down the pass. I am a little chicken of the sea, but always feel better when I am with them since we are diving with professionals... marine biologists and dive masters... plus this wouldn't be a very popular dive spot if the guests were always eaten, I imagine.
We will be here for a few more days, enjoying the surroundings and trying to get as much snorkeling and diving in as we can... until we are sick of it. Then we will head to North Fakarava for some reprovisioning, wifi and of course baguettes. Bob the Cat brought us some today... and it was so wonderful. I made a French Dip. Believe it or not,,, I actually had the ingredients for it. We haven't had that meal since we left Lafayette and it was devoured, especially with fresh bread. I am getting sick of cooking out of cans. I am not sure what else to make and all of my meals are stews and soups... I would love to bite into something! It gets to the point where you just don't want to cook anymore... but we have to and the kids are being troopers about it. I have 3 tomatoes, a few carrots, one apple and some green peppers left, any suggestions for recipes would be great. You are not able to buy any fresh fruit or veggies here. So I wont have a store until June 4th when we are in Papeete. That means two more weeks of rice, beans, and canned food. UGH !
Hope all of you can enjoy a nice cup of starbucks/petes/seattles best... for me. I would kill for a regular bottle of pickles that taste like pickles, bread that doesn't fall apart when you handle it, some fruit, a salad.. OMG that would be amazing. The last salad I had was in Nuka Hiva... it seems so long ago.
P.S. the sharks don't like mexican tortilla soup (I made it too spicy and we had to dump it).
Hugs and love to all...
Heath
----------
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We are still here in the south pass of Fakarava, we have been here for about 4 days now and will stay for another few.... it has been amazing here! We are enjoying the down time being in one place for awhile. We have been diving, snorkeling, laundry, cleaning, swimming, beach combing, paddle boarding, kayaking, shark watching, and some boat repair trouble shooting... (mostly our dive compressor is on the brink).
I can't even begin to explain the area we are in except for to have you look it up on the internet and check it out... Our Lattitude is 16.31.112 south and our longitude is 145.28.166W. We are anchored between 2 shallow coral reefs on both sides and an island in front of us. There are patches of white sandy beaches close by that the kids can play on. Not to mention the amazing snorkeling right under our boat since we are anchored in 7 feet of water. The kids can sit on the end of the boat and see the fish without even going in the water. We also are visited by 6 or 7 reef sharks that swim all around the boat all the time. They also bring with them the really pretty pilot fish that hang with them. It feels like you are swimming in the largest swimming pool ever. The kids even enjoyed a game of sharks and minnows (typical Rancho style with a twist..) They really had to swim from the sharks. Hee Hee. Just kidding. Unfortunately when you go in the water the sharks swim away and stay on the perimeter of your boat until the splashing goes away and then they come back in to look.
The south pass of Fakarava is one of the most popular dives world wide to observe the sharks in the pass. The pass is lined with a coral wall and a partly sandy bottom. When you dive down about 20 meters you can grab on to some dead coral and just hang on and watch the sharks swim all around you and especially in the channel in front of you. There are literally hundreds and hundreds swimming through. They call it a wall of sharks and they aren't joking. While Chris, Tristan and Alexia scuba dived the pass, Mykaela, Alina and Amaia and I snorkeled on top... we of course stayed on the side and close to the coral wall. It was really beautiful. I have never seen anything like it. The water was so clear and the fish so vibrant and then of course the occasional shark would swim by you on its way to the others... Okay more than occasional in fact it was a little eerie swimming with the girls in this channel in their floaties and having the sharks swimming by... They really are beautiful but I can't help get a little nervous still when I see them 10 feet away (sometimes closer). There is a dive shop and a small dive resort that is run by a woman named Annabell. She has been here for 25 years and is very welcoming. Her office hangs out over the water along with all the little huts for her guests to stay in. There are docks leading out into the water to her restaurant and of course to catch the boats that take the guests back and forth from the north end. On our drift dive we start at one end of the beach and then swim out into the channel and drift with the current down to Annabells restaurant and swim into the cove and then walk back to the beach and do it again. I love it! In the cove there are also a lot of sharks because the restaurant throws all their scraps out into the water right off the dock, so the sharks all know where to get free food. There is also a large fish called a napoleon that is about 4 feet long, green and blue and he just hangs out there waiting for scraps as well. The girls had a fun time swimming with these guys and trying to touch the napoleon fish..
We have been hanging out with a few boats here and diving with them. Bay Dreamers (which is a boat of 7, 5 swedish and 2 german) girls and guys. They have been a lot of fun to talk to. They are younger and have a different energy that the kids really enjoy plus the dog on the boat that runs around trying to scare away the sharks. Also, Bob the Cat just joined us and the kids had a great time swimming and jumping off the top of the bimini for hours today. They are all completely exhausted... It is always nice to run into the crew on Bob the Cat! I look forward to drift snorkeling with them tomorrow down the pass. I am a little chicken of the sea, but always feel better when I am with them since we are diving with professionals... marine biologists and dive masters... plus this wouldn't be a very popular dive spot if the guests were always eaten, I imagine.
We will be here for a few more days, enjoying the surroundings and trying to get as much snorkeling and diving in as we can... until we are sick of it. Then we will head to North Fakarava for some reprovisioning, wifi and of course baguettes. Bob the Cat brought us some today... and it was so wonderful. I made a French Dip. Believe it or not,,, I actually had the ingredients for it. We haven't had that meal since we left Lafayette and it was devoured, especially with fresh bread. I am getting sick of cooking out of cans. I am not sure what else to make and all of my meals are stews and soups... I would love to bite into something! It gets to the point where you just don't want to cook anymore... but we have to and the kids are being troopers about it. I have 3 tomatoes, a few carrots, one apple and some green peppers left, any suggestions for recipes would be great. You are not able to buy any fresh fruit or veggies here. So I wont have a store until June 4th when we are in Papeete. That means two more weeks of rice, beans, and canned food. UGH !
Hope all of you can enjoy a nice cup of starbucks/petes/seattles best... for me. I would kill for a regular bottle of pickles that taste like pickles, bread that doesn't fall apart when you handle it, some fruit, a salad.. OMG that would be amazing. The last salad I had was in Nuka Hiva... it seems so long ago.
P.S. the sharks don't like mexican tortilla soup (I made it too spicy and we had to dump it).
Hugs and love to all...
Heath
----------
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