Makemo... with pictures!



The capain contemplating life (and swells) on our passage
from the Marquesas to Raroia



We made an overnight passage last night to Makemo and had to actually slow down so we could approach the pass in the daylight.  We thought slack tide was at 7:00 but ended up being at 8:00 so we hove to and had breakfast and showers.  Finally through the pass (no big deal) and anchored, we went to shore.  I like this little village.  It's nothing exceptional from a looking standpoint but the people are really friendly and it has a few nice stores.  It also has some restuarants but they seem to only be open at night.  We heard this anchorage was really bad but so far, so good.  It is full of coral heads but we found a sandy spot (thanks to the cat before us leaving) and we don't appear to have gotten wrapped up (yet...it is Friday the 13th).

Of course they don't have the wifi that I've already paid for, so I had to buy a new card in the store.  No worries though...we use it plenty.  So here goes my picture loading marathon.  Enjoy!



Jake got a little seasick on our trip over from the Marquesas and fell
asleep right in the companion way.





Nightly get togethers with Fluer and Yella



The next set of pictures are from the kids on our boat in Raroia...

They LOVE having their picture taken :)



Heading back to the dock in the dinghy...they barely fit!



This is all the kids swimming to the boat the next day, some on
styrofoam rafts.

Next are the pictures from the field day at the school...these are my favorites.




Paroque (sp?) races...pretending to be in a boat.



Jake's first potato sack race...he only fell a few times!



Coconut races...his best race.



Finally, the coconut shoe races...I tried this...it was extremely hard!

Christoph, one of the local boys, paddled his outrigger canoe every evening.  He stopped by one night and let Fleur and Andy try it out...



Not a great picture...it was getting dark, but he did a great job.  He said it was "tipsy"



Fluer...she was really good and very fast!



Christoph

Our pictures from our Mother's Day outing on the east side...



We had to have our picture taken with a coconut tree...



All that was missing were the Coronas.

Finally, what you've all been waiting for...underwater pictures.  So far, no shark pictures.  They're a little skittish and the one "beautiful" dive Andy did, he took his spear gun instead of his camera.  We have high hopes for our next atoll, Tahanea.



Jake and I on our "dive"

Next Tuamotu...Makemo

We spent a few days on the east side of Raroia enjoying the quiet and solitude. There wasn't a lot to look at. It was pretty but there were no big reefs to dive on and no good snorkeling. But it was nice to be in a calm anchorage and spend some time together. It was also sort of neat to see the island that the Kon Tiki grounded itself on ending it's voyage from Easter Island (in the 1940's I think?). To get to the other side (and back), you have to go when the sun is either over your head or on your back so you can avoid all of the coral popping up, seemingly out of nowhere, and also to avoid the pearl farm buoys. They take a black lipped oyster and implant a nucleus made out of Mississppi Clam shell (funny, huh?) and evidently, those Mississippi clams are expensive. The oyster then finds the foreign matter and begins coating it in layers of mother of pearl to make the Tahitian cultured Pearls.

We made it there and back to the village just fine but evidently it wasn't fine to one of the pearl farm owners. He sent a boat out to tell us that we couldn't drive through the buoys (presumably because they didn't want people to hook one as they're so expensive) and that all of the islands were private. They told us if we wanted to go over there, then we would have to go back through the channel and over that way (which is just north of where we crossed). They even said something about calling some Pearl Farm federation but I think that part got lost in translation. Well, we apologized profusely and assured them we didn't touch anything (we don't want to foul our prop any more than they want us to hook their lines), but were left a bit baffled. We had told just about everyone we met that we were going over there. We even asked about the fishing... so it boggled our minds that no one said a thing about how we were supposed to get there or who we should ask. We don't like breaking rules and upsetting locals, but on the other hand, how are you supposed to know if everyone is so tightlipped? Anyway, I think all is well and we're leaving with mostly good feelings. We did make it to shore and get a copy of the newspaper article written about us. Coreen is going to email me the electronic copy and I'll post it here when I get it. It's in French though, so most of you guys will need to run it through a translator if you're that interested. I still don't know what it says...

We've looked at our tide/current programs and are scheduling our leaving here for about 11:00 today. This should put us at Makemo early in the morning well before time to enter that pass. We were going to bypass Makemo but decided to stop since it would only be one night (instead of potentially two) and we could time the pass much easier. They're also reported to have some stores and internet so that was a big plus too. Hopefully the next post I make will include some pictures!

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Just another day in paradise...

It seems sinful to be enjoying ourselves so much.

Yesterday, Andy, Yella and Fluer got up early to go dive the pass. Jake and I stayed back and cleaned the boat, did laundry and got some school work done. They came back after a hair raising experience getting back in the lagoon (so much for local knowledge on tides and currents) with tales of "the best dive I've ever done," and that was Andy talking. So naturally we had to go back so I could do it. Only this time we were going to park the dinghy in between the motus and walk to the outside to avoid the dangerous dinghy ride back. We lugged all four of our tanks and all the gear across the motu and then we realized there was a big surf. Andy went and scouted it out and the final decision was that it was too dangerous. Getting out would be ok, but getting back in would be hairy. If one of those waves knocked us over we could potentially rearrange our faces on the coral. So back to the boat we went.

It was only a few minutes before all the kids on shore (about 8?) were screaming and yelling our names and waving for us to come over. We pretended we didn't understand and just waved and smiled. I wasn't really up for 8 kids on the boat again. Well, whether I was up for it or not didn't really matter because in no time at all, they were all in the water either swimming or paddling on their make shift styrofoam floats...all the way to our boat. They stayed an hour or so, jumping off the bow, drinking more juice boxes (Jake doesn't really like them anyway, but it's funny how that's the first thing the kids ask for), and playing with Jake's toys. They were all very polite but I swear I'm not cut out for that many kids. I don't know how you moms do it in neighborhoods where you have a ton of kids EVERY DAY. I would go nuts. But I digress. Just as I thought I couldn't take it anymore (they were getting salt water on my freshly hung laundry), a big speed boat pulled up and ordered all the kids on. All the boys, that is. There were two girls and for some reason, they didn't have to go. So we waved by and started making supper.

I'm going to spare you the details (Andy gave the girls Wasabi while he made sushi, very funny), but the night ended with Yella and Fluer having a sushi dinner with us and Christoph, the brother of one of the girls on board, joined as well. We had a great time talking and playing with our new pet hermit crab (totally different story).

This morning, the kids all came to the pier with their floats and watched with disappointed faces as we pulled up our anchor and headed to the east side of the island. We heard it was beautiful over here and of course we're not disappointed. After navigating through the coral heads and anchoring a few different times (for some reason we kept dragging when I put us in gear), we finally found a beautiful spot right in front of our own private motu. We explored the lagoon, cracked open some cocounts, and even pestered an octopus before watching the sunset. Tomorrow we'll get up and maybe head to another spot to try our luck at fishing. Ciguatera (a nasty toxin that can build up in reef fish) is high in the Tuamotus but local knowledge says the fishing is good over here and is ciguatera free. We've really enjoyed the tuna so far, but are looking forward to a nice fat grouper.

We still don't know when we're leaving...we're pretty sure no one would ever know if we decided to stay. Since we don't have internet, I can't call home, so Happy Mother's Day to all of our moms! Without you, we wouldn't be here today (literally)! And a Happy Mother's day to all the other moms out there as well. I hope you all have a wonderful day... free of dishes, laundry, cooking and cleaning... Full of chocolate, champagne (if that's your thing), bubble baths and chick flicks.

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Trans-Ocean Day in Raroia

We woke up bright and early this morning to go into the school and watch a play/or play with the kids...we still weren't sure. We were pleasantly surprised to find out they were having a kind of a field/sports day. Evidently, today was Trans Ocean day in France. All the countries owned by France, around the world, play Polynesian games (and keep score) and at the end of the day, they all jump online (if they have internet) and compare scores around the world. They were gracious enough to invite Jake to join one of the teams and we spent all morning watching Jake play Polynesian games with the local kids.

He had one advantage in that he already had 7 friends from yesterday. They were fighting over where he should sit/stand and they even gave up some of their snacks to him. Jake did pretty good for not having any point of reference for their games (and not speaking a lick of the language). It also made me stop and think about this trip and how it affects him. He is so young, he really has no memory of playing team games or standing in line or waiting for the "ready, set, go!" He had one incident where he was on the team that was supposed to be watching but when they said "go" (or whatever they say in French), he took off running with the biggest smile on his face right in the middle of the field where others had started their race. When I got him back to the side, he was so embarrassed and wanted to cry. He kept saying "I didn't know when to start...I didn't know when to start..." But after a little comforting and showing him half the other kids didn't know what they were doing either (running in the wrong direction), he was all set for the next game. They played tug of war, they had potato sack races... they even had some sort of race where they walked on coconuts where half a coconut was tied to a string that they had to hold while putting the string between their toes...oh whatever, I can't even describe it but it was hilarious (and Jake was actually pretty good at it). One thing I got out of it was even though he doesn't know how to play any of the games, he's at least coordinated!!! But it does reinforce that we need to make more efforts to join into these type of things, for his sake.

After all the fun and games, we ate a great lunch at Coreen's house (the journalist) and then headed back to the boat for a little rest.

As we were preparing our dinner of oyster meat (given to us by Yella and Fluer who got it from some locals), a fishing boat pulled up to Yella and gave him a huge skip jack tuna. Being the nice guy that he is, he brought it over to share. So tonight we had oyster egg rolls (I had a lot of cabbage and eggplant that needed cooking) and tuna sashimi.

Tomorrow, the plan is for Andy, Yella and Fluer to go diving in the pass. I'm staying back with Jake, partly because someone needs to but also because it's a drift dive and those just aren't my favorite. Truth be told, they make me nervous (and you don't ever have time to look at anything). So Andy is going to do the recon and come back and let me know if it's worth another year off my heart. We'll just wait here and swim with the sharks :).

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Lovin' it!

We've been here about 36 hours and we've gone snorkeling, diving, been interviewed for the Tahitian paper, had no less than 7 local kids on board and Andy has gotten to try out one of the local outrigger canoes. We are loving this place. Our plan for a tuamotu a week is slowly going out the window.

Getting through the pass was a bit tricky but I think it's only because it was our first one. It was fairly easy and non eventful and once through, we had clearly entered paradise. This is exactly what we all had pictured. Even better, as we got to the anchorage in front of the village, we saw our Dutch friends Fluer and Yella (I have no idea how to spell it so it's phonetic here).

Yesterday, we snorkeled around the boat and a few reefs and we took a little dinghy ride to a nearby beach to explore the lagoon there. But basically we stayed on the boat and just enjoyed the view (and calm anchorage) and ended our day with cocktails on the bow with Fluer and Yella. Today, I'm not sure what came over me but I did about 8 loads of laundry, 3 loads of dishes (throughout the day) and 2 batches of bread. Then after lunch, we went for a dive with our friends (I GOT TO DIVE while Andy and Jake snorkled). In the middle of all that, we met Coreen, the local journalist and were interviewed for the Tahitian paper. The boat was a wreck, so I'm pretty sure if any pictures make it to the paper, it will be of our laundry.

As we were coming back to the boat from our dive there were quite a few kids on land yelling at us. I took Jake in the dinghy to shore and we met about 7 local kids. In they're broken English and my non existent French, they managed to ask me if they could come to our boat. I was hesitant, but honestly, I wasn't sure how to say no...literally...without sounding rude. So off we went. About halfway, I started to wonder what their parents might think, but out here, I don't think it's really much of a consideration. I mean, they were jumping off the pier into shark infested waters with no supervision...what's a little boat trip going to matter?

The little cookie eating, juice drinking, bow jumping munchkins stayed about 30 minutes before I made them jump back in the dinghy and go ashore. It was total chaos but fun for everyone. We have some fantastic pictures I can't wait to share. We've been invited to go ashore in the a.m. to visit the school and watch some sort of play they have going on (we think...some things have gotten lost in the translation and we don't know if we're going in so Jake can play or if we're going in to watch a play...we'll see). So tomorrow morning, bright and early, we're all heading in.

I could go on and on, but I won't. I'll just end by saying that we probably won't be leaving here any time soon...too much to do and too many things to learn (for example, there are 5 pearl farms here...how does that work?).

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Tuamotus

The Tuamotus are probably the most talked about and anticipated part of visiting the French Polynesian islands. They are located approximately 500 miles southwest of the Marquesas and about 200 miles northeast of Tahiti. They're made up of 78 islands, all but two being coral atolls. All together, according to our guide, they extend almost 1000 miles. The reason they're the most talked about is because they're so low lying they're only visible about 8 miles out and each has a pass that must be entered and exited only at slack tide to avoid heavy currents (there's even a spreadsheet to help estimate these currents and no to all my geek friends, I didn't create it) and other various dangers. Once inside the atoll, you have to worry about avoiding coral heads as you move around. Many boats choose to just go straight through to Tahiti and avoid these dangers altogether. What do you think we chose?

You would be right...we're stopping. As a matter of fact, we plan to make this our largest leg of the French Polynesian. The diving is supposed to be phenomenal and the waters crystal clear. This is also where many/if not most of the black pearl farms are located (I hope I'm able to experience and write more about these later!).

Easter Sunday, since it rained all day and our Easter egg hunt really didn't take that long, we pulled out all of our charts and guidebooks and did some research. We had a hard time settling on the atolls we were going to visit as there are so many to choose from. Knowing we only had about a month (to allow time to visit Tahiti and Bora Bora before our visa expires), we decided to start in the middle and make our way north visiting four of them; Makemo, Tahanea, Fakarava, and Taou. We made our decision first and foremost on which ones appealed to both of us. Other factors included how easy the pass was, village or no village, diving reports, etc.

So for three days we've been heading towards Makemo. It has a village, potentially supplies (not that we need any, but some fresh bread would be nice), and internet (I know, amazing right?). Today our wind pooped out on us...seriously pooped. It was clear it was going to take us an extra day and a half to get there and we would have to wait several hours for slack tide (for the record...Jake and I were finally comfortable and really didn't care if it took 10 days to get there, but the waiting around for slack tide didn't sound too fabulous). We decided to turn a little to the southeast and go to one of our first choices that got crossed off the list and make it by morning...Raroia. There is supposed to be a small village there as well as a small pearl farm. The diving is reported to be fantastic and the pass pretty uneventful. By the time you're reading this, we'll be gathering real data and will report back accordingly. :) As for the other atolls, I'm going to refrain from discussing them until we actually go as it's all speculation from here. I'm sure all of these atolls are going to produce some Andy Mac originals though and can't wait to share them!

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In Retrospect

We left the Marquesas this morning about 9:00 and are now headed on our 500 mile trip to the Tuamotus. Even though the wind is good, the seas are coming on our beam, making for an uncomfortable trip. We're motor sailing as our batteries have had trouble keeping up since we arrived in the Marquesas due to all the rain and clouds.

Now that we made it and we've got a month or so behind us, I thought I would give you the real "skinny" on what we've seen so far. I know there are a lot of cruisers in Mexico dying to hear how it "really is" (because they've already asked). So here goes...

I think I stand by everything I wrote on our passage. I wasn't holding anything back and really did have a good time. I've been reading other blogs of people who left before and after we did and I think I've found just a few variables...1) the weather from Mexico to the trades - we had a good time of it, some others seem to have a lot of seasickness 2) the winds at the equator - we had to motor a few days, others were there over a week, and still others had to slow their boat down so they could swim across. 3) tolerance and adjectives - It appears the rest of the weather (as described in various blogs) was relatively the same as us but either the tolerance levels were different, the boats handled it differently, or some know way more adjectives than I do for what we're seeing out there (I think we're probably just not that deep)...I don't know. I would say if you're trying to guess how you would handle it, pick the author you're most like and go from there.

The Marquesas themselves were different than I expected. Andy and I talked on our passage over about how we didn't have any expectations, but that proved to be wrong...we did, we just didn't know it. I think we expected it to be dryer (weather wise) and we expected the water to be clearer with lots more swimming, snorkeling and diving. And I for one, expected a lot of beaches. I read a blog (Totem, I think?) where they talked about the passage being like the three trimesters of a pregnancy - the first third you feel kind of crappy, the second you're elated and enjoying every minute, the third you just want it over with. I would take that a bit further and say a certain percentage of women would find they developed post partem-like (sp?) depression after landing in the Marquesas. The journey is over only to find out you really didn't plan for the destination at all. Your family and friends are much further away than you imagined and you're alone (perception anyway) in a place that you know nothing about. I met at least 4 other women who had a hard time with the first few weeks as well. But not to worry, chat amongst others and rely on your partner for a few good pep talks and all will pass soon (like when you find that one sandy beach that really does exist).

We expected more trading. I think we're here about 10 years too late for that. They understand the value of the Franc and there are so many cruisers and dare I say tourists, here, they can be choosey. We were able to trade a few things but I think it was more the novelty of it than anything that we enjoyed. Perhaps if we went to more of the remote villages...not sure. We didn't hear of a lot of others trading either.

I think if were here without a child, we would have done more hiking. If you're coming with a child, consider age before setting your expectations. Most hikes were at least an hour, mostly longer and the last one we didn't do at Daniel's Bay had four river crossings (chest high with slippery rocks). It just wasn't feasible with a small child. Seeing as hiking is one of my favorite outdoors type activity, I wasn't prepared for this. But I'm working on new ways to motivate Jake (note the addition of Jelly Bellies to our last hike)!!!

I have tons to say but I can see I'm getting rather wordy. I hope I touched on enough things that would be helpful for setting expectations for some future puddle jumpers. If not, at least our families get a clearer picture of what we're doing!

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