Just a Few Photos From Fakarava

We’re STILL in Fakarava, which has not gotten any more interesting or appealing since my last blog post of 2 weeks ago. Why, you ask, are we stuck in a rut here, when there are still so many atolls yet to explore?

Cruise ships come in here.

Foiling. We did escape the horrific town anchorage at Rotoava and at least come to a spot that’s got visibility to see where you’re dropping the anchor AND sand to put the anchor into. It’s called Hirifa, one of only 4 places where you are allowed to anchor in this entire atoll. During the height of the cruiser season, there’s a kite and wingfoil “school” that operates out of a catamaran that anchors itself in this bay. Much of the anchorage is protected by reef, which means when the wind blows it’s largely unobstructed flat water for foiling. Jeremy has been practicing gybing.

Color edited grab from a video of Jeremy foiling

The beach at the anchorage at Hirifa

Socializing. No group photos, but we’ve managed to once again shoehorn in a season’s worth of socializing into a 5 day period. We hosted Rocket Science, had dinner on Tino Pai, and spent a good portion of the day on Boundless. We also took the opportunity to partake in a pig roast ashore with 20 other cruisers, only 2 of whom we’d met before. Can’t say we’d jump on the pig roast occasion again (tender but very little flavor) but a night without dishes and thinking of what to cook was a welcome break.

Crossing paths with Rocket Science

Cooking dinner aboard Boundless (Photo credit Samantha Wells, S/V Boundless)

Weather. Between the rain, the lack of wind, and the Maramu (seriously strong southwesterly wind), it’s been hard to find a time to actually get out of here. We’re stubborn in wanting to sail; most places we want to go from here are an awkward distance of slightly too long for a day sail and too short for an overnight; any of them require wind that’s been either absent or just as stubbornly from the wrong direction.

Clouds are the dominant feature in sunsets

Snorkeling. The one redeeming factor in Fakarava is the South Pass. It’s legendary for divers and is even a Unesco World Biosphere. We have only been once (the anchorage there is almost worse than town) but the snorkeling was pretty epic. We did a drift snorkel towing the dinghy and would love to do it again. I’ve wanted to face my fear of sharks head on; this was the spot to do it.

A bait ball size school of some kind of snapper

These ballyhoo (I think anyway) are bright blue and very curious. Can you see the Napoleon Wrasse?

Black tip reef sharks, complete with hitchhikers

Here sharky sharky sharky

Hopefully we’ll escape this sucking vortex that is Fakarava soon. Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with this shot from the other night, just as we were on our way over to Tino Pai.

Full moon rising over Hirifa, Fakarava.