There seems to be various spellings for here but I’ll stick with the one in the book. The Tuamutus Atolls. When we left Nuku Hiva we headed for Ahe, a smallish atoll that looked interesting. there is a Lodge there called Cocoperle where we planned to have a very highly recommended meal and drinks at some point. After arriving on a Saturday we decided to do the right thing and wait till Monday to visit the local Town Hall and let them know we were there – a bit of a courtesy thing you are supposed to do at each place.
A typical atoll. Bigger than you think. About 10nm long.
The The passage into the lagoon. You can see the chop of tide even at slack tide.
On Sunday the others all went ashore to explore leaving me on board with my still slightly compromised knee. They ran into the supermarket owner who took them in his truck to see a yacht that has crashed into the atoll a few days ago. It’s main sail was still up but no one on board – just a dog. The thinking is that it was a solo sailor who fell overboard, possibly while changing a sail, and his yacht just kept going. They forgot to take a photo! The locals rescued the dog and have adopted it. There was no sign of any official activity around it – mysterious. We did hear that the local police were off competing in an outrigger race on Manahi. Fifnally it was Monday so we went ashore to the Town Hall to find a couple of ladies hanging around who were completely confused as to why we were there. We said that we came to see if there was a tax or rubbish fee to pay and to say hello and they said no to any money and “Bonjour” So we said Bonjour back and returned to EN. There was no supermarket in the end but it did look as if someone may have been building one – probably the guy the others spoke to on Sunday.
We weighed anchor to make our way to Cocoperle which, people on both days had assured us was open. I hadn’t had any reply to my email enquiries and could make no sense of the recorded messages- that could have been a clue but you don’t know around here! After 3 nerve wracking hours (getting 7 nm) of negotiating pearl farm buoys, we arrived just off Cocoperle Lodge to finally get a live person on the phone who said they were closed for another week!! We completely lost our senses of humour after finding the anchor chain fouled in two bommies, spat the dummy, and took off for Fakarava.
We had been in two minds about Fakarava as it seemed more touristy and busy than some of the other 50 odd atolls and had been favouring the more remote ones. Ahe cured us of that. We thought some of the other places could be closed still as it is early still for the season. Fakarava turned out to be a treat. There is usually a reason or two that a place is busier than others! A good anchorage by the north entry pass and a good little town. We all went ashore to the Pizza place but were disappointed with the toppings and no alcohol. They strangely break an egg over the tops of them all and it sort of fries as the pizza cooks – not great. The supply ship came in the next day after we arrived so Kurt and Kirsten were able to do a good fresh food top up. Brian and Lyn were here and came aboard for a Korean BBQ with us.
Peter and I had a bit of an ordinary lunch (I don’t understand the French love affair with entrecote) but in a great setting over friendly (!) shark filled lagoon waters. The sharks here are reef/ black tip and are so used to divers and snorkelers that they couldn’t care less about us. I know they typically are not a big issue but here even less so. Peter had a pair of curious ones follow him to dive on the anchor and hovered right at his shoulder. They all come out to greet you when you put your anchor down of the dinghy in the water. There are tons of fish for them to eat so they’re not hungry for us.. We still didn’t splash around at dawn and dusk though!
Snack Requin (French for Snack Shark!)
These are the ones that swim around with you.
These are the ones that swim around with you.
For one night we went to the Fakarava south pass and took a free buoy just at the entrance. Sharks came to greet us again. The others all went for a snorkel from the back of EN and reported it great. The water was so blue it almost seemed like looking through blue cellophane. I am still looking after my knee so didn’t venture from the ladder. We had a buffet dinner at the local holiday lodge with stews and fish pizza – a bit strange. For some reason they gave us a bottle of red wine when we left.
The next day we got up early and surfed through the pass on an outgoing tide – 10 knots of it. You have to time your comings and goings through these passes quite well! And watch the wind.
Off to Tahiti now – an overnight trip.