Fakarava

Fakarava is home to 837 people and the “Wall of Sharks.” The sharks vastly outnumber the resident humans– mostly black-tip reef sharks and nurse sharks. People call the latter “sea puppies” because they are docile and will let you pet them (I am not making this up).

The black tips prefer fish over humans. That was good for us since we’ve often been snorkeling with them. It’s good for us as long as we don’t look like a grouper, I guess. And there are a lot of grouper here. The next full moon is the annual grouper spawn. Hundreds of thousands of them will lay and fertilize their eggs. The sharks will have their way with them. Divers from all over the world come here to witness it. Hopefully, the sharks can tell the difference.

We arrived from Tahanea and have been in Fakarava for three weeks. There are three main anchorages, and we’ve spent time in all three. The South Pass is known for its amazing drift dive and the Wall of Sharks. Hirifa is home to Kite Tuamotu, where Adrien and Aline run a kite-surfing and wing-foiling school. Part-time resident Liza hosts pig roasts for sailors on her beach. Rotoava, at the north end, is the main village on the island.

By far, Hirifa is our favorite. It’s wide open, peaceful, and easygoing. I started taking wing-foiling lessons with Adrien while we were here. He’d come by the boat in his inflatable and pick me up for our two-hour lesson. I could windsurf the foil board by the end of the first lesson and get up on the foil by the second. I’m going to stick with this. It’s crazy fun, and the gear is compact. That’s important when finding a place to put it on the boat.

Rotoava has groceries and restaurants. It was busy, with 48 boats anchored off the village on the day we left. The bakery had fresh baguettes in the morning, but you needed to be there early. We figured out that you could call the day before and reserve some, which meant we could sleep in.

We needed a place to leave Pam on the boat while I flew to Australia for work. Given the weather forecast, Hirifa was a good choice. Our friends John and Marcy came aboard to lend a hand and stay with Pam while I was away. They crossed the Pacific in March as crew aboard our buddy boat, Chaos. It always makes me nervous to leave the boat in faraway places. Pam did a great job running the ship. We were very grateful to have help and company from John and Marcy.

Getting from the boat in Hirifa to Sydney was quite a journey. Pam dropped me off at a nearby resort in Raimiti, about a mile from the anchorage. I then took a water taxi 30 miles to Rotoava. Then, a shuttle van to the Fakarava airport in Rotoava. Then an Air Tahiti ATR72 to Papeete. Then, an Air New Zealand 787 to Auckland. Finally, an Air New Zealand 777 to Sydney. 

I love Sydney, and it was a productive trip. The winter weather was mild. I have a wonderful client there whose team I adore. We held their offsite meeting at the Coogee Surf Lifesaving Clubhouse on Coogee Beach. The clubhouse and meeting room hang out over the ocean. Two walls of windows give you a full view of the whales herding their babies a few hundred feet from the shore. Undoubtedly, it’s the most beautiful and inspiring meeting facility I’ve ever used.

I connected with Sydney rigger Joe Walsh (and yes, he also plays rock guitar). Joe made new low-friction rings for our mainsail reef lines, which are still chafing. He also made us a new anchor bridle. 

I returned with a new underwater camera and a DJI camera drone I had Amazon ship to Sydney. At the same time, Pam discovered Tahiti Crew Yacht Services would grocery shop for her in Papeete. They put her order into three coolers and three boxes and air-shipped them to Fakarava. It was there when I arrived at the airport. I persuaded the water taxi captain to haul me, my luggage, boat parts, and Pam’s groceries down to Hirifa. It’s not cheap to ship your groceries by air. But it allowed us to get fresh food without competing with the locals for the limited food the supply ships bring.

When I returned to the boat, our friends aboard Chaos and Fundango had moved on to Tahiti. We have a one-year visa for French Polynesia, but Chaos only has 90 days. Their time in French Polynesia is a bit more compressed than ours. The time passes quickly. We hope to catch them as we all get further west. John and Marcy’s trip also came to a close. I said goodbye to them at Fakarava airport as they left, and I arrived. They head back to life in Alaska.

That’s how cruising goes. The intensity of this experience fosters strong bonds, leading to swift friendships. But the nomadic nature of it means you also say goodbye a lot. We will miss them all.

Stephanie and Aldrit have run Fakarava Yacht Services in Rotoava for over a decade. They’ll handle your laundry, shuttle you and your stuff to and from the airport, and rent you an electric bike. They were invaluable. Many islands seem to have a few entrepreneurs like them who offer services to transient boats. They sure make life easier for us.

A few years ago, 10 boats was a big crowd in Rotoava. But then COVID hit and caused a backlog of cruising boats to pile up in French Polynesia. The explosion in cruising boats has caused the French Government and its Direction Polynésienne des Affaires Maritimes (DPAM) to set new restrictions on anchoring by private yachts. These will limit Rotoava to only 26 boats. At the moment, nobody follows the rules, and nobody enforces them. Stephanie thinks 50 boats is too many, but 26 is too few. But DPAM doesn’t listen to Stephanie.

I don’t know what the right answer is. I know why sailors want to visit here. It’s one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been. I know why the locals might get tired of having their bay full of boats. UNESCO named Fakarava a Biosphere Reserve. That made the entire western coast of the lagoon off-limits to yachts. Similar restrictions are now in place in Tahiti and Bora Bora. Beautiful places can get loved to death. We’ll see how it all plays out.

Fakarava is now a favorite. We’ll be back. But we are ready for some new sights. It’s time to set off for a short sail to Toau and then onto Rangiroa.

Daily updates from our PredictWind log:

Fakarava

Sat May 25 2024 15:00:00 GMT-1000 (Tahiti Time)

16 30.174s 145 27.088w

All is well. We are presently anchored off Tetamanu motu in Fakarava atoll, Tuamotus after an absolutely delightful 50nm spinnaker run from Tahanea.

Joining us was John Baker who along with his wife have been crewing aboard our fellow buddy boats Chaos and Fundango. It was great having John along.

We left the mainsail furled and hoisted Samantha our symmetrical spinnaker, set the autopilot on NAV mode and let the boat take care of itself while we lounged in the shade. It was a top 10 sail for sure.

We are excited to be here in Fakarava for the next few weeks. Lots of anchorages to explore.

—Jim

Hirifa

Mon May 27 2024 21:02:00 GMT-1000 (Tahiti Time)

16 26.866s 145 21.931w

All is well. We are presently anchored off the village of Hirifa on the southeast corner of Fakarava atoll, Tuomotus.

It took just under an hour to motor here from Tetamanu where we’ve been anchored the past two nights.

It’s been breezy and it’s nice to tuck in behind the palm trees for a bit of a quieter night.

Liza who lives part time here is hosting a pig roast tomorrow. She does this from time to time when she can round up about 20 sailors anchored here.

This is also the home of the famous Kite Tuamotu kite boarding school. I’m planning to give it a shot.

—Jim

Rotoava

Fri May 31 2024 16:49:00 GMT-1000 (Tahiti Time)

16 03.577s 145 37.223w

All is well. We are presently anchored off the village of Rotoava, Fakarava, Tuomotus, after an absolutely delightful run and broad reach under our asymmetrical spinnaker alone in 10-12 knots in flat seas. We picked our way through the the bommies on our 5 hour run up the lagoon.

We are excited to be in civilization again. Our new standup paddle boards arrived at the airport here this afternoon. And, there are several eateries here that get good reviews.

We will also knock out some grocery shopping and laundry.

—Jim

Back in Hirifa

Tue Jun 04 2024 20:18:00 GMT-1000 (Tahiti Time)

16 26.789s 145 21.893w

All is well. We are presently anchored back in Hirifa after several marvelous days up in Rotoava.

Liza who lives on the island part time occasionally hosts dinners and pig roasts for sailors anchored off her beach. And, she hosted one tonight. Nice treat!

Farewell Fakarava

Sat Jun 15 2024 14:15:00 GMT-1000 (Tahiti Time)

16 03.503s 145 37.243w

All is well. We are once again anchored off the village of Rotoava, Fakarava, Tuamotus. We had a great sail broad reaching under the Solent and reefed main in 18-25 knots of breeze and flat seas. Roam loves these conditions and runs like a scalded dog.

We are here to pickup our laundry, have a pizza and get ready to head out tomorrow for the island of Toau. That’s our first stop in our island hopping up to Rangiroa where we plan to meet our friends Jim and Angela from the US. They will be flying in and spending a few days sailing the Tuamotus with us.

I returned from Sydney, Australia yesterday. I came via Auckland and Papeete. It was a work trip and a very productive one. I spent it on Coogee beach which I highly recommend visiting.

While I was in Sydney, Joe Walsh (I am not making this up) the rigger fabricated a new anchor bridle and some reef outhaul low friction rings. I also had Amazon Australia ship us a new drone and a new underwater camera.

I brought all of that back with me. Meanwhile, Pam arranged a shopping service in Papeete and they put 3 coolers and 3 boxes of food on the same plane as I took to Fakarava. It all arrived on time.

It’s a 30 mile speed boat ride from the airport to Hirifa where Pam was anchor aboard Roam. I managed to persuade the captain to let me load all of that stuff on the shuttle boat. It all worked out but it wasn’t cheap and I made all the tourists late to the resort at Ramaiti.

Pam has been in the company of our friends John and Marcy from Alaska. The three of them did a great job taking care of Roam while I was away. They had to contend with a bit of squally weather.