Fakarava, Tuamotus, French Polynesia
Jessica and students;
Gnomad has been in the Tuomotus for two weeks now, enjoying lagoon life. The
Tuomotus archipelago are 78 islands that stretch along 1,000 miles of ocean in
the South Pacific. The islands are in reality "former islands" consisting of
islets, called motus, that represent the former barrier reef of volcanic islands
that have eroded or sunk into the sea. What is left is a ring of islets
surrounding a lagoon. The waters of these lagoons are amazing with clarity of
100' or more and sealife that is beyond description. There are few people who
live in the Tuomotus because the motus are just narrow coral shelves with very
little soil. Most food is brought in by supply ship from Tahiti; coconuts (for
copra) and black pearl farming supplement tourism to support the population of
Paumotu people.
While here, Gnomad was able to see native crafts (weaving of palms, carving of
mother of pearl shells, etc.) , dancing and music associated with the annual
Polynesian Heiva celebrations in July. He's not much of a swimmer but the
abundant sealife beneath Carina is visible from deck, though it's better to get
in and snorkel. In particular, there are many "tame" black tip sharks that
divers especially enjoy.
While here, we all traveled to the "south pass" to the former village of
Tetamanu where there is a ghost town of the former capital of the Tuomotus.
Here there is still a church of coral and a small pension called the Tetamanu
Village. From the pension you can swim out the pass and see thousands of the
most amazing fish, many of color variations that don't show up in our Fishes of
the Pacific book. For example, a Moorish Idol (remember the tough guy in
finding Nemo?) - in army green and yellow and white! At the Tetamanu Village,
there is a huge green and blue Mowry Wrasse (4' long) - which we thought was a
Bumphead Parrotfish and we're still not sure of its spelling- that swims around
in about two feet of water following snorkelers. Friday we swam out the pass and
I swear we looked up and that darn fish was following us!! Perhaps he's a
one-fish shark patrol!
Today is Monday and we're departing with the high tide going through the pass in
the reef (between motus) and back out into the Pacific, heading for Papeete,
Tahiti. Papeete is the capital of all of French Polynesia and the largest
city. Here we will re-provision and obtain a "zarpe" (or permission to leave)
and depart for American Samoa with brief stops at islands along the route.
All the best,
The crew of the SV Carina,
Rotoava, Fakarava, Tuomotus, French Polynesia
At 7/27/2009 and 00:28 UTC (GMT) our position was: 16°03.54'S / 145°37.27'W