Fakarava -Tuamotu 13 July 2024
We woke a reasonable time to a calm morning with little wind. We had breakfast and went ashore to hire bicycles which we were able to do easily by the port. We decided to go west along the mutu which the man said was about 10km.
The road was concrete initially and was lined with palm trees, other trees and shrubs of different types which gave it a tropical feel and as we went out of the village the houses and properties got less. Some we modern and nicely kept and others were more shack like and run down. They all had charm in their own way. The road ran to the airport and then ran out and a dirt track took over. The width of the mutu varied from about 100 meters to about a quarter of a mile. On the one side – the left as we were riding was the lagoon with its turquoise water and little shadows of coral under the water and on the other side to our right was the outer reef and the ocean. We could not often see it due to the trees but ever now and then there was a track at the end of which we could see it and the waves crashing on the reef with a constant roar sound.
There was very little traffic and it was sunny and warm as we rode. The airport was like a ghost town and it was empty. We carried on along the dusty track for a further 6 kilometres with the French roadside markers every kilometre. This was again mainly through trees and shrubs with the occasional house of development. We saw quite a few areas cleared which we assumed would be used for new housing. The width of the mutu continued to vary and eventually we came to the end and the Passe. We could see the breakers in the passe and a few dives boats the other side where we had snorkelled the days before.
There is a nice beach here called K9 which is by the 9km sign so we retraced our steps and went to this beach. It was not a large beach but had beautiful sand and palm trees and lovely clear water – see the picture of the day. This is popular with the locals and there were a few others here. Andy and I had forgotten our costumes so we just paddled. However, Joyce had her costume and went in and cooled off. We the rode back to the village and decide to go back for lunch at the Havaki Lodge where we went our first day here. We sat with our feet in the sand and had a nice lunch overlooking the beach with the odd ray and shark swimming past from time to time. It was nice just to chill and relax.
We wanted to do some final shopping as we hope to move on tomorrow to the south of the atoll and had to wait until 3.00pm for them to open. Andy and I therefore rode further west for about 4 kilometres. It was similar scenery except there were more houses and plots along this route. We came back collected Joyce and did our shop. We then returned to Stormbird to find the wind had picked up from the south and was about 18 kts – totally unforcast and there was quite a swell developing. This increased to about 22 kts and from the South/Southeast. Predictwind said light and variable!! We put the dinghy to the back of the boat, brought in any fenders and put down the solar panels. We could see all of the other boats going up and down in the swell and we may have this all night. I put the anchor alarm on and we prepared for a rocky night.
We had a light supper in the roll and heard about the shooting of Trump. We hope the football goes well tomorrow and we wish England well. We will see how the night is and what tomorrow brings as this may affect our plans to south.
Crewing Opportunity Year Two
In addition, in year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and probably across the Indian Ocean to Cape Town and I will need some more crew.
If there is any interest do email me at hine.nick9@gmail.com
The blog will continue as we move through French Polynesia and beyond.
If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk