06/13/2011, Fakarava Atoll, Tuomotus
The crew of Charade and we were invited to Lucien's house; Lucien is a French man who has married a Polynesian woman and has lived here more than 20 years. His house looks like a perfect postcard, with decks opening right onto the lagoon.
Lucien (or Lulu), invited John and me to bring our musical instruments. John played violin and I played accordeon. Lulu it tuns out loves jazz and folk music, and plays his own special version of a contra bass, made with a plastic garbage can, a stout stick, and a piece of rope. He can change the pitch of the sound produced by changing the angle of the stick, and therefore, the tension on the rope. He's been playing this homemade instrument for 20 years and he's VERY good at it.
This was followed by some native polynesian dancing by one of Lulu's daughters and the daughter from Charade, Ambre:
Lulu on his garbage can contra-bass, Bruce on accordeon, John on vioilin, and Pascale singing, jammed together, for a set of tunes. It was a memorable evening.
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06/13/2011, Fakarava Atoll, Tuomotus
Our boat and the crew of Phambili rented bikes for the day and rode about 20 km up and down the atoll; Fakarava is consists of a ring of coral about 200 meters wide (at the largest point) and about 100 km in circumference.
We stopped for a picnic lunch on a sandy beach by the lagoon, and there happened to be a pier with a pearl farm on it.
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06/10/2011, French Polynesia
As you know, we're sailing CALOU in French Polynesia and making our way towards Tahiti. Our crew member, John, must perform in a concert in July, so he will be leaving us at least temporarily.
We are looking for someone to help us sail our boat from Papeete or Bora Bora, to the northern Marquesas or Tuomotus (for R&R stop and provisioning), and then north to Hawaii.
The route from the Marquesas to Hawaii is described in Cornell's book, WORLD CRUISING ROUTES thus: "This is a fast and pleasant passage at almost any time of the year".
The departure from Tahiti would be some time in early July. Arrival in the Marquesas might take a week, and the passage to Hawaii two or three more weeks.
Candidates should be either known by us or have references.
Interested parties should contact us via email,
b r u c e @ c a l o u . c o m
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06/10/2011, Fakarava Atoll, Tuomotus
Pascale, Antoine and I snorkeled over a coral reef while a black tip shark hovered nearby. Later in the clip there's a beautiful group of blue Springer's Desmoiselles hiding in the coral.
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06/09/2011, Tuomotu Archipelago
We sailed from Fakarava South Pass to Fakarava North Pass via a channel inside the lagoon today; it was a delightful sail, in fact the most pleasant sailing we have seen ever... perfectly flat seas, 15 to 20 knots of breeze on the beam, sailing at up to 8 knots, warm weather, sunny, and beautiful scenery along the way as the channel follows the eastern end of the atoll.
We departed early morning and arrived here in North Fakarava at 1230 PM, the route covering some 40 nautical miles. We are anchored in 40 feet of water on sand with good holding.
We haven't seen all of the village yet but we found a good grocery store and the boulangerie, and we had an excellent lunch of grilled tuna steaks at an outdoor restaurant in town.
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06/07/2011, Fakarava Atoll, Tuomotus
Today John and I went on two scuba dives, along the reef that borders the entrance channel to Fakarava Atoll. Besides the superb colorful tropical fishes and many varieties of coral, the highlight was the huge number of sharks, mostly black tip and gray sharks, that inhabit the channel. At about 90 feet below the surface, we were surrounded by hundreds of sharks in every direction. I have to admit I was a bit nervous, as the larger ones were bigger than me, but thankfully the sharks paid no attention to us.
colorful Trigger Fish
Springer's Desmoiselles seek refuge in coral
Black Tip Reef Shark
Room with a View
the Pension (Bed and Breakfast) at Fakarava
Sharks in the Water
Bird rests on an Oyster Shell
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06/04/2011, Fakarava Atoll, Tuomotu Archipelago
Because the weather forecast showed a storm system coming in for some days, we departed Tahanea this morning at dawn and made our way 51 miles from there to the South pass of Fakarava today, arriving at 1430. The conditions were excellent, nearly flat water in the channel, as we arrived during the flood with wind coming from astern.
We have anchored on the anchorage on the right side of the channel after you enter the South Pass. Our buddy boats Charade and Callipyge are also here.
Our sail was quite varied, in the morning we had a flat calm and had to motor, but after lunch we had a series of squalls and the wind built to 25 knots so we cut the engine and sailed. It rained a lot so we got out the foulies.
Right now it's 2030 here in Fakarava and the wind is blowing 25 knots in the anchorage but it's flat water since it's well protected from the swell.
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06/04/2011, Tahanea
Today we had a sumptuous feast on board Charade, starting with guacamole and chips, and marlin sushi rolls that I had made, followed by the main course, lobster tails from the 18 lobsters that we had caught the previous evening. I made the ginger-lime-garlic butter and Carole of Charade cooked the lobster tails and then nicely grilled them in the butter. ##
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