GHOST

After the 500nm sail from the Marquesas we decided to visit the atoll of Manihi first in the Tuamotus. This island group is a really large chain of atolls (apparently stretching across the ocean about the size of Western Europe) and we plan to visit a few atolls in the NW corner on our way to Tahiti. Manihi is one of the most northerly and we had been in contact with some of the residents (Xavier and Fernando kindly referred to us by Raylah and Sojourn) who assured us that GHOST would be able to enter the pass at high tide. In fact you can only enter the pass at slack tide due to the currents that rip through at other times, so this only gave us one tidal window a day. We therefore sailed really slowly the night before (2-3knots) with just a scrap of headsail out so that wouldn't have to hang around too long once we got there.

We cleared the pass with a min depth of 50cm under our keel, watching the rocks along the bottom with some trepidation through the clear water. The village is located next to the pass but the anchorage is about 0.5nm away into the atoll and we could see other boats anchored out there so headed straight over. Our first impressions were a little disappointing, once inside the pass the water was not as clear as we had hoped - in 15m we couldn't see the bottom and we were warned by other cruisers that coral heads make picking up your anchor difficult. This warning was demonstrated by some Irish cruisers who were leaving and needed the GHOST diving team to assist with anchor retrieval (although another boat got there first and did most of the work in the end!). We piled into Speccy and headed into town for a look around and an internet fix. The town is pretty well set up, very clean with concrete roads and houses but very quiet, apart from a group of really cute kids who were particularly attracted to Jay's silver sunglasses and our computer activities in general.

Soon our views on Manihi began to change. Firstly Fernando (local baker/pearl farm owner/tour guide, yes he's a busy man!) popped by with a large bag of delicious bread rolls he gave us for free and then we got chatting with him and a Danish boat anchored near us (pronounced Neverwind but we can't spell it properly) in a mixture of French/English and Danish and set up a dive for later that day and a visit to Fernando's pearl farm the next day. For the dive we headed just outside the pass to the sheltered side of the atoll. Our first impressions were how warm the water was compared to the Galapagos and how healthy the reef looked. We were lucky and saw a couple of quite large black tip reef sharks, our first lion fish and generally enjoyed swanning around watching the fish going about their business on the reef. It was fantastic to be diving again as it feels so comfortable underwater now after all the Galapagos diving we did. Fernando used the time to do some spearfishing and we all watched his freediving skills in awe. We all really enjoyed the dive and invited our new Danish friends for drinks that evening onboard GHOST which was good fun.



The following day Fernando picked us up in his speedboat and showed us around his pearl farm. It was absolutely fascinating as he showed us the buoyed lines with thin bits of plastic attached (looking like paper that has come out of the shredder) that catch the tiny swimming baby oysters when they are less than 0.5cm across. They grow on here for around 12 months before they are separated and tied to a bigger line where they grow big enough after another 6 months or so to be grafted with the seed for the pearls. These seeds are round balls made from Abalone shells and shipped here from the US. The grafting process is very delicate as they crack open the shells only slightly, use long tools to insert the seed into a pouch in the oyster and then close it back up and tie them to lines to put them back in the water. It sounds easy but as they can't open the oyster too far without killing it the process is very skilled - a cross between dentistry and gynaecology! In fact, much to the amusement of the boys, in order to demonstrate how hard the process is I got to have a go at just putting the seed in when the oyster was cracked fully open and it was really difficult!!!

We each got to dive for 2 oysters and keep whatever was in them so once we had dived down and twisted them off their lines we bought them back to Fernando's motu (shack on stilts above the water) to open them up and claim our bounty. I went first and stuck in the knife to reveal a couple of quite good pearls in my two, then Brad opened his and found an absolutely stunning pearl - in fact Fernando offered to buy it back for 10,000 CFP (US $100)! Jay's weren't quite so good but at least we all got something. Apparently if they produce a good result the first time oysters can be seeded several times producing 4-5 pearls across their lifespan, and the by-products aren't bad either - the shells are shipped to Korea where the mother of pearl shells are used to make buttons and you can eat the oysters! After our trip Fernando sent us home with a huge bowl of shucked oysters which I fried up lightly with garlic and oyster sauce - yum (Hugh I was thinking of how jealous you would be!!!!). We then went back to Fernando's house in the village to look at his pearl collection - there were literally thousands, it was stunning and we bought a few but you could easily get carried away.....

That evening Fernando picked us up and we headed across to the other side of the atoll in his speedboat for a barbecue with the Danish guys. Fernando started a fire with twigs and palm fronds and then put lots of rocks in, as the flames burnt down and heated the rocks we cut down some young palm trees with a machete to get at the heart of palm for a salad, it was really juicy and fresh. We used some of the outer covering from the palms to lay strips on the now hot rocks of the fire, then laid on sausages and filets of fish, covering the whole thing with large green leaves. The Danish had cooked some more of Fernando's oysters in a salad and make a fish soup and we sat on a table and benches on the shore for a feast! Our very modest contribution was marshmallows but they made a fitting end and seemed to be much appreciated!

After the barbecue, in the now pitch black we went with Fernando across to the ocean side of the atoll and with head torches on waded in the shallows looking for lobster. Apparently it was a bit too rough though and we only caught 2 which we donated to Fernando for all of his help - what a completely bizarre experience! Have to admit through that during the barbecue we were all completely bitten by both mosquitos and no see ums which seem to particularly affect Brad who is suffering with chickenpox legs!

The following day, after some hull cleaning we headed out of Manihi towards Ahe. Fernando met us in his speedboat to say goodbye and give us the biggest loaf of bread we have ever seen - it was completely delicious, the best bread of our trip! Thank you Fernando for making it such a wonderful stay.

Ahe is a smaller atoll than Manihi and we had timed our departure a bit late so ended up having a bit of a scary anchoring experience in the dark with me on the foredeck hunting out coral heads - not sure my nerves are up to it and in the end after a very close rock we headed further out to deeper water to drop the pick for the night. We had a quick trip round the village the next day and said hello to almost everyone on the island before a quick swim in the beautiful waters of the harbour and loading back on board GHOST for an overnight sail to Rangiroa.