Fakarava south 10/8 -12/8 2016

Time 10 h 40 min., NM 51.2, SOG 4.3 kn avg,. 6.9 kn max., TWA 128, TWS 13.0 kn avg. 6.9 kn max.

Anchor up and out of the pass 6:30 and set main and jib. Nice sailing so time for Lars to do a haircut on Maria and BCD diving vest service. At 16h local time we sail into the south pass of Fakarava atoll. With help from Aislado we got a mooring on a very beautiful place. Sharks and other fish are swimming around Alexandra and the reef with corals and a lot of fish is close bye.

Next day we take the dingy to the Tetamanu diving centre and Tetamanu village close to the south pass and Lars make an appointment to dive next morning with Marc. We had a nice walk around the island were you can see ruins of buildings from times were more people lived in Tetamanu. In the afternoon we took a short ride with the dingy to the reef and swam around there looking at black tipped reef sharks and a lot of colorful fish in different sizes. Also beautiful corals were here.

Next morning Lars sailed down in the dingy to the diving centre and got a nice dive with Marc and others through the pass, drifting with the incoming current. There were hundreds of black tipped sharks there. They dived on 20 meres depth and drifted about 30 minutes to reach the diving centre.

See dive video at our Youtube channel Diving in the Fakarava south pass

Back on Alexandra, 8:30, we released the mooring-boy and sailed towards Fakarava North.

Fakarava north 12/8 – 17/8 2016

Time 4 h 53 min., NM 28.5, SOG 4.7 kn avg,. 5.9 kn max., TWA 144, TWS 11.4 kn avg. 16.5 kn max.

We sat main and jib and went for sail the whole day. There were problems with the motor so it should not be used until when dropping the anchor. Every other lateral or cardinal marks were missing so taking the coral passage we had to be awake. We took the passage for not to come close to the pearl farmers installations. We were passing several resorts so there were a lot to look at. Getting to the north pass we so a lot of boats there that we new and it was so nice. Also moving to a mooring boy later on made our stay here much better. Finding WiFi, water and food were most important because we could not make water when the gen-set was not working and also not turning on the fridge and freezer so we had to buy fresh food every day. Filtered rainwater we could get from a big cistern in the harbor. Shopping in Rotoava village was difficult because there were closet on Sunday. Monday was also closed because it was a religious holiday. We visited Fakarava Yacht-service several times and got WiFi, laundry and filling up with gas,. The pink café was popular for WiFi and lunch for us sailors. One restaurant was open only Friday, Saturday and Sunday and there we got good food and nice companies. Also invited to sun-downer on the beautiful New Zealand Yacht Exit Strategy.

We herd that, at the resort, we could swim with Nurse-sharks and at the second trial we so several sharks on very close distance. Thanks to Terry and Cindy.