Author: richwest3

Mystery Squall (Passage from Rangiroa to Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia)

July 09, 2012

Near the end of our 40 hour sail from Rangiroa to Tahiti, in the middle of the night (of course), we hit the strangest squall.  Cyndi was on watch and I woke when the boat motion got very odd. It was pitch black outside, raining a little, a little wind and small waves coming from every direction.  We’d sailed into, well, motored into really as there wasn’t enough wind to sail, some kind of mostly windless squall that didn’t want to let us go.

We had about two to three knots of current against us and the squall was following us. It felt like the boat was caught in a fish net.  We couldn’t motor faster as we were low on fuel and trying to conserve what we had by running the engine at a low speed.  At one point, Cyndi turned to me and said “I wouldn’t be surprised to have this lift to reveal the New York skyline, in the year 1942!” (The funny thing is that friends got stuck in a similar squall the next night and said almost the exact same thing, right down to the 1942 part.)  We had to get out of this or who knew how far back in time it would drag us.  We reluctantly upped our speed and turned 60 degrees, away from Papeete, just to try to escape.

After about a half an hour of motoring the wrong way, we finally broke out and we could see these little, dense, pitch black cloud-cells all around us.  We spent the rest of the night dodging them as the line of these squalls moved with us, almost all the way to Papeete.

I can’t say exactly what made them so strange.  Maybe that there wasn’t much wind or rain inside, or that no matter which way we went, the current seemed to be strong and against us.  (Where was all that water going? Down?)  Maybe it was the incredibly confused seas for no apparent reason.  The result felt like a sail through the twilight zone.

Day broke with us about two hours from the main pass at Papeete.  From there on, it was pretty uneventful.  OK, I guess it was a little strange to have to call air traffic control to request permission to motor past the end of the runway.  It seems they have a problem with our big aluminum stick poking up into the air as planes are landing. But other that that, uneventful.  Relatively.

Getting tied up at the marina was another story.

(Simulated photo of the squall – we were too freaked out to get a camera!)

Running From Weather (Rangiroa, Tuamotus, French Polynesia)

July 8, 2012

We left Toau atoll on Friday afternoon to make the 24 hour trip to Rangiroa. It wasn’t a bad passage with mostly light winds and a lot of motoring. The trip through the pass into Rangiroa was exciting but nothing like the trip out of Fakarava (more on that adventure later). We arrived here to unwelcome news.

It seems the long-range weather forecast is for some very strong winds here and even south to Tahiti. The winds should pick up on Wednesday and blow for maybe a week. We’re faced with either staying here in an anchorage that isn’t ideal, stuck on our boat for a week, or bugging out today to make Tahiti before the blow starts. We are opting for the later.

We’ll leave here at about 3:00 when the tides are right in the pass (we hope) to sail the 36 hours or so to Tahiti. We should arrive there on Tuesday morning. We’re going to try to find a secure marina there, or good anchorage, to sit in though the high winds. We’ll send an update when we get in. -Rich

This is the view of Rangiroa from our boat right now.  The hotel rooms you see over the water, as we understand it, go for 1,300 euros a night – and they’re view of us!  I like our view better. (Though, I guess if you wrote all the boat expenses down and did the math, we might be paying even more than that for our accommodations 😉

Rangiroa (Kind Of, Almost) (Tuamotus, French Polynesia)

July 7 – 8, 2012

After an overnight motor, we arrived at Rangiroa.  Again, we had no idea what time the slack tide would be to enter the pass – what’s new?  No one seems to know.  We called on the radio and the best guess was to try in about an hour.  We waited and did.  It wasn’t too bad – not like white water rafting in Fakarava!  There were waves but we were going with them.  Once inside, it’s like a great big lake, really big!  Here are some pictures.

As soon as we got in and anchored, a couple of friends from Seawings came over in their dingy and gave us the bad news: there were strong winds due to start in a few days and not let up for at least a week.  As the anchorage wasn’t very protected if the wind went at all south, and since we didn’t want to be pinned down and trapped on our boat for a week, we made the hard decision to head out the next day without ever going on land at Rangiroa and head for Tahiti.  Here are our friends delivering the bad news – Brian and Juliet.

The next morning, we headed off.  A local gave us this sendoff.

Bye Rangiroa!  Maybe we’ll get to visit some other day. -Rich

Sharks! (Tuamotus, French Polynesia)

June 23 – July 08, 2012

In coming to the South Pacific, I knew I would be going to a faraway place, but I didn’t know I’d be entering another reality. I don’t know when the shift occurred, but it became apparent around the time we got to Fakarava. It started with one person talking about how great the snorkeling was at South Fakarava and justifying that by the number of sharks they saw. Then another person did the same, and then more. Soon, every person I talked to rhapsodized about how many sharks they saw and how wonderful it was.

I ran into people at the little resort at the south end of Fakarava atoll and found out they come from all over the world to this out-of-the-way spot, just to dive with the sharks. From a local, I heard about an atoll south of here that’s “even better,” because there are “more sharks.” In the reality I came from, sharks are not only not sought out, they are reason to get out of the water. Here, people talk about them as though they are ponies on the beach, or deer in the forest. The more you see, the better! So, I decided to try to fit into this new reality where sharks are a good thing.

I heard that it’s normal for them to be occasionally curious about you – not to worry. So I got in the water. The main reason for someone like me to see this area is the incredible variety of coral and tropical fish. As far as I’m concerned, if the sharks were to go elsewhere, it would be perfect! (I would not dare say this in front of anyone else here!) I like to look at things underwater because of their beauty, not because I have to “keep an eye on them,” in case they begin to “act in an aggressive manner,” and “bite my ass.”

The first snorkel we did through Fakarava’s south pass we saw the sharks and they reminded me of a pack of dogs. I kept an eye on them, and they pretty much minded their own business. Rich and I did end up getting near some that were after something in the reef and getting into a bit of a feeding frenzy about it. Rich told me to stay back. He didn’t have to tell me twice. We went out and around that bit of business, then headed on, pretty much at peace with the sharks.

The next morning we went again, mostly having the pass to ourselves as we were early. This was a mixed blessing in that we had this fish and coral paradise to ourselves, but we were lacking that safety-in-numbers feeling. As we drifted along, we started to see the sharks. I noticed one behind me which soon grew into a small group behind me and they seemed “curious” about me. I decided they could be curious about what happened to me as I jumped out of the water and into the dinghy. When they were gone, I got back in the water.

Later, we went to an area off to the side of the pass called “The Swimming Pool” which was supposed to be good for new and skittish snorkelers. I don’t personally agree that it would be a good place for a skittish snorkeler in that there tended to be a shark or two in there, and now you were sharing a smaller space with it. It should be called the shark intimacy pool. I wasn’t sad to leave it and go back out to the pass. We drifted toward our boat at a good clip, which I very much enjoyed in that there was lots of fish and coral . . . and no sharks.

A week or so later, when we were in Toau, we went snorkeling near the pass. The fish and coral were once again amazing. I was pretty enthralled until I turned to see a Black Tip Reef shark, about 5 feet long, aggressively swimming at me as though it were in attack mode, or as Rich put it, charging me. I screamed, and I found that you can scream pretty loudly through a snorkel. I don’t know if I imagined it, or if the shark was actually surprised, but he darted off.

I went to the surface where Rich said urgently, “Get out of the water.” He didn’t have to tell me twice. He got out, too, and we went to another area to snorkel. It was good for me to get right back on the horse and not think too much about the shark. Later, some researches who ended up at dinner with us told me I had nothing to fear from the Black Tip sharks, that he probably thought I was spear fishing. Maybe that’s true, but I have to wonder if she would have been so blasé about it if it had charged her. Will I snorkel with those sharks again? Yes, although I will be keeping an even closer eye on them. -Cyndi

Rich: I turned to look at Cyndi just as the shark charged her. I really think it was a full-blown attack in the making. The shark had it’s pectoral fins down, it’s back arched and it was moving fast, directly at her. Her unexpected scream through the snorkel scared both me and the shark and he darted away. I guess chances are that he’d have turned away even without the scream. Who knows. We didn’t stick around to give him another chance. I’m the only one that’s allowed to bite Cyndi!

OK, so this picture has little to do with the story, but I like it.  -Cyndi