We found ourselves cruising down the leeward shore of the east coast of Atoll Fakarava in good weather conditions … which for once, was a change from Rangiroa where one was ‘hard- pressed’ to find such days. Fakarava is the second largest atoll in this region … Rangiroa being the largest.
Anyway, as you would have gathered from our previous letter, we were finding ourselves in such spiritual elation as we marvelled at the beauty in the naturalness of this place … the fact that we had this coast all to ourselves.
Ana and I find it so amazing to be in a place where only separated by a thin sliver of land and reef, there is a scenario where one finds shelter from the raging Pacific seas, the vast depths of the ocean and strong currents by a mere 200 meters or so, and then even here at a motu called TUOROTETAHA most of this distance is covered by shallow water.
This curiosity led us to anchor Impi as close to the reef as possible for the night, to watch and hear the waves become tamed by the reef system … and to explore and get a feeling for this section of atoll that is ‘narrow banded’ …
Usually we would anchor off a sheltered motu somewhere and take the dinghy to explore such regions, but given the good weather decided to be at anchor here for a while … and what a treat it turned out to be for us.
As we approached the area, looking from up on the bridge such as our Lagoon 440 has, we could clearly see the sea beyond this sliver of land … approached its shore and dropped anchor in approximately 17m of water. Man … to think that just 'a stone’s throw away’ the ocean floor plummets to in excess of 1000m … this as mentioned in previous letters always boggles the mind!
Dropping anchor here takes a bit of understanding but mostly luck … we tried twice before the anchor engaged into a fissure in the hard pan smooth coral floor below … but as per usual our Rocna held steady all through the night and following day …
It was late afternoon and the sun had begun to display itself as an orange ball that glowed a mellow sort of light across the region … still, Ana and I decided to lower the dinghy and tie it off on the little motu called TUOROTETAHA
… a really small little island indeed.
Below, Ana took this photo of me taking photographs ...
We were curious to walk to the section of reef where it taunts and keeps the ‘Pacific Ocean at bay’ … sometimes and on the odd occasion with a thunderous roar as if to surprise the reef with a large rolling wave, but in general we found the area one to be respected and of incredible beauty.
With the sun getting low, the reef began to colour itself in an orange sort of brown … waves broke and rolled out flat over the reef in our direction and as the ocean sucked back for its ‘encore’, the water would drain off the reef eye on our side right before our very eyes. This was a display of power and awe in nature and again, a beauty that is difficult to describe.
We seem to be getting a huge amount of ‘nature's cleansing of the mind and soul' out here … need I really try spell this out dear readers … I mean, put yourself out here on an atoll … so remote and low to the sea that on Google Earth is hardly visible unless well zoomed in … you are in the middle of the Pacific on a ring of land but a few meters above sea level … and here, not even a few meters but rather at sea level … there is no-one out here, you are alone and no human sound heard or man made structure is to be seen … you are totally clothed in mother nature’s arena … the sun is but a glow of orange reflecting out across the reef where you stand … gazing out over the mighty Pacific you stand a few meters from where the reef plummets over 1000m deep … a wave lifts its head before you and crashes on the reef … now water gushes a smooth but forceful flow toward your feet … you hear the hiss as the sea retreats and as the reef becomes exposed the water flow slows and humbly presents itself to you in the form of a small waterfall as it streams off the reef edge at your feet … the cycle repeats. You look behind you … the reef awash … ankle to knee deep but all looks calm … a little motu (island) or two perhaps a meter high … and there in the background your catamaran … a vessel of safety where you are to spend the night … and … we count ourselves blessed and wonder if ever these moments we share would ever inspire family, friends and those yet to become friends … to plan for a life at sea …
I asked Ana what ‘vibe' this area of the world 'brought to her’ and she explained that for her the vastness of the ocean and the powerfulness of the forces of nature make one feel small and insignificant and paradoxically because of this one feels ‘free’ as there are no requirements put upon one by others … one is free to explore what one really wants to and out of that flows a big energy of positivity … no people who ‘offload negative energy and subtly look for companionship in little cages they have built for themselves’. For Ana the vastness of the ocean encourages one to think deeply and broadly as there are no ‘walls or obstructions’ to contain and limit thought. She explains to me, that when trying to understand nature, scientists would deconstruct and reduce each element into its smallest parts and then classify each process in an effort to explain how it works … whereas nature does not work like this … it is an interconnection or network of many powerful forces … and out here in the vastness of this seascape, she finds it easier to be part of that network and to have an intuitive understanding of how it works. In the powerfulness there lurks a danger which makes one appreciate time more fully as one realises that life is not limitless.
Anyway, back to our news …
Ana was exploring little sandy spits and so on …
She loves collecting shells and all things interesting … I was strolling about the reef with my camera and just lapping up the energy when suddenly she called out to me to come and look at a number of eels swimming about in the shallows …
Photo below is taken by Ana ...
I went over to see this and sure enough, there they were darting about, hiding under rocks and so forth … such an amazing sight to see!
We tried identifying these eels since we observed a variety of different types … the lighter of the two seen in the photo below with head peeking out from under the rock is a ‘RETICULATED MORAY EEL’ and the other a ‘BARRED-FIN MORAY'
That night we slept as usual with all hatches open to catch and feel the sea breeze brush across and the cabin and gently caress the sheets … the sound of waves as they roared onto the reef … a gentle caress moonlight danced its rays into the cabin and up the walls every now and again as gentle winds and currents shifted Impi from side to side … and yes, these are the moments that make life at sea such a magnificent place to be.
Fakarava is really showing itself to us as a truly magnificent place to cruise … so many sailors are on ‘time lines’ and rush through these pristine waters. If there is any advice I can offer here, then that would be to really slow the pace down in Fakarava … the French now have made it possible to stay longer in these waters so we would really suggest that in your planning try to cater for more time to these wonderful atolls … they truly reveal more and more beauty to one the longer one lingers about them …
For us and in these conditions, Motu TUOROTETAHA proved to be a truly interesting and awe inspiring ‘anchorage’ … we are so pleased to have met with mother nature in this location on our ‘big blue’.
On Impi, Ana unpacks her shells … ‘Her catch for the day’ … always cleans and arranges them to task a photo for ‘memory sake’ … really beautiful!
Photo below taken by Ana ...
Incredible!
ReplyDeleteYes John ... It truly is an amazing place!
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