Part 1—Takaroa: It Doesn't Get Any Better

It's hard to even know where to begin when writing about our time in Takaroa.  After reviewing my photos, I still haven't captured the feeling of "home" that we all felt the minute AMARA entered Takaroa's atoll.

Takaroa is a small atoll in the Tuamotus Islands in French Polynesia.  The reason that we came to Takaroa was to visit our dear friend and neighbor back home, Joey Buchan, and visit his black pearl farm —Tahitian Pearl Farms.  While there, we met the Palmer family whose sons are business partners with Joey.  What we didn't realize is how wonderful of a stay we would have with this amazing family.
First, before I go further into our visit, I wanted to show an area view of Takaroa and where the town Teavaroa is located in reference to where we stayed next to Robert Palmer's home (not the singer).

Looking at where we had to enter, you can tell that it was quite tricky bringing a 56-foot long catamaran (that is 31 feet wide) into this pass.  The atoll's pass is known to be a bit dangerous as it is "L" shaped.  Boats can only enter  when the tide is slack.  Meaning, the water needs to be at the right height and current or it will run aground.

Martin and David studied charts and weather patterns for days trying to figure out when would be the best time to enter into the atoll.  On top of the pass being a bit sketchy, there is also the matter of having to deal with the numerous coral reefs AND tall the pearl buoy balls where pearls are being grown and harvested.  It's like entering a minefield if you don't know what you're doing.

Fortunately, we didn't have to worry too much because our new friend, Louis Palmer, and Joey came out to the opening of the atoll to meet us and to escort us into safe harbor and through the maze of coral and buoys.

When entering the atoll, the first building welcoming us was the red-roofed LDS church (Mormon).  This church is one of two located in the town of Teavaroa and was built by it's members under the tutelage of a missionary and was completed in the late 1800's.

The second LDS church building is much newer (5 years old) and located about 2 miles down the road.  Being that we are also Mormon, it was especially fun for us to come to a community that is heavily populated by wonderful and strong members of the church.

After squeezing through the opening of the atoll, and passing the red-roofed Mormon church, there are all the buoys that you have to contend with.  They look to be scattered everywhere throughout the bay, but Louis assured me that they are all on a grid system and if you know the "system" it is really quite safe.  To the untrained eye though, it looks like one is entering a maze.  They are everywhere.  The buoys mark the areas where pearls are being cultured and will be eventually harvested.

Our first view of the Palmer's home, located on the south end of the island of Takaroa and directly across the water (about 5 miles by boat) from the town of Teavaroa.
 
The satellite dish is a sure sign of life and and the hammock was calling my name.
Now for a tour of the Palmer's home.  This is not your typical home that we in the states are used to seeing.   The Palmer's home is an "open" floor plan.  Meaning they don't have any walls separating them from the outside.  That way, the breeze easily passes through their home and it also provides a beautiful view from every  direction.

First, there is the Palmer's open kitchen where we spent two nights sitting around their table enjoying Robert's stories and Myna's wonderful food.

Robert is a young eighty-year-old with an infectious laugh and full of stories that you could listen to for hours on end.

Now for Robert and Myna's home.

Their bedroom and sitting room.

Here you can get an idea of their open floor plan and their view.

This is a view from their home.  In the lagoon, you can see AMARA.

When Joey comes to visit, he stays in a little bungalow.  The bungalow is located off of the side of the Palmer's house.  It is quite cozy and quaint.

The nightstand in the bungalow.  I love the rustic look of using natural elements.

Joey showing us his "guest" bathroom and shower.

Meredith getting a coconut out of the tree next to the Palmer's home.

Success!

Joey explaining to Meredith the different ways to eat and shuck a coconut.


Of course, Lily found herself a comfy place to play.  She is always game for a swing in a hammock.

This sign is hung over the kitchen in the Palmer's home, reminding them of the Savior and who has blessed them with such bounteous blessings.

When we arrived, Louis and Joey jumped on the boat and Louis proceeded to show us how they harvest the pearls.  Above he is cracking open a pearl oyster.

Right on top of his finger is the pearl in its beginning stages.  Each pearl takes around 2.5 years to culture and then it comes out in the most beautiful colors.  Peacock/rainbow, fly-wing green and aubergine are the rarest of the colors and then they proceed down to a silvery gray (which I loved!).

Next, we went over to the pearl farm.  We got there during harvest season, so we were able to watch the harvesting in action.  Above, a worker is bringing in pearl oysters' shells directly from the sea, where they are organized so that the pearls can be extracted from the shells.

The pearl oysters are marked and used again.  The worker above is actually taking tiny little beads and placing them in the nucleus of the shell so that the oyster can do its work again.  The pearl will be ready to harvest again in another 2-3 years.

A close up of the beads that are being placed in the shell to help the oyster to start creating the pearl.

This worker is extracting the pearls from the oyster shells and dropping them in a bucket where they will be cleaned and polished and readied for market.

At the end of the dock the oysters are brought in from the sea and placed here to wait their turn to be pulled and then harvested.

Joey showing us all the pearl oysters.

Louis brought over an example to us, showing us how the pearl oysters are beaded onto a rope and then he drops them systematically back into the ocean.  Louis does all the pulling and organizing of the shells at the bottom of the ocean floor himself.  He says it is too dangerous to let workers keep diving up and down and not having them decompress.  To cut out the chance of a worker getting hurt, he just does it himself.  Meaning he brings up and plants every string of oysters himself. In fact, Joey had to bring him a pair of new fins because last week he was pulling up some boxes of oyster shells and a shark came up and bit off his fin and swam away with it.  How is that for hard work?

Piles of Buoys

These are a precious commodity for pearl farmers.  Buoys help mark the spot of where their boxes of pear oysters are located under the sea.

…And the end result.  Let the shopping begin!

We could have sat there all day trying to pick the ones that we wanted to take home with us.    It was quite gratifying and so fun!  Here, Meredith is holding the pearls up to her ears and asking us, "This one… or this one?"

This is my kind of shopping.  My happy place.  I found a few that suited me.  The more the pearl is symmetrically shaped and colored, the rarer it is.  I didn't care, I chose the colors that I liked.  My favorites were the silver and beige ones, but I also got two very rare ones because I wanted a keepsake of this special time here in Takaroa.  Thank you, Joey and Louis for such an amazing experience and for your generosity.

After "shopping", Joey took us over to an old ship wreck that had been there for a 106 years.

Sue walking beside the ship.  
Martin and Joey enjoying a stroll on the beach while Meredith, Lily and I hunted for shells.

Meredith checking out what's inside the shipwreck.

After our tour we had a good hamburger at the one (and only) restaurant on the island.  Wait… I think Joey said that there was one more but it is rarely open.  I loved the remoteness of it all.
P.S. The hamburgers were pretty good!

Next, we took a tour of the town and went and saw the old Mormon church.

Then, we got a special treat and went to the post office where there was the possibility of getting online.  There, we got to duke it out for bandwidth between the four of us.  Everyone gets very serious when the word "Wi-Fi" is mentioned.  "No talking!"

Martin coming out of the Post Office with Lily.
Stay tuned, for Part 2 of our visit to Takaroa.

Making Friends and Memories in Fatu-Hiva

Luck was on our side today.  As soon I awoke this morning, I saw a dark, heavy cloud looming over the mountains of Fatu-Hiva.  I wondered for a moment if we should just stay onboard and not go out since it was obvious that the rain was going to come at any minute.
However, what seemed like another rainy day in paradise actually worked in our favor.  We decided to venture into town anyway and see what we could see before the rain got too heavy.

 

AMARA parked in the "Bay of Virgins" at sunrise.

We took the tender into the small town of Hanavave in Fatu-Hiva to explore the small village and see if we could find an adventure.

I seem to be very serious about something.  I'm probably just thinking to myself, "Don't wreck the tender.  Don't wreck the tender…!"  

Lily enjoying the rain.

The Frey's standing in the rain for a family shot.

Fatu-Hiva is a little town that basically consists of a catholic church, a school, a small health clinic, an even smaller grocery store, one waterfall, two petroglyphs and a population of around 500 people.
From all our choices, we decided to shoot for the waterfall.  However, while on our way to the waterfall, we got caught in the middle of a torrential downpour.  At that point, we decided to just find shelter and wait out the storm.

Just a little rain.  No biggie.

We sought refuge in a small makeshift grocery store where the owner welcomed us in with open arms.  We sat in there and talked to her and she spoke back to us using her best broken english.  Just as the rain was going to let up, in comes our new friend (though we didn't know it yet), Augustina.

Augustina had come to the store to buy bread.  Later, I found out that she was a retired school teacher. When entering the store, Augistina went directly over to Lily and started loving on her.  It was so sweet.  That's when she told me that she was a teacher and had six children of her own.  She said that she just loved little children.  So much so, that she is watching her seven-year-old grandson and her one-year-old grand-daughter full-time since the parents work on different islands and are only able to come home for holidays.  
When Augustina walked up to Lily, she immediately noticed that Lily was delayed and asked me in plain, clear english, "What's wrong with this beautiful little girl?" I explained to her that there is no diagnosis for Lily, that she can't walk or talk and we aren't sure if she ever will.  Then she said something that both Martin and I have shared many times before about Lily.  Augustina said, "Oh, but she talks so clearly with her eyes!"  Of course, I teared up by her remark.  I love it when someone notices Lily and can see how expressive she is with her eyes.  It is true, Lily is very disabled.  Lily isn't able to express herself like we can, but she does talk with her eyes and lets us know often what she wants, how she feels and where she wants to be—just by using her eyes.  Augustina sensed this the minute she walked up to our beautiful little angel.

After that encounter, Augustina asked us what we were doing in the store and if we wanted some fruit from her home.  I caught myself saying, "Uh, YEAH… we'd love some fruit from your house!"  Martin politely asked, "Could we come with you and see all your fruit trees?"  Luckily Augustina had come in her truck.  So, we all piled in and she made room for Lily and me inside the cab and we headed to her brother's home.

Augustina's husband showing us the right way to split open a coconut to get to the water.

Augustina's grandson was also there and she promptly told him to, "Get in the car and take care of Lily."  I stayed in the car for a little bit while everyone started picking fruit because, between you and me, it was a little more rainy than I would have liked. (shhh!)

Soon guilt got the better of me, and well, at that point they were cracking open coconuts.  Who doesn't want to watch a coconut get cracked open?  So I got out and started enjoying the fun.  Rain and all.


Meredith has been asking for a coconut the entire time she has been with us.  Well, today, she got her wish.

Note: The flower in Meredith's hair is called a "Tiare."  It gives off the most beautiful fragrance  (smells like a gardenia and is from the gardenia family).  Tiare's are often the main flower used in leis.  These flowers were growing wild everywhere.  I could even smell them from the boat as we entered the harbor the night before.

Coconuts for everyone.  

The coconut water was so good!  Once we finished drinking the water, we scraped out the coconut jelly/milk and ate every last drop.  (Note to self: Get rid of the hat!)

David and Sue enjoying the coconut jelly.  You scoop it out like ice cream.  Take it from me, it was really good!

 Meredith and Augustina picking oranges and pamplemousse (from the Grapefruit family).

David gathering oranges while Augustina's son shakes the tree with a long bamboo stick.

After we got all the oranges, pamplemousse, coconuts and bananas that we could eat we headed for the truck to get back down to the tender.  Augustina's husband casually mentioned that he had just gotten a new outboard engine for his boat and wanted to show it to Martin and David.  He was so proud of it.  In passing conversation, he said that his one setback was that he didn't have the right stainless steel screws to mount the steering wheel on his boat yet and he was trying to figure out which screws he needed and how to get them to him since there are no Home Depots or West Marine stores for about 3,000 miles.  Martin and David's own "wheels" started spinning.  They both knew that they had just the screws that he needed to mount that steering wheel back on AMARA.

After staying awhile and enjoying Augustina's family, we loaded the fruit into a huge grain sack and had Augustina take us back down to the dock where our dinghy was tied.
When we got back to AMARA, Martin and I quickly loaded into a bag a large bag of M&M's, a French chocolate bar, and David and Martin found the exact screws that Augustina's husband needed.  We even threw in a little cash for all the fruit that she gave to us, even though she had no intention of us compensating her for it.
Once we gathered everything up, Martin and I drove the dinghy back to the dock and saw Augustina and her grandson.  We were so excited to give her the treats and especially the screws to help out with her husband's dilemma.
Note:  What you may not realize is that Fatu-Hiva is in the middle of no where.  It took us 7 hours to get there by boat and there are no airports in Fatu-Hiva.  Augustina's husband would have had to wait for weeks to get the right screws delivered to him.
Augustina was soooo appreciative of our gifts and wanted to give the money back to us.  We said "no" and told her to use it to get something special for herself.

Bananas fresh from Augustina's banana tree.  

It's necessary that before bringing bananas on board, you have to dip them in the sea so that the salt water kills all the critters that are crawling around on the vines.  That way, it keeps you from bringing bugs onto the boat.
What a wonderful day!  It turned out to be just the kind of adventure that Martin and I are always looking for.  We will remember this day for a long time, along with the kindness of our new friend, Augustina from Fatu-Hiva.

Tomorrow's adventure waits...

AMARA at sunset.

Land Ho!

We made it to land!

I am writing this post on Thursday, June 6th.  However, this probably won't post for another week or so.  Why?  There is no internet available…anywhere.  My one luxury item that I can't seem to live without is the internet.  (I may have to do a 12-step program upon my return because I did't realize how heavily I depended on it.)

First of all, the Pacific Ocean passage was brutal.  It was brutal on the body.  It was brutal from the lack of sleep and brutal trying to entertain a four-year-old that depends on your constant attention all day long.  If I wasn't at the helm, Lily was there ready and giddy to play with me.  (Unfortunately, she doesn't play by herself, she needs mom, dad or Meredith.)  I'll never do this kind of long passage again.  I won't need to.  Having said this, I am glad I accomplished this ocean crossing and feel like I can draw strength from it when times get tough.  I can tell myself, "Kym, you crossed the Pacific Ocean on a boat, you can do anything if you could do THAT!"

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When we finally saw land, the rain was so bad that it was like buckets of water were being poured out on me.  However, this wasn't going to curtail my excitement of FINALLY reaching land.   After 18 days at sea I was giddy to see land regardless of the weather conditions.  (Yes!  That was a record for us-we had planned on 22 days!)

Martin and me celebrating our first sight of land.

The morning that we reached landfall, it started off early and ominous.  I woke up around 5:00am and looked out my window and caught a first glimpse of land, as well as, buckets of rain pouring in every direction.  It was overcast and gloomy and wasn't the paradise that I was hoping to have welcome us after such a long haul.

However, upon seeing land, I immediately smelled "earth" and that was the best fragrance that I had smelled in a LONG time.  Regardless of the rain, I went to the bow of the boat and just sat there taking in the smell.  I never realized until then how much I missed it. Dirt of all things!

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Arriving at Hiva-Oa – Our First Attempt
The night before arriving in the Marquesas should go down in our record books as one of the most miserable nights. All of us had survived a long and bumpy night at sea.  The boat was rocking so hard that none of us got a good nights' sleep.  Sue described it as someone "punching her in the face through her pillow" while she was trying to sleep in her bed.  It was miserable.  I was miserable.  By the time we reached the Marquesas, we all just wanted to park the boat and sleep.

The weather was horrible.  Instead of sleeping, we had to get AMARA ready to get into port.  We all put on our foul weather gear and got to work in trying to get AMARA into the harbor at Hiva-Oa where we were to clear customs.

Martin dealing with the elements.

Me, pretending to "deal" in the elements.  Honestly, I just wanted to get on land and get a cup of hot chocolate and sit by a fire.  Wishful thinking.

David, Sue and Meredith assessing the marina.

Our first attempt to get into the harbor was a major disaster due to the weather and mudslides in Hiva-Oa.  It seemed like everything that had been on land was now in the bay.  We saw full trees floating by us, coconuts, wood... everything.

Boats were fouling everywhere (their anchors were coming undone down below making boats swing in towards each other).

Our first glimpse to the harbor in Hiva-Oa where we needed to check in with customs.  

We knew we had to get out of there and attempt entering again the next morning.  So, we left the harbor and went up about 10 miles and found a little inlet and tucked ourselves in for the night.  Talk about deflating.

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Attempt #2

 At the helm.  

What a difference a day makes.

The same harbor, but this time, a little more like paradise.  

The next day we headed back to the marina in Hiva-Oa.  It was amazing to see what a difference a day could make.  The sun was out, the water was clear, and a lot of the debris had already made it's way out into the sea.  This time we knew we could get into Hiva-Oa and clear customs.  

AMARA out in the bay.

The night before, two of David and Sue's friends, Lili and Steve, had already anchored in the marina and called ahead to tell us to anchor in the bay just outside the marina.  There were still a lot of boats and it would be easier if we anchored out there.  Knowing the conditions at the dock and knowing it would be difficult to tie our dinghy to it, Steve volunteered to taxi us over to the side of a makeshift pier (that was barely a pier) where we all quickly jumped off onto land.  Steve then took our dinghy back to his boat to wait for us once we cleared customs and did some quick (very quick shopping for provisions).

Once on land, we hired a taxi that took us up to the police station where we checked in with customs and got our legal documents that allow us to stay in French Polynesia for 3 months.

Martin and Lily waiting to clear customs.

After clearing customs, we headed straight for the grocery store where we stocked up on foods that we had really grown to miss on our passage.  

One can never have enough condiments. 

While trying to get through town, it was evident that this was not the best day to do any sight seeing.  The streets of the town were a mess and it looked as if the entire town was out helping to get the roads back in order.  We decided it was better to just leave and head for Fatu-Hiva which is known to be one of the most beautiful anchorages in the Marqueses.  .

 

Before we left, we did a little "meet and greet" at Lili and Steve's boat, LI WARD.  Great people.

If I don't say this enough, the sailing community is an amazing community.  EVERYONE that we come across is willing to help out their fellow yachtsman.  The day before, right in the middle of the storm, we had fellow cruisers talking to us on our VHF telling us where to park our boat outside in the bay. We had people moving their boats to make room for us.  Others brought us fresh baguettes.  I get a little teary thinking about all the support we get from other cruisers welcoming us at every port.  Wouldn't it be great if this happened more often in our daily life?  It really is an amazing thing to feel as if you belong to a little community where it only requires a boat.  I am loving this part of the experience.  I hope to take this kind of spirit of friendship home with me.

Just a tree floating by us in the middle of the ocean.  Part of the aftermath of the storm.

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We arrived in Fatu-Hiva late into the evening, barely able to see much other than a few hundred feet in front of us.  Again, we were met by a fellow cruiser on his dinghy and he helped us find the right anchorage for AMARA.  It never fails how often others are willing to help.

Knowing this is one of the most beautiful anchorages in the South Pacific, I was eager to wake up the next morning and see this so-called "beautiful anchorage."  So I woke up early the next morning to get my first glimpse of Fatu-Hiva.  

This was my view from AMARA'S bow.  Now imagine the fragrance of Hibiscus and Tiare (which smell just like gardenias) flowers in the air.  It looked and smelled like heaven.  I am amazed at the beauty in this world of ours.  Especially amazed at this little treasure.  

Fatu-Hiva - As close to paradise as you can get.

We plan to walk into town today to purchase some local crafts and then head up to a beautiful waterfall.  

I'll keep you posted!

PS.  Trying new posting application.  So sorry if things don't come out quite as well as I would like.  Internet here is almost non-exisitent and I am taking what I can get!