Well, the powers that be finally decided that we could more within our own archipelagos as of Wednesday 13 May. That’s all of the Tuamotus for us, a vast area to explore. We’ve been at Raroia for about 2 months now and it’s alternately felt like home and a really nice prison. Now that we can leave we almost don’t want to.
Just yesterday I got invited to go spear fishing with some of the local guys, and out to the pass we went to see what was for dinner. There were 4 of them and me, and it was an amazing time watching them whack pan size fish with a spear gun from 5 meters away. Dudes were great shots! One of them, a fellow named Michelle, had speared a fish some time ago and apparently a shark decided he wanted what was on the spear as much as Michelle did. Michelle did the usual thing of quickly reeling the spear in and hugging the fish to his chest while making his way up to the surface to pop said fish into the boat. Mr. Shark wasn’t having that and in his excitement bit Michelle once really deeply on one leg, then nipped him a couple more times. Michelle showed me the wound, which took plenty of stitches to repair. You pays your money and you takes your chances, I reckon.
Anyway, it was pretty exciting to be part of the action yesterday, and there were plenty of sharks about. White tips, black tips, and grays, many in excess of 2 meters. Michelle shot one nice fish just when a shark was looking, and apparently there’s nothing a shark likes better than a wriggling fish with a spear sticking through it. Watching that shark shred the fish was awesome. Watching Michelle let it happen then have to straighten his bent spear was pretty darn interesting as well. As they say, sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you. I do believe Michelle has learned to give one up now and then so he can live to spear fish another day.
It was quite a successful hunt, including some pretty darn big fish, so today Isabel and I were invited to Cali’s home for barbequed Black Jack, a really large and tasty fish from yesterday. We spent several hours kicking back watching the fish cook over the coconut husk fire, then pigging out on roasted fish and poisson cru and rice and the Ghiradelli chocolate brownies I had made for dessert. Quite the feast, then the guys got ready to go fishing again while Isabel and I retired to JollyDogs, then motored across the atoll to the East side of the atoll where we’re better protected if the forecast comes to pass. It’s supposed to blow up to a good steady 16 plus knots from the East, and there’s just too much fetch across the lagoon where the village anchorage is. Better safe than sorry, as an all-night anchor watch isn’t restful, and dragging towards a lee shore is not on our list of fun and games.
Part of my daily routine includes downloading a pile of weather forecast products, then prowling through them to determine if we’re safe where we’re anchored, or if an upcoming sailing voyage to another atoll is actually a good idea. There be dragons out there, and sailing is a lot like flying. As my old test pilot pal Bob Merrill used to say, “it’s a lot better to be in a bar wishing you were flying, than to be flying wishing you were in a bar”.
So now we’re free to move to other atolls, and it’s looking like we’ll blast off for Makemo Thursday afternoon with a nice sailing forecast which should get us into the pass by the village there Friday morning. We need to leave Raroia’s West side pass in the afternoon during an outgoing tide, then arrive at Makemo’s East side pass during an incoming tide. Especially during strong winds, the wind over tide effect can create extremely dangerous standing waves. Having misjudged a pass once last year, we’ll not be doing that again, thank you very much.
After stocking up on goodies in Makemo we’ll sail for the uninhabited atoll of Tahanea for more spear fishing. By golly, things are looking up!
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