Today's port of call was similar to yesterday's stop at Rangiroa. Only smaller. Fakarava, formerly called Havaiki, is another atoll in the Tuamotu group, and used to be the capital of this archipelago until it was moved to Rangiroa. It is a mecca for divers since this atoll is classified as a Natural Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, a distinction given to 6 other atolls in this area. There are 845 residents and the main village is Rotoava, the closest to the Garuae Pass in the north part of the atoll. Actually, this pass is the largest one in all of French Polynesia with an opening of 1 mile from tip to tip. The Zaandam entered through this northern pass before 7am and dropped anchor outside of Rotoava.
The lagoon surface is 1121 square kilometers, and the dry land is 16 square miles….typical numbers for a coral atoll, although Fakarava is the second largest atoll in Polynesia. The other village of Tetamanu, is located at the southern pass and it is called Tamakohua. There are numerous pearl farms, which we cannot see for the size of the lagoon is massive. And there are also wild atolls, desert beaches with pink and white sands, and grey and nurse sharks as well as groupers that come here in July to reproduce.
We have visited this remote atoll many times over the years, but today's experience was different since way too many guests and crew have learned about the better places to eat and drink, thanks mostly to the ship's printed map. We left the ship by 10am, to find we had a 30-minute wait for the next tender boat. Why, we do not know other than they had problems bringing returning guests back onboard. The ride over was short and easy. The temperature was 79 degrees, with 76% humidity with 11.2 mph winds and a chance of light rain. Hope they are on target with the rain, since we had already seen a couple of nice rainbows and heavy-looking showers on the horizon. On a past stop here, we had a massive thunder and lightning storm followed by hurricane-style rains and winds that left us soaked to the bone. For that reason, we packed the umbrellas today, but never really needed them.….of course. We do bring water, however, and usually drink it a sip at a time just to keep hydrated. Very important.
We started our walk by turning right passing the primary school, village buildings, and a few eateries that would not open until later. There were a couple of souvenir sheds at the tender landing, but we chose to bypass them this time. Too many people were already crowded in them. We remember bikes were for rent here as well, and the price was $50 for the day. We have seen so many people fall from these bikes, losing control on the concrete roads with a lot of sharp coral in them. One elderly lady was cut up so badly, they had to wrap her arms and legs with beach towels a few years ago before taking her back to the ship. Better to walk here or stay on the ship.
There was one mini-market, a gas station, and home after home on the lagoon waterside as well as across the road.. A few boutiques were here and there, and several dive shops that offered scuba or snorkeling. There were no ship excursions, but we do know some Cruise Critic groups pre-arranged some private tours here. Along the way, we kept an eye out for the nurse sharks that can be up to 6 feet long. They patrol very close to the shoreline in shallow lagoon waters. We have been told they are harmless, but the words "shark" and "harmless" do not go together. These creatures will slither over the dark coral rocks, and you cannot see them until they move. In shallow water, their fins barely break the surface of the waters. Today we spotted at least five of them in the mile walk we took along the sandy shores. These are wild sharks and the swimmers in the water assume they are OK with them. We had heard from a very reliable source a few years back, that a lady had been bitten by one that sunk its teeth into her chest and would not let go. They had to take her and the shark to a clinic to have it surgically removed. Good grief, what were they thinking. And what were the people thinking today with these sharks lurking in the shallows??? We would hear more stories later this evening about these "tame" sharks. We are quite happy to take photos from the beachfront, thank you.
We continued on to the Catholic Church built with coral blocks in 1874. You could call it the seashell church since everything inside has shells in it such as the lights, the walls, and the ceiling. Speaking of the ceiling, it is a medium shade of blue giving it much cooler feel about it. Heavenly you could say. Some local ladies were selling seashell jewelry naturally and also bottles of water. In the back of the church is a large cemetery that we always visit. Many of the dates on the well-worn headstones showed that people did not live long here.
The beach seekers were less and less down this way, and eventually there were only a few left down this far end. We continued on the concrete road, where it turned, but we went straight on the dirt road. That path eventually led to the Havaiki Pearl Lodge with beach bungalows and a lovely dining room and bar that only opened for dinner. The Snack Le Requin, more or less a fast-food shack, is located on the same property. There is a large open-sided palapa with several tables where you can watch people sitting at sunken tables and benches in the shallow water. But there was a huge problem today. There were too many customers and not enough cooks to cook for the crowd in a timely manner. We had arrived at noontime, which was not the best time to get here. There were no available tables, even though some folks chose to eat then leave their things on the chairs to save them. Not nice people. Very inconsiderate.
The way it works here is you line up to place your order, pay for it, then wait until they bring it to the counter. There were at least 10 folks in line and it was not moving fast at all. Taking some photos of the in-the-water tables, we spotted our buddies Rosie and Randy with their lady dinner mates. They had arrived early enough to get the best table at the end of the covered patio with a good breeze and view. Rosie kindly offered to share their table with us, but we said thanks, we would be moving on. A gal that worked there offered to set up a table and chairs for two, so we said that would be nice. But when one of us waited for 20 minutes to order, and the line was moving at a snail's pace, we decided to leave. It's not like we would be going hungry, but beer would have been nice. Some of the aromas drifting from the kitchen were not the best…very fishy.
Oh well, we backtracked like many other folks were doing and saw even more sharks making their way along the shoreline. Our cute waitresses from the Pinnacle Grill happened to be on one of those beaches. Santi was relaxing on the narrow sandy beach, while Violet was out in deeper water with some other waiter friends. Just as we waved at her, they freaked out and screamed then started heading back to the shore very quickly. They had spotted the 6-foot nurse shark making its way towards them and hurried to get out of its way. Maybe that was not the best idea, as it seems to excite these creatures. We will have fun teasing her tomorrow at breakfast and sharing a story of a horrible attack a few years back.
There was one more possible restaurant/bar closer to the pier landing called Hirinaki Lounge and Restaurant. It was opened when we passed it earlier, so we decided to check it out. Nope, it was packed with hungry and thirsty folks who took every seat in the place. So it was back to the ship for us with a quick and easy tenderboat ride at around 2pm. We ordered room service mini sliders with a side of coleslaw and a plate of hot French fries to share. By the way, the room service fries are the same as the Dive-In fries, but not all stuck together. It was a perfect lunch and way better than the food at the shack in the village. With so many people going there, the beer would not be cold anyway. Our sodas in the refrigerator were ice cold, better than warm bottles of beer any day.
We cooled off doing computer work and reading until the all aboard time of 4:30pm, when the Captain came on with his update talk. He said we had 548 nautical miles to reach Nuku Hiva in the Marqueses and will have a sea day tomorrow….thank goodness, we all need one. He expected winds of 25 to 20 knots with temps in the 80's tomorrow. And the clocks will go forward ½ hour tonight to put us on the correct time for Nuku Hiva. There were showers everywhere on the horizon and another rainbow to see before we left going through the same pass we had entered in the morning. The sunset was a "fizzle"….way too many clouds.
Dinnertime had some better choices this evening in the dining room. Our waiters and head waiter Liberty promised the best Caesar salads ever, apologizing again for the unacceptable salads we had last night. After starters of a halibut patty and a veal tataki, the salads did look way better. We both ordered the prime rib, which was very good. Dessert was a slice of carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting.
Before we left the dining room, Zhandy, the Pinnacle Grill assistant manager appeared and relayed a story of people getting bitten by those sharks today. One of them was waitress Santi, who was nipped slightly, but one of the lady Effy employees had a bad bite on her calf. What part of " wild sharks" did they not understand? An experience like that will stay with them forever and the scars will be a reminder.
The entertainer of the evening was a comedian by the name of Andrew Grose with a hilarious show of male versus female psyche. The movie "Erin Brockovich" was shown in the Wajang Theater…another oldie but goodie.
Looking forward to a relaxing day at sea and perhaps an overdue haircut.
Bill & Mary Ann
