Fakarava

The passage to get here was unusual. We expected a pretty simple 550 mile passage, about three days. It turned out to be a little more complicated. We had more favorable current than expected which resulted in a 209 mile first day and faster speed throughout the passage, none of which was in my assumptions about passage time and arrival time at the pass at Fakarava. We made the unusual decision to heave to for seven hours in the middle of the trip, something normally reserved for very bad weather, to delay our arrival. Then on the final morning into Fakarava we had 25-30kts of wind, way more than we needed. We triple reefed the main and furled the jib to slow us down, again trying to arrive at the appointed hour.

We arrived a little early, but the pass was wide (500yds) and deep (30') which made it easier. In the end we were two hours early and had a 3kt flood current pushing us through the pass and into some small standing waves in the lagoon. We punched through those waves and then motored the five miles back into the wind to Rotoava. We anchored and sighed with relief. After subtracting out the seven hours when we were hove to (and actually going back towards the Marquesas for part of it), we had an average speed of 8.7kts for the passage, which yields an average day of 209 miles (surprise!). Way faster than the 175 miles / day I had assumed. Even discounting for the 1kt of current, we still averaged over 7.7kts or 185 miles / day. I'm going to have to update my passage assumptions.

We were exhausted when we were finally settled around mid-day. A couple of beers led quickly to an afternoon nap. Then last evening we watched a movie and as we got into bed around 10:45pm we heard a car horn (we thought) and then noticed a really bright light. We got out of bed and went into the cockpit to see a ship bearing down on us. It was at least 250' - 300', a good sized inter-island cargo vessel. This was 11pm on a Friday night so a bit unusual. The captain decided he would drive his ship between New Morning and the French flagged 45' Beneteau anchored next to us about 50yds away (measured while anchoring). The ship could not have had more than 30' - 40' of room on either side between his ship and our little boats. From our side it was just a wall of steel moving by with a French guy shouting something at us and waving his arms. Had I been more on my toes I would have responded with some fitting hand gestures and words of my own, but I was too in shock.

Both of the small boats normally "sail" at anchor, swinging back and forth in a pretty wide arc as the wind blows the bow first one way and then the other. Had we swung towards each other (as frequently happens since we don't swing in sync) when the ship was coming between us, this would have been a tragedy instead of a story. If we were really blocking the dock (and two other ships came in today and had no problem going around the fleet of anchored yachts), the captain could have sent a small boat to tell us to move, or had the gendarmes come out and fine us. Instead this guy just decided to drive his ship through the anchorage. It's only luck that he didn't hit one of the boats or suck up an anchor chain into his screw.

And to cap it off, the ship was at the dock for no more than 15 minutes and then sailed off into the night. Apparently he was just dropping someone off or picking someone up, not actually transferring any cargo. I later spoke with the owner of the Beneteau and he had the same reaction (though in French). The captain was simply being reckless late on a Friday night. Since neither boat was hit, or no anchor chains snagged, it's now a good story instead of a tragedy.

We're currently anchored with about a dozen other boats in the lee of the village of Rotoava in the NE corner of Fakarava. The geography is a bit odd, sort of 60 miles long x 300yds wide, wrapped roughly in the shape of rectangle that is 10 miles x 20 miles. There is clearly some good infrastructure with a nice concrete road through town, cell phone service, an airport and street lights through the village which look lovely from the boat at night.

We took the dinghy in for a look around and found a really nice village. The market was well stocked (though no cheese), the boulangerie had fresh croissants (the French know how to use butter), the homes were neat and nicely landscaped and the residents friendly.

The produce prices were a bit shocking with a tomato selling for $7.50, an avocado $8.50 and a head of lettuce $14. That would make a very expensive salad! But we did buy some nice pears from the US and promptly forgot the price as we enjoyed the fruit.

Tomorrow is Sunday so everything is closed up tight. On Monday we'll go back and rent some bikes so that we can explore more of the atoll to either side of the town. We had hoped to do some diving here, but we've learned it's very advanced diving that starts with a rapid decent to 100' to avoid the strong currents. Not our style of diving. Next week we'll sail to the other end where there is rumored to be some good diving and snorkeling, with possible overnight stops at other anchorages along the way.