Category Archives: South Pacific

One Heck of a Welcome to Apataki

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It is not everyday we find a sunken boat, or we get really close to a shallow reef. Such is life cruising on a boat.

This morning we were up before dawn. Our next atoll destination, Apataki, was possible to reach during daylight if we left early enough. We held our breath as we started to pull up the anchor because two boats had gotten stuck on the coral and needed divers to get them out. Cruisers: We suspect “Charlie’s Charts” are just a little off for the anchorage in Manihi. You may want to mark your books to anchor just a touch south of where “Charlie’s” recommends to avoid getting stuck on the coral. The two stuck boats were exactly where “Charlie’s” said to go, and the boats that did not get stuck were a little south.

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Buying Pearls and Jean Paul

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Saturday June 9, 2007 We swore we weren’t going to do it. But we just couldn’t resist. They were just too cool”¦.

Today was going to be uneventful day of getting the boat ready for sea. But mid-morning, a flat bottomed boat with a large outboard motor pulled up with some locals in it. There were two men, a woman, and a 3ish year old with dark skin and blonde hair. Given all the groceries in the boat, they had to be on their way back from the market in town. One of the guys asked if we wanted to go and see a pearl farm. We said sure. We had read in lonely plant that the hotels offered visits to pearl farms, but they cost money. While we were kind of curious about what they did on a pearl farm, we weren’t curious enough to spend money on seeing one. So, we were excited about getting a free (at least we hoped) tour. Continue reading →

Diving Manihi’s “The Break” with Sharks

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Friday, June 08, 2007 — Today we went SCUBA diving. Before we left San Diego, Eric decided we needed to become SCUBA divers as part of the boating lifestyle. Christi thought Eric had lost his mind. SCUBA diving didn’t seem like the right fit for us for a sport, for different reasons. Christi has weak lungs, has a hard time adjusting to the change in atmospheric pressure, and hates cold water. But she absolutely loves to swim in the ocean as long as the water is warm. Eric doesn’t like to swim in the ocean and tends to get panicky if the visibility isn’t phenomenal. He’s afraid something will sneak up and eat him. Eric faced his fears and bravely got certified in the murky waters in San Diego. Christi absolutely refused to get into the cold water.
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Exploring Tatate, Manihi & Snorkeling, Coral, and Dog Attack

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Thursday June 7, 2007 — We began the day with chores, as usual. Christi scrubbed the waterline and down about 3 feet below the waterline. The port side (left side when facing front) wasn’t too bad. To our surprise the starboard side (right side when facing front) had a lawn growing. And we aren’t talking thin, short grass. We’re talking a full, thick lawn that you could mow with a lawnmower. We have to work really hard to get the yard at home to look half as good as the starboard side of the boat did. Needless to say, it took quite a bit of scrubbing to get it off. Why didn’t anyone tell us we needed a weed whacker???

Then we went snorkeling around the coral near where the boat is anchored. The coral is not very colorful, mostly off white and a little bit of lime green. There were some neat shaped coral rocks out there. There were a lot of electric-blue lipped oysters in the coral. We saw a good number of interesting fish. Continue reading →

Manihi Walk on the Southwest Side

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Wednesday June 6, 2007 — We went to meet Richard at the fancy hotel. We arrived early to explore the island with the hotel. There is an airport (complete with a passenger loading/unloading boat dock), three little souvenir shops selling jewelry made with locally raised black water pearls, and a couple of houses. The houses are farther apart than in town and have no fences. The views of the lagoon are beautiful. There are a lot of dragonflies around, too. We were surprised at the amount of trash strewn about. In addition to the usual bottles and cans, we saw a lot of broken sandals and buoys.

Back at the hotel, we watched some workers put a palm frond roof on a bungalow. There is a basic wooden frame. It looks like the two halves of the palm fronds are braided about a third of the way down from the stem. The fronds are laid down and nailed at the stem to the frame. The fronds are laid down a few inches apart and overlap one another. The fronds are covered with chicken wire to keep them from blowing away. Continue reading →