TakaroaSharks

Takaroa and swimming with sharks

We sailed from Nuku Hiva, in the Marquesas, to Takaroa, an atoll in the Tuamotus. We sailed for a

bit

less 2

½ days, which was much faster than we anticipated and arrived at night, which we did not

want.

Anchorage is

a serious problem in these atolls so is the reef that makes them. As a testimony

we saw a

few ships that have

wrecked here and the sailing books have plenty of stories about it.

Russell knew that

there was only one place

to anchor outside the atoll and as we approached it there

was a small fishing

boat in the precise spot. We

motored around and around, dropped anchor 3

times but it would not hold.

It was late, dark, windy, we were

tired and running out of ideas when the

fishing boat left and we

anchored. Russell set the anchor guard on, and

we settled in to get some

sleep. The rolling was too much

and the gusty wind made this the worst anchorage

we had. I was

afraid we would not hear the anchor

alarm in case the anchor slipped and slept very little. So

did

Russell and Jerry.

We woke up anxious to see land. We had never been to an atoll before. The red roof church being

the

tallest

and nicest building was the first thing we saw. The small village was already awake and a

few small

power

boats were leaving the dock to take workers to work on the pearl farms in the other

side of the

lagoon. A few

others were coming in to bring children to school. Pearl farming is the main

activity here; a

bit of copra

production, subsistence fishing and a lot of sitting around and talk are the

only things they do

here. About

2,000 people live in the small flat strip of land, surrounded by ocean

in the outside and by a

lagoon in the

inside. There is one passage to go in the lagoon but navigation

inside is dangerous due to the

coral heads and

all the pearl farming lines all over the lagoon.

We were hungry when we got up. In the 2 ½ days at sea we didn’t eat very well. It was a bit rough

and I

didn’t get in the galley to cook as for sure I would get seasick. We had “the skipper’s special”

for

breakfast,

that is, blueberries pancakes. Russell had 2 fried eggs on top of the stack of pancakes

and he

flooded the

whole thing with maple syrup.

We put the dingy in the water and went to see the village. The first impression was not that good,

trash

everywhere, unlike the Marquesas that were so clean. Dogs (scraggly looking ones) were

everywhere

also.

Vegetation is mostly coconut trees, some plumerias, Tahitian gardenias, a few ulu

(breadfruit). The

lagoon

was full of pearl farms, the famous black pearls. People were very friendly

and in the small store

the owner

spoke English. She went to school in Orlando, Florida, what a

surprise for us. Jerry was super

happy because

they had soy milk. No fresh fruit nor vegetables. The

barge only comes with supplies from

Tahiti 2

times/month. There is no tourism here and the

habitants are truly happy to see sailors when they

stop by in

their voyages. Other than the barge

that comes 2 times a month, there is a small plane that

comes in from

Tahiti 2 times a week. No

alcohol nor firearms are allowed there. Very nice.

We snorkeled many times around the reef, covered with coral and teeming with schools of fish. The

water

so clear, deep and dropped off to hundreds of feet right under the boat. Soon we saw a few

white tip

sharks,

some black tip and a few grey sharks. They stayed away from us, and we spend

hours enjoying

the swim in

the beautiful clear water. There was so much fish so I thought we should

do some fishing to

get a good dinner

A small fishing boat with 2 local girls and a guy anchored next to us to fish. Soon they were catching

all

kinds

of fish and had the boat full. They put a lot of big red ones, looked like some kind of

snapper, back

in the

water. We were curious so Jerry swam to them and one of the girls said to him

in English “no

good”. She also

made a sign with her hand sliding across her neck (to me it meant “cut

your head”) which

meant you will die if

you eat that fish. That changed my mind about catching fish

for dinner. Ciguatera is a

serious problem here.

They came to our boat and gave us a good amount

of fish, mostly grouper. We

gave the guy one hat (with

Kailua Kona embroidered on it) and lipstick

and nail polish to the girls.

That night we had dinner in the little restaurant, the only one, in the village. The owner is part

Chinese so is

the

food. We had an interesting version of egg foo yung, chow mein and beef with

cabbage. Good. They

also had

ice cream, which is a real treat in these hot islands.

We spent 2 days in Takaroa and decided to go to Takapoto, which is just about 14 miles away to

check

out. There the anchorage was even worse and there was no way to go ashore in our dingy.

There is a

small

dock by the village but there was big south swell and we couldn’t get near it. Russell

decided that

we should

try to anchor 2 miles from the village where his chart book mentioned that we

could get some

sort of

anchorage. It was another difficult anchorage, which is a problem in the

Tuamotu due to the lack of

sand and

the depth of the water. After much deliberation, we set anchor

and Jerry was sent to check it

out. Of course I

was bit concerned because we heard so much about

sharks in these waters. But

someone had to do it and I

did not volunteer.

We put the dingy in the water to see if we could go ashore. Russell decided to do a “reef landing” as

there

was no other way for us to go ashore. And we had to find a way to do it because Kaya, Russell’

s mate

was

going to arrive in a few days in Takapoto. There is a small plane that flies from Tahit

twice a week.I

was a bit

concerned for the dingy and after much “Russell, I don’t think we should do it,

wait for this big

wave to pass,

are you sure we can do this?, I said “go for it” after he was already

going. It was actually

not bad, we got of

the dingy as the wave pushed us, the reef was not too sharp,

and waited for the small

waves to float us in. We

walked in the broken coral road for a few minutes

and voila, a pickup truck

stopped by and the 2 ladies

asked if we wanted a ride to the village 3km

away. Due to being late in the

afternoon, and a bit concerned

that if the tide changed we did not

exactly know how safe it would be to

go back, we decided not to go and I

mentioned to them that

maybe in the morning we would come

ashore again and go the village. In the morning

they were

there at the beach. I think they came to give us a

ride but we were lifting anchor to leave. The

anchorage was unanimously elected the worse and we

decided to go back to Takaroa.

This time, we were lucky, the small dock in Takaroa had no boats and we safely anchored and tied to

it.

Soon the whole village was driving or walking by and they all waved and said bonjour. I guess we

were

the

big news that day.

We took a walk in the coral sand only road in the hot afternoon. Soon some people stopped by and

offered

us a ride which is a common practice in the Marquesas and in the Tuamotus. We gladly

jumped in

the back of

their truck. We didn’t ask where they were going or taking us and they didn’t

ask where we

were going. It

didn’t matter as the road only goes to one place, not much pass the

small landing strip. As

it turned out, they

thought we were in a sailboat that was anchored inside the

lagoon, near the landing

strip. Soon they stopped

the car and pointed to a few houses at the lagoon

side. We walked in the

driveway and met the 2 English

gentlemen that were drinking with a local man,

Gustav, sitting by a table

under the palm trees. Adrienne, his

wife came to greet us. In my broken

French I asked permission to

come in. Russell had met Gary, the English

bloke, owner of the sailboat

in the lagoon, someplace in

Panama and soon we were seated and talking with

them about their

sailings.

Gustav and Adrienne are pearl farmers and have 2 children, Terena and Chuck. Beautiful children.

A mix

Tahitan, Marquesan and Tuamotuan. She soon had to leave to go to church, Mormon, (did I

mention

that

90% of the population in Takaroa is Mormon?), and gave us a ride to the dock. She was

wearing a

beautiful

necklace that she had made, out of shell and black pearls. I took a picture of her

and soon we

were talking

about her family, the atoll, pearls and her children. I am so glad I could

speak enough French

to communicate

with her, who spoke only a little bit of English.

Dinner next night was in the little restaurant again. Adrienne came to have an ice cream with her

children. I

wanted to give Terena and Chuck a little gift. I asked her is she could go to the boat with

us, were

anchored

at the dock. We all hoped in the back of the truck and went. We invited them in to

see the boat

and they

stayed for a while. Jerry and Russell were very tired and excused themselves.

After a while, I

was getting tired

too but I enjoyed talking to her and I think she treasured the

opportunity to learn some

English, and in that

odd mix of languages we shared our stories. Adrienne

asked me if I could wait half an

hour before going to

sleep. She left Terena (10 years old) with me

and left with Chuck. Terena spoke no

English and soon started

to teach me French. And what a

tough teacher she was. I had to pronounce

every word perfectly. What a

lesson, taught by a

gorgeous child, in the most beautiful night, with a small

moon in the star littered skies.

Soon came back Adrienne, and she had 3 gifts for me (one from her, one from Chuck and the other

from

Terena). One was the necklace she had made, the other were a half dozen pearls so I could

see the

different

colors they can have, and the last one was a sculpture made of a piece of driftwood

covered

with many

different kind of shells from the Tuamotus, also made by her. I was so deeply

touched by the

gesture, I have

witnessed Aloha many times but this time it had such a special

feeling. Sweet memories I

am going to have of

this unforgettable night.

Next day, Jerry, who had been bugging Russell and I to do a drift snorkeling by the pass, was

insistent

about

going. We had been reading a lot about the schools of sharks in the passes in many

of these atolls

and we

were just not too keen on doing it. Particularly, because we had not seen any

local person doing

it. Finally

Russell agreed to go. The tide flows in the pass in a fast current, about

6 knots, so we motored

down to the

drop off and were dragged by the current into the pass. Jerry,

brave and fearless, went

ahead followed by a

hesitant me and a more hesitant Russell stayed in the

dingy, dragged by the current

right behind us. Soon we

hear Jerry yell “sharks” and there they were,

grey reef sharks at the bottom, 5 to

7 feet, in a school of at least

40, swimming totally ignoring us.

Another school of probably 30 baby ones

were swimming in the shallows.

The water where the big

school was had a depth of about 30 feet. Russell

soon put his head in the water and

before long he

was in the water with us and the sharks. We were

dragged by the current into the lagoon

where the

fish life was good but we were interested in the sharks.

So we jumped in the dingy, motored up

again,

to do a second drift dive again. And a third one. It was

fantastic and exciting. Maybe the word is

thrilling. We also saw a beautiful spotted ray that smoothly

glided by us. We liked it so much that in

the

afternoon we decided to do it again. This time the tide was

going out and the water was not very

clear. The

sharks were not there but we had a great time swimming

in the drop off. A huge spotted

ray came by and

graciously swam to the depths under us. It was eerie to

look down and see the drop

off (1000’s of feet).

Depths that gave me the chills.

Next morning we were all ready to go again. This time I had my underwater camera with me. Soon in

the

dive we saw an even larger school of grey sharks, more than 60 for sure. We were all in the

water floating

away with the current and I was about to go down and take a picture when a group of

sharks swam

straight

up right towards us. I heard brave and fearless Jerry yelling “Conceicao come

back to the boat

RIGHT

NOW”. By that time Russell was already in the dingy and Jerry was hanging

on waiting for me (I

hope).

Later, Jerry asked me what I was going to do when the sharks got closer.

My plan was to tuck

my knees

against my chest pointing my fins to them and hope that they would go

for the rubber. We got a

little excited

with the encounter and decided to do it again but this time we

would hang on to the dingy so

we could come

back right to it if the sharks came again too close.

After all, we were in great

disadvantage, in their

environment, they outnumbered us and they have a

bad reputation. Fortunately they

left us alone the second

time. They had had their fun scaring us.

It was a very exciting dive, the perfect way to end a visit to this far away place, in the middle of the

ocean,

where gentle people greet you with a smile and are truly content to see you.

Next stop will be Takapoto again. For a short visit.