Manahi & Apataki, Archipel des Tuamotu; French Polynesia
05/07/2004 - 06/03/2004
The islands of the Tuamotus are delicate atolls historically referred to as the "Dangerous Archipelago". Atolls are the last phase of transformation of the original volcanic island. A ring of coral encircles beautiful lagoons. Motus, little sandy islands, encircle the lagoons.
Lacking in freshwater and soil, the population of all 77 atolls is a measly 12,000. Of the 77 islands, 45 are populated in varying degrees of occupation. Rangiroa is one of the largest atolls from both a population, 1800 inhabitants, and size, 600 square miles, perspective. The Tuamotus are infamous for French nuclear testing on or under the Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls. Fortunately, the nuclear testing concluded in early 1996. Needless to say, these atolls are not on our list of possible stops.
With so many low level islands densely located in a 600 mile swath, serpentine navigation between islands can be nerve racking. Today technologies such as radar and GPS relieve much of the guess work. To enter each atoll's lagoon, a narrow pass must be threaded. Once inside the lagoon, careful navigation is paramount to avoiding coral heads and pearl farm buoys.
This map shows a few of the Northern Tuamotus. We visited Manihi (far north), Apataki, Toau and Fakarava.
The 500 mile trip from Fatu Hiva, Marquesas to the Tuamotus passed very quickly with 20 to 25 knot winds for most of the trip. While en route, Robin makes an entry in Whisper's log book.
Arrival in the atolls of the Tuamotus means lots of time in the turquoise water checking out coral and fish. Woo Hoo!
Manihi
Our first atoll in the Tuamotus in Manihi. Manihi is famous for black pearl production. Pearl farms in Manihi are owned by several of the big names in pearl farming. An estimated 30 to 40 pearl farms are active in Manihi.
Travel books and cruising guide refer to the village as "a charmless village". We found the village to be small yet quaint in a fishing village way. The streets with homes seemed very well maintained and manicured. Here is one of the "suburbs" of Manihi.
With our supply of bread running low, we were thrilled to find this huge loaf of bread. Delectable raspberry jam was also quite a find. We ordered lots of baguettes from the bakery, too.
Just outside the pass into Manihi is an awesome dive/snorkel site. The site is called "The Dropoff" (or "Le Tombant" in French) due to a beautiful wall of coral that drops off into an abyss.
A couple of dives allowed us to get much closer to the fish, coral shelf and coral wall. Robin smiles for the camera while diving "The Dropoff".
Manta rays like this one were a common site while snorkeling or diving right outside the lagoon pass. Other big critters such as spotted eagle rays, black tip reef sharks and gray sharks visited us, too.
The variety and number of fish at "The Dropoff" is impressive. We love observing the beautiful Butterfly fish. Drift snorkeling through the pass was a wild ride with zippy currents shooting us by lots of fish.
Manihi offers a fantastic high-end resort called the Manihi Pearl Beach Resort. Overwater bungalows and tasty restaurants are just a few of the resort features. We ate lunch at the restaurant three times. A French Polynesian dish named Poisson Cru (like ceviche but replace tomatoes with coconut juice) is one of our favorite treats.
The resort dive shop filled our dive tanks several times for a nominal fee.
Taking full advantage of the opportunity to eat or drink somewhere other than Chez Whisper, we slurped a couple of pina coladas at the resort bar.
Even the resort bathroom proved to be worth taking a photo.
Apataki
After almost to two weeks in Manihi, we sailed south to the Apataki atoll. The south pass at Apataki is much bigger than the pass at Manihi. On the morning of our arrival, the water visibility was incredible. Every shade of blue and green appeared before our eyes. Painted buildings in the village added shades of pinks and yellows to the spectrum. We did not visit the village in Apataki because there is not a great place to anchor nearby.
Tiny pastel colored fish greeted us.
Outstanding specimens of coral dotted anchorages throughout the lagoon. Delicate hard corals, squiggly brain corals and many other varieties of coral appeared to be mostly undamaged and pristine.
Many hours of snorkeling consumed us while in Apataki. In this picture, Duncan captures a fellow snorkeler making a free dive.
Snorkeling in the Tuamotus requires getting comfortable with sharks. If you look really closely at this picture, you will see a black tip reef shark between the two large mounds of coral. This is just a shark teaser. Check out the Fakarava log to see some up close and personal shots.
Vibrant colored lips on large clams can be found everywhere. Bright green, blue and purple seem to be the most common colors.
Check out another variety of butterfly fish.
Numerous idyllic and picturesque spots exist throughout the lagoon in Apataki.
Friends MJ and John from the catamaran Island Sonata snorkeled with us several times. We enjoyed a great drift snorkel together at the north pass.
Are we back in Mexico? Nope, but it was Mexican food night on Whisper. Even though we spent a year and a half in Mexico, we never tire of Mexican food. The ambiance was enhanced by the Mexican Hat light given to us from friends Chris & Chris on Spirit Wind
Sailing inside the lagoon provided us with some of the best sailing since leaving San Francisco. No ocean swell and consistent breezes made for several great day sails.
"Where's the Coral Head" and "Where's the Buoys" are two of our favorite lagoon navigation games. One of us stands at the mast or on the bow as high as needed to look for obstacles such as coral heads or pearl farm buoys.
Our favorite anchorage in Apataki is located at the southeast corner of the lagoon. Anchoring in 20 feet of crystal clear water allowed us to see Whisper's shadow on the sandy bottom. Not many boats visited Apataki. We enjoyed the solitude of having this anchorage to ourselves for a couple of days. We loved Apataki!