Atolls & Pearls

We arrived in Kauehi, an atoll in the Tuamoto’s on 17th July after a perfect passage from the Marquesas. (An atoll, in geography terms is a volcano sunk, where the sea level touched the volcano is a ring of coral which is now the island. In simple terms the island is a ring of coral with a break in it (called a pass) which you sail through to get into the salt water lagoon in the centre of the island. It is slightly back to front being anchored in the centre of the island with land 360 degrees around you!
Many boats have sunk around this island chain. The islands are low lying & hard to spot until too late. Luckily the invention of GPS & good old British radar makes present day safer but it is still scary when palm trees look like they are growing out of the sea!
It was our first experience with atolls & passes, made hairier arriving just after slack tide. As much as I enjoyed the 3 day/night passage no one relishes another night at sea with 2 hour shifts so we attempted our first pass on a rising tide. Stressful but we made it & 2 hours later safely anchored inside Kauehi. We remained for a week in paradise. The sea was a 100 shades of turquoise, palm trees bent over the gently lapping water, it was the scene from a holiday brochure but there were no hotels, B&B’s or rooms for rent, it was tourist free (except for a few of us yachties!) This is the picture your mind conjures when you think of the South Pacific Islands.
We snorkelled the heads of coral directly beside us. Just a little disconcerting to be surrounded by them when you are on a boat as hitting one of those things can rip the bottom. A multitude of fish, coral & huge clams lived below. Determined to be able to touch the bottom of the ocean & pick up shells I attempted to crack my inability to dive under the water whilst snorkelling. After swallowing huge quantities of salty sea water I finally mastered it!
We made firm friends with the locals despite our lack of a shared language. The people live off the bounty of their land. They harvest the coconuts, tearing out the coconut flesh, drying it & then selling the copra to companies who press the dried coconut to obtain the coconut oil. The Tuamoto’s are known for the black pearls they produce. The pearl farms are on small wooden pier like structures stretching out into the sea. The pearls & their shells were used though out the village from decorating the church & houses to jewellery & ashtrays. The village priest became my firm friend as I put in orders for personally designed necklaces made from mother of pearl & watched him draw the designs onto the shell, cut them out & sand them down.
Samwell, whom Bobby fondly called “Samwell the savage” due to his wild, rough & ready appearance & huge hair, went with Bobby in search of coconut crab. I wasn’t too impressed when they bought back a HUGE crab, still alive & requested that I cook it for an hour, turning it every 10 minutes whilst they went looking for more! Samwell & his family were very friendly but spoke no English & with our lack of French evenings with them would have been very quiet had it not been for our travel games of connect 4 & jenga!
Bobby returned from a day of exploring having met the local pearl farmer, Frankie. Frankie & his family welcomed us into their home & served us some amazing meals. We ate turtle, oysters (if they produce bad pearls Frankie brings them home to his wife to cook!) & he even went diving to collect blue lipped clams, which we had seen whilst snorkelling (personally it was similar experience to chewing on your flip flop!). They showed us the process of implanting & looking after the oysters so they produce pearls. Bobby was more taken with the huge container of pearls. He was mesmerised, running them through his hands, staring at the different colours & shapes. Mum & Gil – I traded 3 old worn out bikinis for your pearls!! It was fun & definitely a better experience than going to a huge pearl farm with tours for the tourists! As a thank you we had the family on the boat for the afternoon. The kids wore us out, loved Bobby’s super soakers (huge water guns) & didn’t take long to find my hidden supply of sweets/candy! Our final night here was a sad one. It has been hard to leave such a beautiful place, we may only have seen one islands in this chain but we have specialised, met some great people & loved every minute. Next stop Tahiti!