April 2021

Date: April 2021

Position: Fakarava, Tuamotus, French Polynesia, South Pacific

Iaorana (Bon jour) from French Polynesia again!

Captain Bonzo here with an update from Ari B! For those of you who don’t know me, I am the Captain of Ari B, a multitalented stuffed dog, that speaks 5 languages, has sailed half way round the world and barks orders. I also write the newsletters for Alex and Carla.

When I last wrote to you in November 2020, we were about to sail to leave Tahiti – our plan was to spend 7 to 8 months sailing back through the Tuamotos, visiting places that were high on our list, but that we hadn’t managed to see yet, then look for a window to sail to the Gambier islands, some 1,000 miles to the east (windward.......), spend a couple of months there and then see what the covid situation was like. At the time of leaving Tahiti, there were 200-300 new cases a day, with restrictions in place, but the country was open and tourism was working.

So our first sail saw us visit Makatea – a unique island north of Tahiti, which was lifted 7 times by volcanic activity in Tahiti and presents itself as a sheer cliff, some 40 meters high, and the island elevated, with no reef around it. Subsequently you cannot anchor there as the depth is in excess of 50 meters, 20 meters from shore - but the island has 3 moorings for visiting yachts. It’s customary to call the major to let him know you’re coming and so he can manage the buoys. So we set off from Tahiti with a reasonable forecast and observed another yacht heading in the same direction on the horizon. Race on. Arrival in Makatea the next morning, said yacht was observed doing ridiculous speeds under sail and motor to beat us to the island. Called the major – only one buoy free (reserved for us). Other yacht beats us by a mile, takes the last buoy and refuses to vacate despite the reservation – the little (French) shit. He hadn’t called ahead. So the major asks us to hang of another boat with a long line – that’s the local technique – a first for us. Of course at night the wind goes light and the current pushes you towards the reef, depth alarm goes off (which Carla had activated only that evening) and not much sleep was to be had. At least the frenchie got a telling off from the mayor !

The next morning the crew is off on a tour of the island with the Julian, the mayor and his son. Makatea was the site of a major operation, extracting over 200 million tons of phosphorus (fertiliser) a year for over 50 years in the early 1900s. The remains of the operation are still visible and very interesting to explore with a knowledgeable guide. Today the island lives mainly off agriculture and the export of coconut crabs, a local delicacy. Highlight of the day for Alex was the exploration of 3 underwater caves that are linked and can be swum through – Carla was most excited by the sumptuous lunch provided, which included the local delicacy coconut crab.

The team decided to not suffer another night on the buoy and left Makatea mid afternoon, destination Rangiroa, with arrival scheduled for the morning slack water to make the entry through the pass easier. After a pleasant night sail and easy pass entry we dropped the anchor at the east pass, location for a truly spectacular experience – diving with dolphins. That is wild, untamed, totally free bottlenose dolphins measuring over 2 meters in length – and they choose to interact with divers, visit them and enjoy being tickled! So Carla did 5 dives and managed to have a one on one with the dolphins, tickling, touching, playing with the fins and swimming alongside at a meters distance. The dolphin stops moving as soon as you touch them, it stands vertically in the water and enjoys the human contact. Alex was sorry for the first time in 25 years that he didn’t have a diving licence and couldn’t go, but still managed to see them underwater by snorkelling. What a treat – Carla was buzzing for a week.

We were very lucky to have had calm weather for our stay, as the anchorage can be uncomfortable, and then had even more luck as the weather changed and provided us with a great passage to our next destination Aratika, some 120 miles to the east. We arrived around the morning slack water time (another tricky pass, just 30 meters wide). On arrival the pass was bubbling – and for the first time, the approach was abandoned and the team was circling outside, debating to divert to Fakarava. After a little wait, the conditions improved and a very tense crew entered the pass and made it through without problems – only to observe the local supply ship, breeze past us and out the tiny pass with 5 meters to spare on each side!!!! Alex considered himself a chicken shit that morning.

Our stay in Aratika was nice, quiet and uneventful, apart from some truly spectacular snorkelling on the east pass on a windless day (can’t normally snorkel there, so lucky again!). After 10 days we made the short 30 mile jump to Fakarava for fuel, beer and provisions with the intent to spend Christmas in the anchorage at Hirifa for a traditional Polynesian pig pit roast in the company of a good number of friends. Alex did some kiting in marginal wind and managed to hurt both his elbows – a recurring issue with tennis elbow (or should it be called kiting elbow?), and Carla got in a couple more dives in the south pass. This time the trigger fish were spawning. Trigger fish everywhere!

As it happened, the weather had other plans – not only was our planned stay looking unlikely in the chosen location, it also presented a chance to use the weather system to make it 300 miles east to Amanu, a stepping stone to the Gambier islands, and reported to be beautiful in itself. So the team set sail on the afternoon of the 23rd December, with plans for a belated Christmas party after arrival. We had another good sail, comfortable with fair weather and light conditions and arrived after 3.5 days at our destination.

Mince pies on route were made by Carla and enjoyed by all – and sat comms enabled us to let the other boats know what treats we were having on Ari B J - they were green with envy.... being a stuffed dog I actually couldn’t eat any, but I had a good go and the crumbs were EVERYWHERE!!

Our stay in Amanu was delightful and eventful. On day 3 after checking in with the local policeman we headed north to be in a protected anchorage for the forecast stronger winds. We had just dropped the hook when Carla spotted something HUGE in the water, about a couple of miles away, and it turned out to be a whale!! – A humpback, juvenile whale, measuring about 18 to 20 meters in length. The team boarded the dingy, gave chase and Carla was able to swim with the beautiful animal at length. Meanwhile Alex was in the dingy filming, being soaked with the water off the whales blowhole (they have bad breath apparently J) and wondering what a whale does inside an atoll...? The team was sufficiently concerned to contact another boat with a connection to a marine biologist, whose bleak outlook was that the whale would die unless he/she could find a way out. How do you guide a 15 ton whale through an atoll and out a pass that’s only 50 meters wide?? We didn’t know and nobody else did either.

Xmas was upon us (actually past us), as we had spent the actual day at sea, so we arranged for a nice Xmas dinner with friends and had all the usual. Smoked salmon, champagne, roast leg of lamb with all the trimmings, some great red plonk, mince pies – and we felt happily stuffed...in the middle of nowhere!

Since we were late with Xmas, New Year came up pretty quick a couple of days later – so more party!! Beach session, with booles, fire and drinks and then 6 boats (total 12 adults and 6 kids) descended on our friends boat “Jollydogs” for a DIY BBQ and general shenanigans. I remained on board, and Alex can’t remember anything else, so there’s nothing further I can add......

We spent the next few weeks exploring all the corners of Amanu. It is a beautiful, peaceful atoll with just over 100 very friendly residents in the tiny village. Carla resumed her kite surfing training with limited success and rollercoaster emotions...she still can’t go upwind. She was somewhat more successful and a lot happier lobster hunting on the outside reef at night and managed to catch several much to Alex’s amazement.

Whilst in Amanu we received the very sad news that Gem, the patterdale terrier of our dear friends, had passed away. Gem was a true seadog, with tens of thousands of sea miles under her collar, including 2 Atlantic crossings. Add to that windsurfing, paddle boarding, canoeing, kite chasing, wakeboarding, hiking to the Lost City in Colombia and twice to the boiling lake in Dominica and you will understand what a truly exceptional woof she was and what an amazing life she had. I was quite in awe of her and totally smitten of course but unfortunately the affections were not reciprocated (something to do with a bald man many years ago), and she would quite happily have ripped my stuffing out in 30 seconds flat. As a tribute, Carla painted a small driftwood plaque and we made a memorial on a small motu (island) naming it Motu Gem. RIP Gemmy Gem x

Back to the whale. Unfortunately the biologist was right and the male whale (we know now) did die after 3 weeks. Why these animals get stuck like that is unknown and it seems to happen quite frequently. The dead whale was then pulled outside the atoll and the team visited the carcass, floating upside down, a couple of miles away from the pass, in open ocean.(hence they knew it was male). Carla and Alex were alerted by the local kite surfing guy that a bunch of tiger sharks were doing their job and cleaning up the remains, so they decided to take advantage of the calm weather and go have a look. As advised, they shut the engine down upon arrival, as it scares the sharks away and started paddling to keep their position upwind of the now smelly whale. Apparently, paddling is an interesting sound for tiger sharks and the first glimpse the team had, was right up against their dingy, touching the paddle! Alex nearly jumped out of his skin, the shark was considerably longer than the 4 meter dingy (inflatable, made of rubber, etc ) and the soundtrack would put a fishwife to shame. Chicken. I think I said that before..... No more paddling apparently, but the show was intense!

Safely back in the atoll, Alex had a rum with shaking hands. Chicken shit, I told you.

So after that it was boat jobs, kiting and looking for a chance to sail to the Gambier islands, 450 nautical miles to the south east, into the prevailing wind, so any chance you get to sail there is associated with weather fronts, unstable and difficult to predict, so Alex calls it weather guessing rather than forecasting. In a nutshell, the forecasts change every day, the different computer models don’t agree and it’s next to impossible to make an informed decision. So after a while, you are clutching at straws. So we left Amanu, clutching at straws, along with 5 other boats, clutching at the same straws. Carla caught a huge wahoo just a few miles out which we took to be a good omen, but the passage was 450 nautical miles and we felt every single one..... What wind there was, was on the nose, we sailed 18 of the 84 hours it took to get there (the rest was under engine L ) and we were entertained by some vicious lightening storms. Honestly, no one had ever seen this much lightening, this close at sea. At times we were swallowed up, and it was a tense night, thinking about the consequences of a lightning strike (essentially anything electric gets fried), so we kept our backup navigation stuff in the oven, as that seems to protect the circuits. The next morning Alex put the foot down on the engine so to speak, to make it into Gambier before dark and avoid another night at sea. Carla managed to catch a 25kg yellow fin tuna about 10 miles out and it was hell of a job to land it as Alex refused to slow down even when I barked at him. So with a half hour to spare, we dropped anchor next to 3 of the other boats that had arrived a few hours earlier. Carla cut up the 25kg tuna she caught and donated to the other boats and we all had a drink to celebrate being in without damage. The other 2 boats behind us also arrived safely.

After a day of rest, we all went to the village, as the supply boat was about to arrive and we all needed fuel. A lot of fuel. So between the 5 boats, we purchased 1,400 litres of diesel. Goes like this: Queue for 2 to 3 hours (well Carla queues) until you can see the man that takes the money. Show your ticket to another man. He then pumps diesel from the supply ship into seven 200 litre drums. Then you hand pump the fuel into your 25 litre jerry cans (by you I mean Alex), lift into your dingy, go out to your boat, lift them on deck and then fill your tanks. Not only does it literally take all day even though we all helped together , you also lift each jerry can an average of 8 times, so if you fill 200 litres into your boat, you’ll lift 1,600 kg in a few hours............and try and do that with Alex’s double tennis elbow. He earned his quota of rum that day.

Anyway, chores done, the team went onto explore the lovely Gambier islands – you’ve got reef like in the Tuamotus and the Society islands, you have mountains like in the Marquesas and the Societies, you have the friendliest people in all of French Polynesia, fruit galore and the best black pearls in the world. And you have hiking trails – after months without a mountain in sight, they went mad. A 5 hour hike every other day to get fit again, took its toll on shoes and backs, but was much enjoyed! Carla even did a 5 hour hike on 5 consecutive days...maybe something to do with the lure of foraging fresh raspberries! The raspberries went to good use though. Firstly in a trifle and then in transforming a dodgy bottle of gin into a fantastic tipple. There were plenty of other things to be foraged including avocados, limes, pamplemousse and tiny cherry tomatoes. The friendly local people often called the team into their properties and filled their rucksack with fruit and vegetables and we had gifts ready for the children. Carla also baked cakes to repay their kindness.

Meantime the generator had developed a small diesel leak at the high pressure pump, but a few hours of research and a few emails later we (Carla) found a company in Tahiti who had the required o-rings(3). So we ordered and including 25us dollars for transport only had to pay 66 dollars for 3 o-rings, normal price probably 50 cents a piece – unreal. At least the leak was fixed.....

After a few weeks in Mangareva we sailed over to Taravai, a small island with only 7 inhabitants and a church in need of restoration and a new reef. A team of volunteers came over from Mangareva on Saturdays so I offered my crews assistance and off they went to chip the old plaster off of the church walls in the blazing sun. It was great for them to work alongside the locals and give something back and the team were rewarded with a fantastic lunch. We also met Herve, Valerie and their two sons. They sell fruit and vegetables that they grow to cruisers and sometimes goat and pork. We were lucky and got goat and pork. They also host a bbq / pot luck on their property every Sunday and we joined them on two occasions, making sure we brought enough food and drink for them as well as us. They are a really lovely family and when it was eventually time for us to leave the Gambier they presented Alex and Carla each with a lea that they were to throw into the sea on departure, a sign that they would be back one day.

It was a sad day when we set sail back to Amanu and we all felt a bit tearful as the leas went into the sea. But the wind was blowing in the right direction and it was time to go so we set off on a 3 day 450 mile passage back to Amanu. The weather was much kinder to us this time, (we were very careful picking our weather window), and we had a fast downwind sail arriving in Amanu just before more bad weather set in.

During the last few months the team was trying to decide their plan for the coming years – in sailing you need to think at least a year ahead to be in the right places at the right times to avoid cyclone seasons and the like. Covid has made this planning incredibly difficult as you can imagine, with many countries closed, their status changing with short notice and severe restrictions. New Zealand had opened a way for yachts to apply for an exemption on economic grounds. In other words, if you commit to spending a certain amount of money on a yacht refit, they’ll open the border for you. While we don’t really agree with that approach, we had a look at our to-do list – which has grown to an impressive size after 7 years at sea. A major refit is on the cards and we decided to schedule 18 months in NZ, including time to travel the country, SE Asia, and visits home while the boat is in NZ. As meeting the financial criteria wasn’t going to be a problem, the team applied and was accepted. NZ here we come in November 2021.

With that in mind we didn’t linger in Amanu and after two weeks catching up with some friends we had another delightful downwind sail under spinnaker all the way to Fakarava, 300 miles. A few squalls at night kept us on our toes and we had to drop and raise the spinnaker a few times, and the engine also decided not to start which Alex fixed in the middle of the night. Carla managed to hook a huge marlin on the rod which took off with nearly all her line before it thankfully got off and after 2.5 days we arrived in Fakarava and got fast internet for the first time in 4 months!

We have had a fantastic time in French Polynesia and are happy we stayed the extra year to go to places we would otherwise have missed. But before we grow roots it’s time to move on and the next stop in Fiji. It is the only other country open to us in the vicinity, as they have established a blue lane program, allowing foreign yachts to visit if they adhere to the guidelines and quarantine requirements. The plan is to leave Tahiti towards the end of May and enjoy 5 or 6 months in Fiji before making the trip to NZ.

As a reminder you can track us via the tracking link on our website or by following this link:

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/AriB

So, from the far side of the world our best wishes for all of you, stay safe and healthy, until next time from a new country, language and culture!!

Au revoir

Ari B out

Top of Mokoto, Mangareva, Gambier