July 2020

Date: July 2020

Position: Fakarava, Tuamotus, South Pacific

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....

By the way, if you have sent emails and didn’t get responses from us, that is due to the lack of internet access in the Tuamotus, and by the time we had access, the messages were 2 months old! Apologies from our side.

When we last wrote to you, we were getting ready to leave the Marquesas early March to spend a little time in the Tuamotus before heading to Tahiti in May. A visit from our mules (spare part carriers), Kieran and Sharon was planned before then enjoying the Society Islands in French Polynesia, then we were planning to sail to Tonga via the Northern Cook islands and finally arrive in New Zealand in December 2020. In fact we just returned from an isolated bay in the Marquesas (where we eventually procured half a goat for our freezer –delicious!!)  to town, internet and other cruisers, when the German couple on “Bella” told us they were considering cancelling their trip to Germany. Alex asked why and they said due to the virus of course. They might close the borders... Surely they are overreacting we thought – closing borders. Ridiculous!  Shows what we know..... That was at the beginning of March and look where we are now!

Welcome to the new world..... We wish everybody safety, health and resilience to the new situation. We hope you are all well, wherever you are!!

In our case, we grabbed a weather window that showed itself early March and set off to the Tuamotus as planned, provisioned for a couple of months (that was our planned timeframe). We had a nice 3 day sail and arrived in Rairoa together with yacht “Windward”, went to the village for some internet and then left for the isolated corner of the atoll, some 8 miles away. No internet, no phone, no shop, no people. A week later, when visiting the village we heard of the virus situation and impeding travel restrictions. Being at the end of the world, we disappeared to our remote corner, switched off all electronics that tell people where we are and kept quiet for a month, during which the situation became a little clearer, and we felt a little more relaxed. Our concern was that foreign boats could be

·         Sent to Tahiti

·         Be asked to leave French Polynesia

·         Be forced to leave their boats and quarantine in a hotel

·         Etc etc.

The possible scenarios were plentiful, and we didn’t like any of them, so we stayed quiet in our little paradise until food requirements drove us to the shop. After registering with the policeman, we were allowed ashore to shop. Everybody was friendly and supportive and we had no issues. Other boats had more trouble. One was out of fuel and cash, another out of food and cash. Since there are VERY few cash points in the Tuamotus and many places cannot process cards, we carry a lot of cash, just in case – who knows, a virus could strike and we could be confined to a place for months..........

While we were in our little paradise, adding to our diet with land crabs, octopus, top shells and coconuts, there were close to 100 boats in Nuku Hiva, Marquesas, the island we had just left. They were quarantined on the boat, had land access for 1 hour a week for shopping, no swimming, watersports etc – and the bay is very rolly. Hell on earth it would seem to us. We were very lucky to be where we were. No restrictions, only 5 boats and great weather for the entire time. Lucky!!! BUT, no fresh veg apart from potatoes, onions, carrots and the occasional cabbage ( but we did score some tomatoes and cucumbers at one point!!). Fortunately, Carla was doing her magic by growing some sprouting seeds, which added a little green to our diet – otherwise it was tinned vegetables.

It was also a pretty good kite surfing destination, so once the wind was up Alex was kiting, and Carla was practicing on the beach, in shallow water, getting ready to take the big step – which didn’t happen until later. In the meantime she discovered her artistic side and has been carving and painting pieces of driftwood she has found with traditional Polynesian symbols. Her Mum and sister have already got their orders in!

So after a little over 2 months in our little paradise, inter archipelego travel restrictions were lifted, the policeman gave us permission to leave (together with a big smile and a wave) and we were off to Makemo and some fresh vegetables. By that time it was windy season – and if you recall Makemo 12 months earlier, we sat out a 40kt plus storm for a week. Never again we said – if there’s wind forecast we go someplace else. Didn’t work out like that and we had another blow – but only 30 knots, and this time we anchored behind a lovely small motu (island) with great protection and some sandbars so Alex could kite. Unfortunately there was too much wind and too many bommies (coral blocks) for Carla’s first time.

So after a fairly brief time in Makemo, we headed for Tahanea, an uninhabited atoll. Windy season was still upon us, and just like all the other atolls, there are no anchorages with 360 degree protection, so if the wind changes, you need to move to another place – not at all possible if it’s dark – and if the forecast is wrong, then things can get a little dicey. The forecast actually was a little concerning, with the various models predicting a full rotation of the wind in only a few hours – and of course at night. Maximum forecast wind strength was 15 knots though with possible 25 knot gusts in the squalls. So we chose an anchorage, dug in our anchor and waited with nervous tummies. The day started out with a 40 knot (force 9) squall (forecast was for 15 knots) from the north so we were fully protected behind densely palmed motu. Then we spotted a waterspout (tornado type thing) no more than 100 meters from our boat. Within a few minutes, it was a mile high and 100 meters across, sucking water off the surface, thankfully now a mile downwind from us – phew! So we counted ourselves lucky and continued waiting through the day, debating whether to move anchorages but eventually deciding to stay put as we were in charted waters. By darkness the wind was 25 knots from an uncomfortable but not dangerous direction, by 9pm it was getting a bit hairy and then a huge ‘squall’ went through (we later determined it was actually a front), backing the wind almost 90 degrees and putting us on a lee shore. It quickly went to 40 knots and we were in 5m of water with waves building to 2 meters and starting to break over the bow – time to leave!! If you haven’t tried to raise an anchor in those types of conditions it is hard to describe quite how difficult it is, and it is very easy to damage the boat and sustain injuries. As there are coral heads everywhere to snag the chain, we had buoy floats on the chain that also had to be unhooked as the chain came up. Carla was on the helm and Alex on the bow raising the anchor they somehow used telepathy to coordinate their actions. I decided the safest place for Captain Bonzo was down below under the table! Suffice to say, we lost a boathook, broke the snubber, got a few scratches to our bow gear when the chain decided to leave the bow roller and Alex sported a massive bruise on his leg – but we got away clean and proceeded to deeper water for safety. Luckily the anchorage was surrounded by charted waters (meaning we had accurate locations of reefs, which is uncommon in the Tuamotus), so we could motor up and down until the wind dropped – the other 2 boats in the same anchorage also elected to leave and seek deeper water. By 10pm the wind dropped and went back round to NW so we re-anchored, taking it in turns to anchor watch. By 2am, the wind was round to west and increasing, so up the anchor went and we spent the rest of the night hove to in deep water. At sunrise, we followed one of the other boats that had a track on their plotter to a safer anchorage – where we had coffee, fruit salad and rum for breakfast at 8am!

 This storm (not forecast) took away numerous pontoons and caused two yachts to be washed up ashore in the next atoll. Our friends in another anchorage 8 miles from us were unable to raise the anchor and had to remain in place throughout the storm, using their engine to reduce the load on the chain that was stuck around a coral head. They suffered heavy damage to their bow roller (made of 5mm thick stainless steel) which looked like a corkscrew afterwards and had to get help from a diver to free their chain, but otherwise got away in one piece. We all felt lucky.

After a few days the trade winds set in and it was finally time for Carla to go kiting too – or at least try to. She did really well, managing to start on her first outing and even go a hundred meters or so – unfortunately that meant she expected to be able to do it all in a flash – but it takes time and practice, so one needs patience. NOT her strong point.......

Our next destination was Fakarava atoll for some serious kiting and diving. We sailed the 98 miles overnight, entering via the north pass to the village. The supply boat came in the next day and we were able to stock up on fruit and vegetables that we hadn’t seen since the Marquesas. Then it was down to Hirifa in the south east corner for kiting, with Alex now doing jumps and Carla managing start in both directions but still drinking half the atoll in the process. I don’t think she has got the bug just yet!

We timed our arrival in Fakarava with the famous grouper spawning in Tetumanu, the south pass of Fakarava. David Attenborough did a BBC blue planet 2 episode on this event (Blue Planet 2 Coral Reefs) and if you can find it on the internet, it is well worth watching – look it up!!

Carla was lucky enough to dive the pass several times with our friends on Alia Vita and saw literally thousands of grouper, like a carpet on the reef and of course hundreds of sharks waiting for them to spawn so they get an easy meal. There are mainly grey reef, white tip and black tip sharks but she also saw a hammerhead and a bull shark, Some of the footage Carla filmed is extraordinary and hopefully we will be able to upload a couple of videos to show you what it was like.

During all this time, the Covid situation is hanging over us – news from around the world is not good, lots of people ill, many dead, economy in the dumps. What does it mean for us? The plan was to sail to NZ via the Cook Islands and Tonga. Serious efforts are being undertaken by a variety of parties to enable yachts to go to NZ, but things are not exactly clear – what restrictions, requirements etc will be placed on yachts arriving in NZ. Never mind the islands on route – they are closed too and unlikely to open – and if they do, you may be allowed to stop for food and water and be quarantined on board. So we are in a situation where places we wish to visit are not open and we planned to be in NZ for 18 months, allowing us extended travel time in NZ and SE Asia – which we can’t do if travel is restricted. So after a lot of time considering our options, we are very likely to remain in French Polynesia for another year. At least we are already here, virus free, we are allowed to stay and move about (at least at the moment) and life is almost normal away from Tahiti, although compulsory masks in public spaces have been announced yesterday. As the borders open for tourism, they are bracing for new cases.

So in a few days time, we will set sail to Tahiti to shop and stock up for the next 6-12 months. Everything is a lot cheaper in Tahiti and there is much more variety, so we are expecting to save over USD1,000 in food and fuel costs by doing the 500 mile return trip. Ha – sail 500 miles (or 8 channel crossings) to go shopping J  We also need some customs paperwork done, visit a chandlery and get some boat parts- so it makes sense to sail there. At the same time we are organising a shipment of rigging parts from the UK, along with a box of parts and essential items (such as 1,000 teabags). Many thanks to Louise, Lucja and Kieran who have made it possible to get the shipment organised!! Couldn’t do this without you – thanks!!

Imagine if we ran out of English teabags.......what would we do????

So, from the far side of the world our best wishes for all of you, stay safe and healthy, until next time.

Au revoir

Ari B out