What the Heck Do You Do on a Tuamotuan Atoll Anyway?

–By ARLO

Whoa. As we first turned on the engine and steamed through the turbid pass of Tahanea atoll we were astounded by the change of water color, from the rich royal blue outside the lagoon to the breathtaking aqua blue inside. Lying midway in the Tuamotus, Tahanea is about 25 NM wide and 10 NM long (one nautical mile is equal to one minute of latitude and is slightly longer than a statute mile). Like the rest of the Tuamotus, Tahanea is a low doughnut of coral sand with palm trees and some scrubby bushes on it. Millions and millions of years ago, each Tuamotu was a tall, volcanic island. Over the years, a coral reef grew up around the island. As the mountain began to subside and sink, the coral reef continued to grow. Eventually, the mountain sank completely, and all that is left is a low ring of broken down coral, not 10 feet off the water.

Today Tahanea supports only two or three families who come for a couple months of the year to make copra to be processed in Tahiti. Otherwise it’s uninhabited. We met up with two other boats at our first anchorage in Tahanea, and two days after our arrival we celebrated my 15^th birthday with a bonfire on the beach, cake, bread dough on a stick to be roasted on the fire, and other assorted activities.

Since then, we went to an anchorage protected only by underwater coral. When the sun was low in the sky, the reflection of the sunlight kept you from seeing into the clear water; without seeing the coral, it looked like we were anchored in the middle of the lagoon, kind of the middle of nowhere. There we visited an island, which was remote and had lots of seabirds nesting on it. Then we moved to an anchorage near the pass into the atoll. There we went on an incredible snorkeling expedition from our dinghy in the pass, and saw all sorts of fish, large and small, in addition to coral and cowries. Snorkeling is one of the most amazing experiences you can have, free diving down, and getting to within feet of large fish before they swim away. Back at the boat we saw a large number of blacktip reef sharks circling the boat, one of which startled me by swimming rapidly towards me after I leaped off the dinghy.

Our time in the Tuamotan archipelago has been incredible. When you shut off the engine in a new beautiful anchorage, your first instinct is to put on your swimsuit, mask snorkel, and fins, and then swim as fast as you can to the nearest coral head to see if there is a tasty looking grouper that you might be able to spear for dinner. Even on these little expeditions near the boat—not out in the pass or on a mid-lagoon coral bommie (a chunk of coral that rises from 80+ feet deep to within two feet of the surface)–we have seen some crazy things like a moray eel, a four foot long bumphead parrotfish, and lots of smaller fish and invertebrates, like octopus. I made a type of speargun called a “Hawaiian sling” so now I can go shooting fish–sharks and ciguatera allowing (ciguatera is a dinoflagellate-born disease that can occur in fish, especially those high in the food chain).

We are now in our second and most populated atoll, Kauehi (pop. 350). Like the Marquesans, the people of Kauehi are overwhelmingly friendly, generous, and welcoming to the point of inviting you to their wedding even though they just met you. The locals here speak three entirely different languages: French, Tahitian, and Puamotuan, the native language of the Tuamotu. The primary work in Kauehi, besides subsistence fishing, seems to be copra production, but on a much larger scale than in Tahanea or the Marquesas; today men were shucking the dried meat out of thousands of coconuts to prepare for the supply ship tomorrow. As if this place isn’t different enough from Alameda already, we met a 350 pound pet wild boar, who is tied up to a tree, who will let you scratch him behind the ears and feed him your food scraps.

Tomorrow we will head to the southern anchorage to do more swimming, sailing, snorkeling, fishing, and exploring.  Sorry no pictures now, but when we get to internet in a few weeks we’ll post tons of pictures.  We can’t wait to here from you guys!