Apataki, Tuamotu
Jarek
Thu 4 Sep 2003 08:44
Another catch on the way from Marquesas was a nice, 3 ft. tuna, which was
the first fish caught on our boat since we left Florida! It boosted morale
of Przemek's, our fish line tender, enormously and filled up our freezer. We
sighted Apataki on Saturday, August 23 and entered the atoll through Tehere
Pass later that morning. Andrzej on "Panika" joined us shortly in the
anchorage at motu Opupu. Then, we moved to another, much better anchorage at
Pt. Teonemahina to meet Andrea, an Italian friend of Andrzej's. We were
treated to the pasta dinner, of course, highlighted with a coconut flavored
bread baked by Kiki, Andrea's girlfriend. Our contribution of bear and wine
was warmly welcomed, as they run out of this kind of beverages a good while
ago. The Italian boats left two days later and we stayed five more days,
doing the usual. Then, one day at noon a whale passed by our boats at a
distance of 50 yards or so! It was not a huge whale, but it was the closest
encounter ever. We were all excited about it for a while; I have read
somewhere in a guide book, that whales on occasion would stray into a lagoon
and then have a very hard time getting out of it. Well, early that evening
the same whale came again from West. It certainly looked like the case of a
strayed one. This time the big animal passed between our two boats anchored
about 50 yards from each other! THAT WAS CLOSE!
We are anchored now by Assam's pearl farm. We met Assam and his wife Nini
when we went ashore on the first day here. We barely finished introducing
ourselves when they invited us for a dinner. The meal of a raw and smoked
fish was excellent and our hosts were extremely patient with my so limited
French. They live a simple life here but they are not Simpletons by any
stretch. Pearl farming requires considerable managerial skills and their
farm was real well managed. They also keep chicken and supply fresh eggs and
excellent tender poultry to the neighboring villages, far beyond Apataki
atoll.
Assam and Nini started their farm from nothing some thirty years ago. Even
though Assam is still quite active, he has basically transferred the
business to his son, Alfred. Being quite busy at their farm, Assam and Nini
managed to travel three times to the United States and over ten times to
Europe. We have learned a lot about black pearls and the business and
purchased a few pearls, of course. Today, we are having a farewell dinner
with them, I feel rather lucky that we have some gifts of fresh lemons
(lemons are not grown in Tuamotus) and sweets to offer them in return. They
do not accept booze in any form, though. Tomorrow we will move to an
anchorage by motu Rua Vahine and then leave Tuamotus a bit earlier then
previously planned. Our very good friends, Richard and Kasia, are flying to
Papeete to join us for three weeks and we are really looking forward to it.