South Fakarava
Wayward Adventure
Sun 17 May 2009 03:32
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16:30.290s 145:27.403w
We have not gone far in the last week or so but it
is nice to not be in a hurry. We know some boats that arrived in the
Marquesas weeks after us and are already in Tahiti. I can't figure
out why they would be rushing through paradise. So here we are in the
south pass of Fakarava. The big deal with the south pass is that it is a
renowned drift dive, meaning you don't have to do any work you just let the
current take you through the pass and enjoy the scenery. When we first
arrived a few days ago Lauren and I asked Kurt, a friend on another boat
and an advanced scuba guy, if he would take us through the pass and show us
the ropes. Now usually on a drift dive you actually scuba dive the pass
but we only snorkeled it and I actually think it was allot better to look down
on all the fish and coral from above since it was only 25ft deep. So the
technique is to hold onto ropes tied onto your dingy and drift along
with the current at about 3 knots or about a slow walk. If at all you
become uncomfortable you can just pop back into the dingy. Uncomfortable
of what you ask, well namely sharks. Now I know I talked about my fear of
sharks and it is still a nice strong fear but after conferring with allot of
different people, especially a local dive charter guide who said in the 20 years
he dove the pass he never had one shark incident with his clients,
so we went. Now the first time I saw one it does give you a
start but after a while you see that they are not interested in you, they have
plenty to eat and they are actually really used to humans because so many people
dive the pass. That does not mean that I wasn't checking behind me all the
time but after you get comfortable you really start to absorb your
surroundings. It is breath taking. The coral goes as far as you can
see and is every color imaginable,not to mention the colorful fish that have no
fear of you and swim right with you. I have no doubt we will
always remember the last few days here drifting with the
tides.
AP
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