Weather Helmed

Coming from the isolated, spectacular private paradises we found in Tahanea and Makemo, Fakarava was a bit like waking up in New York City – great in its own right, but a bit of a shock to the system.  BUT – the atoll has internet. and hamburgers. and a store with delicious canned butter. and lettuce. and people.  And, oh it is good to be around people again!!!  And, of course, Fakarava has Jon.  Yes, after a wild and wooly year, Jon H. is joining us on the boat for the remainder of the trip.  We left him a message from Fatu Hiva to meet us on Fakarava sometime around June 15th, give or take a few days.  We showed up on the 15th, he showed up on the 16th.  Pretty good planning, eh?  So, now we are three.  As much as I will miss our Adam & Eve days of roaming around naked on the boat with just Matt, I’m looking forward to having another person with whom to share watch duty and, more importantly, DISH duty.

Our first day on Fakarava, we went to shore and located a little snack shack where we had a coke, then wandered down to check out the grocery store, a couple of churches, the boulangerie, and La Roulotte – a big blue, flower-power van that sells  hamburgers, fries, crepes and chow mein.  The town here is very pretty.  There are several very modern buildings for administration and schools, and the homes are quaint with strands of shells and beads draped above porches and windows.  The old catholic church is beautiful – a pristine facade with the entrance framed by shells and beads. There is one paved road that leads all the way down the eastern side of the atoll and it is lined with trees and flowers, with sandy beaches and shallow, clear blue water just a few feet away.  We eagerly returned to La Roulotte that first night to treat ourselves to FABULOUS cheeseburgers and french fries.  When I asked what kind of cheese they put on the burgers, the woman showed me the package and said with a smile, “Just like McDonalds.”  And, the fries, especially, did taste just like McDonalds, but God help me, they were so good.

When Jon arrived, we explored a little more, chatting with a local pearl farmer and then watching the process for farming the pearls.

I like pearls and after watching “Sex in the City”, the movie, I am convinced I need a long pearl necklace like the one Carrie wore.  However, I don’t think the place to buy that long pearl necklace is on an atoll in the South Pacific where ONE relatively nice pearl can cost you $50 and up. No, I think some fake pearls from Macy’s will do me just fine!

Anyway, we saw just about everything to see in north Fakarava, managed to snag some fresh vegetables (lettuce! cucumbers! mint! tomatoes!) from a local garden, and then we were off to the next atoll, Toau, to catch up with our friends on IO.

We didn’t take many pictures at Fakarava, which is kind of funny to me, seeing as how it is still a pretty atoll, but it just didn’t compare at all to where we had come from.  I think, too, that the most spectacular features of Fakarava, for us at least, were the hamburgers and the internet, neither of which would have made a particularly nice photo 🙂