FAKARAVA.. (STORM)

Tonight  May 12th 09....We're anchored in Fakarava's main village "Pakutara"  a very clean, pretty little village, filled with happy, smiling faces.... It basically consists of  1x fresh veg  shop, 1x mini market, 2x dive centers ( re- fill's my scuba tank's at $10 a tank)  1x post office with internet -(hence this final blog... before heading-out tomorrow) 1 x small airport & 5 pearl shop's catering for the occasional French/ Italian tourist that arrives at the airport every wednesday with it's one flight a week.. Fakarava is EXPENSIVE, everything imported except pearl's.... a cool can of beers is $5, one tiny fresh Coz lettuce is $10...

UPDATE:  Over the last 48 hours ....A massive cold front, passed through the Tuamotu atolls generating 2 days of intense squall's &... dare i say it... a tropical-ish storm, literally 1000 gallons of freshwater falling in 5 min's.. (which was great, as APPLE (yacht) is all new & shiny again after the cloud burst showering all the salt water away)   with  "lightning"...  LIGHTNING!!  so we finally faced lightning......  isolated in the ocean with a massive metal mast penetrating the sky,  Ummm doesn't  really sound like a good idea...??? sitting a under a massive metal pole on the salt water.....humm?  

NOTE... There's 2 real theories  about lightning & sailing boat's....  The first is... "try not to attract it", ignore it & take your chances, 

The second is... Attract it & control it...  

So I've adopted the second... thus have attach heavy gauge lightning conductors to the stern shroud's, which are attached to an additional 30 feet of  stainless steel cable which plunges straight into the ocean (in the event of a storm) the theory is... catch the strike at the top of the mast, guide it down (by giving it a very seductive electrical passage) to the stern, then send over the side into the ocean (where it ultimately  wants to go)...... this is all theory of course... but yachts do get struck & they normal sustain some minor electrical damage, i.e. navigating, auto helm.. but very very rarely anything more.. 

Anyways... the electrical storm passed over my elaborate attractive structure, without even a second glance.. (apparently a sailing boat under-way is less likely to get hit than one at anchor.. due to the friction in the air  dissipating any static..)

So today... the storm's just a distant memory.. although around 6 other yachts turned up during the night  to take refuge from the storm.. as other yachts used it as a spring board out of the atoll with the strong winds... see everyone got a different opinion...

We're now basking back in the sun, having a dinner party aboard tonight for our new found friends, the winds changed & is coming from the south.... So perhaps those yachts who left in the middle of the storm did know better... So we'll probably have to motor into the new south winds tomorrow...   into our next unknown adventure..  

Final sobering Note... "Emily Pearl" the 36 ft Islander being sailed by our new found friend "Billy Landers" a very nice, extremely generous & very experienced yachtsman... who was missing as per our earlier blog..

"Emily Pearl's"  wreck was found 08 degree's 56.20S  140 degrees 13.55W  7 mile from Nuku Hiva with a big hole in her side, at 15m beneath sea level.. no sign of Billy to date.... no life raft found to date...... search is underway..

M&V

After a relaxing 3-4 day's in Ahe, we decided to head to APATAKI,
(15:30 S 146:20 W) directly south!. down wind with a following
swell... Ahhhh.. ...After a calm night's sailing, we arrived in
perfect time to catch the 7 am slack (tide change) & thus enter the
northern pass of "Tehere" .. Sooo with clear sunny skies above &
transparent ocean beneath, the occasional submerged corral head
suddenly became visible.... .. so with Veronica standing high over the
bow (Front) and myself behind the helm, we headed in through the pass,
before turning east, heading towards the remote north east corner...
pictures will follow...

After 3-4 hours of careful navigating around the corral heads & not
sighting a single person, boat or any sign of human life... since
leaving Ahe, we arrived at another picturesque isolated beach.. !!
So we immediately dropped anchor... & "we" Apple (dog), Veronica &
myself all swam ashore to explore & collect fruit ... anyways to cut
a long story short.. we finally went to bed with the sunset at around
6:30 exhausted from the day's sailing & swimming....

cut to: Suddenly ... I was woken at around 2 am by Apple
growling..... She never growls unless something is up! , Soooo half
asleep I checked my watch....... 2am? Ummm, Apple growls
intensified..., a little dazed & confused, I jumped out of bed &
journeyed up on deck... The ocean was like a translucent mirror,
pure silence, absolute calm, .. nothing... a scene void of any
movement or sound, it reminded me of arriving early deserted sound
stage, so quiet, almost surreal.. the once distinctive palm tress,
now looked like strange plastic sculptures, just dark shapes
silhouetted by a silver moonlight ... So...half asleep i looked
around, but absolutely "nothing" no movement , nothing... dead
calm.... !!

Exhausted ....& a little mad at Apple, I returned to bedroom... ..
only to be met by Apple, who was now extremely animated as she stood
hair on end barking from behind the bed....... .. So I just decided to
take one last final check...!!! this time i grabbed the emergency
flair gun... (unfortunately, any fire arms on a private yacht...
means mandatory prison in Mexico & French polynesia) which is the
only legal weapon i can legally carry... .. Anyways just as i got
back up on deck ....... I sudden sensed a movement to my left ( port
side) just a slight movement in the dark.. gradually as my eye focused
into the dark silver night.. I could suddenly see the distinctive
shape of a guy.... silently sliding off the stern & into a tiny
wooden kayak!!!!! woow... i couldn't believe it..!!! i just stood
stunned it total shock!! as this guy quickly disappeared into the
night.... we were at least one or two days away from any village or
any human life form.... ... unfortunately or fortunately i had a
strong instinctive feeling, that anyone who traveled to such lengths
to commit a crime, in such complete wilderness .. would probably try
again before the night was up.... .. so reluctantly i decided to sleep
on deck "with Apple on my feet" .... & yes.... at around 4:30 -5 am
just before sun rise.... Apple, started growling again!! ..however
his time i was ready, lying in the dark with a high powered hand flair
gun, So just as this approaching silhouetted transformed into a real
person.. I stood up into the light & took aim... .. before me was a
shocked!!! short, stout, tribally tattooed, polynesian guy, who spun
his out rigger canoe in pure panic & shot away in total fear... lost
into the night..

I'm sure this is a complete "one off" incident.. so please don't be
put off ... Apataki is an amazing place & i would do exactly the same
again..... including take a dog!!! .. the following afternoon after i
caught up on sleep.. we set sail to the southern pearl farms, where
we met the most friendliest kindest people... & enjoyed an amazing
two days .. before setting sail again for Toua where we'd heard there
was a restaurant, which we found, but wasn't opening till the
following night... however we were on a mission to arrive at Fakarava,
where i handed my SSB to a crew member of " Bravado" to return to
America for servicing... So-now we're in the beautiful atoll of
Fakarava..

n