Last Impressions of Fakarava and the Tuamotus

Our last days in Fakarava and in the Tuamotus were quite enjoyable. For many reasons, however, it was time for us to move on to Tahiti and civilization after 15 months of cruising and staying "in the boonies"! Here are some more pictures of South Fakarava - one of our favorite places to visit by boat.

One of the first "new arrivals" this cruising season - how to NOT anchor: drop your anchor on a coral head instead of one of the many sandy patches around it, and put four floats on your short chain instead of  one or two 1/3 of the way of your sufficient length of chain, to keep it off the coral... 

In between two motus

 
Walking towards the outer reef

The ocean crashing on the outer reef, right at the drop-off

Pushed into the lagoon by the current

Mark's last beer on board is a Belgian beer ("Leste"), home brewed by Wim, my cousin Griet's husband. Very tasty and unique and .. he is allowed to bring some more on his next visit to Irie! :-)

Sunset in Fakarava's lagoon

Yvan Bourgnon working on his small "beach cat" - without cabin -  Ma Louloute with which he is sailing around the world to set a couple of records.

Pretty reef and pretty fish near the resort in the South Fakarava pass

And... more sharks to snorkel with

One of the many black-tip reef sharks in South Fakarava

This one lost the top part of his dorsal fin

Swimming with sharks

Hello, big one!

We couldn't get enough of our grey companions

Swiss-Frenchman Yvan Bourgnon taking his little cat for a spin in the lagoon, in front of Irie