Fakarava

Arrive in Fakarava, an atoll in the Tuamotou Archipelago at 7am.

We had booked a snorkeling tour in the early afternoon, but all instances of that tour (there were morning tours as well) were canceled because of high winds.

Fakarava is a rectangular atoll with a way to get in on the north side. We anchored inside and tendered into the town of Rotoava. The atoll is a fairly narrow rim less than one mile wide that about 800 people live on.

Our backup plan is to walk around town. We got off around 8:30 and started walking north along the inside towards the lighthouse 3 km away which was visible from the ship.

The road is paved in this part of the atoll.

At the pier we saw several birds, so stopped to take photos.

Pearl farming is one of the main activities here. These are discarded shells.

We stopped many times to look at the lagoon side.

We found something about half the time we stopped. We saw both black-tipped and nurse sharks.

The blue of the small giant clam stands out. If you disturb the water a bit the clam will start to pull it back in.

The water in the lagoon is really turquoise, photos don’t do it justice.

The lighthouse is on the eastern outside edge of the atoll and the sea was much rougher. The wind was from the east.

You can see that the beach is made up of broken coral.

We spotted a Pacific Reef Heron on the way back.

Walking south from the tender drop-off point in town, the local Catholic Church was open to visitors.

They use corals on strings to decorate.

The chapel is richly decorated.

We stopped for a quick swim at a public beach on the way back. Just long enough to cool off.

The ship left late as someone got injured.