Tag: sharks

Posted on

Sharks That Make Cookies?!

So, on another note of why the open ocean is dangerous, let’s talk about Cookiecutter Sharks.  You may be saying to yourself “What in the world are you talking about!?  Cookiecutter Sharks?  Sharks that make cookies!  AWESOME!”  And we would agree except for what the sharks use a cookie dough…because that would be flesh.

The first time we ever heard of these vicious little suckers was when we were snorkeling with dolphins in Niue.  Now, I don’t have any footage to show you of our snorkel trip, but it was awesome!  We were in a couple of inflatable dinghies on our way to a dive, when a pod of Spinner dolphins started swimming off our bow.  (Called “spinners” because of the amount of spins they perform on their jumps.)  No matter how many times you’ve seen dolphins while underway, it’s still an amazing experience and what made this even better is that we were able to get in the water and be towed by the boat so we could swim with them.  It was fantastic!

While we were in the water, I noticed a few of the dolphins had circular wounds on them in various places.

The first thing that came to my mind was that they had some sort of flesh eating disease (which worried me since I didn’t want to catch it!)  Continue reading “Sharks That Make Cookies?!”

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailAnd the UN was right! Default ThumbnailBrad Kellogg owes me $67.25 Default ThumbnailLand, Sea and Air Critters Default ThumbnailFeeding the Wildlife
Posted on

The Ballsiest Way to Travel Known to Mankind

We’ve found a Microsoft background!

North Pass, Fakarava, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

We are here:

Which, in and of itself, is freaking awesome!  However when I took this picture I had this weird sense of déjà-vu.  Now I’d never been here before (duh) and I don’t remember seeing any movie that was ever filmed here and since I have a hard time remembering the name of the place while standing on it, it’s unlikely I ever googled it…but it nagged at me.  This remained a mystery for some time until a while later when I was looking through my photos and happened on the Microsoft vista sample backgrounds.

This is Microsoft’s photo.

Holy cow I was living in a Microsoft windows background!!  I’m still deciding if this is the most awesome thing ever or proof positive that no matter where you go, Bill Gates will find you.

The North pass is the main village of Fakarava (ooooh, look honey, a grocery store!) and they also have an ACTUAL hotel with guests and stuff.  It’s attached to the dock we’re anchored off.

And the ACTUAL hotel has an ACTUAL bar, with ACTUAL drinks…and a really inventive “green” bug deterrent system.

Also, the art at the bar documents what can only be described as the Polynesian predecessor to the Jackass television show.  Submitted for your approval as the ballsiest way for mankind to travel…ever:

I’ll stick with just the wind, thanks.

They also have passable (for Polynesian standards) internet in the hotel lobby and in their good, kind, warm hearted, Polynesian naiveté they offered to let us use it FOR FREE (gasp!  It is unheard of!)  So this is our office for the next few days:

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailAnd the UN was right! Default ThumbnailThe UN says it’s cool Default ThumbnailThat Crab’s on fire! Default ThumbnailBrad Kellogg owes me $67.25
Posted on

Brad Kellogg owes me $67.25

South Pass of Fakarava, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

Did you know that when Sharks get into large groups (say like 50 plus) they school, like fish?

So we learned something new today.

More of that in a minute, let’s get down to brass taxes:  Brad Kellogg owes us $67.25.

For those of you who are not friends with us on Facebook, you should be.  Mainly because that’s where most of the commentary for the blog happens each week.   Why is this?  Probably because thanks to the miracle of the friend finder, all our old smart aleck friends from our previous lives have connected with us and form some form of hybrid “metamind / advice giving / peanut gallery” thing.

So enters Brad, good friend from high school and expert at egging Greg on.  Actually, good at egging anyone on.  The guy’s got a gift.  If he ends up a senator, I called it.

After my last post about the sharks, Brad comments to Greg:  “5 bucks float with the sharks for 5 minutes, and I’ll toss in an extra quarter for each shark ya can count, double dog dare ya!”

Ok, I’m a worshipper of A Christmas story.  I’ll even spot you the Triple Dog Dare.

(If you don’t understand the Christmas story reference, you OBVIOUSLY don’t watch TBS on Christmas…and your life is poorer for it 😉

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Wait Greg, there was a MAX of 7 sharks in that video, assuming every new cut was with new sharks.”  So that’s $6.50.

Yes, that.  Here’s the rest of the 250 sharks we went swimming with (dive masters best estimate, not mine.)  Oh, and the highly lethal stonefish which doesn’t count for an extra quarter but could kill you just as dead.

Now we were in the water for about 45 minutes but since there was no repeating stipulation on the bet, I won’t advocate for the $605.25 I could potentially claim.   😉

The South Pass was not all just highly lethal sea creatures.  I mean really, 250 sharks aren’t just going to hang around unless there’s food nearby and wow, was there.  A smorgasbord of every color and type of tropical reef fish, coral, you name it.  Amazing does not describe what we saw:  this video hardly gives you a taste of the varied and beautiful sea life that surrounded us every time we got in the water.

(PS – thanks to Serge & the guys from Fatu Hiva for the awesome music!)

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailAnd the UN was right! Default ThumbnailThe UN says it’s cool Default ThumbnailNeedles, Haystacks and Islands Default ThumbnailLiving in Farkarava, French Polynesia
Posted on

And the UN was right!

South Pass of Fakarava, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

OK, the UN was right (really, how often do you here THAT on a daily basis? 😉

This place rocks.

Did you see that coral!?  Did you see that water!?  It all looks like that.  All of it.

We headed into the south pass village & dive shop because everyone wants to do dives here, obviously.  Upon reaching the dive center we were greeted by what for Fakarava must pass for the overly friendly pet dog…

It was hard to believe that this was an actual fish and not some animatronic robot designed to impress the locals.  No, really, it was a fish.  A really big fish.  That will swim up and boink you on the shin.

At the dive shop they also crack and gut coconuts.  Here, despite their primitive appearance, the inhabitants show that they know a heck of a lot more about coconutting than some gringo and his dull machete.

(and if you don’t know what the gringo & machete comment was about, go back to entry called “gringos & coconuts”.  One of my more amusing moments…)

An interesting point: the south pass is an old village but you can probably hear the hammers in the background.  About 5 – 20 people are here from outside French Polynesia building the dive shop for the South Pass and serving as dive masters.  The UN giving your island a super stamp of approval is good for business.

Also, they have sharks here.  They have a lot of sharks here.  No, you don’t seem to understand, they have A LOT of sharks right here, on the reef.

We haven’t even gotten in the water yet!  And for some strange reason most of them still want to.

– Greg

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailBrad Kellogg owes me $67.25 Default ThumbnailLiving in Farkarava, French Polynesia Default ThumbnailThe UN says it’s cool Default ThumbnailThe Ballsiest Way to Travel Known to Mankind
Posted on

The UN says it’s cool

South Pass of Fakarava, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

I don’t feel like I am giving a fair scope for the distance between these islands.  I could tell you about each voyage of about 100 miles from remote isolated desert island to remote even more desolate island but really, that would get boring.  If you want to know what it’s like sailing the high seas, look at the blog entries about us crossing the Pacific Ocean to the Marquesas.  It’s like that.  FYI, my ukulele and French continue to improve and I’m learning stuff about Solomon I never knew before.

I do not wish to bore you with the details while I also do not want to deceive you that these transits are just afternoon “hops” from one island to the next.  Typically, a trip between islands typically takes a day and can take as many as 5.

The trip to Fakarava took 1 day but during that day we broke into another can of butter.

You see, Polynesians and cruisers have a similar problem: we both don’t have a ton of refrigerator space so we both minimize what needs to be put in there as much as possible.  Did you know that as long as you never refrigerate your eggs in the first place that they actually don’t require refrigeration?  Neither did I.  How about butter can be preserved for long periods of time in a can?  And that certain kinds of milk don’t need to be refrigerated until the carton is opened?  I have learned on this trip that Americans refrigerate way too much stuff.

The coral reef of Fakarava was very exciting for all of us because it the only Tuamotu to be designated a UNESCO world heritage site.  Tiffany knows more about this than me but the short of it is that the UN thinks that this place is awesome and should be preserved for it’s natural significance.  Translation: Awesome stuff here, come check it out without destroying it.

(Again, I got this off a picture of the visitor center’s map.  Don’t use this to navigate.  Buy a chart.)

The voyage in was another hair raising experience where we were stationed on the bow watching for coral heads in the perfect crystal clear blue water.  Just to add a little spice to the mix, we had currents flowing around the pass to make our lives extra interesting.  Now maybe you think after our Kauehi adventure we had relaxed about the whole sailing over a coral reef thing.  Let me point something out to you:

Narrow channel + Sharp coral reefs on both sides + lateral currents going every direction = nervous crew.

Upon completing our transit of the channel we discovered the “south pass village” that would be our home for the next few days as we indulged ourselves in figuring out just exactly what the UN thought rated this place international recognition and protection.

Also, we got invited over by one of our fellow cruising boats to experience one final taste of the Marquesas: a goat dinner.

The Marquesians raise goats to eat and they are very good at this particular skill.  A fact I learned regrettably after I had left the Marquesas…

– Greg

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailAnd the UN was right! Default ThumbnailBrad Kellogg owes me $67.25 Default ThumbnailThe Ballsiest Way to Travel Known to Mankind Default ThumbnailLiving in Farkarava, French Polynesia