The Tuamotus are called the "Dangerous Archipelago" because they are low-lying atolls, with the highest point measuring less than 12 feet above sea level (except for the 50-foot tall coconut trees). The surrounding waters have strange currents, and the reefs rise suddenly from off soundings to 2 feet in the space of 25 yards. The atolls are very old reefs, where the central, high island has sunk into the sea, leaving a necklace of motus (sandy islands) and reef around a lagoon. Some are large, with lagoons almost 50 miles across, with other smaller. We visited four Tuamotus, Fakarava, Toau, Apataki, and Rangiroa. The islands are great, as are the people who live on them.
The Tuamotus are atolls with large lagoons and a ring of reef, frequently high enough to support low islands (motus). Here we are anchored off the almost-uninhabited atoll of Toau, looking over the lagoon to a motu at dawn.
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Ross Sherbrooke liked the lagoons in the Tuamotus, as they provided a great way to cool off quickly. Ross - you can take your hat and sunglasses off next time ....
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The lagoons and the surrounding sea teems with fish in the Tuamotus. Here a large flock of black noodies, fling in a circular pattern, dive on a school of fish in the lagoon.
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The quiet lagoons made going ashore easy. Beach landings were a snap. Here Dick and Ross haul the dink up high enough to tie it to a large stump.
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One of the highlights of our trip was visiting with AhSang and Nini Lau at their pearl, truck and chicken farm on the remote motu of Tetoro on Apataki. They are warm, open people, and we had great fun with them. We toured their motu and the pearl farm. Later they invited us ashore for dinner of poisson cru, poi and backed fish (we contributed mexican!). After dinner, we dashed through the bush with AhSang, chasing after the giant coconut crab in lures he had placed. The last day, when we went ashore to trade small gifts with them before leaving, we had major hugs and tears in all our eyes.
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One of the major crops of the Tuamotus are the "black" pearls of the lagoons. Now most are farmed. Here is the typical pearl oyster, opened for harvesting. You can see a pearl in the sac of the animal in the left shell.
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AhSang and Nini's son Alfred showed us some of the pearl farming. Here he is washing pearls - note the bowl of the "black" pearls to his left. Of course, some of them now belong to Leslie! That day, Christy dove with the pearl farm staff when they placed their oysters in the nets in Apataki lagoon.
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Every time we visited the Laus, AhSang would seat us at their outdoor dining table, then take a hooked stick and pull down a young coconut from a shading palm. After stripping and cracking it, he passed it to us for drinking
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The Laus had two pet nurse sharks who would come up to the water's edge for a back rub and a small fish for a snack. We all petted the sharks too, but were concerned that the six foot shark may mistake our toes for fish!
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The crew of ARAGORN with AhSang and Nini at their pearl farm.
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While in Rangiroa, we did meet up with some other rally boats and partied a bit. Here is the crew of MISS MOLLY, "Charlie" and Mark, with the owners, Linda and David Hughes.
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