August 2008: South Pacific
Faioa Island, Wallis Islands (S 13.22.813 W 176.10.553)
Here is the reason we skipped through the other anchorages so quickly:
This small uninhabited island, a motu, is on the inside of the fringing reef and its outer edge is the fringing reef. It is the type of beach setting that most of us imagine the south pacific to be.
As you might expect the first thing we did was go snorkeling. This is the first anchorage of this type I have seen since my stay began on Present Moment. My inexperience in the South Pacific led me to believe all the beaches are like this, but they are far from it.
We ended up staying several days here and for good reason. On one of the days Bob and I took the dinghy to shore since we wanted to walk the shoreline and get a good look around. This place is so special that even the locals come all the way out here for their fun days.
The greenery up close was pretty thick and we decided to walk counter-clockwise along the shoreline working our way to the other side of the island. Once you turn the corner the surface conditions change to an inhospitable place. The rugged reef extends from the tree line to the waterline with not much sand. The ocean is doing its best to disintegrate this island.
Our beach-combing turned up many colorful shells for Bob and lots of pictures for me. There are many shorelines in the world that attract plastic debris due to the currents and winds and this particular island is one of them.
For me this anchorage and experience will hold many memories. This is my first uninhabited motu and I had a ‘this world is small’ experience, too. In the picture above, Liberty is on the far right and we were invited to a fish dinner on their boat one evening. They are, Carl and Yvette and their two teenage boys Joel and Kyle, and the three of us. Lots of talk going through many different subjects and a fantastic meal somehow stumbled on the 2006 Baja Haha, a rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas in late October of every year. They did the rally on Liberty and I did the rally on Sea Breeze, a 40’ Swallowcraft Swift 40. During the event there are many opportunities for the cruiser participants to mingle and in that the two boys became friends with two teenage girls, Claire and Alex, on a boat called Fafner (sp?) Carl and Yvette became friends with Jeff and Karen Arnold, the owners and girls’ parents and they all spent a lot of time together cruising south until their paths went different ways. Jeff is the brother of Chris Arnold who is the owner of Sea Breeze. I am pretty sure we all crossed paths as the brothers tended to hang out a little. Carl and Yvette are still in touch with Fafner which is somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean. The crew of Liberty is below.
Once Bob and I had gone to the other side of the island we split up. We checked the time and agreed to meet at the boat. He backtracked along the shore and I took a compass bearing and gut feeling guess and headed through the center of the island. Once inside I realized just how dense it was but always found a sound footing. I noticed lots of debris like coral washed deep into the forest. I also noticed large piles of husked coconuts that appeared to have been harvested by the locals.
I heard some birds, some rustling of leaves and possibly a pig grunting. Overall, I think it is fairly safe on this island to trek around.
It only took me about 16 minutes to get thru the island and back to the beach where our dinghy was beached. I stumbled on Joel and Kyle on the beach as they were in the process of building some structures. Somehow the conversation came around to husking coconuts and Joel offered to show me what he learned on how to do it. Drive a sharpened stick in the sand, stab the skin of the coconut and gently peel the husk in a few pieces from the nut. Then, crack it open on a rock. I tasted the fresh coconut milk, the fresh coconut and even ‘cotton candy’ of the sprouted growth inside. It tasted very rich, nutty and almost buttery. I preferred the regular coconut.
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