Tag Archives: atoll

Christmas in a Remote Atoll

Leave a reply

It is always hard being away from your family and friends on special occasions like Christmas.  However, we always try to make the best out of every opportunity and this year was extraordinary.

We decided to stay in Likiep longer than planned for two reasons.  One: our friends on Totem were coming from Majuro and they were bringing us a small bit of food (eggs, milk, some produce) and a few parcels. This might not seem like a big deal to you because you can run down to the local store.  However, Matt and I have been away from “stores” for 2 months and have not had fresh produce, milk, or eggs in almost 2.5 months.  So we are super excited about our pending delivery (and seeing our friends!).

Two: we’ve met several super cool locals and really wanted to celebrate the holiday with them.  

Christmas Cookie Extravaganza

My grandmother had a tradition of bringing the family together for cookie baking day. I loved it!  Not only because I love to bake but also because it just brings such joy.  So, I have tried to continue this tradition every year.  I would invite my friends over to help me decorate (as this is truly my least favorite part of cookie baking day).  We always had so much fun, usually with wine and always with great company and tasty cookies.

It is a little harder to host cookie baking day on the boat, but I’ve been able to continue the tradition.  This was the first year that I had no friends around to invite over so I was “stuck” doing all of the decorating myself.  So forgive the sugar cookie designs.

It took me 3.5 days to bake 200 Gingerbread cookies, 150 Sugar Cookies, 100 White Mice (or Mexican Wedding Cookies), 2 batches of toffee, and 100 chocolate brownie peppermint bark cookies.

I then assembled 7 Christmas boxes and filled them with a variety of cookies.  It was so fun sharing them with the locals!

Decorating the Boat

We have such a small space but I always add some Christmas cheer.  

Christmas Church Services

My friends on Totem (Jamie and Behan) attended church with me at the Holy Rosary Catholic church.  RMI flew in a priest from Majuro (who is actually Fijian) to provide the services.  Fr. Maurice is lovely and reminded us how much we missed the Fijians! 

Most of the service was in Marshallese, but a small portion was in English.  It was so nice to see everyone dressed up, most in green and red clothing.  We recognized a few of the songs (the melody) and were able to sing along in an English version which warmed my heart.

After services we all gathered for a Christmas photo.

The chapel was decorated with love and presented a beautiful setting for the service.  I just love the giant clam shell for the Holy water.  

They had the most beautiful nativity set on display.

The Christmas Feast

Several days of preparation, 6 kitchens, and every family were involved in preparing for the Christmas Feast held at the community center.  We (Totem: Jamie and Behan and Queen Jane: Kate and Jordan) showed up and were met with smiles.  They placed beautiful floral leighs around our necks and escorted us to the guest table of honor at the front of the hall.  We sat amongst the priest, the senator, the head of the Cappelle and deBrum families and other special honored guests.  It was very unexpected and a complete honor.

The program included speeches from Paul, the acting mayor Paul, Junior (PJ deBrum) the head of the deBrum Family, head of the Cappelle family, the senator, and several others.  Fr, Maurice gave a welcome and closing prayer.  And in between, they gifted each child with a present, sang many songs and performed many dances to entertain the village.

The very large feast was served on handwoven baskets and included chicken, ham, hot dog, breadfruit, potato salad, rice, cookies, brownie, coconut water and juice.  They served the guests at the tables first, then everyone else stood in line to get their plates.  Pretty amazing that they were able to feed 140 adults plus all of the children!

Present Time

The Christmas presents were piled high.  One for every child.  Each child was called up to receive their gift and then everyone celebrated their blessing.  The deBrum family gifted us a beautifully woven crown, a necklace adorned with shells, fresh coconut oil, and some coconut “hooch”.

A few of the children came up dancing and earned a very large round of applause!  It was really amazing and heart warming to see the pure joy of the other kids celebrating their friends as they received their presents.

What a truly a magical Christmas holiday.  It was a huge privilege to be honored and loved by all of the locals on Likeip.  What a blessing.

This blog post was inserted , out of order, to coincide with the holidays. I am sure you understand.  Our blog posts will resume in the new year in the order we explored.  In our last post we explore that absolutely amazing treasures in the sea in Enemonit.

Ta Ta Tahanea

Leave a reply

After our 5-day passage, we arrive at the Tahanea pass with 4 knots of outgoing current.  Not ideal for our incoming arrival.  But we power up the engines and make it through the pass with no problems.  Yeah us!

Anchoring in Tahanea can be “tricky” as you have to avoid getting your anchor stuck or your chain wrapped around one of the gazillion bommies (little black marks in the photo).  In the middle of the photo is shows the pass where you enter the lagoon.  You can see there is an outgoing current at the time of the phot.

As we were approaching the Tahanea pass we saw a rather large cruise ship on AIS.  Super strange as these are not the “normal” cruising grounds for that type of vessel.

The World

A completely foreign occurrence happened the morning we arrived in Tahanea.  Typically, you will only see a small handful of other sail boats here.  However, a rather large, 196-meter cruiser ship entered the pass and dropped the hook right behind us!  WTF!  Seriously, why would you bring tourist here when there are NO services.  OMG What is this world coming to? 

The cruise ship is called “The World” and it is the world’s largest privately owned yacht.  All of the cabins are privately owned (like condos) and evidently you have to be worth over $5M to be considered for a cabin.  A 700’ cabin will run you about $300,000.  But you will be draped in luxury.  Lucky for us, they left around 5:00pm the same day and we had our anchorage all to ourselves again.  Matt said it “farts rainbows.”

 Boobies, Boobies, and more Boobies

As you know by now, boobies are a type of bird that are super common in French Polynesia.  There are red foot, blue foot, and brown foot boobies.  And they are all super fabulous

There are lots of nesting motus where the a large variety of birds mate.  We enjoy seeing them, but keep our distance so as not to scare them off.

The adolescent boobie (top left) was with a friend and they literally walked or rather waddled up to us.  I took the funniest video (check it out on my instagram account).

 The boobies in Tahanea nest in the trees and on the ground!

Some of the young adult boobies are super curious.  One little guy decided he wanted onboard Sugar Shack!

 Turtle Nest

On one motu we spied these tracks from the water to a spot below a tree.  They were turtle tracks – most likely a large turtle like a leatherback!  One set of tracks left the momma up to the nest and one set of tracks left her back to the water.

A little Relaxation Station

We head to a motu near the eastern most pass and discover a small village.  It is used as a communal area for locals visiting from other atolls.  They even built an outdoor seating area.

 Tahanea Anchorages

 The anchorages here are simply breathtaking!  It is so difficult to express in words so here are a few photos.

 And my favorite anchorage, called “7”  The reef makes a natural “7” in the lagoon.

Tahanea 7 Anchorage

Tahanea 7 Anchorage

So very beautiful.  Our anchorage near the pass at sunset.

We take our time migrating from Gambier to Tahiti (see migration post).   The migration began 25 Feb. in Gambier and ended on 26 March in Tahiti.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.

Astounding Amanu

Leave a reply

This little atoll called Amanu has proven to be a true hidden gem.  The turquoise water is so clear that you can see 15-18 meters deep.  The corals are healthy, the motus are lined with beautiful, swaying palm trees, and the locals are friendly.

Sugar Shack at Amanu

Sugar Shack at Amanu

Amanu has gifted us with many beautiful rainbows (after a free boat wash).

And of course, gorgeous sunsets.

Amanu sunset

Amanu sunset

Sugar Shack seems to have found a little slice of heaven on the southeast side of Amanu.

Anchored in Amanu

Anchored in Amanu

Matt is happy here as well.

Kite boarders love this area because it is windy and shallow.  A young couple who have a kite school out of Fakarava were here with a charter.  They gifted us with many hours of free entertainment.  Pretty spectacular what they can do in high winds and seas. 

They were pretty far from us, but I tried to zoom in to capture them in the air.

Motus around Amanu

We explore lots and lots of motus.  So many that I cannot name them all because they don’t have names on our charts.  We walk from one motu, across small bodies of water to another motu and carry on until we get tired.  The terrain on the motus differs wildly.  From afar, there appears to be beaches. 

But very rarely do you find sandy shores.  The shores are usually covered in coral.  Broken coral, ranging in various sizes, and shells cover the shores. 

As you get to the windward side of the motus the coral is much larger.  These can be a little harder to walk across. 

And of course, you cross over many bodies of water in between.  Sometimes, during low tide you just have the sea bed (top left photo).  Often times you have ankle deep water (top right).  And other times you have a little sand (bottom right) and yet other times you have hard packed coral in between the bushes (bottom left).

The terrain of the motu

The terrain of the motu

We crossed over several low water crossings, using sandy spits to navigate to shore.  Some where above water, some below by 1′ and some as much as 3′.

One lone palm stood out on a motu.  We had to go visit it.  Do you see the palm way in the distance in the top photo?

A Whale inside the lagoon

We spotted two whales inside the Amanu lagoon!  What a treat.  Unfortunately, I did not have the large camera out to get good shots of this graceful creature.  But I did grab a few shots with my phone. 

She was about 100 meters (one football field) away. 

A whale inside the lagoon

A whale inside the lagoon

I loved watching the tale gently glide under the water only to see the spout shortly after.

The beautiful whale tail

The beautiful whale tail

Amanu has surprised and wowed us! 

Events from this blog post occurred around the 1st week of December, 2020.  Our blog posts run 8 weeks behind our adventures.