Category Archives: Daily Lime

Amanu's Beautiful Waters

Astonishing Amanu

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 The sun rose bright and early in Amanu and we both felt like spring chickens after our good night’s sleep!  One: it was a solid sleep with no night shifts.  Two: it was flat and calm with no rocking and rolling.  Three: it was quiet with no engines or generator.  Pure bliss.

We end up spending 5 days on the south east corner of Amanu.  We had wanted to explore other anchorages but the weather was not cooperating.  So, instead we take Sweetie out and explore lots of different motus.

Tuamotus Islands are called Atolls

If you remember, the Tuamotus are flat motus that surround the lagoon. In between each motu is a water flow that can be small like a babbling brook or large like a full river.  Usually you can cross the water passages to get to another motu.

Here is a water passage.  One photo is looking toward the lagoon (top) and the other is looking toward the Pacific (bottom).

Amanu Pass between motus

Amanu Pass between motus

Three quarters of the motu are covered in different size rocks and dead coral with trees or bushes in the middle.  Only a small portion of the motu facing the lagoon is covered in small coral and sand.

Amanu

Amanu

Lots of Sea Critters and Crabs

I love that bottom left photo with Sweetie in the foreground and Sugar Shack in the background.  The water colors are simply divine in Amanu.

Each motu has a ton of crabs and sea life.  One particular motu had a bevy of crabs in many shapes and sizes.  I love the one in the middle with his extra-large red claw!  In the upper right corner, the two green crabs were trying to hide from us.

We came across a cool house on a really small and remote motu. We were so surprised to see this “real house” with water collection system, sliding glass doors, windows, and curtains because this motu is so remote.  Usually there are just “pop ups” made of metal sheets or plywood out on the motus. 

More Abandoned FADs

We ran across a lot of abandoned FADs and as a result the sea side looks awful.  Unfortunately, we did not have the energy to try to disassemble all of them.  These two fads had become so embedded in the rock that removal was difficult.

Because I sowed the ugly FADs on the beach, I had to post this beautiful photo of Amanu’s water.  Can you see my shadow?

Can you see my shadow?

Can you see my shadow?

Events from this blog post occurred during the second week May, 2021.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.

Reef Walking on the Wild Side

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It is a king’s tide which means an adventure for its peasants!  As you know, the tidal range change with the different phases of the moon.  During a “king’s tide” with a full moon, the low tide is lower and the high tide is higher.  How does this open up to an adventure?  The lowest tide exposes the reef allowing us to walk a mile and a half from Puaumu to Tepapuri. Under normal conditions, this walk is unattainable as it becomes a swim.

This is not an arduous walk as it is flat and not very far (round trip 3 miles).  However, you have to be incredibly careful as you walk across the live coral where millions of sea critters call home.  Trying to avoid the live coral, sea creatures, and plants can be challenging as you walk across the slippery, slimy surface.

The top photo shows Teapuri in the way distance (small spec of trees just past the reef).  The bottom photo shows Puaumu in the way distance beyond the close motu.

1.4 mile walk from Puaumu to Teapuri

1.4 mile walk from Puaumu to Teapuri

We left Sugar Shack around 0630, secured Sweetie, our dinghy, and began our adventure.  Super pretty and brisk in the early morning.

We traversed over the reef making our best attempts to avoid any living organism.  It is always amazing to me to see what lies beneath the sea.  And with low tide, it is all exposed.  How do these guys survive when the tide is low and they are out of water for hours at a time?

The top two photos are looking at Teapuri and the bottom photo is looking at Puaumu.

Different views of the reef

Different views of the reef

Hidden Discoveries at Low Tide

Pretty coral heads were scattered throughout the reef ranging in color from pink, purple, green and white.  Little green and pink plants were also peppered throughout the reef.  The sea cucumbers out number all of the sea creatures, but they are very easy to spot (large, black, turd looking animals – see image top right).

We encountered lots of critters waiting for the water to return.  Several eels made came out to greet us in their not so friendly way.  One eel scurried from one pool of water to another.  These eels are all under water but it is so clear that you can’t tell in the photos.

A ton of little crabs put on a display of power as we walked by.  They may be small but I wouldn’t want their pinchers anywhere near my 10 little piggies.

I tried to do a panorama showing the high tide vs the low tide.  But based on the lower image and the break in the sea I would say I suck at keeping my hands steady. But you get the idea.

Me taking advantage of the low tide by walking out to the edge of the berm…I look like a lion with all that hair.

Here is a beautiful photo of the full moon.  It was spectacular and glorious to look at.

Full Moon Giving us Kings Tide

Full Moon Giving us Kings Tide

Events from this blog post occurred on 26 April, 2021.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.

Turning a Fad into a Relaxation Station

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We found a FAD (fish aggregating device) on the windward side of Puaumu.  In my last blog, I shared how we repurposed several elements of the beacon that was attached to the FAD. Today, I am going to share with you what we did with the entire FAD raft.  We did not feel comfortable leaving the FAD on the shores of the island.  So, we disassembled the FAD with a razor-sharp knife and a few hours of our time. 

Fish Aggregating Device

Fish Aggregating Device

The FAD was built using 8 pieces of bamboo, heavy netting, 8 floats, and lots of various line (rope) holding it all together.  We started our work during low tide so we had more room to work on the raft which was about 2.5 meters x 2.5 meters.  After we cut the lines, we removed the netting, and separated the bamboo and floats.  Our friends on Moira (Ruby and Thomas) helped us with the removal.

Fish Aggregating Device

Fish Aggregating Device

Moving the FAD to the Other Side of the Island

Then the “fun” began as we tried to lug all of the pieces across the island to the leeward side (where our local friend’s Stephan and Manu have a camp.  We were not sure what we were going to do with all the pieces, but we knew it could not stay on the windward side (Pacific Ocean side).  The netting was ridiculously heavy as it was soaking wet and covered in barnacles.  The bamboo sticks were also holding water – we tried everything we could think of but the darn things would not drain!  We strung a long line through the floats and just dragged them to the other side and tossed all the small cut lines into a large piece of netting to carry over.

Matt gave it some thought and came up with a grand idea to recycle the FAD pieces.

Relaxation Station

We decided to make a love seat aka “relaxation station” near Stephan and Manu’s camp.  Because why not?  We picked a nice shady spot facing the ocean and began the “design phase”.  Trying to figure out which bamboo pieces needed to be cut (using a saw), which needed to stay long, and which needed to be the support.

Design Phase

Design Phase

There was a bit of trial and error but it was slowly coming together.  Matt started working on the netting, once the bamboo was in place.  This was tricky as we had to make the netting really tight to hold multiple guests.  The problem with that was that the line we had was soaked and sunbaked which made it weak.  The netting tore easily with the slightest bit of pressure.  Hmmmmm…

Matt was determined to only use pieces taken from the FAD on this relaxation station.  He did not want to use any of our sturdier line or netting which made the construction that much harder.  He finally figured it out after several not so successful attempts.

Of course, Matt and I had to test it out.  It was still wet and had some barnacles that would not leave the net, but other than that – not bad!

Events from this blog post occurred during the last week of April, 2021.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.