Fakarava
As
you can see Fakarava is an atoll rather than one of the volcanic high
islands we had previously visited.
It is part of the Tuamotu
Archipelago which
is part of Polynesia.
It is the second
largest atoll in
the world. The only one larger is Kwajalein.
The highest point on any of these islands is only 13 feet above high
tide.
As we entered the lagoon
through a
narrow pass we could see how different it was from the ocean.
You can see a little bit of the ring of islands that form the atoll
stretching off to the left.
When we came ashore we
were all given
leis by these young ladies.
The beach was coral rock
and
sand. We found a few shells to bring home. It
seemed that
the best ones were all homes for hermit crabs.
You can get some idea how small this one was when you realize that what
you see behind it are the ridges of Nancy's finger tip.
The open air nursery
school.
A demonstration
of how to open
a coconut.
First strip off the
outer husk on a
sharpened stick. Hold it gently over a coral rock.
A swift
karate chop and it is open with the milk spilling out.
All grandmas like to
show off their
grandkids. I learned a new string figure from this
lady.
Here are
some of the
handycrafts they had for sale.
They also had black pearls at very reasonable prices
They put on a dance show
then invited
some of us to join them.
I was one of the ones they chose and it was clear to me that it takes a
lot of skill and practice to do this well.
All the kids and a lot
of the adults
came to the dock to see us off.
Here are links to places we visited on this tour. Tahiti, Pitcairn, Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oa, Fakarava, and Moorea.
And links photos of the eclipse, eclipse
photography, tikis, the ship, young
dancers,
food, fish,
and flowers
and
trees we saw
on the trip.
See
other places we have visited here.
Go
to our Personal
home page
Go to our Community
page
Go
to our Science
Fun page
E-mail Nancy
and
Alan