Nothing but The Greatest Show on Earth

By all modern measures, the Tuomotus archipelago is the most relaxing place in the world. There are very few restaurants, stores, houses, or people, and many of the atolls we’ve visited have none of these things at all. There is no obvious entertainment, but if you look up, the Milky Way arcs across the sky at night, and if you look down through the clear water, the fish perform the greatest show on Earth.

We’re not relaxers, so we looked. We walked around the deck and saw three rainbows at once.

We saw humpback whales swimming by.

These things were hard to miss, but we noticed the subtle things, too. The clouds made art.

The water and the sun danced together. 

The Tuomotos of French Polynesia are special because they are untouched by many. Even the locals are few and far between. This must be why the people we met made such an impression. On an uninhabited atoll, whether you’re a Polynesian man harvesting coconuts or sailors on another boat, we wanted to hear your story. 

In a small town, geographically isolated from the rest of civilization, we wanted to learn everybody’s story. Fortunately for us, the people of Makemo were friendly, greeting us with a hearty “La ora na!” (pronounced Yoranna!) as they rode their tricycles by. Still, I insisted we search the coral streets for the children, who were noticeably absent from school, and we found them at the local summer camp. Their counselors welcomed us for story time in French. Whoa! It’s a good thing we brought along our friend, An, to help us read the books we brought. 

Experiencing the Makemo culture was extraordinary and so was the weather later that week. An unpredicted mara’amu blowing over 30 knots had us up for half the night watching Gerty’s anchor! So we took our fond memories of the ‘pool party’ we had with friends from seven other boats and hightailed it to Tahanea.

The time we spent in Tahanea, our new favorite atoll, is hard to put into words, but I’ll try. Pucker-lip Clams, French Kids, Diving, Coral Gardens, Kiteboarding bliss, the International Name Game, Moray Eels, Bonfires, Ukeleles, Coconut Cookies, Kamala, Sharks, the Olympics, the Crescent Anchorage, Timing the Pass, and Whales Once, Twice, Thrice!

Plus, the bloopers!

Last remarks

• It’s more fun with boats! Lovely to meet you all (including the ones we forgot to write down).
  • Karmen and Tom SV Sauvage, Clementine, Paul and the boys SV Essential, An and Tom SV Aspro, Carine and Bruse SV Noxoma, Juliette, John, Arthur, Capucine SV XII , Valerie and Menno SV Eyra, Ruben and Kristine SV Vestlandskyss, Wayne and Barbie SV Hope, Kristine, Taou and the gang SV GoBE, Anna and Paolo SV Zoomax, Meriam and Paul SV Walkabout.
• Thank you to our guest Photographers: Bruse Lohrmann for the great milky way night shot and whale shot. Karmen Chow for pool party shots. Clementine Dupuis for the drone shots. And, Carine Leier for the Ukelele shot.