|
The Fakarava One
Fakarava, French Polynesia |
Fakarava, French Polynesia
After our disappointment not being able to snorkel the pass on Rangiroa, we had one more chance to redeem ourselves. Fakarava the final stop in French Polynesia also was the home to two large passes each with boundless possibilities to see amazing marine life. Once again we went through the process of getting coloured tender tickets to get off the boat and managed to make it ashore with every intention of heading to a local dive shop to book a snorkel tour. We got to shore and there were plenty of dive shop operators with boards but every one we approached was fully booked. We were just about to give up hope and spend the day at the beach when one operator sent us over to a boat that was packed full of cruise passengers waiting to leave. They had two spaces, told us the price and bundled us aboard, woo hoo, yet another fast recovery, we were so lucky to get on this tour…. Or were we??!!
On the boat we quickly did the introductions that we could and it turned out that this was largely a group from a forum called Cruise Critic who have an online forum and make group bookings before the cruise, we were the odd ones out either replacing people who hadn’t shown up or just filing two extra seats that they created for us.
The first stop on the trip was a snorkel spot, but compared to what we had seen in Moorea and Bora Bora it was a bit average and it was really too rough to enjoy without fins. One of our new friends the gentle giant Jim got out with blood pouring down his foot where he had been pushed by a rogue current onto the sharp reef.
There were two boats on the tour following in convoy and between the two boats there must have been about 40 of us in total. On the next stop which took a good hour to get to, the boat slowed down and we all unloaded in the middle of the ocean in the most pristine blue clear knee height water you could ever imagine. We were instructed to paddle to shore where we would be served lunch. The guides set about lighting fires to clear the mosquitos and to get the BBQ going for lunch and we all had a beer, paddled, chatted and generally just had a lovely time. We were so lucky to be with a really great group of people and had a fantastic afternoon chatting with Jim & Shirley and Shirley, Ron and Connie whilst our island lunch feast was prepared. After days of cruising, none of us were hungry in the slightest but we still enjoyed a BBQ feast followed by a delicious fresh coconut which we could drink and then open to eat the fresh flesh.
After lunch we had another hour to enjoy the beautiful lagoon before we began the journey back and a stop at the long awaited pass for some awesome snorkelling.
Sadly things were about to take a turn for the worst….. we all gathered back on our respective boats for the next snorkel spot and suddenly one woman started shouting out for her husband Ron. We foolishly assumed it was the Ron that we had just been chatting to in the ocean so knew he wasn’t far, but it turned out there was another Ron on this boat who was about to become an Oceania legend for all the wrong reasons.
We were all pretty relaxed assuming that Ron would appear on the beach or back in the boat at any minute but after about 15 minutes it seemed that something was amiss. We all put on sunscreen and mossie spray and headed back to the beach to help look for Ron. The once luxurious little patch of paradise we were on suddenly began to look like a nightmare, everywhere you looked above you there were coconuts and branches just waiting to fall. We all began to assume the worst and none of us particularly fancied walking into the interior of the island and risk a coconut to the head so we all headed in different directions along the beach, shouting, banging and hoping desperately for a response.
An hour later sunburned and worried we all reconvened at the boats and realised that if we didn’t head back to the boat it was likely that we were all going to be offloaded so we left one guide, Ron’s wife and 2 others on the island and we headed back to the boat with their names and stateroom numbers ready to raise the alarm.
The journey back to the boat was sombre to say the least, I don’t think that there was a single person who didn’t think that something bad had happened as how could you not be shouting and screaming for help if you were just lost. We all had our eyes on the beach the whole way hoping for a glint of life and even had our eyes in the ocean again thinking the worst and watched in horror as a pair of vultures circled the beach we had just left.
When we got ashore we all quickly paid and headed to the boat as the guides had assembled a search party and were headed back to the island to continue to the search or what we assumed may be a recovery.
On the ship, the reception crew took down the names and room numbers and promised to keep us updated as we were all petrified about what news was coming. This wasn’t helped by the receptionist telling us that on the last cruise a Japanese man went snorkelling and they never found him!!!
That evening having heard nothing we went to the reception just as the boat was about to set sail and the same receptionist greeted us with a massive smile and informed us that everyone was ok and they all made it back to the boat. It turned out that Ron had decided to take himself on a walk, got lost and confused and found himself on the other side of the island.
It was a massive relief and those of us that had been on the tour all awaited a call from Ron and his wife to say thank you and sorry, as it was nothing other than plain stupidity that had ruined everyones day and left us all sunburned and mosquito bitten.
However it turned out that Ron and his wife opted to do absolutely nothing at all which was a very bad move when you are confined to a ship where the Chinese whispers began and Ron’s name was mud within days and other guests were coming to us to ask us to point out who he was as nobody wanted them on their Easter Island tour, it quickly came to light that he had done exactly the same on a tour (though not so dramatically) a few days before.
Whilst we didn’t get to have our final snorkel and missed out on yet another opportunity to see sharks, dolphins and rays, we did make some truly fantastic friends who we otherwise probably would never have had quite such a bond with if it wasn’t for the legend of Ron Nixon, the most hated man on the Oceania Marina!
Beans Around The World 