Human Skulls
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Wed 19 May 2010 20:38
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May 19th 0924 Local 1924 UTC
15:52.36S 145:53.59W
We have now spent five days inside the Fakarava
atoll. At the south pass called after the village there, Tetamanu and which
was the ancient capital of Tuamotu we were anchored up just inside to the
east of the pass. The village was mostly deserted now though the old church was
very beatiful and well maintained. There was an old cemetry and the remains of a
couple of roads. It was very quaint and really felt like a step back in time -
by a hundred tears or so. There were many coconut trees but not really many
other fruit trees though there were many colourful flowers and shrubs, all ogf
which created an idyllic setting. Clearly there was a lot of history here and I
felt that perhaps if we "dug" a little we could better imagine life there
in ancient times.
Right in the pass there is a small "resort" - a few
thatched small "pensions" and a small thatched and basic restaurant/canteen on
stilts into the pass. There is also a dive shack and it is right there that
Trish and I arranged to go diving with the famed sharks in the pass the very
next morning. Trish was more than a little apprehensive. She is still only just
getting comfortable with being upto 30metres below the sea and now to drift dive
deep in the pass and with sharks was all adding up to her saying she
would go for one dive and see how it went.
The "resort" was only really one step up from
bivouacing out on the motu yourself and did not pretend to be anything else. The
"staff" seemed to come and go and it seemed really more of a hang out than
anything else. A couple of the guys, William
from Tahaa and Tama who was from Tetamanu and it seemed alcoholic, either
drove the dive boat or went fishing for lunch or dinner each day and the cook
Serge from Tahiti cooked whatever was caught. Silas from another Tikehau I think
drove the boat up and down the atoll to pick up and drop of guests from the
north and fetch basic supplies. There was also the lovely Elizabet who came
for a few days to stay and who did a deal with Sonny the owner, who was in
Tahiti for a week, to help out, if she could just get bed and board,
and Nicholas the Dive Instructor from Paris - who was... well, from Paris.
A really nice mixed bunch of people who we got on really well
with.
So next day we went diving Trish and I with
Nicholas and we were blown away by the visibility. Nicholas was apologetic
for how poor the visibility was! The coral was magical the fish were
stunning and the sharks were simply awesome. There were about 200 or so circling
round and we at the very edge of the group. they were grey sharks and many were
pregnant. There were also numerous single and small groups of sharks. I loved it
- and guess what? so did Trish, so diving we went again the next day and the
next! at one point we just rested against the "wall" at the bottom of the pass
and waited for the sharks to come right up to us - breathtaking!
Me I always feel safe in these situations
because one, I make sure I can swim faster than at least one other person in the
group, and two, I am sure that if something bit me it would probably be the one
to get sick!
In the afternoons we would go snorkelling, spear
fishing or exploring with the dingy. Snorkelling always attracted the sharks and
for some reason Trish was less comfortable with this than diving. So she would
sometimes sit in the dingy while I would catch supper. One time I was being
hassled by three and sometimes five sharks when i was fishing. Every time I
would get close enough to get off a shot at a type and size of fish that was
safe to eat there they were menacingly swimming round me with one eye fixed
sideways on me. Buggers - why don't they catch there own
dinner?
Anyway it all happened quite quickly; a group of
unicorn fish came quite close to me and the sharks weren't paying attention for
a moment, so I got off a shot and yep there was dinner. At this point it was
still not clear whose dinner it would be though. As I hauled the fish to me on
the spear I glanced up out of the water and there was the dingy - only a hundred
yards away! Damn! The fish was going crazy on the spear ( and of course
spilling fluids and .........). So I quickly hoisted the spear out of the water
with the fish on and got swimming like crazy back to the boat. However in
doing so the fish slid down the spear and one of his dangerous spines
pierced my finger. Well you can imagine I initially didn't feel the pain but I
could certainly feel the tension and my blood was spilling out into the water
all around. It is just possible I came close to the olympic 100m swimming record
on that trip back to the boat! The dinner was ours and delicious it was too. The
finger and hand was initially quite painful and swelled up with the tingling
spreading to my second finger. I have to say I was a little concerned but in at
the canteen one of the guys said it was OK and he would fix it. He took a cold
beer bottle from the fridge and placed it on top of the swelling and then
instructed me to drink it once the swelling went down and I would be fine. Now
if only the national health ..............
The next afternoon we headed over into the "hoa"
between the other motu to the west of the pass. The hoa are channels between the
motu but not navigable as they are blocked off at the seward side by the closed
coral reef. The sea however piles over the reef and cuases the hoa to flow into
the lagoon like a stream.
This was everything you could possibly imagine the
south pacific to be - and more. We waded in shallows with small sharks,
chased rays and we explored the reef and finally beached our rib on one
idyllic motu. With spear gun in hand I waded off into the deep and fast
flowing hoa to visit the next small island looking for that nights dinner.
The fishing was unsuccessful but I climbed a tree and got six of the biggest,
heaviest green coconuts you could imagine. I see why man turned from hunting to
agriculture. They were so heavy I had to tow them on my spear line back across
to the other motu where "Jane" was waiting to be
impressed.
Day three - after the morning diving we headed back
to the western motu and explored some other small islands. One was stunning with
its pink sand and crop of coconut palm and other assorted foliage. Not long
after stepping ashore and ito the bush - there it was - right in front of me
- a bleached white human skull! There were lots of other human bones and a
fragmnent of another skull. Perhaps when we get back to Scotland and high speed
internet soon we can post the photos along with all the others you have been
asking for. Why do you need photos? Why won't you just believe me? Ah OK I see
now ........ Right!
We were going to have difficulty leaving Tetamanu
and once again the "please don't leave committee" were despatched out to Rhiann
Marie that evening from the village. In the pitch black a boat approached us and
three smiling faces and one guitar stepped aboard. All three proceeded to sing
us polynesian songs all evening and in fact modified a couple to include
"Stewart and Patricia" and another welcomeing the beautiful Rhiann Marie to the
Tuamoto. It was awonderful evening and a warm gesture. We did our best by
reciprocating with Rhiann Marie Hebridean hospitality and I also surprised then
by singing several unaccompanied Scottsih songs, which it has to be sed do not
evoke the wonderful melodic sounds that their songs did, but had to be done
never the less. They seemed to appreciate it and after each song gave a
"respectful" round of applause!
Of the many songs they sung one was from the island
of Tahaa where William was from. It was about a disaster thet had been there
about 16 years ago. There had been extremely heavy and incessant rain for a long
period and this caused a major landslide. They said part of the mountain just
crashed down on a village. Many people were killed and William was almost moved
to tears during the song. He explained to us that as a 13 or 14 year old boy he
was there digging with shovels and his bare hands to try and get to those
buried. He was quite moved and recalled how many and which of his relatives
he had lost. Not wanting to dwell on his sad thoughts he asked the other
two to play something more up beat, which they did.
We had another wonderful and memorable night but we
just had to move on so next morning at 0700 we upped our anchor and set off for
the village of Rotoava in the North East of Fakarava where we would get a few
bits of supplied and set off early this morning for Toau or perhaps even onto
Apataki. I will let you know where we get to and will continue to try to
persuade Trish to bring her account up to date.
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