On Thurdsay, November 6, the crew had the opportunity to go to Tetiaroa!!! Tetiaroa is an atoll with a series of motus and a bird sanctuary. Marlon Brando bought the islands in the 70's and since his death they have been turned over to a trust. The Gump station has offered to help create a conservation plan but nothing has been set in stone. Seriously, these islands are amazing, a literal heaven on Earth. It was very hard to leave them.
Let's start from the beginning shall we? 6:45 am, on docks and ready to load onto the boats. We needed three boats to schlep our crew out to the atoll. The station boat was used and then two local fishing boats. FISHING boats maybe 15 feet MAYBE. This two hour jaunt is through open ocean mind you. The trek takes between 1.5-2.5 hours depending on conditions. On Wednesday the ocean was like glass...Thursday was a different story. Of course standing on the dock we had no clue what we were in for. I took a dramamine and stocked up on some ginger root and took my seat on the ice chest that was used as a bench for the 7 of us piled on the boat. No handles, no seats per say, just an ice box for the catch.
Ginger stock piling
And then we were off...
I was in the white boat.
Our journey began in Cook's bay, we leave the bay and enter the reef pass and into open ocean we went. The swell was already a bit rough and definitely made me and a few others a bit nervous about the ride. We learned later that had it gotten any worse we would have immediately turned around and not gone.
The ride was bumpy to say the least. As I mentioned we were literally sitting on a wood ice chest. There were a couple handles, but not enough for the seven of us. All seven could barely fit on top of the thing! When sitting we were well above the edge of the boat so it seemed like a rather likely possibility that we would fly out of the boat. We held on for dear life to avoid this and there were a couple waves were I was worried, but one in particular where I thought we were all going down. In better news we didn't!! We successfully made it across that stretch of the Pacific and to the barrier reef of Tetiaroa.
Now Tetiaroa is unique in that it has no reef passes. Passes can be natural or man made, but Tetiaroa has neither. The catch with that little tid bit of information is that there is no shore per say. We all jumped off the boats and into the water, following direction and also thinking these people are all a bit insane after Mr. Toad's Wild ride, but swim up to this cliff of coral. The method of getting to Tetiaroa? Penguin style, wait for a wave and slide on up onto the reef crest (on the algal ridge of course, woot sargassum, actually it was more like f***ing TURBINARIA, spikey stuff, sticks everywhere, generally unpleasant). We all made it onto the reef and now the question of bags is upon us. How do we get the bags from boat, which cannot come to close to said coral cliff...throw them that's how. We found a delicate balance between edge of cliff and wave action and the ability to stand up and not fall off and the fishermen started tossin'. I lost a shirt in the shuffle and I believe a fin was lost but other than that we came out unscathed and were ready to hit the shore.
The ride was bumpy to say the least. As I mentioned we were literally sitting on a wood ice chest. There were a couple handles, but not enough for the seven of us. All seven could barely fit on top of the thing! When sitting we were well above the edge of the boat so it seemed like a rather likely possibility that we would fly out of the boat. We held on for dear life to avoid this and there were a couple waves were I was worried, but one in particular where I thought we were all going down. In better news we didn't!! We successfully made it across that stretch of the Pacific and to the barrier reef of Tetiaroa.
Now Tetiaroa is unique in that it has no reef passes. Passes can be natural or man made, but Tetiaroa has neither. The catch with that little tid bit of information is that there is no shore per say. We all jumped off the boats and into the water, following direction and also thinking these people are all a bit insane after Mr. Toad's Wild ride, but swim up to this cliff of coral. The method of getting to Tetiaroa? Penguin style, wait for a wave and slide on up onto the reef crest (on the algal ridge of course, woot sargassum, actually it was more like f***ing TURBINARIA, spikey stuff, sticks everywhere, generally unpleasant). We all made it onto the reef and now the question of bags is upon us. How do we get the bags from boat, which cannot come to close to said coral cliff...throw them that's how. We found a delicate balance between edge of cliff and wave action and the ability to stand up and not fall off and the fishermen started tossin'. I lost a shirt in the shuffle and I believe a fin was lost but other than that we came out unscathed and were ready to hit the shore.
Walking from the crest through the lagoon to the shore. See the boats in the background?The crew got the low down of the history, geology, and some biology of the atoll. Then we got to explore!
Conglumerate Platform, lagoon, reef crest and waves breaking, another island in the atoll. Oh, and did I mention absolutely striking?
Conglumerate Platform, lagoon, reef crest and waves breaking, another island in the atoll. Oh, and did I mention absolutely striking?
And go swimming in pristine waters...
And proceed to have chicken fights.
The chicken fights were girl versus guys and then the members of BOB plus one. Sea cucumber fights commenced shortly after. Ben hit Olivier square between the eyes; Hayley put one in Heather's bathing suit bottoms. It was hilarious and so fun. We soon got beckoned out of the water by none other than...
Carole Hickman!!
And proceed to have chicken fights.The chicken fights were girl versus guys and then the members of BOB plus one. Sea cucumber fights commenced shortly after. Ben hit Olivier square between the eyes; Hayley put one in Heather's bathing suit bottoms. It was hilarious and so fun. We soon got beckoned out of the water by none other than...
Carole Hickman!!
Carole is one of our professors and is amazing and spunk and just pure awesomeness. She then told us about where we were going next, an island that is a bird sanctuary. To get there we need to wade through a shallow lagoon...
check.
What we saw when we got there...PERFECTION. The sand was the softest I have ever felt in my life.
Look at that sky.
Beautiful Brown Booby, Sula leucogaster
and again.
and again.
Baby Brown Booby...so adorable.
After walking around the bird island we came back to our beach and ate some grub. In this process Danny decided he was le tired and put his head inbetween two branches. He was stuck for a brief moment, but here I am laughing at it...
He became unstuck shortly after this photo.
After lunch we decided we would all go snorkeling. I started in the lagoon, but quickly wanted to go out and off the reef crest. It was PHANOMENOL. Really deep with this huge cliff in the back ground. There were cut outs and trenches. They were all around 20 ft down, so good free diving skills were a must. We saw a monopora, or rosebud coral, black tips, huge puffers, and some flat out amazing coral structures. Coral reefs are such a unique ecosystem and I am incredibly lucky to be this fortunate and see so many in this amazing country.
The second attempt at penguin style was awesome and worked flawlessly. We then walked back and had to walk back again to return from whence we came. It was a sad moment to jump off the edge knowing I may never see that place or anything close to it ever again.
Back to our fishing boats we went! We resituated ourselves on our icebox, noticing this time our butts were a bit sore and muscles a bit tired, but off into the middle of the Pacific we went. The ride was rough again, but fun, less frightening. Our guy saw a Mahi Mahi and went after it. He was incredible he whipped out his spear, turned the boat and throws the spear and one toss he has the fish. It was HUGE. It was sad though too. I watched this stunning creature go from shimmering blues and yellows to a dull, dead yellow green.
We all stood up as to allow him to actually use his ice chest. We get situated again and Mo'orea is so close...all of a sudden we dart to the side and the wood on my handle breaks. I went FLYING. I saw the edge of the boat and saw there was potential for me to fly straight into the Pacific. I hook the edge with my inner elbow and left rib cage, bounce back into the ice chest and come to a halt on water bottles...OW. That hurt a lot. My knee just started feeling better. I stayed on the floor despite the risk of sea sickness, but thankfully I did not get sick. Not-a-once. We made it back to Cook's Bay and our amazing little station sore and safetly. The experience was well worth it though. Amazing trip...this place never fails to please.
puh-puh-please let me stay!
love,
bri.
The second attempt at penguin style was awesome and worked flawlessly. We then walked back and had to walk back again to return from whence we came. It was a sad moment to jump off the edge knowing I may never see that place or anything close to it ever again.
Back to our fishing boats we went! We resituated ourselves on our icebox, noticing this time our butts were a bit sore and muscles a bit tired, but off into the middle of the Pacific we went. The ride was rough again, but fun, less frightening. Our guy saw a Mahi Mahi and went after it. He was incredible he whipped out his spear, turned the boat and throws the spear and one toss he has the fish. It was HUGE. It was sad though too. I watched this stunning creature go from shimmering blues and yellows to a dull, dead yellow green.
We all stood up as to allow him to actually use his ice chest. We get situated again and Mo'orea is so close...all of a sudden we dart to the side and the wood on my handle breaks. I went FLYING. I saw the edge of the boat and saw there was potential for me to fly straight into the Pacific. I hook the edge with my inner elbow and left rib cage, bounce back into the ice chest and come to a halt on water bottles...OW. That hurt a lot. My knee just started feeling better. I stayed on the floor despite the risk of sea sickness, but thankfully I did not get sick. Not-a-once. We made it back to Cook's Bay and our amazing little station sore and safetly. The experience was well worth it though. Amazing trip...this place never fails to please.
puh-puh-please let me stay!
love,
bri.
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