- Ahe Atoll -
Tuamotus Archipelago
Click Here for Chrissi's TEXT about Ahe
It's about 500 miles from
Nuku Hiva and the northern Marquesas to Ahe.
We had to shove our way through a daunting, gloomy and weird looking
South Pacific Convergene Zone
before breaking into lovely clear weather on the approaches to the Tuamotus.
We sailed through the pass
at Ahe atoll against some 3 knots of current. No problem.
It was the 14th of July, and when we arrived in the main town, Tenukupara,
we discovered that most of the villagers were in party mode for the
French national day.
One of our sailing heros,
Bernard Moitessier, spent a number of years at Ahe atoll
trying to coax a viable garden from its reluctant sparse soil and trying
to re-vitalize
the copra industry. It all seems like ancient history now, with nary
a trace
of Bernard's efforts visible and with the copra industry in full decline
and replaced by . . . a thriving black pearl farming industry!
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Black pearls.
. . are now the economic backbone of the atolls of the Tuamotus Archipelago, having solidly displaced the copra industry which now languishes as a slimly surviving historic holdover. Chrissi traded an old CD and a few T-Shirts for this handful of pearls. |
Homemade hooch and homemade
music made for |
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South Pacific music, and Poynesian music in particular, seems pretty "hokey" to us, with our backgrounds in Soca and Rock and Jazz. It's a kind of mix of redneck country and Hawaiian hula. It's heavy on the Ukelele and strong on voice harmonies. The passion of the singers for this kind of thing can be a bit surprising but it's delightful and engaging too. |
The atolls are scattered with these
work sheds where the
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Precise extraction and judging of each pearl determines its future market and the price it will bring. Chinese pearl experts seemed to dominate this part of the pearl farming process. |
Trust Chrissi
to find a good pair of coconut palms to sling her hammock
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