By Grant
Like all our guests we expect them to bring a fair amount of provisioning. We have become very experienced managers of mules and if we ever found ourselves really struggling for cash we could easily turn into seasoned smugglers because we (my wife) have managed to get every guest visiting us to bring massive amounts of Amazon orders, food and drinks. Between Carolyn (when we met in Tahiti), Mum, Manoj and his family and my parents in law we have accumulated over 500kg of goods through their flights. Surely that should win some kind of medal? Well with the Mehtas we may have pushed a little too far. Not only did they have to bring stuff from the other side of the world, we also asked them to go serious provisioning in Tahiti. I am not exactly sure of the total weight they brought but 19 pieces of luggage required two dinghy rides to load only the luggage onto our boat. It is fair to say that wine, champagne and whiskey probably made up the bulk of it.
For me seeing Manoj was really important. The last time we were together was in Niseko skiing in January 2021 when Covid broke out and we all dashed around the world to find our safe haven. With Manoj running the naked business his freedom was not clearly the same as mine and he needed to manage the business through two very challenging years. This opportunity to finally get back together allowed us the time to catch up and to properly thank him for the amazing work he did.
For the kids however it was something else. Their best and longest childhood friends were coming to visit and nothing could curb the excitement.
We received them in royal fashion as we did our other guests by parking Arabella alongside the airport. However on this trip we decided to also try and race the plane down the runway using our little dinghy. What did you say? Ha? Well you heard us right. Arabella and I were the receiving party on the shore and we decided to try and race the incoming plane down the runway. I am pretty sure this is probably not legal anywhere but we thought it would be fun. And as we were racing along the side of the runway we were trying to film and wave to our incoming guests. It was actually great fun and all the more fun for Kiki, Aysha and Aryana who were looking out the window in shock. Anyways, we had tied the dinghy up on the jetty and were at the arrival gates before they disembarked.
19 pieces of luggage was no small fleet getting onto our boat but once it was on we cast away and set sail south to the South Pass of Fakarava and the wall of sharks. Now it was a long time since Uncle (My nickname for Manoj) has been diving. In fact we ascertained that it was probably almost 16 years ago in the Philippines and we were both much younger people. Manoj even had to keep the hair out of his mask in those days. So like my Mum we needed to do a refresher. Well all I can say was thank God the real dive went better than the refresher because Uncle certainly needed to remember what to do in water. Nevertheless he is a smart guy and in no time was gliding (mmm probably not the correct verb) through the water surrounded by hundreds of sharks.
Their short stay certainly got off to a busy start with diving for Manoj and serious fun on the magic carpet for the 6 girls off the back of the boat. I have often wanted to rid myself of the magic carpet, which is a bright yellow and green floating mat which we tie onto the back of the yacht and the kids can jump up and down on it and play all sorts of games. The reality is that it is clearly one of our best toys and all the kids absolutely love it. The Mehta girls also got used to sharks pretty quickly and were swimming and snorkeling amongst them with ease.
Sharon got a taste of the Seabob (underwater scooter you would likely see in a James Bond movie) which helps her glide over the water. So everybody was happy and settling in. And as always we had plenty of amazing feasts. Manoj the Chef cooked Indian food a few times and his recipes of buttered chicken and chai tea have become our new favorites.
After a couple of days at the South Pass which is really just an anchorage devoted for diving the pass and not the most attractive, we decided to sail south to another Atoll called Faaite which is seldom visited by cruisers. The voyage required two tricky passes to navigate due to both the width and the depth. They require precision driving to stay within the very tight channel. We are talking 10-20 meters wide which is pretty tight considering our yacht is 10m wide already. We lifted anchor very early to catch the incoming tide for the Fakarava South Pass and the outgoing tide for Faaite pass. Leaving Fakarava was fairly straight forward and very very beautiful as the first rays of sun were coming over the horizon. The 3 little dive companies which are built alongside the pass look magical in the morning and leaving that pass on that morning will always be imprinted in my brain. The passage south was very short (only 15nm) but a little rolly and the Mehtas got their first taste of the open ocean. I think it is fair to say we needed to prepare the seasickness tablets earlier next time but nobody was too badly affected and the passage was short. The entrance was by far the narrowest and scariest I’ve encountered so far. At first I wanted to anchor outside and bring the dinghy through to inspect but the outside anchorage didn’t feel safe and looked like a worse option so I just went for it. We touched 2.8m depth and that gave me a little worry considering our draft is 1.5m. But fortunately that was the worst and we were inside. Little did we know that inside also brought its fair share of challenges. None less than the huge abandoned pearl farm which lay along my route I had planned.
The pearl industry was once a massive booming industry until it went bust. Simply the cost of farming the pearls didn’t match the selling price after the market was flooded with cheap pearls whilst farmers were trying to gain market share in the 90s. During this boom time many Atolls in Tuamotus developed huge farms which consist of hundreds of buoys holding an intricate network of ropes underwater. From this network of ropes, more ropes were hung from which the the hosts shells were attached, and these shells will grow the pearls. When the industry collapsed they left the ropes and buoys there. Over time many buoys were taken and the whole rope structure submerged just below the surface leaving an invisible trap for sailors.
Faaite was nothing special. We tried two different anchorages and Manoj and I visited the village. It was a weird place with a weird feeling. The only description I can give is it reminded me of Fargo the movie. Ironically a few weeks later when we met up with Morton again he told us about the horrendous atrocities which happened there. 9 locals were burnt to death by radical missionaries thinking they were cursed. I guess the place still harbours some ill feelings towards the past. Who knows. Anyways we moved onto our second favourite Atoll – Tahanea.
What was supposed to be a fairly short and easy passage turned into squall ally with one after the other hitting us square on and forcing us to motor into the wind to prevent being overpowered with too much sail. It wasn’t the most pleasant passage and a few of the Mehtas once again felt sick but good news was that Luca from Dragonfly caught a massive Wahoo. Like Moses he brought food to us all. And what amazing feasts we enjoyed with sashimi, sushi and grilled steaks. Well to be fair Simon chose to take the braai-master duties from me and did the most wonderful job braaiing the Wahoo steaks. They were utterly sumptuous. Best I’ve eaten in a long while. Well done Mr Braai-master. I relinquish my duties to you forthwith.
Tahenea brought another smartkat regatta in a new format. The anchorage is the most beautiful beach we have found in the Tuamotus. 6th regatta in total and the 2nd in French Polynesia. On this occasion we decided not to pair kids with adults but rather let the kids make teams of their own. With 8 teams in total we were able to have 2 groups of 4 but three of the teams had pretty young skippers in Sid (8) and Alex (9). And as always the wind decided to blow hard so another stressful day collecting capsized boats. A special mention must go out to Blaz for righting I believe 5 capsizes. Definitely a record for a Dad to date. The kids were amazing and brave, and weren’t scared by the strong gusts and capsizing. In the end it was Luca and Sasha who won after a brilliant day of sailing in very very tough conditions.
We decided to try a new format for the adults. We called it the Marriage Breaker. It paired husband and wife together with the wife on the helm. If you were able to finish the regatta without killing your partner then you were already a winner. It was equally good fun and a lot of restraint was shown by all the sailors. A shout out to Ilya and Susanna for winning. Something about the herbs they consumed which made them so relaxed. Not sure… Also a massive shout out to Uncle and Sharon for managing the day and directing the races in a very (probably the most) professional way yet.
During their two weeks stay, the weather was perfect and the Mehtas tried out all sort of water sports like sailing the smartkat, snorkeling, riding the seabob, electric foiling, etc. Living on the boat is definitely outside their comfort zone, but they all embraced this crazy and active lifestyle and were always game for anything. One evening Arabella and Kiki slept under the stars on the smartkat that’s tied to our boat. They loved it.
On their last evening on the boat, we asked the Mehtas what’s their favorite moment of the trip. The kids all said they loved the long distance smartkat sailing with Arabella and Alex, snorkeling and swimming. While Manoj and Sharon thought it’s been an incredible experience being immersed in cruising life for two weeks which they found to be very challenging, rewarding and special. They were amazed how independent and competent we’ve (including the children) all become at sea. Definitely not a typical chill out holiday and we will cherish this wonderful experience with the Mehtas for years to come.
Having Manoj, Sharon, Kiki, Aysha and Aryana onboard was incredible. We needed to catch up with them and really talk about our past and future. There are few people in the world who are as intimately connected to our family as the Mehtas. It was wonderful having you all.