By Grant
Our lives are spent predominantly on land where occasionally we might look up at the sky or jump in the sea. But how often do we think about these different environments deeply and their impacts?
Our arrival in the Tuamotus has prompted me to reflect and think about each of the places I have lived and travelled, and how they are different from one another, and how the Tuamotus is unlike anywhere I have visited so far.
If you have never travelled to the Tuamotus it’s hard to really imagine. They are an archipelago of around 76 atolls which are the remnants of volcanic eruptions around 30-60 million years ago which formed islands. Some are as large as 150,000 hectares which is roughly the size of Hong Kong Island.
Over the millenniums the volcanic rock cooled and slowly started sinking, while barrier reef grew around the island. In time, the entire island collapsed and you are left with the barrier reef. So you have a donut island made of coral surrounding a shallow lagoon where the island once stood. There is very little to no real topsoil and almost no elevation with high points only a few meters above sea level. When you are arriving from the sea you need to be only a few miles away to even see the atoll because it’s so low.
Only a few hundred meter from the outside edge, the water can be 3000m deep which is very very deep, like the middle of the Atlantic or Pacific deep but this is just on the edge of the Atoll. This makes them extraordinary in many ways which I will come to later. But first let me share my observations of this most incredible place.
Unlike most places I’ve lived where the land is the vibrant habitat where one finds an abundance of life from creepy crawleys, to lions and human race. Here the land is very scarce of diversity, with little to nothing growing happily in the nutrient deficient land. And where little grows little lives. So no snakes, spiders, animals etc.
From a flora perspective, there are palm trees with their coconuts growing everywhere like weed and a dozen of so variety of trees with lovely little flowers which attract bees. Here you also find field mice, hermit crabs and coconut crabs but these are scarce these days. Not much else lives naturally on this land making it even more barren than most deserts in the world. Certainly far more barren than the Namib desert in Namibia.
So why do I love this place so?
Well it’s simply because the sky and the sea compensate for the complete lack of diversity on land. The contrast is absolutely astounding. Everything about the Tuamotus is so intense, dramatic and pure.
Unlike in a rainforest where you predominantly hear the birds with far less visual enjoyment due to the natural camouflage of the canopy, here in the Tuamotus you see them with all their beauty. From small little Terns with lilac colours, to large cormorants swooping in and out, to so many different types of petrels incessantly diving, Brown Booby’s galore and even the massive albatross. On the shores there are so many little birds like noddy’s and even herons feeding in the shallows. I don’t know what they all are. You can feel overwhelmed especially early in the morning. Sometimes in the early evening we see thousands of birds gathering on top of a shoal of fish. Reminds me of the wildebeest gathering before the migration. There is a constant feeding taking places and the ocean is their bowl. Some birds diving deep and others just picking from the surface. It’s something almost unnatural to watch and you can easily become entranced.
And then there is the ocean! It is obviously possible that other places have the diversity and spectrum underwater as the Tuamotu’s have but I believe never in such beautiful clean water. Swimming, snorkeling and diving can only be described as spiritual. It blows your mind the colours, the clarity, the variety and the quantity. Fish of every size, color and shape, sharks, rays and crustaceans. All set in the backdrop of these amazing coral formations which are breathtaking in its own right but when you overlay the life living in and around them it becomes almost too much to absorb. I’ve found myself just floating, staring and breathing many times whilst over the shallow reefs. I can safely say I’ve never encountered such beauty and colour in my life and I will treasure it forever.
Thank you Tuamotus for showing me your world. I will return again I promise.