The best sundowner in French Polynesia!

Birthdays on the ocean are different to land - they are less about presents and more about experiences and togetherness!
In this episode we treat Claire on her birthday - we never eat or drink out, as we prefer to save our money for other more important things - but this birthday we couldn't resist a quick cocktail in this beautiful setting!

We also hire some bikes from Fakarava Yacht Services and ride south along the scenic road built for Jacques Chirac who was due to visit but never made it.
It is so interesting to see how the locals live and how they manage to grow vegetables in this environment.

We made it to Havaiki Hotel where we have planned to have sundowners for Claire's birthday. They are super friendly here and we enjoy our drinks watching the sun go down. It is an idyllic place to come and stay though I think I would prefer to stay down in the south pass if I was given the choice.

The boys often head to the sports hall and field and play with the locals or other boat kids. They all seem to get on well despite the language barriers. English, Spanish and French children playing together in this case.

We often walk along the outer reef to see what we can find. There is plastic of course, but it is not as bad here in comparison to Panama for example. As you can see in the video, we find some sun dried sharks which we assume have been washed up into a shallow area and the tide had gone out leaving them to die. It was interesting to see their spine and to find some teeth.
We do also see lots of other interesting sea creatures in the shallows such as eels, sea slugs and beautiful parrot fish.

It was interesting to see the cruise / cargo ship drop anchor in Fakarava. This seems like an interesting way to travel this area with just the right amount of creature comforts.
You can also travel on the other cargo vessels which we have shown you in previous videos. In this case, you have to find yourself a place on deck and call it home for the passage as there are no cabins. You can expect to sleep out under the stars.

In our next video we head to Toau. This will be well worth watching as it is an amazing atoll.

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