When we left the Marquesas our boat has never had quite that much fruit onboard!

The reason is we had learnt that the Tuamotus didn’t have any growing fruit and vegetables. The Tuamotus are the largest group of Atoll’s in the world totalling around 80 and the whole collection of them make up the size of Western Europe. I had never been to an Atoll before so I wasn’t really sure what to expect but when I got here I realised that this is a place of dreams. An Atoll is essentially a ring-shaped island with coral making the rim. Inside is a lagoon of turquoise flat water and white sand. But for all its visual beauty they lack nutrient soil to grow fruit and veg and fresh water. Both are luxuries. So with this in mind and the knowledge other cruisers had shared with us we planned to be kings arriving baring many gifts and we loaded our boat to the brim with Mangoes, Pamplemousse/Pamelo. All these fruit (and others but they don’t keep as well) grow in utter abundance in the Marquesas.

Now please realise, the effort it takes to pick and load hundreds of fruit is significant beyond your imagination. Even though we didn’t pick the Pamelo ourselves simply because it would have been impossible due to their weight but we did pick hundreds of mangoes. Mostly searching for green mangoes that would ripen slowly. At the end we had probably 300+ mangoes and at least 200 Pomelo. I guess the weight would have been close to 300kg. We also grabbed lemons, limes, oranges, guavas etc but these were mostly for our own consumption.

We then loaded the boat trying to prevent too much sun and bruising which was another procedure and all the riper mangoes went into mango production (another post to explain this). And off we went. Little did we know that on route we would catch a massive Marlin but this just added to our chest of treasures to share with the people of the Tuamotus.

We landed on the Island of Fakarava (cool name) and I guess these were to be the lucky ones. First thing in the morning we went ashore with massive bags of fruit and fish. We didn’t really have a plan but as soon as we started giving the people came running. Fortunately before it was all gone Delphine smartly realised we should go to the local school and give the kids which we did. This alone was a treat because the next day our kids got to spend some time with their kids learning more about each other.

At the end of the day it was a terribly rewarding feeling seeing the happy faces. I know we made a few people happy that day but the happiness and gratitude that we felt far exceeded theirs. A good lesson for my kids, and follows a basic mantra I’ve had my whole life which is that you must live your life with your hands open (ie giving) in order to be prepared to receive (because your hands are open).

I love the Tuamotus. I love our yacht being in the flat water of a lagoon. It has been many many months since we last lay in perfectly flat water. So all here is wonderful.