From the port chat from eve before:-Atoll 37 kms long ….tendering is a 6 minute ride 8-4:30..29 C…scattered showers, 40% chance, 77% humidity

There will be a faster movement getting there…16 knots…500 km ENE direction

837 population…tap water again is not drinkable. Bug spray, sun protection, don’t waste time looking for wifi. There is a LeTruck, no taxi, no official bike rental….maybe at hotel. (We found bike and ebike rental in port but e-bikes were gone before we got ashore)

It’s beach atoll.  PK9 Beach, there is a diving Spot if you want to be bait for sharks. “Le sables roses”…pink sand beach, snorkel beach to the south. Drinks on shaded spot at Arenaki (?) bar. Local market open 7-12 & open again at 3.

November 11th is a National holiday here.

Fakarama….apparently means “beautiful, bringing the best reactions from you”.  Daniel said…”that’s what the French said when they saw the Brits tried to come ashore”…lol.  He is so funny, so quick!

At 11am on the 11th of November, on board the Zaandam, Remembrance Day was observed. It was a very nice service.

It’s amazing that we are anchored inside the lagoon….so large an area that you can barely see the little “motus” around the outside.  And as I said, it was a rough ride going and coming.

Just took the tender.  It was very choppy. Because of winds and waves going in wrong direction, we have to leave the ship by the aft port tender dock.  We walked along the road (cement for the most part) to beaches that ran along the inside of the lagoon.  Outside or other side from when we landed, is exposed to the ocean and so is harsh. There is no swimming.  At one point there was a local guy in the water feeding sharks….a nurse shark….brought it right onto the shore.  I missed it but some people were quite freaked out by it.