Amanu

Now I hope you are not feeling neglected. Internet is by satellite in these isolated areas so too slow to keep up regular communications unless you are the officers on the ship or the owner. 300mb is $70 and is so slow you cannot send more than a sentence at a time. Enough grumbling as you are on holiday and that sometimes means a holiday from electronic devices as well.

If you are like me, your geography is dismal and you may not know that French Polynesia is made up of many small islands and archipelagos. Many of these islands were originally formed from volcanoes and over time have eroded to form flat landforms called atolls. The first archipelago we will visit is Tuamotu which has two large atolls Tahanea and Amanu. Tahanea is uninhabited as it is a nature reserve. People from the local islands are allowed to fish and collect the coconuts and it is believed that a rare bird is found there.We just swam.
There is plenty of crabs and coral but we had a quick lesson in preparing raw fish and bread fruit.
1. Cut fish
2. Grind coconut.
3. Wring it in a cloth until milk forms
4. Add it to fish along with lime juice,some shredded vegetables and a little water and salt.
5. Meanwhile your bread fruit should have cooked so the skin is black. Peel it , mash it to pulp and then add your coconut milk.
6. Now your fish should have cooked in the milk, you’ve built up an appetite and your biceps, so eat. Opinion…fish 10/10 Breadfruit maybe a 4

Amanu atoll is slightly larger than Tahanea. People have lived on the atoll for thousands of years but it has not been visited by Europeans frequently. The arrival of 250 people on the island was quite an event. They were as busy taking photographs as we were. The 140 people had prepared a welcome feast of fruit and fish, children had practised dances and songs and they were ready to share music and smiles.

Well mostly smiles. Grandma is definitely feeling the music and joy but I’m not so sure of the young girl with her arms crossed

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Children here stay on the island for primary school but are sent to a bigger island for junior high school. They finish their senior high in Tahiti and then any further education is in Tahiti or France. In most cases, this will mean they leave their parents and families for most of their education consequently losing their connections with traditional life.

Traditional crafts include weaving pandanas leaves, shell jewellery and objects, and of course fishing and crafts like boat building.

Although there is an example of a traditional house, people on the island live in concrete houses.Water is supplied by tanks and electricity by a generator. There is some solar.This Island has 2 cars and one Ute.
The three main buildings on the island is the Council centre (also the refuge in time of disaster),and two Catholic Churches. One was built in1875 and took 20 years to finish, the second in 1988 . Of most pride in the village, are the beautiful trees that are hundreds of years old and have not been cut down and used.