After settling into our new home in Fakarava, I took Martin and Simone to shore to make some arrangements for SCUBA diving. Before they joined us on SV Sierra Wind they had gotten their dive master certifications and Fakarava was a bucket list dive for them. Since we only have gear onboard for two people to dive, they would need to rent gear and go with a separate dive group. The most popular dive on Fakarava is called the Wall of Sharks, which is when hundreds of sharks congregate in the pass on the incoming tide.
I dropped them off onshore the next day for the dive and Eitan and I decided to take the dinghy to the pass and snorkel it, since we were still waiting to meet up with SV Agape to replace our broken BCD. We got to the pass just as the tide started flowing in and the visibility of the water drastically began to change. Water in the lagoon can have good visibility but pales in comparison to the crystal-clear water of the open ocean outside. We didn’t really know where the Wall of Sharks was exactly so we alternated one person holding on to the dinghy line while the other would dive down, drifting through the pass. Neither of us had much freediving experience but we took turns trying to beat our own personal records. Previously, my maximum depth was about 45 feet and Eitan’s was somewhere in the 60-foot range. It was amazing to me that we could dive down and be at the same depth as the people SCUBA diving below us.
I took a couple big gulps of air and was determined to break into the 50’s and kicked as I watched the depth numbers increase on my dive watch. Focused on my watch, I hit my new personal record of 57 feet! Not really paying attention to my surroundings I looked up to begin my ascent and was startled as I realized I was surrounded by sharks! Tens of sharks had begun to gather in the pass as the incoming tide grew stronger and stronger. We continued to dive down and enjoy the Wall of Sharks as best we could without tanks.
Later that day we headed over to SV Agape to chat with them and check out the BCDs they had for sale. After Simone seemed so star-struck meeting Rachel, I looked at her Instagram and could see why. She takes some really incredible underwater photos and it was interesting to hear a bit more of their backstory. They left southern California in 2016 and made their way across the Pacific and to French Polynesia, where they ended up getting stuck during the COVID closures. Although the trip started as a similar sabbatical-type situation, Rachel and Josh had found a way to fund their travels through photography, content creation, and brand partnerships with companies like Cressi and Doyle Sails. They were probably the first people we had met who actually made money through the cruising lifestyle. Although they don’t have a YouTube channel like every other boat seems to have, other YouTube cruising channels actually pay them to collect content for them.
We spent the afternoon exchanging stories and getting advice from them on places to see since they had spent so much time in French Polynesia. Rachel also gave me a couple recipes for ginger beer, cheese bread, and yogurt that I was excited to try once we could get some more provisions. Then I tried on the two BCDs they had for sale and decided on the smaller one, asking how much they wanted for it. They generously said we could have it for free but asked if we happened to have any US postage stamps. They had an important package to get to the US and found someone at the nearby resort returning to the States but didn’t have any stamps. A couple stamps for a BCD seemed like an advantageous trade for us!
I asked what was in the small envelope package that could be so important and Rachel explained they were just some micro-SD cards. GoPro had sent them their latest cameras to collect footage and would pay for any videos or images used in their marketing campaigns. Having taken a recent interest in improving my photography skills, I was really amazed by the lifestyle SV Agape had created. They were taking pictures and videos in exotic places and actually getting paid for it or getting free stuff just doing what they love. But then again, it has also become their full-time job and I wondered how much it felt like one.
Rachel showed us some of the videos she had collected earlier from the Wall of Sharks and we got even more excited to dive it. The next morning, I assembled the SCUBA gear with my new BDC and began the series of checks. Unfortunately, there seemed to be something wrong with the inflator hose and my heart sank. I guess the free BCD is worth what we paid for it. Eitan tried to troubleshoot it but it didn’t look like a quick fix. Seeing SV Agape was already on their way to the dive site, we hopped in the dinghy, hoping to catch them in time for Eitan to join their group. Eitan descended with them as I enviously watched from the surface with the dinghy in tow. Like Simone, I had begun to idolize Rachel and was increasingly jealous of Eitan’s opportunity to see her in action as she captures incredible shark photos and maybe a shot or two of him.
After the dive, Eitan began troubleshooting the broken BCD while Simone, Martin, and I reviewed the GoPro footage Eitan collected from the dive. With hundreds of dives at the Wall of Sharks, Rachel knows exactly where to stop for the best shots and angles, areas that Martin and Simone had completely missed during their dive with the charter group the day before. Not having the right tools to fix the BCD, Eitan began reassembling the hose and vest and miraculously, it seemed to be working with no problems. I guess life is like that sometimes and I was thankful we had one more day on the mooring to try the dive one more time.
The following day, I once again assembled my gear and did the checks and everything seemed to be working fine. We hopped in the dinghy and made our way to the dive site, tied up to the mooring ball, and descended into the water. There was only a small trail of bubbles leaking from the hose, but otherwise it functioned just fine. Eitan guided me along the same dive profile he had done the day before and we stopped at all the cool caves and picture locations. The visibility was a little better the day before but the dive was still awesome. Seeing so many sharks hovering around was really spectacular, but I was sad for all the ones with hooks in their mouths or some kind of netting tangled around them. It’s easy to see that it’s humans who are the real ocean predators.
Once we got back to Sierra Wind I reviewed the pictures and videos from the dive. Earlier that day, I showed Eitan some of Rachel’s photos on Instagram of the same dive and the shots I wanted him to capture of me. Of course, a $300 GoPro can’t compare to a $10,000 DSLR underwater setup but it was still fun trying. After meeting Rachel, I became really inspired to take better pictures underwater as well as above and hope to upgrade my underwater photography setup one day!
