January 29, 2024 Monday Rangiroa, French Polynesia

Arrival 08:00 Last Tender 16:30 Departure 17:00

It's no wonder why Fletcher Christian wanted to stay in French Polynesia with its crystal clear blue water and the abundance of fish. Rangiroa is considered one of the world's best diving destinations. Its name means " huge sky".

As noted in the "Currents" - Rangiroa is the biggest atoll in French Polynesia with measurements of 75 kms long and 25 kms wide. The entire island of Tahiti can fit inside the Atoll.

The walking track is full of paasengers when I check out the deck at 5:45. It looks like passengers still want to get in a walk prior to their tours.

After five straight seadays Rangiroa is in the distance and the Tahitiian flag has been raised to the ship's mast and the pilot is coming aboard. His suitcase was brought aboard as well so the pilot will be with us until we leave Bora Bora. I can see another ship in the distance sailing through the Atoll entrance. It is the Aranuis 5 which we saw back on a visit to Nuka Huva back on the ATW 2022. This ship is half cruise ship and half cargo ship.

With our arrival at 08:00 we wanted to make sure to get on the first tender in order to meet our guide on the pier. Janice had booked a private snorkeling and reef tour through Viatour. The tour was leaving the pier at 09:00 with a return time of 16:00. Also included in the tour was lunch on a private Motu (island).

As we leave the tender we are greeted by male and female Tahitian dancers. There is alot of commotion on the pier as the destination services has set up shop and private tour guides are at the pier to meet their guests.

We found our guid, Vaehi, who brought us to the boat. The boat is piloted by her husband, Marius and his cousin, Claude. He was in charge of preparing a wonderful lunch.

Leaving the pier it is 45 minutes before we reach the south end of the Atoll. Marius explains that he has the deed to this part of the Atoll and the private Motu.

Arriving at the Motu we must transport everything as the boat must anchor off shore. The water is not deep, but it is good we had water shoes as the rocks made it treacherous to walk on.

There were no slip ups on our part, success we made it to the Motu. We would have 40 minutes to snorkel around the coral. Another group of passengers from the ship were also in the area.

The fish here was limited but I did see some purple coral on the sea bottom as well as what I thought were clams clinging to the coral. Many sea cucumbers dotted the ocean floor. At one instance Janice and I saw members from the other tour placing their hands on the coral. This is a no go and we quickly pointed this out to them told them not to do it. Passengers from the beach were also telling as well.

With our snorkeling finish it was back to our shelter. There were so many sand crabs here of varous sizes. You needed to look where you were walking just to prevent yourself from stepping on them. Marius and Vaehi provided us with a nice spread of coconut shavings, chips, and beverages to quench our thirst.

Afterwards Marius and Vaehi wanted to show us another portion of the Motu. It was very rocky, but Marius was walking without shoes. I would have turned back if I did not have any shoes. He wanted to show us the Southern part of the island and the results of the volcano. Here you could see black volcanic rock which acts as a natural barrier to the rough Pacific Ocean beyond.

Crossing over towards the barrier reef the water was very hot but quickly we found pools of water protected by the reef which was cool and refreshing.

Upon returning to the hut, Claude had been hard at work preparing a gorgeous meal of chicken, rice, ceviche salad, fish, and coconut bread. My compliments to Claude.

While walking back for lunch reef sharks began appearing in the water. Marius explained that they do most of their hunting at night when other fish are sleeping. There seemed to be around twenty sharks here. What I did not know was they have become aware the people are on the Motu any food leftover is thrown into the ocean. It becomes a feeding frenzy.

My lunch included chicken, rice and fish, no ceviche. I did not finish the fish, but Marius said take it down to the water and throw it into the water. You should have seen the sharks scramble for it.

Everyone took their turn doing the same.

It was time to collect your stuff and make your way back to the boat as the storm clouds were beginning to appear in the west. A stop was made at water aquarium not far from the tender pier. Here we saw other small boats with passengers from the ship. I am not sure whether they were there just to look into the water or if they jumped into the water. Boy we were in for a trill. There were so many fish here you needed to push them away just to get back to the boat.

It was an excellent day and an excellent tour.

With the anchor drawn we leave Rangiroa at 17:00. I was too late to see the ship goes through the straight as the last time here you could see the extent of the current, which was very strong. We have finally reached the end of the Atoll surrounding Rangiroa. It is almost 40 minutes of cruising.

Next stop in Papeete, French Polynesia 203 nautical miles.