4/18/18
The flight to Rangiroa in the Tuamotus island group was very nice. Rangiroa is the 2nd largest atoll in the world. The place where we were to stay was on a motu, about 12km long, capped off on each end by a passes (Tiputa and Avaroa passes). The airport was super tiny, with just 3-4 flights per day.
When we arrived, we waited for our air bnb host to pick us up, but she never came! She was supposed to be on one of the flights from Papeete. After the last flight arrived, they started closing the airport! We were kind of at a loss b/c we had no internet access, no phone number, and all we had was a name, Lucy. We asked around at the airport; however, and someone knew her! She ended up having to stay extra in Papeete b/c of bad test results (she has MS). So a friend of hers gave us a ride to her place. The place was amazing! It was a beautiful and modern house, right on a gorgeous lagoon. Hammocks, beach chairs, nice deck, outdoor showers, floating chairs, and a standup paddle board were all part of the amazing place. The house also came with 2 nice cats and 2 cute cats. Because she felt bad, she also let us use her scooter for free.
In the afternoon we scooted to Tiputa pass to watch the sunset, and then we scooted to the main town for fish burgers.
4/19/18
We scootered to Tiputa pass in the morning as the lagoon was emptying at low tide. This makes for a turbulent pass (pass is where water is able to come and go from the lagoon to the ocean, between the motus of the atoll) with the incoming waves. The bottlenose dolphins love this, so we watched them jump around enjoying the waves of the pass. We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon snorkeling, lounging, and swimming at Lucy's place. Elisha made hamburgers for lunch, which were delicious to have on the deck while sipping beers in the hammock. Lucy's place is called "Maison les pieds dans de lagon" (House with feet in the lagoon), which is a perfect name. In the afternoon, I did a dive with Rais-Manta Club de Plongee in the Tiputu pass. Nice dive with LOTS of sharks! I saw 4 species: grey reef, white-tipped reef, black-tipped reef, and black-fin. Also some some big schools of barracuda. It's a super fast current through the pass. It's like flying! While I dove, Elisha went out with the boat tender and was able to swim with the dolphins. He did it by pulling her through the water in the deep part of the ocean with a rope, which kind of made Elisha a bit nervous, since you can't see the bottom, but she also enjoyed swimming with the dolphins.
After the dive, we watched at the pier as fishermen cleaned their fish and threw discarded bits into the ocean where we could see lots and lots of black-tipped, white-tipped, and grey reef sharks as well as some large nurse sharks. We watched the sunset from there and then had sausages, beans, and rice for dinner at Lucy's.
4/20/18
I did a morning dive with the dive shop. Some more sharks, a curious turtle, lots of tuna, giant bumphead parrotfish, and 3 cool eagle rays. I like this dive shop. They crack me up. Very old school and friendly. You carry all your gear and help out. The boat operator is a funny polynesian guy that doesn't speak much English and the dive master is a french guy who chugs coffee and smokes cigarettes right before the dive. But they're so friendly, alway gave me (and Elisha) free tea and also took Elisha around in the boat to swim with dolphins for free.
After the dive we scootered to the other side of the island. Back at our air bnb, we swam, floated, and paddle boarded around in our private lagoon. So nice! We had yummy hamburgers on the porch with hinano beer.
In the afternoon I did a second dive. We started out super deep in the ocean, then it was a really fast drift dive back into the lagoon. Lots of grey reef sharks. It looked like the ocean floor below us was crawling with them. Also saw a bunch of barracudas, a sea turtle and some white and black tipped reef sharks. We also got to see a large school of 20 eagle rays. While waiting for the dive, Elisha and I were admiring a girl's fishing and then she ended up selling us about 15 fish which she cleaned and de-scaled, all for 10 bucks.
In the evening we finally met Lucy who had arrived from Tahiti. She had dinner with us and helped us cook the fresh yummy fish!
4/21/18
We went snorkeling with the dive club I had been diving with. For a small donation to their tea fund, they took us out. First we chased bottle nose dolphins around and got to swim 3 times with them. Then we drift snorkeled the pass, seeing 4 sharks, 2 eagle rays, and a bumphead parrotfish. Then we got pulled by the boat to some nice coral gardens. It was all a lot of fun!
After the snorkel we had hot cocoa and coffee at Josephine's, which has a really nice deck overlooking the pass, where we waited for the low tide so the lagoon would empty. With the emptying of the lagoon, the waves would come and so would the jumping dolphins playing in the swells.
We went back to Lucy's for lunch where we cooked up more of our fresh fish. It was then off to the airport to catch our flight to Fakarava.
The flight to Rangiroa in the Tuamotus island group was very nice. Rangiroa is the 2nd largest atoll in the world. The place where we were to stay was on a motu, about 12km long, capped off on each end by a passes (Tiputa and Avaroa passes). The airport was super tiny, with just 3-4 flights per day.
When we arrived, we waited for our air bnb host to pick us up, but she never came! She was supposed to be on one of the flights from Papeete. After the last flight arrived, they started closing the airport! We were kind of at a loss b/c we had no internet access, no phone number, and all we had was a name, Lucy. We asked around at the airport; however, and someone knew her! She ended up having to stay extra in Papeete b/c of bad test results (she has MS). So a friend of hers gave us a ride to her place. The place was amazing! It was a beautiful and modern house, right on a gorgeous lagoon. Hammocks, beach chairs, nice deck, outdoor showers, floating chairs, and a standup paddle board were all part of the amazing place. The house also came with 2 nice cats and 2 cute cats. Because she felt bad, she also let us use her scooter for free.
In the afternoon we scooted to Tiputa pass to watch the sunset, and then we scooted to the main town for fish burgers.
4/19/18
We scootered to Tiputa pass in the morning as the lagoon was emptying at low tide. This makes for a turbulent pass (pass is where water is able to come and go from the lagoon to the ocean, between the motus of the atoll) with the incoming waves. The bottlenose dolphins love this, so we watched them jump around enjoying the waves of the pass. We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon snorkeling, lounging, and swimming at Lucy's place. Elisha made hamburgers for lunch, which were delicious to have on the deck while sipping beers in the hammock. Lucy's place is called "Maison les pieds dans de lagon" (House with feet in the lagoon), which is a perfect name. In the afternoon, I did a dive with Rais-Manta Club de Plongee in the Tiputu pass. Nice dive with LOTS of sharks! I saw 4 species: grey reef, white-tipped reef, black-tipped reef, and black-fin. Also some some big schools of barracuda. It's a super fast current through the pass. It's like flying! While I dove, Elisha went out with the boat tender and was able to swim with the dolphins. He did it by pulling her through the water in the deep part of the ocean with a rope, which kind of made Elisha a bit nervous, since you can't see the bottom, but she also enjoyed swimming with the dolphins.
After the dive, we watched at the pier as fishermen cleaned their fish and threw discarded bits into the ocean where we could see lots and lots of black-tipped, white-tipped, and grey reef sharks as well as some large nurse sharks. We watched the sunset from there and then had sausages, beans, and rice for dinner at Lucy's.
4/20/18
I did a morning dive with the dive shop. Some more sharks, a curious turtle, lots of tuna, giant bumphead parrotfish, and 3 cool eagle rays. I like this dive shop. They crack me up. Very old school and friendly. You carry all your gear and help out. The boat operator is a funny polynesian guy that doesn't speak much English and the dive master is a french guy who chugs coffee and smokes cigarettes right before the dive. But they're so friendly, alway gave me (and Elisha) free tea and also took Elisha around in the boat to swim with dolphins for free.
After the dive we scootered to the other side of the island. Back at our air bnb, we swam, floated, and paddle boarded around in our private lagoon. So nice! We had yummy hamburgers on the porch with hinano beer.
In the afternoon I did a second dive. We started out super deep in the ocean, then it was a really fast drift dive back into the lagoon. Lots of grey reef sharks. It looked like the ocean floor below us was crawling with them. Also saw a bunch of barracudas, a sea turtle and some white and black tipped reef sharks. We also got to see a large school of 20 eagle rays. While waiting for the dive, Elisha and I were admiring a girl's fishing and then she ended up selling us about 15 fish which she cleaned and de-scaled, all for 10 bucks.
In the evening we finally met Lucy who had arrived from Tahiti. She had dinner with us and helped us cook the fresh yummy fish!
4/21/18
We went snorkeling with the dive club I had been diving with. For a small donation to their tea fund, they took us out. First we chased bottle nose dolphins around and got to swim 3 times with them. Then we drift snorkeled the pass, seeing 4 sharks, 2 eagle rays, and a bumphead parrotfish. Then we got pulled by the boat to some nice coral gardens. It was all a lot of fun!
After the snorkel we had hot cocoa and coffee at Josephine's, which has a really nice deck overlooking the pass, where we waited for the low tide so the lagoon would empty. With the emptying of the lagoon, the waves would come and so would the jumping dolphins playing in the swells.
We went back to Lucy's for lunch where we cooked up more of our fresh fish. It was then off to the airport to catch our flight to Fakarava.
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