Anyway, we arrived in Rangiroa, another of the coral atolls of the Tuamotu archipelago of French Polynesia. Because we had left our bookings for this trip so late, we now had to stay in two different accomodations on each island, just in an attempt to get rooms. Our first accommodation here was a sort of resort but it was hardly luxurious. We had a shocking bed - an old spring mattress that sagged seriously and made boinging noises every time we rolled over. On the plus side, the place was located on the beach and had wifi. The wifi was important becuase the Tiges were playing Port! There was poor internet right through the resort but good internet outside the main office. There was a wooden table and chairs near the office with an old palm frond roof that was missing all the fronds in the centre. The game was at night time and it was raining. The only way we could watch the game and protect the computer from the rain coming through the roof was to put an umbrella over the computer. What a classic way to watch a game. And we won!
John went diving again and saw lots of sharks and dolphins - the area is famous for them. I went snorkelling in front of the resort but it was nothing special.
We explored the area by bike. The wind was consistently very strong on the seaward side of the motu but calm on the lagoon side. The wind made a significant difference to the effort required to pedal the bikes!
One day we had lunch at a great little cafe overlooking the famous pass. Like the pass at Tikehau, the water funnelled between two motu. Lots of sharks and larger marine life live here.
We took a snorkelling trip to the pass. We were joined by a lovely French family who we later stayed in touch with. The first stop was out on the seaward side, looking for dolphins. Within five minutes I was feeling a bit seasick as we bobbed around on one to two metre waves. Suddenly we saw the dolphins near us and jumped in.
This photo is the result of trying to take a photo while being thrown up and down waves!
The dolphins came quite close but didn't stay long. It was so cool that we could hear them in the water too.
We clambered back into the boat in the rough water (it was almost as difficult as getting back into the dive boat at Tikehau) then moved on to the pass. We were dropped off at one end of the pass and the boat followed us through. The current was quite strong and we whizzed along quickly. There was no time to stop and look at anything!
We saw some grey reef sharks.
We drifted right through the pass and out to a small island. The waters around here are called "The Aquarium". The fish life was striking but we shared the main aquarium area with five or six other boats.
After the first few days we moved to a small pension with only four rooms and it was great. It wasn't on the beach and was quite simple but the owner was lovely. I came down with a tummy bug, which luckily didn't last too long. I was surprised to pick this up as Polynesia is really clean. It's nothing like Asia in that respect. We were forced to just take it easy for a day, something we rarely do. It was fun!
Once I was better we snorkelled outside the big resort near us - the Kia Ora. Check out the overwater bungalows. That's John snorkelling in front of them.
Again, some of the fish were very friendly. They were obviously hoping for food.
The French family that we met on the snorkelling trip were staying at the Kia Ora so we went there a couple of times for drinks and meals. Yanick, Angeline and Manon were lovely and we had a couple of enjoyable evenings with them.
We then flew to the next atoll, Fakarava. Our first accomodation here was the most expensive of the trip. We arrived and thought we had landed in heaven. We had a nice bungalow right on the water - with aircon! - and this was the view that greeted us.
The snorkelling was ok. Once again, there were only outcrops of coral, not a reef to speak of. I'm a bit smitten with the organic shapes of the things in this photo. I'm not even sure if they're a coral.
While I was snorkelling, I caught a glimpse of what seemed to be quite a large shark nearby although visibility wasn't great at the time. My heart might have pounded a bit. A startled word might have slipped up my snorkel!
I snorkelled back into the beach to find John ensconced at one of the tables in the water. How cool is this?
I wandered up to the bar and came back with sunset drinks. Awesome!
We sat with our feet dangling in the water, drinking our drinks and watching the sunset. Sensational!
The sun had just set when John saw a shark approaching us, then another. They were huge! They certainly weren't reef sharks.
One of the sharks slowly circled around us. We both instinctively pulled our feet up out of the water. Wow!
I looked out of our window early the next morning and found this ball of fluff fast asleep on our balcony. There are lots of dogs and cats on the islands.
Before it got too hot, we went for a walk, We were staying near the main town, which was still very small. It was really interesting. First we found a church. It's the only church I've ever seen where the light fittings and banners are all made from shells! They use shells to decorate everything here. Each place we stay at gives us a shell necklace. We're getting quite a collection!
A small container ship was pulled in at the port and everyone was busy unloading water, fuel and groceries. A brand new supermarket was located at the port and the fresh fruit and vegies had just come in. There was quite a crowd gathered around to grab them as they were being unpacked. I know we have struggled to get fresh fruit and vegies but I had understood that the locals grew their own. I guess that they can't grow everything. It was a good insight to see how reliant people on the atolls are on supplies coming in on the ships.
Fakarava was the neatest of the atolls we visited. There were few ramshackle places and more houses that were neatly painted. They were all very scenic though.
We moved accommodation again. This one was not flash like the last one but was again located right on the lagoon. It was all perfect except for our terrible mattress. It was another old inner-spring mattress where every spring could be felt. It also smelled. Ewww.
Again, we had half-board at our accommodation. This meant we got breakfast (basic) and dinner which was always three courses, two of which were usually fish. Again, I just said I don't like raw fish and I was able to eat everything. Some of the fish was delicious!
There were two restaurants nearby for lunch and they were both great and overlooked the water. It was all pretty perfect really!
That night at dinner, a French guest pulled us aside to show us something. Just in front of the kitchen, in about 40 cms of water, were five sharks fast asleep on the sand!
When the meal was finished, the staff tipped the food scraps into the water. The sharks very slowly woke up and started eating. They were happy to slide all over each other to get the food. In such shallow water, they sometimes had half of their bodies out of the water!
I did some research and learned that these are Nurse Sharks. They're also called Sleeper Sharks due to their ability to sleep while lying still. Most sharks have to continually move. They are considered to be relatively harmless - there have 'only' ever been 44 attacks on humans reported. Most of those were because they were provoked and none were fatal. I felt more comfortable about them once I understood them a bit more but it wasn't until the last day that I would snorkel on my own!
We rented a scooter one day to explore the island. It really didn't take that long! We look like we've got billiard ball heads.
We opted for another sunset drink back at our first accommodation for our last night so we used bikes from our current accommodation to get there. I love that they had official parking space for bikes!
It was our last morning here and, to be honest, idyllic as the location of our accommodation was, we were relieved to get away from the horrible bed in this place. We were sent off in spectacular style though by a gorgeous rainbow.
We did a bit of a postie's run on the plane back to Tahiti, passing more atolls on the way.
We rented an apartment in Papeete this time and it was fantastic to have a bit of space - and a mattress without springs!
We only had two days here so on our first day we caught a ferry across to Moorea. This island was beautiful - lush, green and rugged. We hired a car and visited our first marae, old places of ceremony. They usually consisted of areas marked with stones. Their locations in the beautiful jungle were spectacular.
At a viewpoint we overlooked two bays. The one on the left was the one that Captain Cook anchored the Endeavour in.
The ferry trip back was quite crowded. I managed to grab a couple of flower garland shots.
Back on Tahiti we hired another car the next day and drove around the island. We visited more marae, again in beautiful settings.
There were some caves near the road. This one was raining on the inside when it was dry outside!
Another cave in a beautiful setting.
These plants float on the water and are appropriately called water lettuces.
We visited a garden. These tree roots were amazing!
Lunch stop was at a very basic looking place but inside was a pretty good French-style restaurant. John was impressed!
This sideways blowhole was amazing. The noise it made as the spray spurted out was loud and scary if you weren't ready for it.
The famous Venus Point where Captain Cook came to measure the transit of Venus across the sun. It was 250 years ago that Cook landed here.
So that was the end of our French Polynesian sojourn. It wasn't exactly what we expected. It was more of a holiday than a journey of discovery, however we enjoyed our forced downtime.
The Polynesian people are wonderful. They are so friendly and laid back. They are so laid back that flying between islands was a breeze. We could take full water bottles on board and there was no such thing as security checks or queues. It was such a refreshing change.
I love the colours of this country - the blues and greens of the sea, the lush greens of the jungle and the bright, bold colours of the flowers and clothes.
The islands are simply magical with their stunning seas and drop-dead gorgeous settings. The big downfall though is the expense. It's probably the second-most expensive country we've ever visited, after Switzerland.
The half-board supplied with the more remote island accommodations was an experience. The food was always good but there was too much of it. As it was too hot to exercise much, our entire use of calories came from snorkelling, which was hardly going to burn up a fraction of what we ate. Consequently, I've gained some very unwanted pounds. We'd better do some serious walking soon!
At every place we stayed, they always gave us a shell necklace. We ended up with quite a collection!
It's now 3am and we're at the airport about to fly to Easter Island. We're really looking forward to this part of the trip.
Au revior to you and to the last of speaking French for a while, thank goodness!
Heather and John.
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