Rangiroa

Every night is a photo op for a beautiful sunset. Rangiroa is a huge atoll with most of the population situated on the small motus between the two main entrances. Avatoru/Tiputa is a sleepy collection of homes with several grocery stores, a handful of good restaurants, a fuel station, several jewelry shops, 6 dive operations, two small resorts (one closed for reno) and a whole bunch of family run pensions. We finally have the currents down so we came in on the morning slack tide and anchored north of the Avatoru pass. We have explored the town on foot and rented a car for a half day to explore all the rest of the town area. We did our part to support the economy by buying some souvenirs and groceries. Eating out initially was a challenge as when the sun goes down it is pitch black dark and there is a maze of fish traps, floats and extremely shallow spots that you have to thread the whaler through in order to make it to the boat quay from where we are anchored. The first night was very harry to say the least and we have a few new scratched on the whaler as souvenirs. Then our Captain came up with the ingenious idea of making a trail on our GPS during the day (even though we don't have a chart) that we could follow at night. That and the fortunate find of our spot light in a hidden cabinet (and it works) has made night cruising a more relaxing experience. The main attraction for us here in Rangiroa has to be the diving and snorkeling. The water is crystal clear. We have had three fantastic dives in the Avatoru Pass, there are loads and loads of fish. We saw three small white tip sharks on one dive - they were not interested in us at all (good thing), some barracuda and some large eels. The coral life is very healthy, predominantly hard coral, but I did find a huge anemone with a resident clown fish. We have made arrangements with one of the dive operators here to take us out on the reef on the Tiputa Pass, the current flows up to 8 knots there so it is best to go with somebody experienced in the area. It is reported to have the most marvelous sea life, so we will see. Two nights ago, it just poured rain here, buckets and buckets. Our whaler has a finicky bilge pump and that was one of the times it decided not to work, there was a good 6 inches of water filling it. Nothing that an ice cream bucket can't handle for bailing out. Today is a fix up day, paint the deck, polish some dull spots, make good old Mystery Ship sparkle again. We'll do our diving tomorrow and head for Papeete, Tahiti on Tues.

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