Rangiroa – A welcome antidote to Tahiti

As you may have read before, the various issues of New Caledonia forced a change in our schedule from Ouvea atoll to Rangiroa atoll in the Tuamotu Islands.

With the good fortune of staying in a great pension this proved to be a great week, a nice quiet atoll (generally), friendly people but not so remote that all comforts had to be sacrificed. Diving is not as it was in the early 1990s as unfortunately the atoll seems to have been overdived for some period as well as falling prey to some overfishing and the aquarium trade. Good to see there are still some sharks around though… the word is that Fakarava atoll has some pretty good shark diving outside the reef too.

Rangiroa was the last stop on our Polynesian trip, so we’re leaving the tattooing behind and the next post will be Australia.

Looking across Tiputa Pass

Relais de Josephine, our great pension on Rangiroa.

Lagoon bathing recommended

Especially with a mask and snorkel!

Say hello to our little friends..

Plenty of blacktip reef sharks in the lagoon..

Nice to see some spotted eagle rays too..

Plenty of barracuda outside the reef

We were fortunate to see the resident dolphins most days