Rangiroa - Tuamotu 25 June 2024

We woke early to get ready for our trip. Joyce had made porridge the night before and it was a slightly grey day. We had breakfast and prepared what we needed and took the dinghy to the Hotel Kia Ora. We saw some reef sharks near the boat when we left.

We collected some towels from the hotel and waited for the boat to arrive. We met some New Zealanders who were staying at the hotel and who were joining us. They were from New Plymouth on North Island and had 5 kids, 4 grandkids and where they lived they had 4 horses, pigs and some sheep.

The boat arrived and there were three crew who looked remarkably similar and they are brothers and cousins. They were very nice the whole day and were very musical as you will discover. There were four other people on the boat when they arrived – a young French Couple and a young French woman and a French man. One of the crew welcomed us and explained that we would go to the Passe to start with and try and see the dolphins. This boat had a 250-cc engine and they whizzed round to the passe whilst the youngest member played the ukulele and sung a song.. It was quite fun and he was good. We went toward the passe and we could see the water in the main channel was quite disturbed bit we went to the east side where the water was a bit calmer and went ahead. Apparently there are about 30 resident dolphins who like to ride the waves when the current is going out of the lagoon. We hung around for about 20 minutes or so but saw no dolphins. Today’s picture is of the passe.

We then zoomed over to the west side or the coral island south of the Passe which is known as the aquarium and when we got there we could see why. We moored to a buoy and we were then allowed to snorkel. There was a massive shoal of fish under the boat which seemed to like its shade. There were mainly silver with black stipes and yellow tails bit there was quite a variety of fish swimming around. Andy claimed to have seen a small reef shark but Joyce and I did not. After 20 minutes or so we go back on board and then we headed off to the Isles de Reefs. This took about an hour and we must have travelled about 20nm and this must have taken us over to the other side of the atoll on the south side. The water was a bit disturbed so we were bouncing a bit and being sprayed with a bit of spray but it was so warm and sunny that we did not mind.

We approached the Isle de Reefs which was essentially some small sandy islands with coconut trees on them and we entered quite a lot of coral bommies having to navigate around them and then it started to get quite shallow so he tilted up the engine and we drifted in between the coral until we came to an island and stopped about 30 meters from the shore. We were asked to walk ashore and we had 40 minutes to explore but no snorkelling. We want ashore and we were really on a coral reef with little salt water lagoons and we carried on walking and came to an area of little salt pools beside old coral bushes as it were which were gnarled and sculptured by the wind and waves as the other side of them was the reef and the open ocean. It was stunning scenery and an amazing landscape of coral and blue coloured water with trees and little islands. They have us a drink and  some dried coconut to keep us going.

We returned to the boat and we eased out of the shallows and coral and back into open water and we now headed off to what was called the Blue Lagoon. This took about an hour and the crew guys put on music which they seemed to know all the words to and were singing away and making actions to each other. The journey took us along the south of the atoll and we could see lots of mutus (islets) and hoas (coral gaps) and we passed quite a few coral bommies which we could see under the surface. There were quite a few birds about some of which could fly as fast as we were travelling i.e. about 20 kts. After about an hour we approached some more mutus and coral and shallow patches and we again eased our way in until we came to a pink type of beach which was not fare from an island with palm trees on it. The crew said we had 40 minutes to look around and they were going to barbecue lunch on the island. 

We walked around on the pink sandy bank and in the water where we saw little fish swimming around and some small greeny yellow reef tip sharks where the dorsal fin was above the surface. It was again stunning scenery with lots of coral and water and little islands. We also saw a manta ray swimming along in the shallows. We then wondered over to the island where they were cooking lunch where we had a drink. Lunch was Coconut crab (I will come back to this), rice, chicken, breadfish and poisson au cru (raw tuna with coconut milk) which we had with coconut bread. It was all good and the crew played music to us as we eat. In front of us was the water which was teeming with fish and several reef tip sharks.

After lunch one of the crew said follow me and we headed into the little island which was full of coconut trees and ferns and it felt quite humid like a rain forest and there was quite a lot of bird chatter and we saw some blackbirds with white heads. He said they were noddy birds. This walk did not take too long but we then came out of the other side and there in front of us was one of the most bluest lagoons I have ever seen. It was a lovely deep turquoise colour surrounded by little mutus and palm trees and the outer reef. Andy and I waded in and we had a swim as we were not allowed to snorkel. The vista around us was magnificent. After our swim we walked around a bit and I saw a sea snake swim by and there were quite a few black tip sharks and hermit crabs. Then one of the crew came up with a large brown crab which was a coconut crab and we had eaten one for lunch. It was brown but underneath and its claws and legs were purple. It was quite large – the size of a coconut and it started to climb a coconut tree. We walled back a different way through the island and at one point one of the crew stopped at a hole in a tree and a coconut crab was in it.

We returned to the boat wading through shallow water for about a quarter of  mile. We eased out of the shallows and open water and after about 20 minutes we came to a spot where we stopped and were told to snorkel. There were many reef sharks which was a bit alarming at first but we got used to it and we were surrounded by these sharks who look at you as they swim past. I got some good Gopro footage.

It was then back on the boat and an hour trip back. En route another boat passed us and our driver just went up behind him and kept in his wake which was less bouncy and probably saved some fuel. We continued on and then we went to the Avoratu pass and then went into this to show us. There was a ketch stuck on the side of the reef to remind us if you get it wrong!!

We then headed toward Tiputa and the driver allowed Andy and I to helm and we went flat out – I think they were quite impressed!! It had been a great day and we had really seen quite a bit of the atoll. We were dropped off at the hotel and returned to Stormbird. We sat in the sun and had an evening drink and it was a great sunset.

We had supper of bangers and mash and spinach. We reminisced about the great day we had and after supper we could feel the wind beginning to build.

Crewing Opportunity Year Two

In addition, in year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and probably across the Indian Ocean to Cape Town and I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we move through French Polynesia and beyond.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk