Rangiroa, Tuamotu

Coconut trees and crystal clear water. Friendly tattooed village people. French food including French bread and French fry sandwiches. Diving and snorkeling

We arrived at the atoll Rangiroa early in the morning and waited for slack tide. We learned that due to the recent weather patterns the lagoon had been filled with water from the western side and was draining out the eastern side, negating the impact of the tide. The atoll had been draining for about a week with a 6 knot current. Needless to say that our boat reached 0 knots a few times as we willed our way into the pass. With a little push from our main and staysail we slowly worked into the atoll. All the while dolphins played around our boat with the current and the waves.
The atolls of the Tuamotu’s are low lying coconut covered islands that have stereotypical south pacific island beaches. White sand, coconut trees, and turquoise blue water. It was nice to be in crystal clear water again. We took advantage of the clear water in the to do some diving and snorkeling.
Rangiroa is the largest of the Tuamotu atolls and the second largest in the world. It supports 2 villages, an airport and a couple of pearl farms. The atmosphere is very relaxed, and the people very, very friendly. They go way way out of their way to help you. People in the Tuamotu’s seem to enjoy the art of tattooing.

Oyester / Pearl Farm Tour

It seemed as if most people of Polynesian decent sported one somewhere on their body. In fact we did see a person here as well as on Hiva Oa that had every square inch of their exposed skin covered in tattoos. In Rangiroa it was a man of about 70 years old that was covered…so somehow it didn’t seem as much like a fad.