Rangiroa, French Polynesia
Rangiroa is a large atoll—only a ring of barrier islands
circling a vast lagoon, which is so large, that you cannot see
the islands on the other side. There are only two entrances into
the lagoon large enough for a ship of our size and the one we
went through was near a village called Avatoru.
Sunrise...
Here is the opening between the islands through which we sailed.
Looking back you can see how far the coral goes.
A Windstar cruiseship was here in the lagoon as well.
 
 
We passed a tethered hog on our way back to the opening we'd sailed
through. It was called Dolphin Point.
 
A tropical flora, including painted leaf, a relative of poinsettia.
 
We had reached the passage way and even though the currents are
strong enough to support standing waves, people do drift dives
from the inside to the outside of the lagoon. We saw dolphins
jumping around the small dive boats. They also swam with our ship
as it came in.
 
Warnings if you swim with these wild dolphins.
 
The beach on the ocean side was mostly broken coral.
A still-life on the Pacific side...
We walked down a road from the very windy Pacific side to the
lagoon side where it was calmer.
We had a passerby take our picture. The water was quite buoyant
because of the saltiness.
The nice house next to our swimming area.
Looking to our left...
A set of resort cabanas.
 
A fish-cleaning station on a palm trunk, which was filled with
scales. This dog stood on a rock for a better view of the water.
|
