5 December 2007 - Rangiroa, Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia

5th December 2007 - Rangiroa, Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia

The ship's master, with the assistance in particular of the pilot on board, managed to pull a 'rabbit out of a hat' and at very short notice and obtain an additional unscheduled stop in addition to Bora Bora which had been a wash out. It was agreed that we should visit Rangiroa which is in the Tuamotu islands, 'en route' from the Society islands (Tahiti and Bora Bora) to the Marqueses islands (Nuka Hiva). Another textbook example of a coral island, but this time a complete ring of fringing islands (motu) with no central island which had, evidently, sunk into the lagoon. In fact, Rangiroa is the second largest coral atoll on the globe (only Kwajalein in the Marshall islands - where our ship is registered - is bigger). It takes two hours to cross the central lagoon at the longest extent and it is not possible, looking across the lagoon, to see the far islands. There is only one entrance to the lagoon for a ship the size of MSVG and the two thousand or so souls who live on this 75 mile ring mainly populate two small villages on either side of the channel. Apart from a brief spell of 15 minutes or so the rain held off all day.

Travelscope really earned their money this day which, more or less, made up for the disappointments of missing Nuie and Roratonga and the wash-out at Bora Bora. We were give access to a private beach, lagoon-side, next to the Kia Ora luxury resort. The beach was super, the sea was great and the barbie they laid on was stupendous - grills and booze etc. M and D elected to take the tender and walk the mile and a half to the beach along the Pacific coast road where the sea was wild. On the return journey at the entrance to the lagoon, there was a considerable tidal gradient and associated flow which we thought the ship would have real trouble navigating. The maelstrom was every bit as energetic as the real thing which we saw in Norway last year. Back on the boat, we did indeed plough through this rough passage and were thronged with loads of sea birds and a posse of dolphins, which like the men on the beach with the rods and lines were all fishing; just like in the real maelstrom in north Norway. All in all, a good, chill-out day on a classic tropical desert island with decent weather and good food and booze.