Argitaratu: 17.09.2020
We flew to Rangiroa with Tahitian Airline. Rangiroa is a small island in the South Pacific. It is located in the 2nd largest (same name) atoll in the world (!).
With a width of 30km and a length of 80km, it takes quite a long time to reach the end by boat.
So we arrived and checked into the hotel. Then we planned the first dive and reserved it for the next day. Rangiroa is considered one of the most beautiful and craziest places for diving. Understandable, because on the countless dives we made, we saw not only the usual fish and a few moray eels, but also stone fish, huge Napoleon fish, barracudas, countless blacktip and gray reef sharks, a whitetip shark, a hammerhead shark and even... dolphins!
We dived in the Tiputa Pass. There are only two ways to enter the atoll: the Tiputa Pass or the Avatoru Pass. Depending on the tide, the currents are either outgoing or incoming. The current is stronger when the moon is either very full or very empty.
With incoming current, you can do drift diving, which is what we did. It was great and all you had to do was buoyancy control, the current did the rest.
In the evening, the sea is illuminated from the overwater bar and you can see 7, 8, 9... sharks at the same time.
Once, we went to the 'blue lagoon'. This is located at the other end of the atoll. Well, rather at the other end of the 30km of the atoll. And just for that, we needed an hour by boat. Now imagine the 80km...
In the Blue Lagoon, we went snorkeling first. There we saw more sharks than I have ever seen in my life before! Most of them were blacktip sharks. Then a baby lemon shark came. Then its parents came. Then came the thrill. Because the parents of a lemon shark can grow up to 4 meters. And the ones we saw were only one meter smaller... They can also be very temperamental and that's why it was a risk to snorkel with them, as we later found out.
We then went to a small island and had very delicious food there: tuna, chicken, poisson cru (raw fish - a specialty), rice and coconut bread with fruits.
My brother and I even hunted and touched a baby blacktip shark. Then we fed the big sharks with the leftovers. It was a very beautiful day and it became even more beautiful when we saw a lot of dolphins jumping. And then the perfect sunset.
Once, we rented 'island Lamborghinis'. Of course, they were not real Lambos but small buggies with wing doors. We drove around with them and were constantly chased and barked at by dogs☹. I even got to drive once.
Rangiroa was really great. But I'm also looking forward to Moorea, where we will go next😊.