Avatoru, Rangiroa
Today’s island was much different than our last few.
Rangiroa is a full island atoll. The
volcanic mountain that was in the center has fully collapsed into the sea and
the coral growths on the outskirts of the sunken volcano are all that remain.
Though only a few feet tall at its highest point, this atoll is huge; it can
fit the entire island of Tahiti into the middle of the atoll. It takes one hour
through the lagoon via boat to get from one side of the atoll to the other.
Our ship anchored inside the atoll off the shore of
Avatoru. We had to tender to shore which
took about 10 minutes. Once there we hopped on a small boat which would take us
snorkeling today in an area called The Aquarium. This area was actually very close to where we
were anchored and we had a great view of the ship from the water.
Ty and I were both snorkeling today and even after 3 other
stop already, this by far was the best snorkeling we have seen yet. There were thousands of fish in every
variety. We saw huge, healthy coral
formations teaming with colorful fish.
There were sharks, several eels, very large fish that I can’t even
identify, and a huge 4 ft barracuda. We
spent over an hour in the water exploring this amazing area.
We then went out through the atoll pass to the ocean side to
see some dolphins which were swimming around the pass opening. These were spinner dolphins and they seemed
to like to have fun the boat wakes. Although I couldn’t get any picture of
them, they were fun to watch.
After our snorkeling adventure we headed back to the pier to
catch the tender to the ship. There was a small craft market set up by locals
which we browsed until the tender arrived.
At sail away I went outside to see if I could catch the
dolphins again as we sailed through the pass.
Once we went through the pass there they were frolicking in the
wake. I was on the back starboard side
of the ship and they just started jumping through the wake just next to the
ship below me. They put on a great show
for us standing there and I was happy to be able to get a few photos.
Well, we have only one more stop to go as we head towards
home, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas.
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