"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 23 Avatoru, Rangiroa January 22, 2016 Friday Partly cloudy & 82 degrees 76 Pictures-Part #1

Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2016 10:29:49 AM
Subject: Report # 23 Avatoru, Rangiroa January 22, 2016 Friday Partly cloudy & 82 degrees 76 Pictures-Part #1

Report # 23 Avatoru, Rangiroa January 22, 2016 Friday Partly cloudy & 82 degrees

Rangiroa is a coral atoll in the shape of a football, located in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia. Picture a string of pearls with a huge saltwater lagoon in the center. That is Rangiroa. There are two main villages……Avatoru and Tiputa. The opening into the lagoon is in between these two villages, more or less.

The Amsterdam sailed through the deep rapids of this channel very early this morning. Expecting the ship to turn right, we went to the left instead. Something was up. Seems like we were just here. Oh wait, we were, last fall while on the Tales of the South Pacific. At that time, we dropped anchor (or kept the ship in place with the side thrusters), and tendered ashore, eight miles from the village of Avatoru. Frankly, there was not much there in that village…..a few businesses, cafes, fast food, a hotel, shops, and banks. Last November, many of these were closed for the off-season. However, we did have access to two very upscale resorts, the airport, and the Pearl Farm.

Well, we had heard yesterday from Captain Jonathon that we were going to share the atoll with Oceania's Marina today. Surprise. Slightly larger than us (66,048 gross tons with over 1200 passengers), the Marina sailed through the rapids shortly after we did, taking our spot where we anchored last fall. Built in 2011, this country club casual ship must have more clout than HAL, and got the better spot.

So that changed our game plan for the day. We knew that there were limited facilities on this side, such as no resorts, no restaurants, few beaches, and no place to go. The good thing was that the sun was out, and there was no rain in the forecast. We decided to skip breakfast, and go to shore early at 7:30am. We probably did not need to go down the secret elevator, but we did to avoid jumping the line. As it turned out, there was no line, because they had announced that anyone could go over without tender tickets for a short time.

Once on the boat, we watched for dolphins, but saw none. The landing at the small cement pier was dicey this early. The village of Tiputa is located right on the turbulent channel, and the swift morning current was making it difficult to debark. When we did finally get off, we found that a few souvenir tables had been set up, as well as a couple of tours offered for bike riding or snorkeling for an hour duration. We think the prices were about $40 for the boat/snorkel tour, and $20 for an organized bike ride. If we wanted to be transported to the Avatoru side, it would cost $5 per person for a motorboat ride to the other tender landing.

Shore excursions was offering a few short tours. One was a ride to the Black Pearl Farm, about a 5 or 6 mile drive from the pier. Last year, we had walked the road, and went to the pearl demo for free. Sure was interesting . We learned that true South Seas pearls can be quite expensive, and you have to really know your pearls before investing big money.

The other tours were water-related. They were a glass bottom boat ride, snorkeling, and a one tank certified dive…..all about 1 hour in duration.

We decided to stay on this side, and see what was here. So we walked the almost abandoned streets to the entrance channel, to the Pacific Ocean side, and to the communications tower. Following the ocean road sure gave us some spectacular views of the powerful waves that hit the coral reef. What appeared to be a sandy beach from a distance, turned out to be piles of darkened coral…..all broken and sharp. You would not want to fall here accidently, or you could be cut up pretty badly. At one point, we turned right and came across the local cemetery, the white marble orchard. There were photos on the grave monuments and lots of silk flowers permanently there. It was a peaceful place.

It was definitely heating up, so we headed back to walk past the Catholic church, a possible Methodist church, Town Hall, schools, the post office, and several island houses with tin roofs. Evidence of storm damage was everywhere. Skeletons of old houses and buildings exist in between smaller houses with building blocks holding down the tin roofs. We passed some grocery stores like mini 7-11's, as there are not too many people that live here. We are guessing that the natives work for the black pearl farms, or the coconut factories. They also are employed by the resorts, which can be accessed by water taxis. Many of the locals had boats to take the folks diving or fishing.

Since there was no place to go to lunch, we got the next tender boat, and went back to have a great lunch in the dining room. They had the best tomato soup, mixed green salad, and delicious mushroom cheeseburgers. And plenty of ice water and ice tea. Sure needed that to get re-hydrated.

Since the all aboard time was 4:30pm, we figured we had ample time to go back to shore, and walk the other direction. This time we stopped at a stand in a lady's yard where she was selling some seashell jewelry. She was sitting under a large tropical shade tree with two elderly friends, chatting the afternoon away. Her pieces were much nicer than the ones at the pier, so we bought one necklace for $10. She was very happy, so were we.

From there we went to another little boat harbor to get some different pictures. Everywhere we went, the locals said hello to us, even the little kids. Continuing up the road, we discovered that the homes were spread out and were getting larger and nicer. Must be the suburbs. This lone concrete road followed the Pacific Ocean side of the atoll. We slowly hiked until we reached a concrete bridge that spanned a small channel that tied the ocean to the lagoon. It was here that we ran into florists Eddy and Calista, although we almost did not recognize her because she was covered with a blue pool towel to protect her from the hot sun. She is Dutch, very fair-complexed, and would burn easily if not covered up.

We were all interested in watching the sea water rushing under the bridge, when suddenly there was a surge of water that came at us like a tsunami. There was no railing on this bridge, only a drop off to the water below. Sure woke us all up. We all wondered what it would be like to be here in a storm or hurricane. There is no protection from the elements, since everything is water level. It is beautiful, but we sure would not want to live here.

Concerned about the time, we cut our walk short by walking a dirt road to the lagoon side. We found a few trees and cooled off for a bit before going back. We did not want to be the last ones on the tender boat. We made it back shortly after 4pm, but they were in the process of loading up the ice water service to transport it all back to the ship. The only beachfront was near this pier, so we walked over to check out the swimmers. Most were kids from the island, mixed with some of our passengers. Without aqua shoes, you could not go in the water, or the broken coral would shred your feet. We have seen some nasty cuts from that coral.

The sail away party was held at the aft pool at 4:30pm. The bar staff was offering coconut fish balls in a sauce, and umbrella drinks called paradise coolers. This would be the last sail away with the Polynesian Location Team who happen to be from Maui. They will leave the ship tomorrow in Tahiti, kick back for 3 weeks, then join one of the Seabourn ships for three weeks. Tough life……lucky them.

The Marina pulled right behind us, and ran the rapids shortly after we did. We heard through the grapevine that she will be heading for Bora Bora tomorrow. We always seem to be in port with another ship in Papeete, but it won't be the Mariner. We stayed outside until 6pm, then re-positioned to deck 6 where we could watch the sunset at 6:30pm. It was another nice one this evening. And the moon was almost full,, and very visible in the night sky.

Dinnertime came quickly, and we found our tablemates there, but many of the surrounding tables were empty. Bet the sun and water zapped a lot of folks, and they turned in early. Pete Neighbour played his clarinet at 7:30pm, while Sarah Chandler, a sax player, and Robbie Howard, a singer, entertained the guests after dinner. We lingered at our table until 10pm, and that's why we are still writing past midnight now. Gotta catch some winks because tomorrow's port is Papeete, Tahiti.

Bill & Mary Ann

Tiputa Channel & village