Rangiroa and Taha'a

Our 2^nd stop in the Tuomotu Islands was at Rangiroa, famous for its black pearls and vanilla.

We went ashore and found the owner of a small speedboat who took us off for a morning’s snorkelling at the Aquarium Coral Garden.

The fish were absolutely stunning as they amassed all round us as we swam.  In addition to the 1000’s of fish, we also swam with black tipped sharks and moray eels.

Later we returned to the port after a brief visit to the resort hotel’s private beach and back to our ship for lunch.

The planned sail safari where we would circle the ship in a zodiac as it is under full sail, had to be cancelled due to the wind but when we sailed back towards the Society Islands, we were under full sail with no motor.  This continued overnight until late morning the next day.  It was a full day at sea but we had lots to do.

We had our photos taken on the bowsprit for a “Titanic” moment, a lecture and a cooking demonstration along with several drinks session and finally dinner on the deck at “Candles” restaurant.

                     Our Titanic moment. We had a much better outcome than the original1

Back on the Society Islands, we stopped at the Taha’a group and spent the entire day at Motu Mahaea, a private island paradise.  There was no-one there except the people from the ship but it was very well set up with more than enough loungers and tables and chairs for everyone.  We walked around the island (did not take very long), swam and snorkelled seeing lots of fish and more coral than we expected.  We swam from the white sandy beach,  There was a good bar and excellent lunch.  As well kayaks and paddle boards were there to try.  You could also have a massage or buy black pearls from the ship’s shop.

                                Our landing point on the tiny island. Our ship isin the background.

                                      On the island. A schooner of beer and another of white wine for Gail.

                                          The island taken from back on board.

In the late afternoon, we sailed for our next destination, only an hour away where we dock overnight.

They have great sailaways . They raise the sails to realy stirring music. The timing mostly corresponds with sunset.