Fakarava

Fakarava is the second largest atoll after Rangiroa and the ancient capital of the Tuamotu Archipelago. We arrived at 11:00 am and what a beautiful site this island is very flat but still had lots of natural beauty most of it under water.
Mike and I headed out today for our first snorkeling excursion called the pinnacle, it was a 30 min ride to the north pass in the lagoon. Well needless to say we arrive to a large stick in the water in the middle of no where and breaking waves, my brain kept saying to me hmmmm are you sure about this are you really going to get in the water out here in the middle of no where , I was a little bit (very) uncomfortable getting in the water considering that the tour guide was a native and only spoke a little French and his native language so I proceeded to ask a French person to ask him some questions about what we were going to do. Mike jumped right in and I followed but I can tell you that once I got in the water it was unbelievable. Lots and lots of fish!!! So we started swimming around the pinnacle and as so as we turned the corner from the boat there were those toothy critters…sharks….we saw about 6 black tips right away, they checked us out then left us alone as they remained guard of their territory. It was an invigorating snorkel and I just cant begin to explain to you how many types of fish we saw.
After the snorkel we headed back to the boat and had a quick lunch then got a ride on the tender to take a look at the town of Tetamanu which has the first catholic church built of coral and shells that dates back to 1874.
Proceeded back to the ship and had a beautiful show from the local dance Troupe” Te Hei Hono” have no idea what it means but they were great. I will need to check up on all of these names and titles when I get home I have limited access for internet right now.

Had a great day in Fakarava!!!