The Amazing Rangiroa!!!!!

I use amazing because it was an amazing over the top day. All of you may be familiar with most of the common Polynesian Islands like Bora Bora and Moorea but what an underwater gem there is in  Rangiroa!! I have read so much about this place before I got here and it was one of my spots I really wanted to visit, I felt like a pioneer coming here because this area is not really visited much by people unless you are a hard core diver , there is only 1 hotel and it is closed. Rangiroa is actually a series of islands around a lagoon making it the largest atoll in French Polynesia and the second largest in the world. Rangiroa means “extended sky” some 240 motu sit on this reef.

We started the day with a walk around the island of Tiputa
It was just 1 big circle, saw plenty of doggies and lots of beautiful plants and interesting church and grave yard, we walked over to the pass where the ship came in from between the 2 Islands and saw tons of parrot fish eating coral and dolphins frolicking in the waves and Mike and I thought wow I hope this is not the pass we are doing our drift snorkel in because the current was cranking and had very large waves at the entrance and it was very deep and scary looking, this pass is called the Tiputa channel and allows constant exchange of water between the open sea and the lagoon so god knows what that hell is in there ,but later we were to find out that indeed that was the pass we were going to drift through, I had a long thought about this and almost cancelled, but Mike and I had a pow wow and we both decided to do it.
The ship had very few excursions for this island unless you were an advanced diver but they did have something for one seeking some adrenaline and it is called shooting the pass, and as I said above it was the Tiputa channel, I can talk about this experience for hours it was the most amazing thing I have ever done!!!!!!!! We went by a small boat with apporx 8 brave people with us and they the took us to the entrance of the channel which is the barrier reef and where the Pacific ocean meets Rangiroa inside lagoon.Ok if any of you watched the movie Nemo it was the part that the turtles rode the pacific stream to travel and they flew through the water through the pacific ocean, that is what it felt like when we jumped in the water and we had to let the very fast moving current that just carried us through the pass, it was the ultimate rush, it was like getting caught in a bad under tow but we knew there would be some on the other side to pick us up! Fortunately they took us when the tide and current switched from Pacific going into the lagoon so that we would not get pushed out to sea in the large waves and current and we had to wait until 1:30 pm to do I. When we first got in we were all so freaked out that we missed the first part which was amazing coral and fish, it was the quickest mile I have ever done in the water, the best part was that when the first ride was over we were all bumming out because we thought it was so fast and it was over but our guide said oh no no no we get to do it 2 more times!!! It was off the hook the second time was even better and more beautiful and we knew what to expect I cant even begin to explain how much coral and fish we saw we were drifting pass a huge wall of coral, amazing amazing amazing, the third time we went to another part of the channel that did not have as much current and saw smaller fish and a beautiful moray eel. Got back on the boat and all of us had the same look on our face like we just did the coolest thing ever!

Lucky for us it continued they took us by boat just a minute away to Motu Nui Nui and it is a natural open water aquarium, the coral here was so healthy it look like broccoli no kidding it was green green green and very large coral heads, the small black tips showed up here and swam around us, saw eels and most of all the most fish I have EVER seen! There were so many I did not think I could swim through them. It was just so beautiful that no words can describe and this is what I came to French Polynesia to see the amazing clear beautiful water and marine life this place has to offer and the beautiful welcoming culture and people that are here. They all have a smile and are so thankful we came to visit!

Maururu ( Thank you)  Rangiroa