Even since our landing in Hiva Oa a couple of weeks ago I could feel that we were in a magic place. The nature and the people up in Marquises was stunning but down here in our first atoll you can start to feel the taste of the Paradise.
We just came back after a short 3 day cruise inside the lagoon of Rangiroa and I have this great sensation inside of me. The place is crawling of sharks, palm trees, small islands and beaches. Another great thing about the atoll is that the water inside is well protected by the outer reef so it feels like you are on a big lake and not on an ocean!
This is the first time we managed to sustain ourself food wise for over a week with the help of our own “hunting-skills”. The yellowfin tuna we caught on the way over here from Marquises helped us a lot, but we also managed to catch a lot of fish with the help of our spear guns here inside the lagoon. You need to be fast though, because the sharks will show up just after a few seconds after you caught something- some are bigger than others and regardless of the size it´s pretty stressful to swim around with a dead fish when you are surrounded by sharks!
Victor and Helena could finally have their own “stranded-on-their-private-island-night”. We could all see the flames from their campfire in a far distance from the boat that night! Besides the mosquitos Victor told me it was as good as it gets!
They say this is one of the most touristy atolls in the Tuamutos but during our cruise around the atoll we have only spotted two other boats in a far distance. I guess the people are hanging around the resorts on the north side of the atoll so I cannot say that our visit to Rangiroa has felt touristy at all.
Bay Dreamer´s two starting batteries gave up two nights ago and we are now using one of our “housing” batteries as a start battery. It was actually a great relief that they were the reason for the dead engines the other night. I hope that we can find at least one battery to buy here before we set off to our next destination.
Our SUP (stand up paddle board) has been really useful inside the atoll, it´s truly the perfect way to experience the calm waters around the small islands!!
Vera is entertaining her self surprisingly good, she can sit around observing underwater life from the boat for hours and hours. In Galapagos the sea lions were her favourite animals but over here her latest fascination are the sharks- and she can’t get enough of them.
Our next stop will be another atoll 150 miles south-east of our current location. This atoll with the name Fakarava is suppose to be smaller but even more beautiful than Rangiroa- let us see if this is possible!
//Daniel
Visst är det ett härligt paradis!
Ni har checkat så att fisken i Rangiroa inte är drabbad av giftet ciguatera? Vilket är vanligt bland revfisk i atollerna. Man blir rejält sjuk
Jo vi har kollat- lokalfolket säger det är fritt fram!
Ser ju fortfarande helt underbart ut. Otroligt vackra bilder.
Solen och våren har även hittat hit till Sverige men det dröjer kanske ett tag till innan vi kan “surfa på vågorna.” Hälsa skepparna Victor och Helena från kusinen.