Rangiroa

June 9, 2014, Thursday
Rangiroa

Marquises
The Tuamotus are atolls, 77 of them scattered over 1500 miles of ocean.  They were formed when ancient  volcanic islands gradually weathered and sank beneath the ocean leaving only the surrounding ring of coral.  Rising only a few yards above the surface of the ocean, they are the opposite of the steep, sheer Marquises which have only recently thrust up from the ocean floor.  Some of them have already been submerged by the ever pounding ocean waves and sailing through this bit of ocean is a matter of constant vigilance.  The navigation guides describe conditions for entering each atoll, currents, depth, hazards, tides, etc, often ending with “not recommended”.

 It is an odd experience to be anchored in the calm water inside.  We are protected by only a small strip of island and Rangiroa is so large that we cannot see across it.  There is a sort of Twilight Zone feeling, as if time is passing in the outside world while we are cut off from the rest of the world in a timeless bubble.  Ashore we can see trees  with houses scattered among them.    To one side of us are the over the water cabins of a posh hotel.  Small motor boats zip past taking tourists on dive trips and locals to other parts of the reef on various errands.  In the morning everyone seems to be caring several loves of baguettes.

Eventually we launch the dingy and head for the wharf to explore the island.  There seems to be only one road, which runs along the ocean side of the reef.  The houses we can see from the boat are reached by wandering paths through the trees or by boat.  The contrast with the Marquises in interesting.  To my eyes it does not seem as prosperous.  Houses seem less well built and cared for, although everyone seems to have a new car or truck.  The one road is paved but not recently. There is still very little litter, no graffiti and no homelessness that we see.  

We decide to rent bicycles to ride the 5 miles down to the other end of this little piece of the reef.  There is another pass there, effectively blocking access to the rest of the atoll except by boat.   Even though you would think it would be an easy flat ride we find ourselves huffing and puffing as we ride into the wind and up a very slight hill.  Guess we are more out of shape than we thought.  There are  small churches everywhere, looks like every family has their own.  We had heard that there was “the world’s most unusual winery” on Rangiroa so we were hoping to find it.  People we asked seemed to know that there was one but were unclear where it was.  This place is not that big.  It should be hard to lose a whole winery.  Eventually we found what had been the bottling plant and tasting room, now unfortunately closed.  However, the grocery store next door carried bottles of the wine whack turned out to be quite good..  Apparently the winery itself, and presumable the vineyard, is on another piece of the atoll, across the pass and accessible only by boat.  In the evening we hung out at the bar/swimming pool of the hotel to see the polynesian dance show.  It was a lot of fun and quite good.  Much of the audience seemed to be friends of the dancers and turned out to be very good dancers themselves.    

We are becoming extremely frustrated with our lovely Torquedo electric motor.  It starts at the push of a button and runs very quietly but it takes forever to charge it, up to 48 hours if it is close to empty.  And once it is fully charged it only goes for a short distance before it needs to be charged again.  This means we have to plan our trips ashore very carefully and cannot just hop in the dingy if we run out of baguettes.  It came with a solar panel for charging but thanks to the salt air, the wires corroded and it has not worked since Mexico.  Now we charge it using a small Honda generator.  So we are using gas to charge an electric motor.  Might as well just have a gas ourboard and save the middle man.

We end up spending more than a week here.  Other cruisers come and go  It is so peaceful.  We can see fish swimming all around the boat through the clear water, including a pale yellow shark and an eel.  There is a wonderful restaurant called Josephine’s run by an elegant French woman.  Dinner by reservation only but we are welcome for other meals.  It sits right on the pass and is a great place to watch boats come and go and dolphins playing in the waves.