Cruise Day 42
Sunday, November 9, 2025
Today we are in Avatoru, Rangiroa that is the second largest atoll in the world and the largest in French Polynesia. From Wikipedia: “An atoll is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most of the approximately 440 atolls in the world are in the Pacific Ocean.”. Rangiroa is made up of 415 islands circling a lagoon approximately 50 miles across. It has a population of less than 3000 and is known for its world class scuba diving and snorkeling.".
 |
| In this map of Rangiroa you can that an atoll is a thin strip of land surrounding a lagoon. The ship is anchored where the red marker is. |
This is our first visit here and we are anxious to see what it’s like. There were only three ship excursions here and they were all full, so we decided to just take the tender ashore and walk around a bit.
This is a tender port, and we didn’t want to be part of the initial rush so after eating breakfast in the Neptune Lounge, we waited around until they said it was open tendering. Open tendering means you no longer have to get priority numbers to get on the tenders and can just walk down to tender platform and get on the tender.
It didn’t take long to get to the Avatoru tender dock, and we were stunned as to how beautiful the area was. Since it is an atoll, it is very flat and narrow, but the surrounding waters were beautiful. The water was very clear, and the color was a beautiful azure blue. Val and I wished we’d set something up here to do some snorkeling, but we just weren’t familiar enough with the island to really know what to expect.
It was pretty warm and humid, but the occasional breeze kept it from being too uncomfortable. There were local vendor booths set up near the tender dock selling local handicrafts and pearls from the local pearl farm. We wandered around and Val found a pair of pearl earrings she liked, and I got a T-shirt. There was a town you could walk to, but it was Sunday and everything was closed so we decided to just catch the tender back to the ship.
 |
| The water was crystal clear. |
 |
| It was a short walk to a very nice swimming and snorkeling spot, we were envious, it look very inviting. |
 |
| We are standing on the lagoon side of the island and you can see it's a very short distance to the ocean on the other side. |
 |
| Time to head back to the ship. |
We were only ashore for a couple of hours, but that was enough for us. We returned in time for lunch and after eating and a trip to the casino, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing out on the balcony until it was time for trivia.
 |
| Some views of Rangiroa from our balcony. |
Arthur returned today so our team was at full strength again. Arthur had been very sick, complicated by him having an allergic reaction to the penicillin they gave him, but he was feeling much better now. We did pretty well today, but not good enough to be one of the top teams, but it was good to have everyone there again.
After trivia, Val and I went out on our balcony for the sail away. It was very interesting as we had been anchored in the very large lagoon of the atoll. You don’t really realize that, and it took binoculars to see the opposite side of the atoll. We sailed out through a gap in the islands ringing the lagoon and out into the open seas. The size of the atoll is quite amazing.
 |
| Sailing out of the lagoon into the open waters. |
We relaxed until dinner and then after eating we went back to relaxing until it was time to call it a night. Tomorrow is the last of eight straight ports and we'll be visiting another of the large atolls in the area.
No comments:
Post a Comment