Day 15 Saturday March 21st (105 days to go) – We booked an excursion to Reef Island which is a private island with pink sand and natural swimming pools. The young man that was our guide leader and boat captain inherited this small atoll from his father. I am unsure if this is considered paradise, but it was close to it. We snorkeled and did some drift snorkeling with an unbelievable number of fish and SHARKS. We also hiked about a mile to see the Pacific Ocean. It is amazing around these islands that there are water or wave breaks surrounding the islands which are all natural made by coral. I took a picture next to some coral and the edges are razor sharp. Unfortunately, the next night after we swam with even more fish in Moorea I discovered water had gotten into my GoPro. I was able to get some rice from the ship kitchen, and I placed the GoPro into a bowl of rice and closed the lid tightly. I am hoping when we get to Sydney, I can locate a camera shop for repair work, or I will have to wait until we get home in July to ship it back and get a replacement.
Wharf leading to the tour boats
The captain Martine and the mate Eva. Both were super young men.
Passing our cruise ship on the way out to the atoll which took about 30 minutes by boat which was powered by a 200HP engine.
Photos of this private atoll owned by Martine. The beauty is not captured on film.
The water where we would walk to the far left of the photo and then drift in the current back to the camp location
We did drift snorkeling here
Eva cooked fresh fish for our lunch which we also had tuna, rice, fruit.
After lunch we walked to where the old dead coral is located. This coral provides protection to the atolls. On the other side of this coral is the Pacific Ocean
These rocks are razor sharp
It is a bummer that I cannot access the Go Pro photos as I had closeups of swimming with the sharks. These are blacktips which do not attack humans
Eva made hats from the coconut tree leaves for the women
Including one for Jackie
Which is now a centerpiece and includes our next bottle for the new segment 🙂
After we left the atoll and heading back to the ship, we stopped at an outside aquarium. There were a huge number of colorful fish that I hope are on the GoPro Sim Card.
Sadly, when we were at this location, a fellow passenger suffered a MI or PE and despite efforts to resuscitate her, she passed away.
Unfortunately, water got into the GoPro the next day. I am hoping we are able to salvage the data on the sim card
Photos on our way back to the cruise ship
6 thoughts on “Day 15 March 21 – Rangiroa, Society Islands”
Wow!! Fabulous.
Thank you Jo Jo!!!
Wonderful keep up good work
Thanks for sharing
Thanks Gwen…..we appreciate it. Hope the photos and stories come out okay for you
We met Diane, the passenger who passed away on our 2023ATW … lovely woman … and a very kind soul. Needless to say, news of her passing came as such a shock.
It is certainly a sad time. If looking for any good out of this, she passed in a beautiful location after having a great day enjoying herself.