Tahiti and Tuamotus: Rangiroa – our second port of call

Rangiroa, the largest atoll in the Tuamotus chain and one of the largest in the world, had been on my radar for more than two decades. After becoming a PADI certified scuba diver in 1992, I remember reading about Rangiroa’s Tiputa Pass, often listed among the world’s best dive sites, in Scuba Diving magazine. Ever since, I had longed to travel to this far away outpost in the South Pacific.

Rangiroa NASA Aerial Map

Tentative plans to stay at the Hotel Kia Ora Resort  in Rangiroa fell through many years ago… but dreams of making it to this remote spot in the Tuamotus remained. When I saw Rangiroa listed on Windstar’s 10 day Tahiti-Tuamotus cruise itinerary, it was an influencing factor in booking the cruise and now… we had arrived.

It was the second port on our itinerary, after having spent an amazing introduction to the Tuamotus the previous day in Fakarava. (See Tahiti and Tuamotus: Fakarava – our first port of call where you can also read more about the Tuamotus and atolls.) We had booked an afternoon dive so we had the morning to explore a portion of the atoll.

Exploring Rangiroa “topside”

We first walked down the main road leading to the sea where we came to a beach filled with beautiful pieces of coral. I picked up a few pieces to keep as my souvenir of this place I’d longed to visit for so long.

Rangiroa coral beach

Some of the coral I picked up on this beach in Rangiroa.

Rangiroa beach filled with coral.

Rangiroa hermit crab inside its shell.

We saw several tiny hermit crabs inside shells like this one…which reminded me of one I inadvertently brought home several years ago in a small bag of sand that traveled back with me from Fiji! It had the same little stripes on its claws. I will tell my “Hermie” story one day in another blog post.  As explained on the sign below (Cite des Dauphins, which translates to City of Dolphins), the passes of Rangiroa are a unique habitat for a small coastal community of about 60 bottlenose dolphins. These animals who live, hunt, rest, socialize and raise their young in these waters are particularly vulnerable to human activities. The practice of touching them is prohibited.

More views of “island” life on the atoll of Rangiroa:

I talked with these friendly ladies at one of the small restaurants on Rangiroa.

In search of the “coral wine”

Next, we went in search of the “coral wine.” Every evening on board the Wind Spirit, a port talk is held in the Lounge before dinner to give passengers an overview of the next day’s destination, excursion possibilities that are still available, and any special items we may want to look for while exploring on our own. One thing that piqued my interest was the mention of vineyards on the atoll of Rangiroa. The destination manager said we may be able to taste a “coral wine,” which I later learned was called Blanc de corail, Domaine Dominique Auroy. (The Vin de Tahiti wines actually come in three white varietals and a rosé.) Vines grow on the edge of a lagoon near the coral reef…

While we wouldn’t be able to actually visit the vineyard, I sought out the “coral wine” at a couple of the little restaurants on the main road. When they didn’t have it, we decided to walk down a road to see what was there. We turned by a sign, Les Relais de Josephine, and soon arrived at a small seaside resort and restaurant that from all appearances was closed. {After we’d returned from our cruise, I did some research and found out that this seven bungalow French Polynesian hotel is very well regarded, as described by Lonely Planet: “The setting of this very French interpretation of the Polynesian pension, right on the mythical Tiputa Pass, is arguably the prettiest on the atoll.”)

After I had taken a few photos, a French-speaking woman approached us and asked if we wanted to order something. I told her I was looking for the Blanc de corail wine. She had it! Yes! I was excited.

She brought it out and asked if I wanted to buy the bottle. I said, no, I’d just like to buy a glass of the wine, and I asked her if I could take a photo of the bottle. “No photos,” she said, “unless you buy the bottle!” I was taken aback that she wouldn’t even allow me to photograph the bottle, but I went ahead and told her I would buy a glass of it so I could at least taste this elusive wine! I thought I may never again have the opportunity!

A glass of the elusive “coral wine” overlooking the Tiputa Pass at Les Relais de Josephine pension.

So…how was it? Very nice! It was a light, dry white wine that I would’ve enjoyed more at another time.

Oh…and I DID get a photo of the bottle, on our last day in Tahiti in the restaurant at the Le Méridien hotel where we stayed on the first and last night of our cruise… I saw it just as we were leaving for the airport!

I did a little jewelry shopping…

Before boarding the tender boat back to the ship, I did a bit of shopping, visiting the craft ladies who had set up tables near by to display their handmade jewelry. I purchased this lovely necklace and earrings, made from pencil urchin spines.

Here’s what a pencil sea urchin looks like underwater:

When we were ready to go back to the ship, tender boats were waiting to transport passengers back to Windstar’s Wind Spirit.

Exploring Rangiroa’s underwater world

I was hoping we would be able to dive the Tiputa Pass, long touted as among the world’s best dive sites for its large animal encounters (reef sharks, hammerhead sharks, manta rays and large schools of fish), but we learned we’d be diving Tiputa Channel instead….less current and better for the time of day we’d be diving. Close…not what I’d hoped for but, hey, I was diving in Rangiroa, and it turned out to be a great dive!

The most exciting part of our dive was encountering wild dolphins, not on top of the water following the wake of our boat, but underwater with us! We found out that close encounters with dolphins while diving in Rangiroa is fairly common, so even though we weren’t able to “shoot the pass” as I’d hoped, we were able to share our dive with a few bottlenose dolphins! (I’d still love to see hammerhead sharks, crazy as that may sound to some, as long as they aren’t coming toward me!)

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Here is a short VIDEO of Dolphins of Rangiroa  from our dive operator, TOPDIVE (not the dolphins we saw…)

And some of my photos from our dive – SLIDESHOW

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Our Rangiroa TOPDIVE guides

Would I repeat this experience to spend more time in both Fakarava and Rangiroa, the two atolls in the Tuamotus included on Windstar’s 10-day Tahitit-Tuamotus cruise? In a heartbeat! Maybe a week divided between the two. I only got to see Hotel Kia Ora Resort from a distance when we were in the dive boat, so it is still in my dreams!

After leaving Rangiroa, we had a day at sea aboard Windstar’s Wind Spirit before arriving at our third port — Taha’a. We toured the island on a morning excursion and came back to enjoy lunch and an afternoon on a private motu — Motu Mahaea. Ready to keep reading? Next in my series… Tahiti and Tuamotus: Taha’a and Motu Mahaea

Tahiti and Tuamotus: Huahine

Tahiti and Tuamotus: Bora Bora

Earlier posts in my Tahiti and Tuamotus cruise series:

Tahiti and Tuamotus: Fakarava – our first port of call

Tahiti and Tuamotus: On board Windstar’s Wind Spirit

Tahiti and Tuamotus: Choosing to Cruise