October 29, 2008 - Rangiroa
This morning we were in Rangiroa, the largest atoll in Eastern Polynesia. The morning was jam-packed. We entered the lagoon at around 0630 and by 0700, Ingrid and I were in the water scouting the snorkeling locations. We went first to a patch reef and jumped in to take a look. There were tons of fish, including a huge school of unicorn fish. The patch reef area was pretty big, so Ingrid put a line over the side of the zodiac and pulled me around the reef for a ride. It was such a fun way to snorkel! After checking out that area, we went into Tiputa Pass, the cut in the reef where the ship entered the lagoon. The currents in this pass can flow at speeds of up to 6 knots and it was flowing pretty fast when I jumped in to check it out – wow – what a ride! We scouted a few different areas to try and find a place to go with the group that was not too dangerous.
This morning was a great one for marine life – I got a lot of underwater photos to take back to use for identification and have started to recognize species in the water. With the passengers, I got to snorkel twice at the patch reef and once along the ledge in Tiputa Pass. By the time we went snorkeling with the group in the Pass, the current had changed and was not very fast. I am glad that it changed, because it was a really nice snorkel. We saw a hawksbill turtle, barracuda, and other larger pelagic species.
At the patch reef, there were big schools of fish and lots of variety. There were also about 10 blacktip reef sharks, but they were in the shallows so it was hard to see them. At one point, I tried to swim into the shallows to see them, but the visibility got bad and made it too difficult, so I turned to leave. Coincidentally, one of the sharks had turned too and all of the sudden I found myself almost nose to nose with it. You can probably guess what happened – I jumped, it jumped and that was the end of the encounter. On the way back to the deeper water, I spotted an octopus, which was cruising along the reef. I was bummed that we had to leave the site at 1 pm for lunch since everywhere I turned there was something new to see.
Passengers snorkeling
Striped Surgeonfish
We left Rangiroa at lunch to sail to the Marquesas. On our way out, we had some dolphin playing in the wake of the ship. All in all it was a fantastic day.
This morning was a great one for marine life – I got a lot of underwater photos to take back to use for identification and have started to recognize species in the water. With the passengers, I got to snorkel twice at the patch reef and once along the ledge in Tiputa Pass. By the time we went snorkeling with the group in the Pass, the current had changed and was not very fast. I am glad that it changed, because it was a really nice snorkel. We saw a hawksbill turtle, barracuda, and other larger pelagic species.
At the patch reef, there were big schools of fish and lots of variety. There were also about 10 blacktip reef sharks, but they were in the shallows so it was hard to see them. At one point, I tried to swim into the shallows to see them, but the visibility got bad and made it too difficult, so I turned to leave. Coincidentally, one of the sharks had turned too and all of the sudden I found myself almost nose to nose with it. You can probably guess what happened – I jumped, it jumped and that was the end of the encounter. On the way back to the deeper water, I spotted an octopus, which was cruising along the reef. I was bummed that we had to leave the site at 1 pm for lunch since everywhere I turned there was something new to see.
Passengers snorkeling
Striped Surgeonfish
We left Rangiroa at lunch to sail to the Marquesas. On our way out, we had some dolphin playing in the wake of the ship. All in all it was a fantastic day.
posted by Lori @ 3:49 AM
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