Our usual Rangiroa tender dock was occupied
The tender pier we used today
The lighthouse as seen from Tiputa Pass
The swarm of birds eating the fish chased by the dolphins
(And, to have a better understanding of what I'm saying and to see a map that further clarifies it, you can click on the Rangiroa label on the right side of my blog and go to the oldest post, probably around October 22, 2014.)
The holy water founts were clam shells!
Some of the pink coral that makes up the pink sand
Many yards contain the graves of ancestors, but even the ones in cemeteries are beautifully decorated
The entrance to Tiputa Pass from Tiputa Village
It's easy to see from the water color that the pass is deep enough for small ships to enter
You know we love to go into the little (and I mean little) markets on these islands. They carry only the bare necessities, but apparently this stuff qualifies. It's a hair gel, but we've seen no evidence of extensive hair gel use in French Polynesia. Instead, G Googled it and found an alternative use: to keep drummers' hands tacky so their drumsticks don't slip when they get sweaty. That made more sense...there are definitely a lot of traditional drummers in French Polynesia!
We went to breakfast in the Club Restaurant while we awaited some news. Captain Ciruzzi announced that they would require an extra few minutes to get things set up (we later learned that they had had no idea that the freighter was there until they, too, saw the crane from the bridge while the Pacific Princess was still outside the lagoon) . The shore party (first) tender, with the Princess canopies and tables and signs and first aid kit, etc. had to travel past Tiputa Pass to the island on the other side, where Tiputa Village is located. This made the tender ride about twice as long, but there was an equally nice pier over there, and shore excursions by boat really weren't affected. Shore excursions by land now required a boat transfer to the other side of the pass, and I suspect our friend Rex, who manages the Shore Excursions Department on the ship (we call him Shorex Rex!) was probably tearing his hair out.
We took a tender over to Tiputa Village about 9am, thrilled with the sudden opportunity to see something we had not managed to get to last year. We knew that the other side of the pass is where a larger (but still small) population of locals live, and there was a post office right next to the pier, and a non-denominational Christian church, and a Catholic Church with doors wide open, so, of course, I had to walk in there to check it out. It appeared to be quite old, but was quite charming in its simplicity.
I managed to ask a local girl if there was a beach, and was directed to turn left (gauche) at the magasin (little market) and marchez, marchez, marchez (walk a ways) to the plage (beach). Well, this was a beach in name only (and maybe not even that). Broken coral on a steep slope led to some beautiful tidal pools in about a foot to 18" of water, right next to the waves crashing on the reef. This was the ocean side of the island, so swimming was out, but we waded and soaked and felt the waves rushing in between a break in the coral wash over our backs. The water was very warm and so it was kind of a natural hot tub.
Many yards contain the graves of ancestors, but even the ones in cemeteries are beautifully decorated
Afterwards, we made our way along the water to the edge of Tiputa Pass. I looked closely as we walked, but never saw any of the dolphins that are known to play there (but saw plenty later in the day!). There was an old lighthouse on that side of the pass that did not appear to be operational (there was no light). But we had frequently seen this from the ship when transiting the pass, and it was fun to see it up close.
The entrance to Tiputa Pass from Tiputa Village
It's easy to see from the water color that the pass is deep enough for small ships to enter
There was a swimming hole of sorts on the lagoon side of the island, and we took a few minutes to swim in that crystal blue water. The usual snorkel trips to the Aquarium area on the lagoon side of Tiputa Pass were offered for $40pp, but we are kind of snorkeled-out for a few days, and not in the mood to expend the energy swimming in the current that we knew would be required.
Eventually we returned to the ship for a late lunch in the Panorama Buffet, and then I stayed behind lounging on the Promenade Deck as G took a tender back simply to get some of the gorgeous pink sand we had seen on the pseudo-beach to add to our 'Sands of the World' collection at home (displayed in glass decanters on the fireplace mantle). We started doing that on our honeymoon 32 years ago and have sands of every color imaginable by now.
G returned to the ship on the last tender at 4:30pm. He was still showering as I went up on Deck 10 for sailaway, and was thrilled to see dolphins in the lagoon very close to the ship. I think the sound of the ship leaving stirred them up. Then, we watched together as the Pacific Princess sailed back out through Tiputa Pass and the telltale mass of seabirds sitting on the water's surface alerted us to the fact that a pod of dolphins had upset the fish who swam to the surface of the water and fell prey to the seabirds. It's a dog eat dog...er, everything eats fish world out there. The day had been very sunny and hot, but the sky clouded over and rain began to fall as we sailed away from Rangiroa. How lucky were we with today's weather?
The big U-turn required to sail back out of Tiputa Pass
We stopped briefly in the Elite Lounge, enjoyed Italian night in the dining room, walked on the Promenade Deck and returned to the cabin early. We are tired tonight. I think our 59 days have caught up with us a bit. Thankfully, tomorrow is another glorious day at sea. They are (shockingly) becoming our favorites.
The times, they are a-changing. ;-)
