Today was our first visit ever to the Tuamotu (Tu-a-MO-tu) Archipelago and I was so excited about the prospect of entering virgin territory that I set the alarm for 5am to view the sunrise and watch from the front of the Pacific Princess as the ship entered the Tiputa (Ti-PU-ta) Pass at high tide and sailed into the Rangiroa (Rang-ee-ROW-a) atoll, the second largest atoll in the world (the largest is in the Marshall Islands).
The 77 atolls and one upraised island that form the Tuamotu Archipelago are spread across an area 310 miles wide and 939 miles long. These are some of the most remote islands in the entire world. Rangiroa, the only island that the Pacific Princess visits in the Tuamoto archipelago, has been described as a strand of more than 240 pearls (motu islets) looped in a foot shape, separated by at least 100 very shallow 'hoa' channels and three passes. Tiputa Pass and Avatoru Pass on the north side of the atoll are deep and wide enough for ships to enter the lagoon; the third pass, Tivaru Pass on the west side, is narrow and shallow.
Source: Moon Tahiti Guide
Rangiroa means 'long sky' in the Paumotu dialect, and is often shortened to Rangi, but I think it should be called Ring-y, because that's really what it is...a ring of motus surrounding a lagoon that is like an inland sea, approximately 47 miles long by 16 miles wide. Imagine a lagoon so large you can't see across it to the other side!
Rangiroa offers some of the best diving/snorkeling in the world, in the clearest water imaginable, and all of the whopping three (!) excursions offered by Princess were related to the water: a semisubmersible, a dive trip and a snorkel trip. For our first visit to Rangiroa, we chose to take the 12:30pm to 2:15pm Princess snorkel trip by boat to drift snorkel Tiputa Pass (we figured it would take all morning to put our snorkel gear together for the first time, but we'll improve over time).
A quick word about the excursions we have planned...whereas in the Caribbean, we simply do our own thing and don't generally even take independent excursions let alone Princess excursions, it's obviously a bit different for us on this cruise. We have a mix of Princess excursions and independent excursions planned, and, at least half the time, we have no plans at all. This will allow us to possibly find something to do once on the island, or repeat an excursion or do nothing at all. We did not want to have every day planned out for us in advance.
So, anyway, back to that 5am alarm. As I've been doing everyday so far, I woke naturally at 4:56am, and quickly shut off the alarm. I didn't think G was quite as intent on watching us enter the atoll through Tiputa Pass; he knows there will be other opportunities. I snuck out of the cabin and immediately encountered port lecturer Douglas Pearson. He had just come in from star gazing, and told me to be at the very front of the ship on Deck 10 for the best view of entering the pass.
First, though, I was able to watch a beautiful sunrise as we approached the atoll. It was my first so far this cruise, and it occurs early, well before 5:30am right now.
As Captain Servillo had predicted at last night's Captain's Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party, we did arrive early, nearly 90 minutes before our scheduled arrival of 8am, so as to take advantage of high tide in passing through the channel. A small group of us gathered at the bow of the ship, with Douglas Pearson narrating in two languages what we were seeing. And the first thing we saw was schools of bottlenose dolphins swimming quickly towards the ship. Douglas said they would split to swim by us, then turn around and surf the ship's wake while coming through the pass. I imagine that they are well familiar with the Pacific Princess' schedule. ;-)
Next cruise I want to be at the back of the ship to see them surfing the wake.
We could see two small villages, one on either side of Tiputa Pass, Avatoru on the right side when entering and Tiputa on the left. Though separated by only a narrow pass, if there was a road around the ring of motus (there isn't), it would be 150 miles from one to the other. In fact, there is only 10km of paved road on the entire island, on the Avatoru side of Tiputa Pass, connecting the tiny airport to the village. One can also take a boat from one side of the pass to the other, as the school children do twice a day, as the school is in Avatoru but many live in Tiputa. Everything I've read indicated that the folks on the Avatoru side are a bit more "tourist friendly" than in Tiputa.
Tiputa Pass, Rangiroa
I then headed back to the Panaroma Buffet in search of coffee. I don't think I've mentioned that, though there is no International Cafe on the Pacific Princess, there is a coffee bar located right in the buffet and in the Club Lounge, just outside the Club Restaurant. I'm able to get brewed decaf in a to go cup from either location, and it's really much more convenient than on the larger ships.
I was sitting on the terrace behind the buffet talking with friends Dave and Brenda when G found me. And that's another wonderful thing about this ship: it's so small that we have no trouble "running" into each other. G and I had breakfast in the Club Restaurant, which is our preferred M.O.; even on this small ship the buffet feels a bit tight on a port day when everyone is eating breakfast at the same time.
We returned to our cabin to find the excursion tickets for today and dig out gear for our snorkel trip. This was my first real usage of my new mask and snorkel...I was excited! Then, since I had been up so early, I had a bit of a rest and started typing this post. BTW- I am having no trouble at all using AirDrop to transfer photos from one iDevice to the other without having to log in to wifi, and I need to thank the person on Cruise Critic who instructed me how to do that. It's fast and easy. However, my iPhone 4S does not have AirDrop, and getting photos from it to another device requires Bluetooth and is nearly impossible. I may have to wait until I get home to add those photos. I've started using my iPad to type my posts...it certainly is 100 times easier to 'eight finger type', rather than 'two finger type'!!! The only disadvantage is that I won't have my iPad with me if I happen to find wifi on shore, and will only be able to upload blog posts from the ship.
Wifi has been so bad I'm not certain I'll even get these photos uploaded, but I am going to try.
We needed to be on the pier to meet our excursion group at 12:20pm, but took an earlier tender to shore, just to see what there was to see. We had stopped by the Casino Lounge right after breakfast to ask about the tender process ('cause that's something we'll need to use a LOT this cruise). Warren from the entertainment staff (also a dancer in the production shows) told us that we'd still need to come there instead of going directly to the tender loading area, though as Elites with priority tendering we'd get to go on the very next tender.
Let's just say that the priority tendering perk is of almost no importance on the Pacific Princess. They were calling open tender by 8:30am. What we'd heard about no lines anywhere on the Pacific Princess- absolutely true!!
The tender operation was well run and very timely, and we waited no more than a few minutes on the boat before it left for the quick (less then 10 minute) ride to the pier. What met us on the island is exactly how I imagined it would be: a laid back, rustic tropical paradise. There were a few tables set up on the pier selling (mostly) shell-based jewelry and local art, a bar/restaurant on the water, and, just beyond, a tiny (and I mean tiny) magazin (store) where G purchased a Hinano beer. The island is so narrow that we simply walked down the road to the ocean side, just adjacent to Tiputa Pass, and watched the waves break while G enjoyed his beer and we waited until it was time for our excursion. What was most amazing is that there was not a single piece of trash anywhere on that island. It was rustic, but neat as a pin.
Our divemaster/ snorkel leader, Hugo, told us we were in for a treat because our 12:30pm tour was the one that exactly matched the incoming tide (hey, we just didn't want to have to rush this morning) and we would see thousands of fish swept in by the clear ocean water. He wasn't lying. The coral looked healthy but the draw really was the FISH. We also saw moray eels and too many black- and white-tipped sharks to count. The visibility was endless and, as on land, there was no trash anywhere on the ocean floor.
This is a gorgeous part of the world.
What we hadn't known, before today, was that we could pick up a snorkel tour right on the pier for $50pp; $70pp for a drift snorkel like we did. That's part of the reason we've booked a few ship excursions at least early on...we really have no idea what we're going to find on these islands.
This snorkel tour through Princess ($99pp) was very basic...they did have some masks, snorkels and a few fins to use, but most people had brought their own. No spit, no water to drink, no drinks of any kind and no party music. It's not like a tour in the Caribbean; it's pretty simple. The draw is what's underwater. And I'd have to say that, although they had snorkel vests if we wanted one for floatation (I carry my own floatation with me all the time, thank you), this was an excursion that required strong swimming skills. Twice we swam hard against the current for 5-10 minutes, then turned and shot back with it. The hour of snorkeling which I had previously thought might be a bit short turned out to be an hour long hard workout and as much as I cared to do.
The remainder of the 1:45 tour was the boat ride to/from the snorkel site. Well, it took only a few minutes to reach it. On the return, though, we headed back out through Tiputa Pass, and our tiny boat heaved up and down the huge waves, which made me squeal with delight but definitely didn't thrill the lady sitting across from me. I felt badly for her; she was so seasick. We both got drenched as the bow of the boat would slap down on the water. We went out to see the dolphins that hang around the pass, and they were jumping out of the water all around us. For me, it was 15 minutes of pure excitement and fun.
By the time we returned to the pier, we were worn out. Luckily, a tender boat was waiting right there, and, with only ten or so passengers, returned to the Pacific Princess. We had remembered to turn up the temperature in our cabin before we left, and, while one of us showered and rinsed our equipment, the other kept handing it in and setting clean things out to dry.
Our cabin is trashed; it must have been a great day on Rangiroa.
We were too hungry at that point (3:45pm) to wait for dinner and swung into the buffet. I had a sandwich and G had pizza and we drank buckets of water. After the 5pm sailaway, we changed for dinner and went to the Elite Lounge and then a bit of dinner in the Club Restaurant. And that was the end of our day. The entertainment tonight is a comedian who also performed the first night (as we were flying in) but we talked with him today in the buffet and he's here for two cruises. We'll catch him next time...we have a date with a pillow.
I'll try to post this tonight...Internet is abysmal right now. Hopefully, once we return to the Society Islands, it will improve a bit.