Rangiroa...deep dives with great people...and few cuddles with the dolphins!

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If you are a serious diver, you will have heard of the famous Tiputa Pass....if not, I guess Rangiroa will never be on your wish list!

Here we are, second stop in the Tuamutus after a short flight from Fakarava and a little stop on an even smaller atoll with our little propeller.



Yes, I did dive this place 6 years ago in June, and yes it is on my top five list for dive sites in the world...even if at the end of the day, the diving at home tend to be better! Last time I dived with Franck. He is still on the island, but left for his annual holidays. Good news, he moved in with great people....so I spent 9 dives with Raie Manta club own by Yves Lefevre and dived also with Martin from Argentina!



The pictures do speak for themselves! This is being August, there are a lot more people in and above the water! So no nice dinner of lobster at pension Teina and Marie. I will be careful, and next time we will be back in June!



In the wwater, there is a basic rule that you do not touch the wildlife as a diver. But here, they have 2-3 dolphins that are actually looking for contact with the divers. They swim from diver group to the next asking for cuddles each time...and if they don't have enough, they come back for more...they actually even "push" you coming from the back asking for cuddles. Yes, in blue water and 27 degrees, this is pretty magical.



There is not much else than diving to do on the island. Here there is not a single nice beach...or you need to cross the lagoon on a solid expensive daily excursion. This time I finally visited the "Ferme Perliere", aka, Pearl Farm....you can smile, I know, this time I have a lady with me, so yes, we brought back a little souvenir!



Under water, it is a lot of grey reef sharks as well as the silver tips, black tips, few white tips, the occasional greater hammerhead...and we even spotted....but from super far...a tiger shark. Dolphins are coming in more than half of the dives. Less experienced divers actually see them ore as they stay out of the pass and at shallower level. We went few times through the pass....this means you go down, 50-51 meters for me few times. Last time was down to 57 meters, but they have new local rules who say you can't go anymore deeper than 50 meters. Well, one dive, we had my first nearly panic diver. I was happy that the DM, Martin, knew exactly what to do...and let say that being a freshly minted DM...taking care of divers on the loose is something that has become some kind of a habit at home!



So here we are, that was French Polynesia. Diving is not over yet for August....but nearly...next is the big island and few places I still had to discover!



More...coming soon...

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Yeah dolphins
Nice.