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Published: July 24th 2009
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My wife Caroline
My wife Caroline Sicard in Rangiroa, French Polynesia.
Photo taken by: Paolo A. Santos FRENCH POLYNESIA
In July 2006, my wife and I went for our honeymoon in French Polynesia. We landed in Tahiti first and stayed at the Sofitel Hotel in Papeete'. It was very nice and luxurious, but my wife and I prefer to rough it up every time we travel. We like to hang out with the locals and get to know their customs, eat their food and such.
So after Tahiti, we flew off to the second largest atoll in the world, Rangiroa. We stayed at a pension where they served breakfast of baguettes and fruit, you are own your own for lunch and dinner was usually raw fish with some sort of marinade. You can rent a bike for the day and see the entire island in a few hours from end to end.
Rangiroa was formed when a volcano rose out of the sea and corals grew around it to create fringing reefs. The volcano eventually fell back into the ocean, leaving an island ring entirely made of coral skeleton and living corals reefs which will continue to grow and enclose a pretty calm lagoon in the center.
This place is stunning and I felt
My wife Caroline
My wife Caroline Sicard in Rangiroa, French Polynesia.
Photo taken by: Paolo A. Santos like I was really in an isolated island. There were a few locals and tourists here and there, but they were mostly out of sight.
Everyone is very nice and you can get into deep conversations with the locals about how they got colonized by the French, how the islands were used for nuclear bomb testing, how they came to colonize the islands, etc, if you speak French, luckily I speak a little and my wife is French-Canadian.
We also learned how to say a few polynesian words and the locals loved that. Everyone waved at each other there or gave you a nod to say "'Iorana" which is "hello".
Both local and French transplants are very nice. We met a family who relocated there from France and they surprised us at the airport when we were leaving to go back home to Las Vegas. They brought us shell leis. We kept in touch with them for a while and then we lost contact when we moved back to Montreal. We miss them.
Fruit there is very expensive as they have to be imported. The ground there is not ideal for fruit tress and crops, but
My wife Caroline
My wife Caroline Sicard in Rangiroa, French Polynesia.
Photo taken by: Paolo A. Santos coconuts are a plenty.
Pretty much this whole archipelago is expensive when it comes to Western commodities. A hamburger is about $40USD and a salad is roughly $25USD at a restaurant or resort.
One day, my wife and I decided to go for a boat ride across the lagoon to a place called "Lagon Bleu" (Blue Lagoon), now I thought the main area of Rangiroa was isolated, well, this place had no inhabitants at all. Well, you can't really live out here nor are you allowed to. We basically rode the boat for an hour and then the boat anchored away from a dead coral bed. We then waded in chest-deep of water while baby Black tip sharks circled us, along with their remora hitch hikers. We got on one of the islands and hung around there for a few hours. After that, we walked to another island where the birds had no fear of us at all. I have a picture of one quietly sitting on an egg.
Before leaving, I went to swim with the sharks. Around 30 4-6 foot black tips surrounded me while two 10-12 foot Lemon Sharks went under me and devoured
My wife Caroline
My wife Caroline Sicard in Rangiroa, French Polynesia.
Photo taken by: Paolo A. Santos a large tuna head. During lunch, I also encountered a manta ray with a 10-12 foot wingspan, it was awesome.
Then after Rangiroa, we were off to Bora bora. Very nice and romantic. We stayed in an overwater bungalow at the resort Le Maitai Bora bora. Water was nice, bought my wife a black pearl ring, nice people, got a Marquesan tattoo (look for a guy named Fati, he is very good.), blah-di-blah. My recommendation for visiting this archipelago is to see the less visited Society Islands if isolation and primitive feel is what you are looking for. Bora bora, was just too touristy for me and my wife. Still extremely beautiful, but if you want to get away from everyone else, check the other islands.
By the way, if anyone out there decides to go on an excursion and the guide or boat captain decides to pull a small shark out of the water and onto the boat, please let them know that you are disagreeable with that spectacle and that they should stop this practice to entertain tourists. This changes shark behavior for the worst and it is not safe for tourists and for the shark.
10 year old girl surrounded by black tip sharks
Girl with sharks.
Photo taken by: Paolo A. Santos
They have a role in the ocean and seas to keep it healthy and balanced, they are not hear for our cheap thrills.
The fun thing for me in Bora bora is seeing the stingrays and colorful angel fish - lots and lots of them, and of course, the crystal clear turquoise water.
This places are absolute gems in a world where the progress of industrialization is very rapidly moving into the natural world. I fear that these places will soon be ravaged by population boom and commercialism, so head off to them, while the skyline is still only occupied by coconut tress.
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Brian
non-member comment
Awesome place to visit
Although I haven't been to Rangiroa, I did visit many of the islands of French poynesia including Huahine and Bora Bora. G'reat pics Paolo. Can't wait to revisit again soon. Brian