Just as I thought that islands with rocks resembling skulls only appear in Disney pirate movies, I came across one myself in French Polynesia. With the foreseen highlight of ending in Bora Bora, some of the other islands proved to be highlights themselves.
Start of the island hopping trip was Rangiroa: the second largest atoll in the world, without an island in the middle. A cruise along the inside of the atoll is simply incredible. Scuba diving provides for plenty of underwater wildlife encounters.
Fish giving me a warm welcome 
pink sands sandbank 
Bird island 
Mr Shark comes to pay a visit while scuba diving 
Dolphins in the Tiputa pass
There is a thing about sharks though. At night, their movement seems to change. Maybe it is the obscure darkness that adds to the flavour, but somehow their motion is slower, and more direct. To me it seems like a hunting mode. As we were sitting on the stern, the sharks kept circling us, moving towards the stern and passing it slowly, only to make a big circle and come around again. Ignoring the sharks, one of the guys tossed a wire into the water with some bait, hoping to catch dinner for tomorrow. He was unsuccessful and handed me the wire. And guess what….something started pulling the wire! I pulled the wire but resistance was tough. This was a big one. The guy who started this came to help and we both started pulling the wire and sure enough….we dragged one of the sharks on to the stern! In a bit of a shock, we both let go. Reef sharks are small…but best not to have them on a stern at night filled with passengers.
Sharks hunting the stern 
Rangiroa beauty 
Rangiroa beauty 
stingray moving in shallow waters 
It took less than a minute for this shark to arrive when someone cut his foot in the reef 
Cute little fella on the beach
Next day we went ashore to find an absolutely beautiful reef. But to get there we had to walk through shallow waters with remains of a reef. One of the guys cut his foot and started to bleed. And I couldn’t believe how quickly after that a shark arrived and started swimming through the blood. Later on the beach we were welcome by a more friendly crab and we started to play a bit of volleyball (not with him). A delicious bbq was served on the beach making for yet another beautiful night.
Next stop was Taha’a, with one of the most exclusive hotels (the only one at the island). Arriving with high expectations, the experience was a bit disappointing however having breakfast in a tree house was pretty amazing.
The next stop was bound to be an adventure. In contrast to the luxurious Taha’a resort, we were going to stay with a local family on the island Maupiti, as no resorts were present on this island. Reserving a spot was a challenge in itself, with only a few faxes sent and received to make the reservation, due to the long response time, so the question was if a reservation was done at all. Landing on the tiny airstrip, and getting off the plane, we were welcomed by the husband of the family. It worked! By boat he took us to his house on the atoll. Now my imagination may be big. But that large rock on the island really resembled a skull to me. Needless to say it was foggy too, to add to the suspense. But unfortunately that also meant no power, no light and no hot shower. The family however, made our stay incredible pleasant, serving us freshly caught fish with coco milk and telling many stories, such as the disappearance of the fish within the atoll the night before a hurricane arrived. Despite the bad weather, this visit turned out to be one of the most memorable ones.
Being used to travel via one of the largest airports in the world, airports in French polynesia, in particular in Maupiti, are such a joy. You check in on a counter made out of wood. The plane arrival and departure times are written by hand on a whiteboard. And when you check in your luggage, you can see a person pick them up and carry them to the airplane which stands 30 m / yards in front of you. I don’t think anybody has ever lust their luggage there. We took off and landed on an atoll very close by: Bora Bora.
While Bora Bora is opposite of Maupiti, with endless luxury in incredibly expensive hotels, I must admit that the island is simply the most beautiful island I have seen. Jumping into the water from the balcony of the room, and watching the fish swim below you from the glass floor at night. Paradise it is…
On our last day in this paradise, we took a boat trip with a crew determined to give us a happy memory. Singing ‘who let the dogs out’ and other tunes, it seems that a bad mood was impossible. We stopped at several locations for scuba diving (with some very close approaches by sharks!) and saw my first moray eel (who almost bit one of the crew’s crotch after he dropped a bit of bait right there..), and spent the entire return trip laughing about our adventures. While the place simply looks like paradise, it is the locals that really add the nice flavour to a visit.
Ciao!
Robin
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