Schlagwort-Archive: diving

French Polynesia, World Trip 2018-19

Fakarava – the best of the Tuamotus

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Seems like we saved the best for the end! Our last island in the Tuamotus was a pleasant surprise: white sand beaches and underwater sharks galore! Fakarava’s North and South Passes are known for being among the best dive sites in the world…But after the rather disappointing dives in Tikehau and Rangiroa, we weren’t sure what to expect. Luckily, Fakarava delivered! We first dived the South Pass, which was a very choppy 2.5h boat ride away from the main island. But – it was worth it! Both dives were amazing: We finally saw rather healthy coral, lots of fish aaand…hundreds of sharks!! I’m not exaggerating. There were walls of grey reef sharks waiting for us underwater where we stopped a couple of times at different depths to admire the action. The second dive had some crazy currents and a little less shark action, but was still really great. Happy diving times!

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Another day, we dove the North Pass, which was only a 20min boat ride away. Much easier! I loved our one dive there and wished we could have done more still: Loads of fish – big schools – everywhere, here and there some grey reef sharks, not quite as many as in the South Pass, but still plenty. And beautiful coral! We had some nice drift during our dive and could just glide along and watch things. Awesome!

The rest of our time in Fakarava was spent cycling around the island and stopping at various spots for snorkelling. I was sooo happy to see some nice coral again after all the grey dead coral of Tikehau and Rangiroa. And there were always some sharks around, wherever you jumped into the water! Usually blacktips, but in town and around the harbour there are also a couple of shy lemon sharks which we tried to approach sometimes.

Above water, Fakarava was beautiful as well! I liked the main village Rotoava, quiet and peaceful, and finally we had some nice sandy beaches again! Especially the stretch at PK9 (kilometer 9 up North past the airport) is pretty with white sands, turquoise waters and of course photogenic palm trees. It was quite a cycle up there, but we managed to go twice. I had heard before that there is good snorkelling too, but when we went into the water here, we only saw dead coral. Maybe we should have swam out farther? But there were quite some waves every time we were there, so not the best snorkelling conditions anyways. More time to enjoy the beauty above water then!

We ended up liking Fakarava best out of the three islands we visited in the Tuamotus and would have probably traded a day in Tikehau or Rangiroa for more time in Fakarava in hindsight. If I was to return to French Polynesia, I wouldn’t mind going to Fakarava again for some more diving and lagoon tours, which we didn’t manage to do this time.

French Polynesia, World Trip 2018-19

Rangiroa: Some disappointments, some surprises

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Rangiroa is the biggest atoll of the Tuamotos, but still feels very remote. Here, we were camping in someone’s back garden, a place we found on AirBnB as the usual choice for campers, Rangiroa Plage, was fully booked. It wasn’t the best place, setting up our tent on hard and sometimes sharp pieces of coral. For 5 nights I worried about our inflatable sleeping mats and tent. But for now it seems like it survived… Rangiroa itself is also no beauty. We knew there would be no beaches, but to see only dead coral everywhere was sad. We cycled the whole length of the island and there really wasn’t much to see or take photos of. 

 

The best part for us was the spot at Tiputa Pass where you can watch dolphins in the afternoon, jumping in the waves. We went there many times with the mission to take the perfect picture.

 

Of course, we also had to go see some underwater action in the Tiputa Pass! However, once again after Tikehau, we were kind of disappointed. There were definitely more sharks to see than in Tikehau, but only reef sharks once again and not in masses either. On the first dive we had 2 dolphins coming close for a bit, but they didn’t stay long to play. We met a lot of people who had expected more of the famous Tiputa Pass than there was. I guess that’s always the danger when a destination gets so much hype – your high expectations might not be met. I’m not saying the diving wasn’t good – but it isn’t one of these places that we’re gonna remember for the rest of our lives. Even people who did 10+ dives there didn’t have much better experiences. Maybe they got lucky once or twice in that time with a hammerhead or a longer dolphin encounter. But that was it!

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I think my favourite part about Rangiroa (next to watching the dolphins from the shore) was a yearly festival that we were lucky enough to see. The Farerei Haga was really cool! They had some competitions in the afternoon, like boat races or rock lifting which were fun to watch and quite impressive. And every night at 7pm there was a dance show given by a different dance group from the Tuamotus or Tahiti. And it was all for free! The dances were beautiful and they really put a lot of effort into them. Everything was well choreographed and they changed outfits after almost every dance. We went there three evenings during our time in Rangiroa and it was great every time!! Some groups were adults, some just kids but they were great! Once we were lucky to get front row seats for good pictures – so here are some:

 

The festival really made our stay in Rangiroa so much better, an island which otherwise didn’t fulfill our expectations at all…

…except for the Blue Lagoon tour we did one day! It was an all day boat tour, crossing through the whole lagoon to the other side of the atoll where the Blue Lagoon – kind of a mini lagoon inside the lagoon – is located. It was a 1 h ride across, but weather conditions were perfect and when we arrived we were straight away captivated by all the blues of the lagoon and the little picture-perfect islets with photogenic palm trees. What was more and super special for us: sharks everywhere!! Seriously, we have never seen that many blacktips in one place at once! And cute little baby ones, just the size of my underarm! And all of that in perfect clear water, white sands and a turquoise shimmering lagoon in the background. Awesomeness!

 

Our guide took us for a short walk, more through the water than on land, to Bird Island with some very nice views along the way. We were taught how to open a coconut and how to make a hat out of palm leaves. Then it was time to return to the main island where a delicious bbq lunch was waiting for us, yummy! We really enjoyed our time at this special place.

 

Too soon it was time to leave, but on the way back we made a stop for snorkelling which was amazing! There wasn’t much of a reef, but sharks, sharks, sharks!! Mainly blacktips once again, but also some huge lemon sharks! They were a bit more shy, so it was harder to get close to them, but when we managed we had some really impressive and close encounters! A perfect ending to a perfect day – and without this lagoon tour we probably wouldn’t have such fond memories of Rangiroa now. So if you go…do not miss out on this tour!

 

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Solomon Islands, World Trip 2018-19

Marovo Lagoon – where jungle meets ocean

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In order to get from Munda to the Marovo Lagoon, we had to take the local bus back to Noro and board MV Anjeanette once again, heading back from Gizo to Honiara, via Seghe/Marovo Lagoon area. What may sound easy ended up being the most annoying trip of our time in the Solomon Islands so far: No one in Munda was able to tell us with certainty what the departure time would be. We heard anything between 8 am and noon. In the end we decided to be at the port around 9 am in order not to miss the ferry. We waited. And waited. And waited. And waited…even more. At 1pm Anjeanette finally showed up and we excitedly boarded the ferry thinking we’d finally get going. Wrong. It took another 2 h for the ferry to get unloaded until we left Noro port at 3 pm. The trip to the first stop – Ughele, the market town – went rather quick and we got some dinner there. However, what followed afterwards were about 4 more hours of a rather choppy ride during which I felt quite sick. Needless to say we were more than done with Anjeanette when we arrived in Seghe at 10 pm – FINALLY. I cannot believe what should have been a rather quick trip ended up taking us over 12 h in total! Welcome to the Solomon Islands. Lol.

Also, in Seghe the ferry didn’t moor to the pier but just stopped in the middle of the lagoon, with all small boats coming up to it to pick up/drop off people and cargo. So we had to clamber out of the big ferry and into the moving small boat in the pitch black, with our heavy backpacks – an adventure by itself!

Next day, we woke up in our half open over-the-water bungalow, with bird sounds all around us. Pepele Lodge is a beautiful place, simple but very clean and charming. The owner Lasa took us on his shopping drive around the lagoon which was very nice since we got to see the beautiful landscape already a bit and we stopped by the weekly market in Seghe.

In the afternoon we rented a kayak and paddled a bit around the area – the water was super calm and flat like a mirror! Very peaceful. We were on the constant lookout for crocodiles though, knowing there are some in this area. And sure enough later during our last morning at Pepele, we spotted a big one cruising by, not too far from our lovely hut!

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On our 2nd day at the Marovo Lagoon, Lasa’s brother brought us to Uepi Dive Resort where we had scheduled 2 dives for the day. We were lucky: it was a sunny day and we were able to dive the 2 dive sites we were most interested in: Elbow Point and Uepi Point. While the evasive hammerheads unfortunately didn’t show themselves at Elbow Point, we spotted our first ever leopard shark – a big one, resting on the sand! There was also an eagle ray and some grey reef sharks to be seen. Great dive! And after lunch, Uepi Point ended up being even better!! During just one dive, we saw three different species of sharks – grey, black and white tipped reef sharks, a blue spotted stingray, some moray eels and to finish off a turtle! The coolest part were all the sharks of course, I couldn’t even count how many we saw anymore!

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We then had a day of chilling and walking to the nearest village – on small muddy trails that I don’t think we’d have found without the help of Lasa’s kids. It’s a nice little village though – worth a visit, even though there’s not much going on. I guess most people were hiding from the rain too.

Luckily sun came out again next day as we had booked a snorkelling trip with Lasa. In the course of the day we visited 3 snorkel spots and were dropped off at Matikuri Lodge in the end. The snorkelling was really cool, and the boat ride itself amazing!! We first drove a bit South of Seghe and then through the „passage“ – an overgrown tunnel of trees which all small boats going from Munda to Marovo Lagoon and vice versa have to pass. It was one of the most beautiful boat rides of my life! It just doesn’t come out that well on the photos, so you just have to take my word for it.

Our first snorkel spot was at the end of the passage, where boats get out into the open sea – a cool spot with low visibility unfortunately. Still, we spotted a turtle and some sharks! The topography of this site is amazing, it must be really beautiful in clear water conditions. The next spot was called Ravu (Penguin Reef) and we tried to attract sharks by making sounds with an empty water bottle under water. At first we thought it wasn’t working, but suddenly there they were! And loads of them!! Around 10-15 grey reef sharks of different sizes showed up out of the blue, some – including a big one – came very close! It almost became a bit much even for us shark lovers 😉 But definitely a really cool experience. Lastly, we went to the reef off Bahoro Island where a fishing boat crashed into the reef some years ago (noone died). It’s a really cool wreck standing vertically against the reef. Mathijs free dived down a bit, but I’m pretty much stuck to the surface since my ears just won’t equalize when free diving. Unfortunately I had packed my underwater camera somewhere in my big backpack, so no underwater pics of the day!

After some picnic lunch on a deserted island, Lasa dropped us off at Matikuri Lodge – a lodge in the South of the Marovo Lagoon. This is where we spent the next couple of nights, unfortunately mostly stuck in the seemingly never-ending rain… We tried to go snorkelling on the house reef twice, again trying our shark bottle trick – but with not much success. The visibility was also really low due to the rains. In a rain break, we explored the island a bit, first following a trail in the jungle and then walking along the coast. The Solomon Islands are really the place where jungle meets ocean!

The island would be amazing for sure in dry, sunny weather. Heavy rains meant we were stuck to chilling, reading, playing cards and sleeping long most of the time though. On our last day, the weather finally cleared up and we went to two nearby islands for snorkelling. The first place was not that great – low visibility, most coral dead – but suddenly a huuuuge ornate eagle ray showed up right next to it!! It’s wing span must have been at least 3m and it stayed with us a bit until it got scared and quickly ‚flew‘ away. We read up about it later on and found out it’s one of the rarest rays in the world, an endangered species!! I feel soooo lucky to have spotted such a rare animal. Next, we spotted some massive bumphead parrotfish – so all in all a really good snorkel spot in the end.

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We then continued to another island to relax a bit and snorkel more. Here, we saw the occasional reef sharks but visibility was low again. What was amazing though was the coral garden – some of the most intact and beautiful corals I’ve seen! A good end to our time in the Marovo Lagoon…

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From here, we took our ‚beloved‘ MV Anjeanette once again back to Honiara, a 16 h overnight trip in choppy waters. In Honiara, we had 1.5 days mainly to get ourselves a bit organized, do the laundry, book some flights etc. Traveling the Solomon Islands has been an adventure but weather and infrastructure (or lack thereof) made it challenging at times…