Rangiroa

Namaste returned to Rangiroa after more than a nine-year absence from this phenomenal atoll, and we had a fantastic 10-day stay.
The past three months have been pretty solitary for Chris and I, but that all changed last week when we pulled into this popular place, and spotted flags from the US, Australia, Denmark, and French on the neighboring cruising boats. Then Team Namaste grew by one member on Sunday when Uncle Bill flew in for a 16-day stay. It's so great to have him here, sharing these great adventures with us.
Rangiroa is an absolute divers paradise and we took full advantage of the spectacular surroundings, including 150-feet visibility and 81-degree water. We made fast friends with four French cruisers and were able to hop into their dinghy for some drift diving. We'd drop outside the pass and descend quickly to about 150-feet, where we'd be surrounded by gray sharks waiting at the pass for breakfast. Chris spotted several schools of eagle rays as well. We'd reach the current pretty quickly and then it was a free-flow float traveling between 1.5 and 2 knots. On our dives, we saw giant Napoleon wrasse, whitecheek surgoenfish, titan triggerfish and pacific double-saddle butterflyfish, just to name a few. There was an awesome cave about halfway into the pass that usually sheltered schools of black-striped surgeonfish and soldierfish, as well as several blacktip and whitetip reef sharks. If you could hold on against the current, it was quite a show!
On Wednesday afternoon, we dropped in with our French friends and Liz, a single-handed American sailor we just met. The groups got separated and we ended up having an amazing dolphin encounter. The Tiputa pass dolphins are legendary and often play and visit the divers cruising in the current. "Touch me", as this dolphin has affectionately been named, swam right up to us, circling very close and showing off its underwater acrobatic skills. It stayed with us for two of its mammal breaths, and took our breath away in the process! What an incredible experience, truly once in a lifetime, and Liz got it on videotape!
Bill got his feet wet this week and started to scuba dive. He's a natural at breathing underwater and we took him outside the lagoon for his first real dive on Thursday. We dove to about 60-feet and checked out all the amazing coral and reef fish, as well as a couple gray sharks that were scoping out the new visitors. Kayaking, paddleboarding, swimming and Chris kiteboarding filled our days with fun, followed by awesome mahi-mahi dinners.
We pulled anchor Friday morning and sailed southwest en route to Moorea. We pulled over at Tetiaroa, the island that was once owned by Marlon Brando, but there were no tenable anchorages so we continued on and pulled into Opunohu Bay last night at sunset.