16.13S 148.43W  Sunday 20^th April.  We are now half way between Rangiroa and Tahiti.  The full moon rose last night on our port side at the same time as the sun set on our starboard – quite awesome.

Rangiroa is the largest atoll of the Tuamotus – the lagoon is 45 nautical miles long and 18 miles wide and to put it in perspective the whole land mass of Tahiti would fit inside it!  There are only two passes into the lagoon, just three miles apart, the Avatoru pass which has less current in normal conditions – 4 knots –  is shallower than Tiputa pass, which although deeper can have up to 10 knots of current ripping through.  The currents are dependent on many things including the moon and can change direction and speed literally within minutes……….  Understandably we were heading for Avatoru pass, but listening on the VHF to all the other yachts’ experiences.  It was amazing to hear the more powerful boats telling their tales of entering Tiputa with standing waves, 8 knot currents, cockpits being engulfed with waves, surfing into the lagoon at 10 knots, huge dolphins jumping clean over their bowsprits in play and surging, boiling waters.  By the time we were in the vicinity an hour later the same pass was totally benign so we decided to enter here too and did so without any current whatsoever. 

The anchorage in Rangiroa is completely different to Manihi – again very picturesque but just a couple of hundred yards from a smart hotel with decking reaching into the sea, more accessible beaches and a few restaurants.  That first day there we concentrated on fixing the watermaker, without success, and emailed Spectra USA headquarters for further help to restore matters.

Rangiroa anchorage and beach bars….

Inside the lagoon there is a famous mini atoll named ‘The Blue Lagoon’ and the next day about 25 of us set off in three power boats to enjoy the day there – although Bennett sailed with Spectra and stayed over night.  Speeding along in the lagoon we might well have been at sea as you couldn’t see the opposite horizon.  The highlight of the day – quite apart from the superb snorkelling, beautiful island and tasty lunch -  was the proximity to black tip sharks in their droves.  We had seen one or two in Manihi but this was a different experience with scores swimming around us on the shallow house reef.  After lunch the boat men fed the sharks all the leftovers and some of our braver number held on to the anchor rope to watch!

Arriving in the shallow waters surrounding the Blue Lagoon Motu

Young black tip sharks feeding near the shore

Swimming near Mum and Dad was an experience!

Coral gardens full of life

Pretty angel fish

Shoal of seabass….

Paul snorkelling

And a drink in the lagoon

Watching the sharks

The brave lining up for the feeding frenzy!

By the time we arrived back at the boat we had had a reply from Spectra – with detailed advice on how to temporarily fix our watermaker.  The diagnosis was split annular rings (ours is an older model and these rings have since been upgraded to a more robust material).  So, we stripped down the unit, found the annular rings and removed them by fabricating a tool to gently hammer them out of their cylindrical tube.  These rings endure enormous amounts of pressure when salt water is being pushed through the filters leaving behind the salt deposits.  Once out we could see the hair line cracks -  the advice for a temporary solution was to put them back end to end which we did and hey presto!  We have made a full tank of water – done three very overdue clothes washes, all had showers and now hope to receive our spares in Tahiti to fix the problem properly.

Rangiroa is a lovely, idyllic hideaway – a couple of well stocked shops, a great cheap and cheerful lunchtime café over the water, small happy children playing non stop in the sea, the reefs teeming with fish and colourful coral and the more sophisticated hotel close by for evening cocktails and dinner.  We anchored next to a long abandoned yacht – now the habitat for many thousands of sooty terns – the cacophony of their joyful morning and evening choir a sound to behold!  Every now and then the entire flock would have a feeding frenzy when a shoal of fish rose to the surface and then return ‘home’ – some however were too full and exhausted to quite make it and made a brief stop over……

Sooty terns on the wreck…..

And stopping for a rest….