Rangiroa & Fakarava (French Polynesia) Jan 2023

Intro on French Polynesia

Information on French Polynesia, extracted from https://www.britannica.com/place/French-Polynesia

French Polynesia, overseas collectivity of France, consisting of five archipelagoes in the south-central Pacific Ocean. Included are some 130 islands scattered across the Pacific, a total land area roughly equivalent to that of metropolitan Paris and London combined but spread across a swath of ocean five times as large as France.

The archipelagoes of French Polynesia are the Society Islands, Tuamotu Archipelago, Gambier Islands, Marquesas Islands, and Tubuai Islands. The capital, Papeete, is on Tahiti, French Polynesia’s largest island (403 square miles), in the Society group. All international flights land in Papeete.

Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea are some of the better-known islands in French Polynesia. The two islands I visited were Rangiroa and Fakarava, both belongs to the Tuamotu Archipelago. The Tuamotu Archipelago, lying to the east of the Society Islands, has a land area of 266 square miles and consists of some 80 islands. These are low, flat islands or atolls of coral origin, surrounding a lagoon. Their size varies greatly, from 30 square miles in Rangiroa to a few acres of land barely protruding above the surface of the sea. With only porous, coral-based soils and with no permanent streams, they have no agricultural potential aside from the ever-present coconut trees. The lagoons, however, are a source of fish, pearls, and mother-of-pearl shell.

The climate is tropical—warm and humid. A warm rainy season lasts from November to April, and a relatively cool dry season from May to October. At Papeete the average annual temperature is 26 °C, the high average is 33 °C in March and the low average is 21 °C in August.

The Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan sighted Pukapuka Atoll in the Tuamotu group in 1521. The southern Marquesas Islands were reached in 1595. The Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen in 1722 discovered Makatea, Bora-Bora, and Maupiti. Capt. Samuel Wallis in 1767 reached Tahiti, Moorea, and Maiao Iti. The Society Islands were named for the Royal Society, which had sponsored the expedition under Capt. James Cook that observed from Tahiti the 1769 transit of the Sun by the planet Venus. Cook reached Tubuai on his last voyage, in 1777.

Information on movies related to French Polynesia, extracted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teti%EA%9E%8Caroa

Some of the movies set in Tahiti included Mutiny on the Bounty by Marlon Brando. In 1960, Marlon Brando "discovered" Tetiꞌaroa while scouting filming locations for Mutiny on the Bounty, which was shot on Tahiti and neighbouring Moorea. After filming was completed, Brando hired a local fisherman to ferry him to Tetiꞌaroa. It was "more gorgeous than anything I had anticipated," he marvelled in his 1994 autobiography Songs My Mother Taught Me. Brando eventually purchased Tetiꞌaroa's islets (motus). Brando decided on the purchase in 1966, having to endure political interference and local resistance to secure the atoll, reef and lagoon, all of which is now the property of French Polynesia. Eventually the village became a modest hotel managed by Marlon's Tahitian wife, Tarita Teriipaia, who had played his on-screen love in Mutiny on the Bounty.

12 Jan 2023 - Auckland transit and Tahiti - Papeete

Air NZ staff in Singapore politely told me that I must check in one of my bags cos the flight from Singapore to Auckland was full that day. I happened to sit between a kind couple from Wellington, and another lady (initially sat next to her husband, they swapped seats later). Food was good. Landed on time in the morning. Showered in the shower facility and slept in the departure hall, before heading to the lounge for food and another shower in the lounge. 9-hour of transit in Auckland passed by in no time.

The Flight to Papeete was slightly delayed. Full flight, lucky I managed to do online check in before the actual flight, and got an aisle seat booked. Landed at 1am. Airport tarmac was wet, from the rain earlier. There was a ukulele band performing in the arrival hall, welcoming the passengers, which was nice. Immigration queue was long, 2 counters for EU nationals, another 2 for all other passports, you can imagine.

When I approached the staff at Tahiti Exchange, I was told that foreigners can only exchange 500 euros worth of CPF from Tahiti Exchange per day. I took a taxi to my lodge for the night. The lodge owner was waiting for me. I quickly went to sleep after a quick shower.

P2. Lodge at Papeete.

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I woke up around 7am in the morning and had breakfast. That was the last time I had fruits for days to come. Mangoes from the lodge owner’s garden was very sweet. There were 2 lady cyclists from New Caledonia having breakfasts at the same time. One of them accidentally left her phone on the table and went out.

I walked to the town centre of Papeete to change more CPF, in slight drizzle (15-minute walk). Local banks only exchange money if you have an account with them, which means I couldn't. I ended up changing money at a tour company in town, at a reasonable rate.

The lodge owner sent me to the city centre to take bus to the airport to save cost (public bus to the airport cost only 200 CPF). Public bus 02 to Outermauro was slowly making its way to the airport, and the journey took about 20 minutes. I quickly walked towards the Air Tahiti counter to check in my luggage. Showers and sunshine came and go throughout that morning. The reason why Papeete got so much rains while some other atolls like Rangiroa and Fakarava do not was because Papeete has mountains to intercept the rain.

13 Jan 2023 - Rangiroa

The domestic flight to Rangiroa by Air Tahiti took off on time and headed towards sunshine in Rangiroa. Free seating. Pineapple juice was served on board. The design on the cup was so cute I kept it as souvenir.

Beautiful atoll appeared as I looked out from the window of the aircraft. I quickly snap pictures.

P6. View of Papeete from the plane.

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P10. Pineapple juice served on Air Tahiti flight.

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P12. Atolls seen from the plane.

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P15. Tiputa Pass seen from the plane.

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P17. A boat entering the pass.

After landed at Rangiroa, the owner of the homestay greeted me at the airport. I passed her my luggage, and waited awhile more for the pick up by the dive centre. The first officer rushed down from the plane to pass me my passport, which I accidentally left at the seat pocket when I disembarked, cos I changed my seat midway.

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The dive centre came to pick me up for the afternoon dive. The dive in the afternoon was totally amazing, we saw dolphins up close twice. The divers from USA told me they saw hammerhead shark in their morning dives.

P19.Screenshots of dolphins from Gopro videos.

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V0. Turtle was chased and attacked by a trigger fish, signalling us a great dive ahead.


V1: Video compiled by fellow diver Matt from the USA


After the dive, I went back to the homestay for change of clothes, before biking out for dolphin spotting at Tiputa Pass. I had to be careful as the bike has no light, and the pedal and breaks were broken. I met a couple there, Andi from Germany and Jamiliah from Paraguay (based in Germany). Andi had a good camera and long lens to capture the dolphins flipping in Tiputa Pass, while Jamiliah had good eyesight to pick up the leaping dolphins. They were on their year-long round the world trip, and will head towards USA and Panama after this before going to Paraguay. They stayed in a boat in another island in French Polynesia, as their friend was taking care of a boat for a French owner. Andi and Jamiliah passed me baguettes and eggs as dinner treat for the night. I bought a can of tuna from the owner as extra protein.

P25. Main road along Rangiroa.

P26. More expensive lodging options.

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P34. Dolphin viewing at Tiputa Pass.

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Breaking news: Yeti Air's plane YT693 from Kathmandu to Pokhara new International Airport crashed near Pokhara, killing all 68 on board. That was also the flight that I took back in Apr 2022 (3rd flight of the day from Kathmandu to Pokhara, mine was YT673), which didn’t manage to land in Pokhara old airport at that time, and had to return to Kathmandu.

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14 Jan 2023 - Rangiroa Day 2

The breakfast prepared by the homestay owner was nice. What was not so nice was I turned on the A/C without realising that there was a charge of 1500 CPF per night. I only saw the notice on the wall the next morning.

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I had 3 dives with the dive centre, but I was with different guides this time. I didn’t see any dolphins or hammerhead shark. Supposedly Jan - Mar is the hammerhead season in the region.

Lunch was at the dive centre, the sashimi in coconut milk prepared by the cafeteria affiliated with the dive centre was delicious.

P50. Yummy Shashimi.

After the dives, I cycled to the minimart to buy instant noodles and tunas to bring over to Fakarava. Met divers from the same group at Tiputa Pass. Arthur and Barldir were spotting dolphins.

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15 Jan 2023 - Rangiroa - Fakarava

The next day, Arthur and Barldir went to Tiputa Pass to test out their drone. Unfortunately, the drone couldn’t be launched as the location where we were at was deemed too near to the airport. Barldir pointed to the luxury boat parked near the jetty and said that was the boat of Brad Pitt, that boat has a slide.

P53. Little sharks.

P54. Arthur and Barldir on the bikes

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The owner of the homestay sent me to the airport just in time before the rain started. Arthur and Barldir were there too to board another plane at a slightly later time bound for Papeete. Barldir told me we could get passport stamped by the airline staff, and I used my log book as stamps collector.

There was a souvenir shop in the airport of Rangiroa, and I thought I could get some postcards about Rangiroa. All I got was postcards about Bora Bora, Tahiti and Tukehao, lol. It was not until I returned to Papeete Airport before I could find postcards about Rangiroa and Fakarava.

P59. Boarding in the rain.

I boarded the plane using umbrella in the shower, same like how the boarding was like 2 days ago in Papeete.

Fakarava

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The plane departed punctually and landed in Fakarava in sunny weather 40 minutes later, totally different from the gloomy weather in Rangiroa. I got down the plane in the sun, hooray! The airport in Fakarava was even smaller than the one in Rangiroa. There was no meet and greet by the owner, instead I will be taking a school bus that will drop off passengers one by one for those participating lodges. I was the first to be dropped as the lodge that I will be staying (Relais Marama in Rotoava Village) was the nearest to the airport. Luggage were stashed in the other pickup truck that was trailing behind the bus.

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P68. The school bus that will deliver us to our lodges.

P69. Pat took photo of Pépito and Charline, with me in the background. At that time, I didn't know them.

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Harris greeted me and handed me the keys to the bungalow. No shoes/slippers in the dining hall and toilets. Wifi available in the reception area and inside the bungalows. We were near an elementary school.

P72. Main road in Fakarava.

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P77. Bangalows in Relais Marama.

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P79. The lighthouse near where I stayed.

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I cycled out to hand my diving gear to the diving centre, about 1km away. Initially I thought the bike has no functioning brake (just like the one in Rangiroa), but afterwards I discovered that the bike will slow down and stop once you pedal in anti-clockwise direction.

On the way, I saw an old man feeding a big bird.

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I met Patricia near the reception area as she was waiting for the e-bike lady to exchange a fully-charged bike with her. E-bike rental cost 5,000 CPF a day. I felt that the sun set early here, around 6+pm. The two of us went to Rotoava Grill for dinner, and we both ordered Chao Mien (1300 CPF). Patricia and I tried to look for the reef sharks that she saw near the beach in the morning, but we couldn’t find them in the dark.

16 Jan 2023 - Fakarava

The next day, I woke up early to see the sunrise near the beach. Sunrise here was early, around 530am. There were crabs near the beach. Elisa from California was also there in her beach towel to enjoy the sunrise

P83B. The moon was still high up in the sky, before the sunrise.

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After breakfast, I was picked up by Thibaut at 645am. Thibaut drove to another nearby lodge to pick up the American duo, a father and son from Oahu, Hawaii (Adrian and Josaiah). They dove in Rangiroa 10 years ago, when Josaiah just got his OW at 10 years old. They didn’t see any dolphins at that time.

We headed out to the North Pass for 2 dives and the experience was fantastic. We saw a manta when we were doing decompression stop, and a school of dolphins near out boat on separate occasions.

V3. Manta Ray seen during decompression stop:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


V4. Having break at North Pass:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


V5. Dolphin seen from the boat:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


V6. O2 Dive Centre:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


After the morning dives, I cycled out towards the airport and the scorching sun forced me to take shelter at the airport. I saw the rain from across the lagoon and decided to cycle back to Marama, but was still short of reaching Marama before the shower started. Luckily rain here didn’t last long and I managed to reach Marama relatively dry.

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Patricia and I went to meet her friends (Pépito and Charline) who were staying somewhere further than the dive centre. Her friends Pépito and Charline were on the same flight as me yesterday (which I only found out from a picture sent by Patricia after I returned to Singapore). Pépito bought us one round of beer. There was another gentleman who was also in the same flight as the 3 of us yesterday, staying in the same place as Pépito and he recognised me. We took pictures of the sunset while in Pépito and Charline’s place. Pépito and Charline told me that they will be going for Scuba diving at the South Pass with O2 Fakarava (the dive centre I booked my dives with), what a coincidence!

P93. Sunset.

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Too bad we couldn’t have dinner at Pépito and Charline’s lodge as the meals were only catered to the tenants at dinner time (lunch was open to outsiders), and it came as a package. We cycled back to Rotoava Village in the dark as street lights only exist from the airport till Rotoava Village. No eateries were seen opened near Marama as it was a Monday night. Patricia and I cycled back to Marama to cook instant noodles for dinner. Rain came in the night, but as usual, the rain didn’t last.

17 Jan 2023 - Fakarava

Today only 4 people breakfasts place were prepared, compared to the 9 seats I saw yesterday. Most people had flown out. I followed another dive guide Mathieu to the South Pass, together with Adrian and Josaiah. I naively thought the trip yesterday was to the South Pass. Today was the real deal. Adrian told me and Thibaut that the weather radar check that he did for the island this morning didn’t look promising. True enough, the rain came and we headed out in the rain, where everywhere looked gloomy, and I felt cold in the wind. Miraculously, the rain abated after about 15 minutes, and by the time we were in South Pass, it was clear blue sky. Thibaut told me afterwards that the rain near Rotoava Village didn’t stop until 10am, and the sun only came out at 12pm. Our escapade to the South Pass was a good choice. What I didn’t know was, the owner at Marama, Harris, helped me close the windows in my room before the rain, otherwise my bed might have been wet.

P103. Heading out to the South Pass in miserable cold rainy weather.

P104. Weather turned out to be ok in the South Pass though.

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Our two dives at the South Pass with Mathieu were amazing, we saw the famous wall of sharks. Lunch at the rose sand beach was another joyous occasion. The food was delicious.

After finishing the two dives, it was another 1.5 hours of boat trip back to the dive centre. By the time we reached the dive centre, it was around 4+pm. As usual, we got ready our logbooks to record down the details and animals seen. A bottle of rum was waiting on the table for us.

After the dives, I cycled to the minimart at the petrol station to see what they have. No fruits on sale, and certainly no eggs. I managed to buy a loaf of bread. Thibaut told me that the supply ship from Papeete come every Wednesday (petrol and some supplies). Another bigger ship (red colour) come every 2 weeks, on a Sunday, will bring more food supplies from Papeete, but goods in the minimart runs out fast. One has to pre-order in order to reserve certain hot items that everybody wants to buy.

Patricia and I cycled to meet Pépito and Charline for another round of beer before stopping at Elda for dinner. Elda only sell meals made of fish. We ate there and went back to Marama. En-route, I passed the videos to Adrian while the shower started. I also asked the owner of the bungalow where Adrian was staying, if Patricia and I can have dinner at her place if we pay for it, the answer is no. She only cooks for her guests. Her cooking was fantastic according to Adrian and Thibaut.

P106. Bread fruit.

18 Jan 2023 - Fakarava

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The next day, I went out for 2 morning dives with a lady dive guide. I was the only diver for the next two days as this is the slow season for diving in Fakarava apparently. During the 2nd dive, I used up so much air that I had to do air share with her towards the end. The dive towards Alibaba Channel was exhausting. Visibility was not as good due to the outer current that brought out seawater from the lagoon out into the open sea. While filling up log book at the dive centre after the 2 dives, Pépito and Charline came to the dive centre to buy the souvenir t shirt.

O2 Fakarava diving centre.
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The afternoon dive was with Mathieu and the manta research team. We saw a total of 5 mantas! The lady researcher accidentally left her camera at the diving centre, and Thibaut went to return the camera to her. There was vanilla farming at the lodge that she stayed.

V7. Two mantas:


Patricia and I went to take sunset pictures near the jetty in front of the petrol station. We ordered pizza from Toa Pizza, and they told us to return one hour later to pick up the pizza. I uploaded some of my own manta videos and sent to the lady researcher that I dove with in the afternoon.

P116. Reef shark.

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Patricia went to Blue Lagoon excursion earlier in the morning. Adrian and Josaiah were with her in the same excursion.

While eating pizza, Patricia intro me to another dive coach Isabelle, who was having her vacation familiarising herself with the North Pass. She works for Top Dive, and was stationed in the South Pass since October 2022. She couldn’t speak English as fluently, but she was full of dive stories and knowledge that I kept asking for more. Tomorrow, she will be heading to the North Pass for 2 morning dives with Top Dive, while I will be doing similar dives with my dive agency O2 Fakarava.

19 Jan 2023 - Fakarava

Mathieu came to pick me up and there were other instructor divers that were going to dive with Thibaut that morning. We headed out to North Pass and had better visibility than yesterday. We saw the divers from Top Dive and I waved my hand frantically to Isabelle. We saw dolphins while we were resting before our second dive. The dolphins leapt out of water high. Another dive guide also saw a fish leapt out of water, probably chased by a predator underwater.

Second dive was with Thibaut and Mathieu, and we experienced stronger current. Wall of sharks greeted us near the ledge.

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P125. Reef sharks.

After the 2 dives, we headed back to the dive centre. I showed Isabelle the videos I captured this morning. Isabelle explained to me some of the creatures I saw. Her sense of humour always made me laugh.

In the evening, we went to see sunset, and this time, since the weather improved, we saw majestic sunset and amazing glow colours after the sunset.

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P129. According to Patricia, this is a french game!! La pétanque very very popular in the south of France at Marseilles. For more info: https://www.petanque.world/fr/le-jeu

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V8. Sunset near jetty:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


Dinner was at the Hirinaki Lounge Restaurant at Rotoava Village, and the food was good. Thibaut, Mathieu and their friends were also there having a good time there. We said hi and Isabelle chatted with them briefly.

The wifi at the bungalow was still not working, so I have to connect to the wifi near the reception.

20 Jan 2023 - Fakarava

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This morning, the pick-up was 740am, which was later than the 645am I had on the first day, and it all has to do with the current. Even Patricia left before Thibaut came to pick me up, normally I left Marama earlier than the ladies.

V9. Sunrise timelapse:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


First dive was in relatively calm water with Mathieu and we saw wall of sharks towards the end of the dive. Second dive was challenging, as the current was pushing from sideway into the lagoon, and we had a good time viewing the sharks from the ledge, albeit strained by the strong current. After 10 minutes of trying to stay in the same spot while being pushed by the relentless current, we headed out to Alibaba Canyon. All the fish were seeking shelter in Alibaba Canyon. Since this is the new moon period (Chinese New Year 1st day will be the next day), the fishes were busy spawning. The sharks were tumbling around in the current, all the while lurking around the helpless spawning fish, ready for a feast. It was a magical dive site to say the least. I had to keep watching my no-deco timing and ready to move on if it ever hit 5 minutes.

P139. Alibaba Canyon.

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V10. Alibaba Canyon:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


Afternoon dive was with two French divers who stayed in Marama as well, and we saw dolphins swimming fast in the sea. They used to dive with Mathieu back in Papeete when Mathieu was working there.

When I returned to Marama, Isabelle told me that the flights from Fakarava to Papeete for the next few days were all full, the earliest flight to Papeete will be next Thursday. I was quite surprised as for the past two flights I took, from Papeete to Rangiroa and from Rangiroa to Fakarava, they were all half full only. The ladies managed to buy half a watermelon from the minimart today, and picked up old coconut to scoop up the flesh inside. There was no coconut juice though, as the coconuts were old.

Dinner was at the same restaurant, except that today there was a ukulele band performing. We were having so much fun listening to the songs and enjoying our food. The fish that I ordered came with a choice of vanilla sauce.

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V11. Ukulele Band performing:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)

21 Jan 2023 - Fakarava

Sunrise at 5am. My milo rations ran out so I had vanilla tea as breakfast beverage, and it tasted awesome.

V12. Sunrise timelapse:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


V13. Fakarava Sunrise video:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


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This morning we had 2 dives at South Pass. We picked up an American couple (Jonathan and his wife, from LA) at the same place where the Americans (Adrian and Josaiah) stayed. They were from Rangiroa for the past few days, and will be in Fakarava for a week. They told me that it rained in Rangiroa quite often while they were there, and as a result the surf and waves were causing the scuba to be a bit more challenging, especially the boat trip to the pass and back. They were thankful that the weather here was fine.

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The two dives in South Pass were good, especially with good weather and incoming current came good visibility. A total of 9 of us went for the trip, and we split into 2 groups.

V14. Eagle Ray:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


V15. Sharks:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


V16.(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


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V18. Tetamanu Village near South Pass:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


V19. Rose Sand Beach:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


V20. Dogs at Tetamanu Village:(Please change the youtube viewing setting to the highest possible for better experience)


Lunch was amazing as usual. The American couple chatted with me. They used to stay in Hong Kong and travel to many parts of Asia for scuba. We also chatted briefly about the homeless people in LA.

P170. Wall of sharks.

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The sun was scorching hot, I had to stand in the shade to bear with the 1.5-hour boat ride back to the centre. After the dives, I went back to settle the bill and returned to Marama.

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Thibaut told me there is definitely corruption in French Polynesia, and he had an encounter with the previous mayor, who asked for under table payment in exchange for approving his dive centre application. Thibaut took none of it and engaged a lawyer to challenge the mayor instead, and won.

Dinner was at Rotoava Grill. We had watermelon as fruits, which was a welcome fruit relief.

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22 Jan 2023 - Fakarava

It was a thunderstorm during midnight, it felt slightly colder in the next morning. Mathieu came over to retrieve the videos. I showed him some of the videos I took and transferred to his MacBook. He knew some of the guests here as he had worked in a few dive agencies in Papeete, and some of these guys dove with him in Papeete before. He was on leave today, and needed to call him girlfriend in France, whom he met in Tahiti last time when she came over for dive vacation.

Patricia and I went to the harbour to see the ukulele band welcoming passengers from a cruise ship. All the restaurants are closed so we had to cook our own lunch. There was still watermelon in the fridge yes! Isabelle came back to Marama dancing and announced that she saw 3 mantas and 1 hammerhead at 20m. Amazing dives today from all 4 companies who went out to the North Pass today.

P176. Cruise ship.

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P178. Ukulele band welcoming the cruise passengers. It was the same band that played in Hirinaki Lounge Restaurant.

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The bus came to pick us up at 3pm. While waiting at the airport, Patricia told me that Isabelle and Anyika were outside the airport, as their boat need to pick up guests arriving in the flight later to Tetamanu Village (near South Pass). We bade farewell for the 2nd time at the Fakarava Airport, and boarded the plane. Papeete was in raining mode as expected. Since I have 8 hours of layout in Papeete Airport, I just bought a wrap as dinner and waited for AirNZ check in to open. As I enter the toilet in Papeete Airport, two security officers were having arm wrestling using the washing basin platform, it was hilarious.

P184. Saying goodbye to Harris and Isabelle.

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P189A. Isabelle waving at us from Relais Marama. (with label)

P189B. Isabelle waving at us from Relais Marama. (without label) You can click on the photo and enlarge it to see Isabelle.

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P191. Fortune cookie served for Chinese New Year, by Air Tahiti.

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P194. Sailing boats near Papeete Airport.

23 Jan 2023 - Papeete and Auckland

The flight to Papeete was not full, there was an empty row behind me, but the stewardess let a mother and a baby occupy it instead which I think is fair cos as she explained, it is better for the baby and the rest of the passengers.

When I woke up, all the passengers around me were already having their breakfasts. I quickly requested for a breakfast as well, and the stewardess promptly brought me a set. The flight landed in Auckland punctually. Unlike the transit security check the other day where I was the only one, this time there was a long queue.

Boarding for the return flight to Singapore was eventful. A lady collapsed due to medical condition near the entrance, and the crew straight away paged for doctor and any personnel that can speak Hebrew to come forward to help. Medical personnel from the airport came in with stretcher and medical supplies. Boarding was halted while the unfortunate passenger was taken care off. The passenger and her travel companion were eventually carted off and boarding resumed.

The article I wrote for Singapore newspapers on the two islands were published on 13 Apr 2023.

Note:

1. Currency in French Polynesia is loosely pegged to Euro, at a published rate. Each tourist can change for 500 euros worth of Euro into CDP, and they accept many different currencies including SGD, though euro probably gives you the best exchange rate, with the narrowest spread. No exchange is allowed in the local banks unless you have a bank account with them. You can change your money with the tour companies in Papeete, some only accept USD, some only accept Euro, some accept both, and they are opened Monday to Saturday, half day on Saturday. You can also use ATM to withdraw cash, but sometimes the ATM in island is not working. Credit cards are accepted at some places in the island. You can change back unused CPF to any currency at Tahiti Exchange, though changing back to Euro gives you the best exchange rate probably.

2. Even though it was the rainy season in Tahiti in January when I went, Tuamuto islands only saw showers from time to time and diving is still possible. In fact, weather in Fakarava was better than I initially anticipated. Rangiroa was in line with what I anticipated.

3. North Pass in Fakarava offered myriads of marine lives and is more challenging, South Pass was easier in terms of diving, but longer in journey time to get to from the dive centres. Diving pick up time was dependent on tide and current for the day, and we entered during slack tide. Rangiroa was famous for the dolphins in Tiputa Pass (and hammerhead shark if you are lucky), while Fakarava was famous for the wall of sharks. Dolphins in Fakarava were of a different species and generally stay shy away from divers, unlike those in Rangiroa.

4. Restaurants are usually only opened in day time. It will be hard to find one that is opened during night time. Most restaurants are closed on Monday. Most shops are closed on Sunday.

5. Minimart has limited supply of stocks and popular items run out fast in both Rangiroa and Fakarava.

6. Locals here were friendly. A greeting of Iaorana will goes a long way.

7. French is the language here, so some conversational French will get you further.

8. Prices here are expensive as everything has to be shipped from Papeete, and the ships only droopy at specific days in a month.

9. You can use Tahiti Air Pass to save money on flights, do check out the various passes available for different regions in French Polynesia.

10. There are LOB available in Fakarava, to dive in outer atolls where no dive centre operates.

11. Sunrise and sunset in Rangiroa and Fakarava were amazing. I could never get tired of the views.

12. The Polynesian cooking was really delicious, I enjoyed my meals thoroughly.

13. Bicycle was the easy way to get around island. Learn how to apply breaks on the bike. E-bike will save you energy.

14. There was no coconut water for sale here, as the coconuts were used more for oil production.

15. Sun protection was definitely needed here as the sun was scorching hot in the afternoon, more so than Singapore. Bring either sun screen or towel, or long sleeve.

16. The two flights I took were all half-full, except for the last flight from Fakarava to Papeete. Do book and check in in advance.

17. The socket here used 2 round pins. A two-round-pin plug with multiple USB outlets will be useful.

18. There was only primary school up till 10 years old in Fakarava, for higher learning, one has to go to Rangiroa or Papeete.

19. They have pearl ornaments here for sale as souvenirs.

20. Anti-nuclear bombs testing in French Polynesia movement is known as 193.

21. Tiare is the national flower in French Polynesia, ladies will adorn themselves with the flower. Every morning, Marama will put a tiare flower at the cup of each guest to greet them for breakfast.

22. There is a cargo boat that travel among the islands to Marquesas, and they do take passengers leaving on board if they have the time and patience to wait for the lengthy loading and unloading in each port the ship dock. A cheaper alternative compared to flying.

23. Termites is a problem in Fakarava.

24. Drinking water is precious in Fakarava and Rangiroa. We fill our bottles from the water tumbler.

25. What made this trip so special was that: some of the people that I have met, except a few, will not be there anymore even if I made the exact itinerary again. Travellers, divers, dive guides that one met, come and go, very transient.

26. About 800 dwellers in Fakarava Island.

27. If you sleep through your meals in AirNZ, they will skip you. Make sure you are awake when they have meals being served else they will take it that you are not going to have your meals. Apply for NZeta before your transit. It is good for multiple entry within the 2 year period.

28. Three days after I returned to Singapore, Auckland airport was flooded. It was reopened a few days later to international flights.

P195.

29. Flight route from Singapore to Papeete, French Polynesia, via Auckland, New Zealand.

P196.

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