Rangiroa was our port of call today and boy, was it spectacular. This is what you picture when someone talks about the South Pacific.

Rangiroa (said ran-gee-row-a) is the second-largest atoll in the world. The island sunk many thousands of years ago and now just the surrounding coral reef remains and what was the center of the island is now a giant lagoon. The lagoon is large enough for the whole island of Tahiti to fit inside of it. It is so large that when you are on one side of the lagoon (like we are in the beach photos below),it is impossible to see the other bank of the lagoon. Rangiroa is also the most populated atollin the Tuamotu archipelago, though there are only a few thousand residents.

Once we arrived in Rangiroa, we took one of the ship’s tenders to the pier and walked a short distance to a beach. There’s really no top soil on Rangiroa and not much sand … but lots and lots of coral. Flip-flops or aqua socks are a must here. We were joined by a couple, Linda(wife) and Sky (husband) from Ventura. we met them on board a few days ago and we’ve developed a quick friendship. Together, the four of us enjoyed relaxing on the beach, visiting, and taking occasional trips into the warm, amazingly clear waters of Rangiroa’s lagoon.

After several hours on the beach, we returned to the ship, had a nice lunch with Linda and Sky, and spent the afternoon exercising and relaxing. This trip has been great, so far, for recharging our mental batteries.

Later we sailed out of Rangiroa’s lagoon to a terrific sunset and strong seas through the channel leading back to the Pacific.

Sky and Linda opened their suite (and by cruise ship standards, this suite is enormous with a huge wrap-around deck, dining room, and so on) to us for dinner. Room service provided quite a spread for us and we ate on their deck, under the stars, with pleasant temperatures and the sounds of the water below. Magical!

Tomorrow is a day at sea as we make our way back from the Tuamotu Islands to the Society Islands. Our next port of call is on Tuesday in Raiatea, where we will have a full day to enjoy that island’s rugged landscape (we’ve booked a 4WD tour of the island for part of the day).

Wherever you are in the world, we hope you’re enjoying life as much as we are.

(Click each photo below to make it larger, then use the back button to come back to this post. This was an easier way to upload so many photos and at $0.40/minute for Internet … easy = less expensive.)