Tuesday 16 May – finding a picnic spot on our ebikes

We headed into the dinghy dock after breakfast, with the plan to hire e bikes so we could cycle around the island as far as we could, and hopefully check out the other two supermarkets. At the dock we met a British guy whose boat we had seen in Fakarava, we exchanged stories of where we were in the big storm, he said they were in Fakarava and before they departed for here they had gone to help Prof-a-sea, the South African solo sailor, get off the coral. He said it had required a number of boats and lots of horsepower, but they eventually managed to drag her off the coral, and that the damage did not seem too bad. She had been on one of the two mooring balls that we had used at the anchorage next to the North Pass. It was reassuring in a way to know that it was not the mooring ball that had broken but her line onto the mooring ball. Good to know she is off and that the boat was not wrecked. Sounds like her rudder was badly damaged but all fixable apparently.

It was boiling hot, so just as well to have e bikes, we would not have survived otherwise! They were big heavy old bikes, but went at such a speed that my legs could not keep up with the peddling! We found the supermarket after cycling the length of the runway which seems to have pretty substantial planes coming in. This is where Han flew to Tahiti from. Rangiroa is the most populated island in the Tuamotus and the villages, side by side are much busier than at Fakarava. We found the supermarkets with much better supplies and planned to make some purchases on our way back. We found a lovely little French place on the road selling home made sandwiches, in delicious brown baguettes. We bought a couple and asked if they knew anywhere there was a beach to go to. Sadly she said everywhere is private, there is just the one public beach which we went to yesterday near the anchorage. We decided to cycle around the whole island, only one road running up the middle with a bit of a turn around at the other end where there is another pass. We passed a couple of smart schools, school busses and an impressive medical centre. The french seem to be good at helping out the communities. The pass here looked pretty choppy and obviously not used by sailing boats. This far end of the island was very much the locals area and too far away for any tourists.

We finally found a road down to the beach on the windward side, with some lovely shade. We had a good picnic of our sandwiches and had an enjoyable hour or so reading. On our return we did a bit of provisioning and were delighted to find some huge avocados. We also stopped off at a Pearl shop as we are on a mission to find a round black pearl for a friend’s daughter. We hopefully have the right thing, but I think the price has rocketed in the last few years. We got back to the bike hire with a minute to spare before 4pm which is when they had to be back by.

We came back into the village for supper at the place we visited yesterday, Relais de Josephine. It really is an amazing setting on the pass. This pass is one of the most famous dive sites in the Tuamotus, made famous by the dolphins that seem to love playing, swimming in the strong current of this pass. I saw two dolphins jump so high out of the water it was incredible, sadly it was so quick Rowan missed it.

We had a good meal, lots of fish and not much veg but all washed down very well with a bottle of rose that went straight to my head after a G&T! It was great to eat some fish again, although Rowan did have to enquire what it was and confirm that it was ciguatera free, a toxin the reef fish carry here that causes terrible food poisoning in people. Weird that the locals seem so blase about it, as it is cumulative.

Our lunch stop on the windward side. Our roll up beach mats we bought on one of our first sailing trips to Croatia, over 15 years ago! They have soft rubber tubes and are incredibly comfy on stoney/corally beaches.

My fancy head gear!

Sunset over the anchorage