After a fabulous time celebrating the festival near the Tiputa village, we decided we needed some alone time. Our new destination is a motu called Faama which is on the southern side of the Rangiroa atoll. It would be a short 14 nm sail if the winds cooperated. We hoisted up the sails, set our course and to our great joy it was a perfect run. With full sails we averaged 6 kts in 10-12kts of wind. Not uber fast, but extremely pleasant. We arrived at the western end of the motu, dropped the hook in 9 meters of sandy water. Immediately you could tell that Motu Faama was nirvana. You might recall that the Rangiroa atoll has over 415 motus (islets or little islands) within its lagoons. How did we know to come here? Our good friends on Halcyon mentioned this little slice of heaven.
Motu Faama Google Earth view
The view took our breath away. We anchored sort of near a very small pass between Motu Faama and another small motu. You can see another motu in the background (just over the reef).
Motu Faama a little nirvana
Just a stunning piece of heaven on earth.
Motu Faama waters
Exploring inside the motus:
It did not take us long to blow up the paddle boards and jump right in. We could clearly see a reef between us and the motu which made navigating by dinghy impossible. It is a little maze around all the motus with little passes and lots of shallow spots. We had to carry the SUPs several times over the reefs. The terrain was diverse and remarkable! From pink sandy beaches, to coral, volcanic rock, reef and vegetation.
Terrain on the motus in Rangiroa
The water would fluctuate from turquoise to a brilliant blue between the motus and up the passes.
Every shade of blue represented in these waters
We found several cool spots to hang out including this little gorge on the coral. No coral was damaged during our visit.
All sorts of fun found
The coral was a brilliant display of color under the sea. We fund many fields of branching corals (elkhorn?) Some of the corals were so vibrant they melted my heart Such beauty in the different hues of purple, blue and green.
Corals around Motu Faama
This little fish (top photo) was protecting the large purple lipped clam. A little tilapia was hiding from me (bottom photo).
Fish around Motu Faama
We loved this anchorage and the waters as it was truly nirvana. However, one of the locals was burning copra (coconuts) and we had been living in smoke for many days. The boat was covered in ash and our throats were hurting so we decided to move to Lagon Bleu (or Blue Lagoon).
Blue Lagoon – western side of Rangiroa Lagoon
We got an early start to Lagon Bleu which is located on the western side of the atoll. Based on the weather, we could sail there, but would have to motor back (into the wind and waves). It was “almost” a downwind sail, so we set up to fly Big Bertha, our large spinnaker. It would be a stretch to fly her as it was not really a downwind sail. To our great surprise, we were able to fly her with 8-9 kts of wind coming on the beam! We had no waves or swell so she managed just fine. This is not typical at all. It was crazy good fortune to be able to fly the spinnaker in these wind conditions.
Sailing inside Rangiroa lagoon
As we were making 8 kts of boat speed, we saw a small blip in the distance. Nothing was on our charts (we were running 4 of them). As we approached and zoomed in really close, we found this tiny island, smack in the middle of the lagoon! Good thing we were not traveling at night.
Small island Tiaari
Lagon Bleu
We slowly approached the Lagon Bleu area as we had heard there were lots of bombies (coral heads). A string of motus and coral reefs formed a natural pool on the edge of the main reef, a lagoon within a lagoon. Another nirvana gem inside the Rangiroa atoll.
Lagon Bleu Google Earth Shot
We decided this was a “lunch” stop as the weather conditions were such that it would make for an uncomfortable evening. We hopped in the dinghy and made our way to the small reef opening.
Waters of Blue Lagoon
We had an amazing shot of Sugar Shack just beyond the reef.
Sugar Shack off the reef at Blue Lagoon
After a short walk around the motu we found a nice shallow place populated with dozens of black tip sharks.
Checking out the black tip sharks
We sat in 1’ of water and just admired the graceful beasts. They ranged from babies to about 3.5’ long. I mean really, we were sitting in 12” of water with over 20 black tip sharks around us!
Life is good when you find a hidden nirvana.
Cool links on Blue Lagoon and photos.
A Project and a Laugh:
I did manage to complete one project. Our life line gate pulleys were falling apart. I had made them about 3 years ago out of para-cord. It was time to replace them with new knots and this time I went with a diamond knot.
Gate pulley project
A friend sent me a photo of another Sugar Shack in Seattle. This is funny.
Seattle Sugar Shack
A nirvana it is not, but still fun!