Blaue Lagune Tour

This was an excellent tour and our teen girls thought it was amazing even after 20 days in FP and diving Tiputa pass the day before. Latecia was enthusiastic and cared about us all day and was a total boss with the boat which got rough on the way home. She picked us up from Maitai at 830 as planned. Just a couple of things to prepare yourselves for - it is all day (830-5:30), my one little critique is that it does feel long and I was thoroughly prepared for an all day excursion. It is exposed (all the white tourists got burnt - you must reapply), the boat trip on the way back was an hour of rough conditions, you really need footwear you can wear in the water and your own snorkelling gear and be prepared for periods of chilling - like for half an hour to an hour - I brought a book but in the end we just lolled happily in the water. First, we did a fun drift snorkel in Avatoru pass which was very nice - sharks, schooling fish, moray eel. Then, in placid conditions, we zoomed over to the blue lagoon in 45 mins which is totally stunning and full of small black tips. I counted 20 at one point. We anchored and walked to the motu in kneedeep water (some coral on the bottom). While Latecia, her husband and nephew (all lovely and helpful) were making lunch and weaving us all hats, we lolled with the sharks in the shallow blue lagoon - amazing!. There was a morning tea of coconut and drinks. More lolling and then an amazing lunch - chicken, mahi mahi, raw tuna in coconut, selection of drinks, and then the wind really picked up and the Rangiroa lagoon changed completely to heaving whitecaps. There was then a snorkel nearby where many adult black tips circled and were disturbingly bold - pretty exciting. At a bit after 3, we started going back to base - Latecia reminded me of images of great polynesian navigators as she negotiated the swell expertly. Turns out, that is what her brother does. The last stop, after an hour of pounding, was near Avatoru pass where her family have an idyllic little restaurant/ accommodation on a little lagoon which would be great for families where she served us tea, coffee, milo, biscuits and showed us a map of the lagoon. Turns out, blue lagoon is one of the closest destinations. Île aux recifs is an hour from Rangiroa and Sables Roses is three hours. Anyway, we had our coffee and milo on the waters edge watching fish skipping and children playing before the short trip back to the wharf and then she dropped us home. While Latecia is not particularly comfortable with English - she spoke Tahitian with her family and French with the french speakers - her english was perfectly fine and she was certainly willing to make the effort with us to make sure we were happy and knew what was going on. She had amazing energy and cared for us very well all day.

The lagoon is beautiful but the boat ride was HORRIBLE! We were put in a small boat for 6 not fit for the 1.5 hrs ride, it was EXTREMELY PUMPY and dangerous! AWFUL EXPERIENCE. All of us on the boat were sick. They didn’t even ask us to put lifesavers, i would have NEVER taken such a boat ride if I knew. I do not recommend unless you go on a bigger more stable boat.

superbe journée ou vous nous avez fait découvrir votte île et votre 'agon... merci encore... nous reviendrons