Raroia Atoll

About Raroia - our own isle

We master our first riff passage, track down Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki and enjoy our own isle. Certainly we made it to the mooring in front of the small town Nguramoava, but this side of the atoll (west) was facing the easterly winds and we had about 2-3 feet of them.

So, we resolved to take our chance and find our way between the many reef tops on the eastern side of the atoll. Then we found out that we could see the bombs by looking for a colour shift from dark blues to pale blues and/or amber.

Our first attempt to drive directly from the town to the west, however, was made more difficult by a large number of buoy from a bead factory. After a while a motorboat came from the bead factory and showed us the right way to the eastern side. It should go all the way back to the mountain passport and then turn eastwards.

We made it to the sheltered eastern side of Raroia an hours later. inadmissible, if cloud blocks the star (lower picture). At first we found no memorial, but in the end we found an old wood framework of a cottage in the middle of the isle. The next day we spent the evening at anchor behind the Kon Tiki but the next day we started to discover more isles.

Approximately one kilometer away we found a beautiful sand place (here you want to drop anchor otherwise the anchoring necklace can be wound around corals) behind a palm-clad isle. Like all the isles on the eastern side of Raroia, it was deserted, except for a small islet with a bead-hare on it.

Now, the whole Raroia atoll is formally named an islet that has small islands or moto on its round islet. This is our little town, on the right and her little sis on the right. It was too soon and we chose to thank the Isle for welcoming us with a cleaning of the beaches.

The most things we found were old poly bags, old angling lines made of polystyrene, footwear and more polystyrene. It' s a pity to think that so much rubbish has reached the coast of a small uninhabitated Pacific isle. ;-(. Perhaps purchasing fewer drinks in disposable plastics containers or improving the availability of recycled materials would help to build a better tomorrow for the Isle.

We had to do some boating and relax (hanging out on a sunny day is actually quite exhausting!) and almost a whole weekend later we raised the anchors. It seems to show every one of the corals in the area. Soon, I looked more at the maps and less at the sea, until we suddenly saw a reef top right in front of us and had to turn the bike very harshly to prevent it at the last second.

From then on we always look at the sea and only look at the maps when we move over an atoll. The next stop is the atoll of Makema, where we will try to replenish our supplies of groceries (vegetables, cheeses, meats and eggs) and of course snorkel more!