The Tuamotu archipelago is known in the diving community as one of the most beautiful and adrenaline spiking places to spot abundant sealife and do “current diving“. It is a collection of atolls with very little land, often just strips a couple hundred meters wide, encircling a or several lagoons. The topography is strikingly different from the rolling or sometimes imposing hills of the Iles sous le Vent – here, everything is flat as a pancake. The lagoon of Tikehau, our first port of arrival in the Tuamotu, is larger than all of Tahiti, or, otherwise said, the whole of Lac Leman could fit into its lagoon. After 49 hours of non-stop navigation, a galley that looks as if a bomb had exploded on it and two exhausted captains, Gérard finds us gorgeous spot to throw anchor and finally refresh ourselves in the waves. We quickly go off to try find the best spot to explore the pass. Jules drops us off the dinghy near the fish traps and off Thierry, Anjali, Nilay and I go. We don’t see much, but before we can even pop out our heads to signal Jules, we are grabbed by the current and get rushed off through the pass, direction open ocean. We try to grab onto the scaffolding of the traps but they are rusty and pointy and in any event the current is so strong that we cannot hold on for long. Fortunately, Anjali and Nilay keep a cool head and we manage to get out. A lot of excitement after just surviving the open sea crossover! ;.-) Our schedule doesn’t allow us to linger so we head off to Rangiroa that same afternoon, before it gets too dark to pass the pass.
