A Day at Sea, then Rangiroa

Day 4 - at sea

Rangiroa is quite the distance from Huahine, so we had a full day of sailing, and woke up the next morning in Rangiroa.

This map shows that Rangiroa is really way out of the way for the ships itinerary 

Andrea & I were sharing a cabin and had closed our curtains before going to bed.  Much to our surprise we really slept in!  Almost until 10 am.  While we had no specific plans for the day - you have to be careful on Sea days if don't have a wake up call set or an alarm, it is easy to sleep in later than you think.  With the shades drawn, it completely dark in your cabin and that tells your body to sleep, sleep, sleep.  Our friends Michael & Cathy slept with their curtains partially open, so when the sun started coming in they woke up -- very smart.

The happy Couple 

Our day at sea was a lazy one.  Time spent around the pool, reading, checking out every nook & cranny of the ship and of course eating!  So much food on a cruise.  We enjoyed some time in the sun, as well as the ship board gym, overall a very relaxing day



For dinner Andrea & I celebrated the night with Dave & Kelly who had just tied the knot before the trip.  It was a fabulous evening, so nice of them to let us share their celebration.  It was the first of the formal nights so we were all dressed up.  It was fun!




Day 5 - Rangiroa


Today's excursion was with a company called 'The Six Passengers', they are primarily a Dive company but they do snorkel trips as we'll.  For diving they take out Six people at a time, thus the name of the company.

Arnauld The Dive Master 

Dave had discovered this company and he and Kelly were diving. The rest of us were going to do a drift snorkel.   I booked our snorkel tour not knowing that Dave & Kelly booked an excursion through them as well.  I used a 3rd party, Dave went direct.   I recommend going direct.

I don't mind using a 3rd party as long as we get great service.  It's always slow communicating with the Islands, but the company I used was really slow! I will not mention them in this blog because they delivered what they promised, but I was not impressed enough with their services to recommend them.   However, The 6 Passengers I very much recommend, and if you are a diver, this is the company to use.  I say this because of what I heard from fellow Princess passengers had to say about other dive operations on this island.


We disembarked the ship to find Helen organizing her 3 different groups and getting them ready for the short trip to their base of operations.  It was a quick 10 minute drive.  The facility is very nice, clean and well maintained.  Because we were snorkeling, and not diving, we were able to take 8 people. Everyone was offered wetsuits if they liked, then it was off with our guide Arnauld, to board our Zodiac.  We also had a Captain to drive the Zodiac.

Our main reason for booking this excursion was to do a drift snorkel at the Tiputa Pass.  If you dive. Tiputa Pass is great for reef sharks (and also possibly hammerhead), dolphins (sometimes they come and play with you!), eagle rays, manta rays, barracudas, tunas, and many other smaller colorful fish!

On the boat ride to and from dive sites at Tiputa Pass, you might even see dolphins jumping out of the water playing with the waves.   We went there first, and had a lovely snorkel.  Unfortunately the currents were not cooperating and were very mild.  So much for 'drifting'.  Upon returning from vacation and reading more about the Pass, I think you really get the most out of this area by diving.  Dave & Kelly dove there, and said it was wonderful.  
Our next stop was at a area they call 'The Aquarium'  and it was easy to see why.  The area was teeming with all kinds of fish.  We saw beautiful coral heads packed with every type of fish.

On our way back to the base, Arnauld tried very hard to find dolphins, with no success.






When we for back to base, lunch was waiting.  We sat outside and enjoyed the warm trade winds as we ate.

After Lunch, some of us snorkeled off the beach, other walked around the base, and a few other found a place for a little nap!

View from the base beach 

Michael & Edward snooze

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The 6 Passengers base is a very pleasant,  place to spend the afternoon.  We headed back to the Princess at 3pm, again exhausted from being in the sun all day!  A round of naps for all!

snorkeling off the beach 

Photos in todays blog: Cathy, Kelly, Andrea & the ships photographer took the nice shot of Kelly & Dave

Businesses recommended in this blog:

The Six Passengers: http://www.the6passengers.com/en/

Until next time, safe travels
Susan