Rangiroa, French Polynesia
1st May - 27th May 2004
Our
arrival into French Polynesia was made all the more smooth by Michel
having flown in a few days ahead of the ship. He made friends on land
instantly with Nanoa, the ‘king’ of Rangiroa, and all his family and on
the ship’s first night at anchor after its long voyage through the South
Pacific, many of the crew attended a ‘ball’ – a six-monthly festivity
which gave bodies the opportunity to dance on a space larger than the
ship’s deck, and to wiggle hips Polynesian style to keep up with their
partners.
Rangiroa from the air
Gaie,
Laser, Johnny and Orla returned to the ship a few days later with an Apple
G5 in their luggage to launch the on-board editing facilities for the
Studio of the Sea – a new venture for producing films from the ocean,
about coral reefs, about our life at sea and the extraordinary planetary
journeys we are being led on by the Heraclitus.
The
reality of atoll living hit us when we realized that although we were back
in the South Pacific, we would not be feasting on fresh pineapples, sweet
potatoes and all the other tropical foods we are so used to. But with the
help of Ako from the village, we gathered breadfruits and coconut at every
opportunity. We ate breadfruit many different ways but our favourite was
sliced thinly while still a little unripe and fried til golden brown. The
one pineapple we bought at the store cost us $7 US – we will have to wait
til we land on more fertile soils to indulge our cravings!
Our
mission here in Rangiroa was to find out the state of its reefs – both
inside and outside the lagoon. Rangiroa is the second largest atoll in
the world, with a 400 square mile lagoon. Click here to find the results
of our study -
Rangiroa study 2004
One
Saturday, we watched a gathering on the beach as men and women from all
over French Polynesia prepared themselves and their fibre glass canoes to
take part in an 18 mile race through Tiputa Pass and back. The wind was
up, the sea was choppy and rain came pouring down just before they set
off. We watched them disappear towards the pass, followed by referees in
motor boats, then we socialized for two and a half hours while we waited
for their return. The exhausted paddlers could barely walk when they
stood up in the shallows and gladly accepted help in lifting their canoes
from the water, while being congratulated with jasmine leis.
The film
team from ADR Productions in Paris, France that have been tracking the
history and the current voyages of the Heraclitus over the last year
arrived to complete their location filming with us. They spent just over
a week with us but managed to cram into a tight schedule just about every
scene possible on board. The weather obliged by providing every possible
background from dramatic skies, to clear blue skies to perfect sailing
winds for a spin around the lagoon. Underwater they had hoped for scenes
of Heraclitus divers surrounded by barracuda, sharks, dolphins, turtles
etc – a wish that we never suspected we would be able to fulfil…. Until we
dived at Tiputa Pass. This is one of the two entrances into the lagoon of
Rangiroa – the incoming currents here can rise to six knots, water
charging inwards and drawing in all oceanic life forms with it, including
the pack of hundreds of grey reef sharks. We found ourselves drifting
above them and below them at the speed of the current on some dives, then
holding onto rocks to admire them on others. Eagle rays dived around us,
dolphins cavorted above us and turtles came closer than we’ve ever seen
before. What these outer reefs are lacking in coral diversity, they more
than make up for in terms of fish life – as lively as some of the most
exciting diving we have done in Papua New Guinea. The film team left
delighted with their time with us and hopeful that they had everything
they needed to now begin their edit of ‘Dragon of the Seas’ for France 2
Channel.
Jean-Louis, Michelle, Mario,
Marc-André
The film
team returned to France, Laser headed to Savannah Systems in Australia and
we raised anchor for Tikehau, just 30 miles to the west to explore its
reefs and passes.
On our
first dive we watched as three substantial silvertip sharks inspected us
at fairly close range. On our second, we descended amidst a pack of
expectant grey reef sharks who were clearly hoping for something more than
a curious glance from us. They behaved in a way that made us think they
have been fed by divers in the past. On our return to the ship, we
watched a hundred spinner dolphins gather in pods beneath the bow of our
small boat. The ship now sits between the outer shores of Tikehau and the
raging current that pours out of the channel into the lagoon. We have
several more days of underwater exploration here before we set off for
Papeete in Tahiti.
This side of the pass was where we decided to carry out a
majority of our science work, including some of the video
transects. The swells were low enough to allow us to carry out
our studies. The hard coral bottom cover was dense, although
very dominated by Pocilloporaspp.
We never saw any sharks on this side of the pass, but there
was a healthy fish population. However, the underwater dramas
appear to take place on the eastern side of the island.
All the action is on this side of the pass - one silvertip
shark in particular was intent on returning to inspect our
divers almost every time they were in the water. This site is
very beautiful, with enormous schools of big eye trevally, a
large school of giant barracuda, incredibly healthy and densely
packed corals, plenty of napoleon wrasse. Every dive here was a
treat and is featured in the ADR Production on the Heraclitus,
Dragon of the Seas. We frequently saw several very large
bottlenose dolphins on our way to or from this dive site and
often heard them while in the water.
Three hundred grey reef sharks, at least, dwell in this pass.
We found them in many different parts of the pass depending on
the time, the state of the current, the direction of the tide
etc. They were sometimes to be found only down deep at the
entrance to the pass, but our favorite encounters with them were
when they hung at the bottom of the pass, around 15-20m,
swarming in the 5 knot current and allowing us to either breeze
past them or to hold onto a rock to hang out with them.
We know that these sharks have been fed in the past but they
made no threatening moves. It was an inspiration for us to be
with so many sharks at the same time. There were also bottlenose
dolphins plus many eagle rays. Tiputa Pass is one of the more
famous dive sites in French Polynesia, with good reason.
We explored several areas inside the lagoon and found many
problems affecting the corals. The site marked D on the chart
above, for example, used to be a beautiful Porites garden
with spectacularly large colonies, but now only remnants remain.
Underneath the ship's anchorage, we dived many times for
science training sessions and found corals suffering from mainly
sedimentation, algal overgrowth and some bleaching.
The corals inside the lagoon are generally in a poor state,
especially compared with those outside the lagoon that are
flourishing. We couldn't help but wonder what effect the pearl
farms have had inside the lagoon. We also know that there have
been horrendous bleaching epidemics in recent years. For
details, see our
Reef
Report .
One of the most exciting aspects of life inside the lagoon is
a 'lagoonarium' - a pen set up by Punua, our friend in Rangiroa,
who has adopted an entire tribe of nurse sharks, white tip
sharks and vividly colored reef fish. He brings tourists here to
encounter sharks at close quarters, even to hang on to their
dorsal fins and go for a ride!
This dive was just south of Tuheiava Pass at the dive buoy
closest to the mouth. There was no current here but we could
feel the effects of the surge in places. We dropped down onto
the edge of the cut, followed it to the south along the reef
slope then returned over the reef flat to the buoy. There was a
white tip shark at the opening to the cut, then at 25m two
silvertips appeared, followed by Eibes and Michel with cameras
in hand. They stayed a while then retreated into the blue,
beyond the napoleon wrasses, unicornfish, redtooth triggerfish
clustering above the reef. They returned minutes later with a
third silvertip, plus a small school of rainbow runners flapping
about on their backs, rubbing themselves against the shark's
bodies. These were substantially large silvertips.
Unicornfish, angelfish, butterflyfish, hung around us on this
blissful, peaceful dive. The white tip shark was back where we
started, at the mouth of the pass. The napoleon wrasses
continued to patrol.
There was a slight current to the north. We descended down
the buoy line with grey reef sharks coming right up to meet us,
just below the surface. They are clearly being fed by local dive
operations. They circled us but when we finally moved away, they
did not follow. We moved along the fairly steep slope, passing
over 'the abyss' - a deep plunge in the wall which leads to a
cave dive that starts at 40m and descends to 80m.
Further
to the north, there was a point at which another congregation of
grey reef sharks hung out, but they were a bit deeper than us
this time. Fish gathered in packs all along the reef slope -
paddletail snappers, flashlight emperors and yellow striped
goatfish. There were many napoleon wrasses. A ray passed by
deep down and a massive dogtooth tuna. The corals were fairly
diverse and in a good state of health.
This was the perfect way to start the day - rolling out of
bed and into the dive boat, dropping down to a place where life
is already swinging at full pace. We heard dolphins while diving
and on our return to the Heraclitus, we watched spinners
gather in pods beneath the small boat, a few of them jumping
wildly in the raging current running out of the pass.
Our second trip here, we descended to the grey reef sharks
again - Michel allowed them to circle around him, three of them
particularly interested and increasingly excited. They finally
lost interest in us and we moved along, dropping a little down
towards 'the abyss' but returning to about 20m again.
Paddletail snappers hung in hundreds along with an enormous
school of soldierfish all the way down to the deep. More
napoleon wrasse, more redtooth triggerfish, more schools of
flashlight emperors - and on, and on. In Rangiroa we had been
told that Tikehau would have a lot more fish than what we had
seen in Tiputa Pass and we were slightly skeptical of these
reports - but there were moments on this dive looking up towards
the shallows where the ceiling above was a dark mass of fish
schools. We returned to the buoy for our ascent, hanging in the
shallows for a few minutes while the current gently pulled us
south.
For the last time, we peeked into the abyss, the crevice in
the wall, to find more grey reef sharks down below. The one with
the scar on his snout proved now after several days of diving
here to be the most inquisitive of them all. We ascended to the
reef flat to literally 'hang' - four blissed out divers, in an
underwater trance. The napoleon wrasse almost approached us, we
were so still.
Further
to the north, there was a point at which another congregation of
grey reef sharks hung out, but they were a bit deeper than us
this time. Fish gathered in packs all along the reef slope -
paddletail snappers, flashlight emperors and yellow striped
goatfish. There were many napoleon wrasses. A ray passed by
deep down and a massive dogtooth tuna. The corals were fairly
diverse and in a good state of health. 
