Rangiroa

With the thunderstorms and lightnings (very useful, it was like daylight!) the wind increased and we rushed down to Rangiroa, where we arrived too early at the Tiputa Pass (at midnight local time). So we tacked a couple of time, waiting for the sun to show up. We were in the pass at 5am local time, all by the book: sun, tide and wind in the back. We have already overused all our superlatives in the Marquesas, but the Tuamotu seem to deserve some as well... We dropped the anchor in about 40 feet of water, and we still see it... The geography of the atoll is quite different from the Marquesas. We went from 1200 meters for the highest point to about 10... The highest points are the tops of the palm trees.

http://donpedro.lediouris.net/voyage/locator/locator.html?latitude=-14.968666666666667&longitude=-147.63683333333333&scale=14&currentdate=26%20Nov%202010%2C%2008%3A04%20PST%20%28GMT%20-0800%29%3Cbr%3EHDG%3A58%2C%20Speed%3A00.00%20kts%3Cbr%3EWind%3A14.01%20kts%2C%2092%3Cbr%3EWind%3A%20Force%204%2C%20E%3Cbr%3EWater%20Temp%3A28.0%C2%BAC%3Cbr%3ECrystal%20clear%20water%20in%20Tiputa

Avec les orages et les eclairs (tres pratiques, on voyait comme en plein jour) de la nuit derniere, le vent est monté, et on a fait route a toute vitesse sur Rangiroa, et on est arrive trop tot a la passe de Tiputa (a minuit local). On a donc tire des bords devant la passe en attendant que le soleil se montre. On etait dans la passe a 5 heures, comme dans les livres: le soleil, le courant et le vent dans le dos. On a deja usé tous nos superlatifs aux Marquises, mais on dirait que les Tuamotu vont en meriter aussi... On a mouille dans douze metres d'eau, et on voit l'ancre... La geographie de l'atoll tranche un peu avec celle des Marquises. On est passe de 1200 metres de point culminant a environ 10... Les points culminants sont les cimes des palmiers.

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