This is our first visit to any kind of atoll. We were expecting crystal clear water, white sand beaches and coconut trees just like we see in pictures. This place did not disappoint. There was all that plus more - a cute little village with the friendliest people, pink sand beaches, and not only clear water, but different shades of blue water. There was lots of coral heads as well which are beautiful to snorkel on but a little dangerous if you're trying to navigate around them.


The first three nights we spent just inside the pass to the lagoon. In this area, there was a nice little village with a few grocery stores, a craft market, a couple places where you might get something to eat if they were open, and the obligatory church.

We then ventured down to the easternmost part of the lagoon - the windward side and two hours motoring. This is the side of the island where all the waves pound and erode the atoll. When you get to this side of an atoll, there are no trees left and very little land. The waves pound against the remaining lava rock and fresh ocean water is able to enter the lagoon causing outflow in the passes on the other side.

The coral that used to be on this side of the island thousands of years ago has been turned into sand or just sits as piles of fragments. There is also some red volcanic rock and due to this mix of coral, sand, and rock, there are many colors in the water.

We did morning walks along this side of the island which lasted for several hours. During the walk today, we sat under a coconut tree and drank the juice from a freshly picked coconut. I'm confident that we would not starve on tropical island as long as there are coconuts. Check that one off the bucket list!


Later in the afternoon, we met up with two Swedish couples we met here and had drinks on the beach with a campfire made of coconut husks. Turns out that burning coconut husks also keeps mosquitos away although there doesn't seem to be very many.

On this end of the island, nobody lives here but a couple people come out to harvest copra. Two guys harvesting copra joined us for sundowners. they were very friendly but we could not communicate with them very well. Even the Swedes who know French had difficulty communicating so they did not speak French very well either. I'm not sure they could speak very well at all but, oh well, it was fun!

Copra, by the way, is sun dried coconut meat that is sold as the raw material for coconut oil. This is probably the biggest and possibly the only crop on atolls like these.

Tomorrow we will try to navigate our way through coral heads, back to the anchorage outside town for one last night before we leave this atoll to go to our next one, Tahanea.