DAY 32-RANGiROA, FRENCH POLYNESIA

 Sorry but ship's maps are not very detailed in this area at there are hundreds of small atolls and other forms of coral reefs.  Today we are anchored just off the Rangiroa atoll.  It is very warm and humid with rain showers roaming about.

           NASA photo of Rangiroa atoll

       This is our first time to be stopping here in Rangiroa.  We’re excited as it is so beautiful.  Rangiroa is the largest atoll of the Tuamotu Archipelago which are 78 coral atolls scattered over several hundred miles of the Pacific Ocean.  Tahiti is 220 miles to the southwest.  I guess I should first define what an atoll is.  It’s “a ring shaped reef, island, or chain of islands formed of coral”.  I guess I can best describe this atoll as a flattened elliptical ring of land only about 200 yards across with a big lagoon in the middle.  The atoll is 50 miles in length and 30 miles across.  Remember it is a very narrow band of land encircling a lagoon.  Hopefully my photos will help you to understand it.
       There are around 2500 people who live here.  The economy is based on black pearl farming.  In the lagoon, black pearls are produced from marine cultured black lip pearl oysters.  Tourism is also important as scuba diving is world class here.  Fishing is also done mainly for local consumption but they also export some to Tahiti.  Believe it or not, some wine is also produced here.  The vines grow on the edge of the lagoon beside coconuts and produce two harvests a year.  There is no water here so the people have to collect and store rainwater in tanks.    
       Today's tour was an hour "Glass Bottom Boat" tour that departed the pier aboard a glass-bottom boat, that slowly floated over the huge coral heads that cluster in shallow areas inside the Tiputa Channel.  Along the way, we saw a colorful world full of parrot fish, butterfly fish, and surgeon fish through the large windows.

 You will need to enlarge these photos by left clicking on them.  This taken from ship.

                                     Where our tenders will be dropping us.

This guy is going to come in behind our tender and do a form of "drafting" to be wave riding behind us.

                                    Two of the glass bottom boats.

                                          My tour

                                They threw bread in to attract the fish.

This is our boat captain.  He cut up this fish and swam around our boat feeding the bigger fish including a couple small sharks.

 Several in our boat jumped out and snorkeled.  They said the fish would "nip" at them.

                                     Boat helper making a hat.

            The glass bottom boats and snorkel boats would tie up to these buoys.

It was very hot on this tour but at least it was cloudy so not unbearable.  It started to sprinkle as we got off the boats.  I came right back to the ship.  There were a few shopping stands with some black pearl jewelry.

SUPERBOWL PARTY YESTERDAY:
        Kudos to Ricky Ballinger, our Food & Beverage Director, and the culinary team for all the wonderful "tail gate" party foods in Stars Lounge.  Also to Jamie Logan, our Cruise Director, and his staff for the decorations and hosting of the Superbowl shown live on the big screen in the theater.

                              The pastry chef made this special cake.

                                     Cheeses and crackers

                                     Beers and sodas

 Hot foods included:  hot dogs, nachos, mini burgers, potato skins, pizza, salad, & chicken nuggets to name some.  There was also a dessert table.

There was a great turn out for the game.  I would estimate at least half the passengers on board attended.  The crowd was overwhelmingly cheering for the Falcons.   We were disappointed with the ending.
DINNER LAST NIGHT:

Compass Rose is a beautiful dining room, especially after last spring's retrofit.  They can change the color of the lighting.  Douglas said he would have it red for Valentine's Day.

This is my favorite red wine.  Emiliano, the head sommelier, has saved me a case to enjoy.  It is a Chilean cabernet.

 One of the items on last night's menu was chicken parmesan.  I asked Chef Michael at the Superbowl party if it would be prepared like my veal parmesan and he said he would make sure it was.  Well, we were surprised at dinner to find he made us veal parm instead of the chicken.  It was very delicious!!

This was dessert.  On menu they called it "Regent's famous moist chocolate cake".  I added a scoop of chocolate ice cream but did not get to eat but a couple of bites.  Douglas, the Restaurant Manager, came by our table and we chatted for quite a while.  Dining room was not very busy last night because many filled up during Superbowl.

TODAY'S NEWS:
       My normal morning routine now is to come down to the "coffee connection" for my coffee and a muffin right after they deliver Rebecca's room service scrambled eggs.  There is check my email and put some photos on the blog.  I was VERY upset this morning as I got an email informing us of the death yesterday of a dear friend, Peter Ibbotson.  We met Peter and Maureen on our 2012 Circle South America 72 day cruise.  They, and several other couples, were from Australia.  Peter and I would enjoy a martini, or two, at the bar in the evenings.  He had a marvelous sense of humor and we have corresponded via emails ever since.  In fact I got permission from Regent for Peter and Maureen to come on board our ship when we were docked in Sydney in a few weeks.  Peter had been making a courageous fight with cancer for the past couple of years.  Maureen informed me today that he lost this epic fight.  Rebecca and I are deeply saddened.  I was really looking forward to having one more martini with him while in Sydney.  I will be having one pre-dinner tonight in his memory.
       On the other hand, I do have some good news to report.  Rebecca's meds are kicking in and she is doing much better.  We both enjoyed a good night's sleep last night.  First night in weeks!!  She thought she might go on today's glass bottom boat tour but decided to stay on board and take care of herself.  It was VERY hot and VERY humid here today.  Everyone's camera lens were fogging over when they got onto the tenders.
       We both got our morning workouts in.  Rebecca did treadmill for 30 minutes and I walked around deck for an hour.  We both had protein bars for our lunch today as tonight we will be pigging out in Prime 7, the steakhouse.  I also called my mom and dad this morning to check on them.
       We sail at 5:00 pm for Papeete, Tahiti.  We will be docking there tomorrow morning