From Ahe, we sailed onto the last coral atoll that we visited called Rangiroa. It is the biggest in the Tuamotus. We anchored off a beautiful lagoon and stayed at one of the new hotels called the Kio Oro. One of the owners is Jean-Claude Lowery. Apparently the big thing in Tahiti is the development of these hotels in the outer islands. The Kio Ora is one of the nicest. If you ever decide to take a trip to Tahiti, I recommend that you take the flight to Rangiroa and stay a few days. Very, very enjoyable and we liked it very much. They must have 30 bungalows, excellent food, beautiful diving.

The best diving of the entire trip was in Rangiroa. One day we went outside the pass in the deep water with our scuba gear. We dove down at about the hundred-foot level and saw the most magnificent coral heads that I’ve ever seen, and the most magnificent spectrum of fish all the way from little tiny ones to large ones in the 50 to 60 pound variety. There were literally hundreds of thousands of fish. You could see almost 200 feet in the water, which is really quite good. Such incredible colors—it was really one of the most exhilarating experiences I’ve ever had. I’ve read where they say the diving in Rangiroa is the best in the world and I would have to agree with that statement. Someday I hope to come back again and do more diving because it was really a peak experience.