Review of Air Tahiti flight from Rangiroa to Fakarava Island in Economy

LIFE ON AN ATOLL

I'll start with the bonus and for once not in music but in video, I have a connection problem with my old GoPro, for now and in the absence of my diving photos, here is what divers can expect at only 10-15m… Sharks, moray eels, rays, huge Napoleon fish as good-looking as a cow, barracudas, leaf fish, parrot fish and dolphins (we've seen some sleeping ones, it's very strange they don't notice you and continue a graceful up/down movement).

Our hotel was located too close to the airport and the air corridor, I was therefore unable to take off my drone other than on an excursion, here to the famous blue lagoon, which is still an hour away by boat.

All the islands were born from a volcano fed by a hot spot.
With the movement of the tectonic plates and over time, the hot spot moves (towards the east here in our case), the volcano no longer being fed by lava it goes out.
Over the centuries, coral colonizes the coastline, forming a belt around the island.
But millennia pass and the volcano, extinct, becomes too heavy and begins to sink into the water, the coral belt continues to grow but mainly vertically, thus creating a space between the volcano and the coral belt: the lagoon.
When the volcano has completely sunk, only the coral belt remains, we then have an atoll.

We must therefore imagine the photos below with a huge volcano the size of the atoll, but humans were not even on their feet at that time.

The welcoming committee is already there. They are scared of humans so don't panic, they are more impressive than it looks… On the other hand, on the way back we dove with a big lemon shark of 2-3m… We only stayed in the water for a few minutes!

A boxfish, which likes to double the size of its head to impress its peers…

note that it also happens on LinkedIn!

I took this photo at great risk for you, it was crawling with mosquitoes.

Right in the middle of the (large) lagoon we stopped on this lost islet, no doubt the trace of the summit of the volcano.

The hotel was the Kia Ora, a former 3-star hotel that barely became a 4-star and whose owner seems to make some curious choices according to many of the employees we spoke to.

The villa was comfortable but not very well insulated, we heard much more outside noise than in Taha'a, and the mosquitoes managed to get in.

The bathroom, on the other hand, was superb.

We had an outdoor hot tub, plus a hammock and private water access.

The hotel, like many others, organizes excursions. We absolutely wanted to visit the only vineyard in Polynesia, which produces white and rosé wines that grow on the coral reef, which is not commonplace.
The hotel offers the excursion at 4500 francs, and we learn upon arrival that the visit is 2000 francs, that the transport of 4 people round trip costs 500 francs.
As a reminder 1000 francs = 8 euros. So for a visit at 20 euros, the hotel takes as much in its pocket… All the other excursions in Rangiroa have since been organized by ourselves and with the kindness of some employees who were also shocked by the practice and wanted to be nice to us.

The rosé is very strange, it's actually a red that would go very well as an aperitif, the white is a spicy and very dry version of a chardonnay.

No miles or status points accumulated with this flight, Air Tahiti is not part of one of the 3 known alliances.

Good to know: the limit is 23kg but you are allowed 5kg more if you have a diving licence

The journey must be made by latest generation ATR72-600 with 68 seats

AT RANGIROA AIRPORT

The airport, like the rest of the atoll, is located between the ocean and the lagoon.

Have you ever seen an ATR so close to the water? Not me!

Our flight is on time, and this time we think about the technique of fishing equipment to get our 28 kg aha (in reality the rum, the wine, the souvenirs!)

Boarding is back to the tradition of first come first served, and so it's a bit of a hustle and bustle, the Tuamotou are often the last islands visited before returning, most passengers have understood this well at this stage.

F-ORVT is not unknown to us since it brought us back from the Marquesas to Tahiti, mind you with 9 ATRs in the fleet, you have a good chance of coming across the same ATR again.

ONBOARD THE ATR72

Aircraft : ATR72-600
Tail Number: F-ORVT
Engines: 2x PWV WP127
Age:7 years old
Lay out: Y68
Named: Te Anuanua
Remarks: With a special livery

The funny stairy door

We find our charming male crew who officiated on our first ATR trip to Nuku Hiva, they do not seem to remember us. They are very smiling, just as quick to chat.

I do not know if at Air Tahiti a crew is therefore attached to a plane? One of the two men wears the tiare flower on his left ear, so he is taken, on the right he is available. Tindr was created by Polynesians!

Funny to realise that we can see 30% of the Air Tahiti fleet in one picture!

We fly over our Hotel

and the famous Tiputa pass where we dived - there is a pretty impressive current there. Indeed, depending on the tides the water level in the immense lagoon is either lower or higher than the ocean, you can imagine the amount of water that comes out or comes in through these passes.

This is also the reason why there are a lot of sharks and barracudas: they wait in front of the pass for the fish that are carried away by the current, a bit like when you put your feet under the table at grandma's.

Last view on Rangiroa..

A view on the cabin

The service consists of a Rotui fruit juice as usual; and a refill is offered.

This immense atoll that we have been flying over for a little while is none other than the other Rangiroa, which gives you an idea of ​​its size.

We pass other atolls, here Kaukura
This atoll is even more remote than the others, with only 400 inhabitants and a runway that has just been tarmacked and extended.

We finally see Fakarava

The regular flight review

An interesting article where we learn that most of the plants were brought from Asia by the Polynesians and had either medicinal or other uses such as signaling for example.

The THING THAT SURPRISED US was seeing two varieties of potato… The Polynesians would therefore have had contact with the Andean peoples in Latin America… Just that!

We fly over the northern pass of Fakarava, Garuae, which is none other than the largest pass in Polynesia. You can clearly see the enormous current!

On FInal

AT FAKARAVA AIRPORT

There is significantly less traffic here (30,000 visitors per year) compared to Rangiroa's 80,000, or about 1.25 flights per day.

Last view of our lawnmower

And here is the smallest terminal room that we have seen in Polynesia!! It serves as a snack bar, waiting room, bar, check-in room, boarding room!

And the luggage delivery is still as folkloric!

First sunset at our guesthouse.