Rangiroa
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Coordinates: 15°07′31″S 147°38′43″W / 15.12528°S 147.64528°W
Rangiroa (meaning "Vast Sky" in Tuamotuan) or Te Kokota, is the largest atoll in the Tuamotus, and one of the largest in the world (although it is smaller than Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands and Huvadhu in the Maldives). It is located in the Palliser group. The nearest atoll is Tikehau, located only 12 km to the West.
The atoll consists of about 250 islands, islets and sandbars comprising a total land area of about 170 km². There are approximately one hundred narrow passages, called hoa, in the fringing reef. The lagoon is approximately 1600 km². It is so large that it has its own horizon.
The chief town is Avatoru, located in the north-western part of the atoll. Rangiroa has a total of 2334 inhabitants (2002 census).
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[edit] History
The first recorded Europeans to arrive to Rangiroa were Dutch explorers Jacob le Maire and Willem Schouten during their 1615-1616 Pacific journey. They called this atoll "Vlieghen Island".
Rangiroa appears in some maps as "Nairsa" or as "Dean’s island". This atoll was visited by the Charles Wilkes expedition on 7 September 1839.
There is a territorial (domestic) airfield in Rangiroa which was inaugurated in 1965.
[edit] Administration
The commune of Rangiroa consists of three atolls (Rangiroa itself, Tikehau and Mataiva and a separate island (Makatea).
[edit] Economy
[edit] Pearls
The breeding of pearl oysters in the lagoon can produce black pearls. In fact, black pearls mean the marine cultured pearls produced from the black lip pearl oyster shell, Pinctada margaritifera, abundant in the atolls of French Polynesia. These pearls, which have a wide range of natural colors, from white to dark and all kind of grey, are the only cultured pearls in the world with so many different natural colors as the famous green rose peacock.
The technique to produce marine cultured pearls was developed in Japan and, except some minor details, is similar in French Polynesia. A mother of pearl bead is inserted in the animal together with a piece of tissue (mantle) taken from another pearl oyster. The piece of tissue, as a graft tissue, will develop quickly and will formed a skin around the bead and then will deposit mother of pearl on the surface of the bead. Bead rejection is important and concern about 30% of the seeded shells, mainly because the graft tissue is not enough close to the bead. Even with perfectly round beads, only 20% f the pearls will be perfectly round at the harvest, about 2 years after the seeding.
Pearl farming is done in more than 30 atolls of French Polynesia and is the main activity for numerous families in the tuamotu archipelago. In Rangiroa, a few farms exploited about 1000 acres of water surface in the lagoon loan by the tahitian government. The biggest farm, Gauguin's Pearl employed more than 50 local workers, with a strong impact on the economy of this 2000 inhabitants atoll.
A school dedicated to the pearl farming techniques and a research center on pearl oysters are also implanted in the Atoll, which make it a kind of pearl center for this industry.
[edit] Fishing
Essentially a part of food production, however, it is also exported to the island of Tahiti.
[edit] Viticulture
The atoll of Rangiroa is also known for it vineyards, which are unique in the world. The vines grow on the edge of a lagoon beside coconuts, and produce two harvests per year. The winery is located in the heart of the village of Avatoru. The grapes are brought to the winery by boat.
The creation of this vineyard came after much prior analysis, to find the best site capable of hosting the vines. The first vines were imported in 1992 and underwent tests for acclimatization and selection in the main islands of Polynesia, with the uncertainty of their adaptation to climate. Thirty varieties were imported from various parts of Europe. The vineyard is Domaine Dominique Auroy
The tests took place in:
- The Austral Islands on the high Rurutu and Tubuai,
- Nuku Hiva (Marquesas archipelago),
- Rangiroa (Tuamotu archipelago),
- The plains and mountains of Tahiti.
However, other fruit is very scarce on the island and the inhabitants appreciate when cruise ship visitors bring them fruit.
[edit] Water
Like many atolls, there is no running water in Rangiroa. Each household must retrieve and store rainwater in tanks. The freshwater lenses which form in coral reefs mostly consist of brackish water due to excessive pumping. Some are also polluted because of the landfill.
[edit] Tourism
Tourism is a major economic activity of the island: daily connections with Tahiti, an exceptional lagoon and passes which are good sites for scuba diving attract a steady number of tourists. These are accommodated in some hotels and guesthouses.
[edit] Scuba diving
Rangiroa offers some of the best dives in the world in and around the Tiputa Pass, which lies at one end of the one main road and runs 3.5 km to the Avatoru Pass. Sedentary dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) regularly play group in the Pass. They can be viewed from the mainland but it is also one of the few places where they can be approached in scuba diving. Because of its large size and the existence of only two passes, each high tide creates a strong incoming current while each low tide creates a strong outgoing current in those two passes. When the current is flowing outward through Tiputa Pass, about 200 shark specimens gather at the entrance to the Tiputa Pass, at fifty meters deep. Led by the strong current, sharks can remain motionless and allow divers to observe them without any difficulty. Large manta rays, green sea turtles, and humphead wrasses can also be seen. Occasionally, tiger sharks and hammerhead sharks can also be spotted. In January, large number of stingrays gather in the Tiputa Pass, as well as hammerhead sharks that feed on them.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Atoll list (in French)
- Classification of the French Polynesian atolls by Salvat (1985)
- The official site of Tahiti's wine
- Gauguin's pearl website
