How dare I, to include a blog post in my Running in Oceania series about an atoll I didn't run on! First, I have to admit I still had issues acclimating to the tropical heat even after 4 nights in French Polynesia. I used to handle heat rather well as a matter of fact, but that humidity, a much different ball game! Second, we were there only for 2 nights, less than 48 hours, and we spent a whole day on a snorkeling excursion on the other side of this giant atoll (as I mentioned in my previous post, the second largest in the world!). Third, my Garmin Forerunner 230 didn't like the snorkeling in sea water and... died, dang! As some say (John Burton?): "if it isn't on Strava, it didn't happen!" Last and not least, I must have eaten too much of the delicious fish, grilled and raw, I got nauseous after the excursion, oops! Or maybe it was that bumpy ride with the heavy swell on the lagoon. Or too much thrill from swimming with 100+ lbs blacktip sharks again?
That being said, in case you visit and are wondering if this is a great place to run, the main island has a single 6-mile (10K) road between the two main passes so definitely doable. And traffic is limited, slowed down in particular by many speed bumps. We tested for you while biking and getting from one end to the other, in quest of the only public beach. Now, Rangiroa is expanding fast, the run would be more urban than on Tikehau for instance.
To give you a sense of why it took us a day for the excursion, and the size of the atoll, the bi-motor boat took more than an hour, one way, to cover the 20 miles down to Ile aux Récifs. The atoll is of elliptic shape of 50 by 20 miles. Any ultra marathon runner reading this must think: "cool, that should be good for some distance!" Except that there is no continuous road. Again, the longest one is on the main island and is 6-mile long.
Now, back to the title, we stayed at a very special place, Le Mérou Bleu (literally the Blue Grouper fish but we are talking about la pension or guest house here, chez Sonia), right on one of the two passes, a perfect spot for surfer, a place hosting international competitions. So, to my surfer friends, this the place you want to stay in Rangiroa! See for instance images of the Rangiroa Pro international competition. And even if you are not surfing, the sunsets are spectacular there (like the one at the top of this post), as well as Sonia's food. To lace that pension, see the label on the left side of the first map above.
So, again, no run for me but you can definitely log a few miles along the road when you are not soaking in the water, still the best place to escape the humid heat. What some people call paradise! :-)
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