Raimiti, our final destination today, is a pension. It is located at the south end of Raimiti’s lagoon, and is accessible only by boat. Raimiti is on Fakarava. 
Fakarava is in the Tuamotus. The Tuamotus are a chain of atolls. In case you have forgotten, atolls are compressed coral islands. Most of them are the old fringing reef of a volcanic island. Except that their volcanoes has sunk beneath the waves, leaving behind a normally calm lagoon. Fakarava has two passes, one at each end of the lagoon. Fakarava also has the second biggest lagoon in Tuamotus, the biggest being Rangiroa’s.
The airplane we boarded sat 48 people and the muffler was going, or maybe there wasn’t one. It was a bi-turbo-prop, which just means it’s wings were above the windows and there were propellers. The seating was first come first choose. Sue and I nabbed two seats under the wings. We were privy to the special music of the jets. Sleeping was impossible, partly because of the jets, but also because the flight was only one hour. As we started our descent I kept peering out the window, searching for the runway, or even land! Only until we were just above the land could you see it, and it didn’t look wide enough for the plane.
The airport was one room. Part of it was cordoned off, that was where the luggage got organized. To retrieve your luggage you pulled it off racks. 
There was a bathroom, but there was only one. The people leaving Fakarava mingled with the people arriving. It was wonderful. A person working for Raimiti met us at the airport and drove us to a dock on the lagoon side. We had hoped that it wasn’t the lagoon side, because it was so rough, but it was.
Normally the boat ride from the dock to Raimiti is 45 minutes. For us, it took two hours. The waves were so rough, Eric (the owner) took us on a longer rout “so we wouldn’t be completely broken when we arrived”.
When we arrived at Raimiti, we were welcomed with the triton (conch) shell being
blown to welcome us. The Triton shell is the traditional horn of Tahitians. We were shown the ropes, told what time meals were and shown to our rooms: two deluxe huts near the lagoons clear waters. By deluxe I mean that they were made in a traditional style (with coconut thatch) and were situated not one meter from the lagoon. Dinner (at seven) had three courses. The appetizer was a crab and bread mix baked into a clam shell. That was my favorite appetizer so far. The main course was chicken (apparently quite good). Even though I was famished, I didn’t eat it because I am a vegetarian. In fact, my whole family are vegetarians.
We fell gratefully into our slightly damp beds with our alarm clocks set for
