Rangiroa, this is the name of the place I call my home…at least since I moved here five years ago. It is the second biggest atoll in the world and the biggest one in French Polynesia. Its name, “huge sky,” describes accurately the phenomena when on a windless day the smooth surface of the lagoon melts with the sky. But there is more Rangiroa is famous for. It’s the abundance of pelagic fish, especially sharks…great hammerheads, silvertips, and hundreds of grey reef sharks. Filmmakers from all over the world make the long journey to the midst of the Pacific Ocean for them…or better to take good, clear images of them. Howard Hall, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Luc Besson, and Jean-Jacques Mantello just to name a few.
Some of them I met and have had the honor to dive with. Me with my small 3CCD mini DV camcorder parked next to their huge Beta Cams, HDs, and 3D Imax cameras. I watched them, not without jealousy I have to admit. But tight shooting schedules always forced them to leave earlier than they wished. Since I live here, I stayed, diving and diving again, filling tape after tape, first mini DV and now HDV, looking for the beauty in the beast, for a better shot than the last, for the “one,” hoping that my patience would pay off one day.
On August 7, 2006 everything came together. It was the end of an afternoon drift dive through one of the two passes that connect Rangiroa’s lagoon with the ocean. Starting in the blue of the Pacific and ending in the so-called Aquarium, there is a sandy patch in the lagoon, dotted with coral heads and all kinds of tropical fish.