Fakarava atoll, our second to last stop, looks on Google Maps like an upside down capital 'L'. It's so remote that it's preserved many rare species of birds, plants and crustaceans. The lagoon is the outline of a square with land on half of the outline and the other half being coral reef, visible as breakers that break just outside the coral reef. There is a large northern entrance to the lagoon and a smaller southern entrance.
We arrived early in the morning, but the sun was already up as we approached the atoll at 5:30 am.
We walked a mile from the tender boat dock to a resort. The resort had a cafe which was open between 11 am and 3 pm. There were some beautiful stone tables with thatched roofs just outside the cafe as well as a small covered area with a number of tables. We sat on the beach outside the resort area until the cafe opened, just wading in the large shallow, thinly populated reef area. Elizabeth had a blast today since she could wander far offshore without the water being above her waist. There weren't a lot of fish or coral though and the water didn't seem really clear. Still, for Elizabeth, it was a lot better than just staying on shore or in a boat while I snorkeled.
The only downside was the one mile walk, which doesn't sound like much but is pretty tiring in the heat and humidity. Thanks to the covered table area we were able to stay there until around 2pm when we returned to the ship.
I'd later seen some Fakarava trips which took you to a resort on Fakarava. It might have been this one, the Havaiki Lodge, and many of the cabins where guests stayed were right on the beach. Certainly it would be a nice place to spend a few days just snorkeling and relaxing. If you do spend some time here, I've heard that you can see a lot more fish by taking one of the tour boats out to the outer reef.
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