March 24th, we left Papeete this morning at 5:00 a.m. and arrived in Moorea, French Polynesia about 6:00 a.m. Moorea, only about 20 miles away is often called the Sister Island of Tahiti. Coming into port the island is very beautiful with many jagged volcanic peaks..... I wish you could see it, the ship anchored in Cook’s Bay, named after Captain Cook who landed here in 1769....we will tender in and have a snorkel tour scheduled at 9:00...... The bay lies cradled in a half moon of the peaks around it, and it’s just gorgeous.
Scene coming into Moorea
The Island of Moorea
Greeted on the Pier by pretty hula girls
At 8:30 we met our tour group, tendered to shore and boarded another motorized tour boat.....similar to the others we’ve been on except our tour guide could not speak English very well so we didn’t understand anything he said but got along ok with sign language.... :) We were taken quite a distance out to one of the lagoons and dumped off in the water...
Just a word here about my photography... We did not invest in an underwater camera so there is no way to show you the sights we seen under water. I was able to capture some shots of the marine life when they came close to the surface.
This tour was the best snorkeling yet, we seen beautiful small fish of all colors, manta rays, and sharks! The sharks were awesome... they appeared to be a pretty golden yellow with black tips on all of their fins, I think they are called black tip’s but I’m not sure.. Anyway, that has been the highlight of the tours so far, they were probably 6 to 8 ft. in length and I was in awe watching them swim around me, they are so graceful....
We stayed in that area about an hour then he took us to an island where we got to snorkel some more.. It was harder there as there was a current that ran right thru the area we were in....... we got in at one end and let it carry us down to the other end and we seen a lot of fish but no other sharks.... Getting thru the current back to shore was hard for me, it was almost too strong to swim against it even for a short distance. Then the guide and his helpers fixed us lunch again. They grilled chicken pieces, fish and hot dogs and it was not very good compared to the island lunch we had the other day..... the dogs were gristly and the chicken or fish did not have much flavor... they also served a pasta salad with a few chives & carrots chopped in it, and some plain rice & sliced tomatoes.
They did put on a good music show, one guy with a uke, one with a guitar and one with a base fiddle unlike I had ever seen before.....
after we ate we snorkeled some more, then got to rest a little before we boarded the boat and headed back to the ship. We got back on board by 3:30.
Then we took showers and I came down to the lounge to post this..... We will go to dinner at 6:00 and told some new friends we met that we would meet the in the casino at 9 this evening......
Beautiful Sail boats not far from where we snorkeled
This tour was the best snorkeling yet, we seen beautiful small fish of all colors, manta rays, and sharks! The sharks were awesome... they appeared to be a pretty golden yellow with black tips on all of their fins, I think they are called black tip’s but I’m not sure.. Anyway, that has been the highlight of the tours so far, they were probably 6 to 8 ft. in length and I was in awe watching them swim around me, they are so graceful....
Jim Snorkeling
Best shot I could get of one of the sharks
Two of them passing each other
Only the tail as they swim so fast it was difficult to get a good picture
Their tails are beautiful and move like trees swaying in a gentle breeze
We stayed in that area about an hour then he took us to an island where we got to snorkel some more.. It was harder there as there was a current that ran right thru the area we were in....... we got in at one end and let it carry us down to the other end and we seen a lot of fish but no other sharks.... Getting thru the current back to shore was hard for me, it was almost too strong to swim against it even for a short distance. Then the guide and his helpers fixed us lunch again. They grilled chicken pieces, fish and hot dogs and it was not very good compared to the island lunch we had the other day..... the dogs were gristly and the chicken or fish did not have much flavor... they also served a pasta salad with a few chives & carrots chopped in it, and some plain rice & sliced tomatoes.
Taken from the beach into the area we snorkeled in
Not a good picture of Jim but he was setting at our
table listening to the music, and it gives you a good
idea of what the beach area looked like. The hut in
the background was where they cooked.
A pretty picture of our ship taken as we were returning to the dock
after we ate we snorkeled some more, then got to rest a little before we boarded the boat and headed back to the ship. We got back on board by 3:30.
The peaks of Moorea
After getting back on the ship I was standing on the veranda and glanced up to see what I first thought was snow on top of the peaks....
I zoomed in and realized that what I was seeing was the trees against the sky, again, the islands just amaze me.....
Tomorrow we will dock in Rangiroa French Polynesia where we have two tours scheduled. The first one is out to a Pearl Farm, then as soon as we get back from that we ride a glass bottom boat out to some large coral gardens..... More later as our journey continues.....
No comments:
Post a Comment