In an octopus' garden with you.
- The Beatles
After 2 days of wishin and a’hope-ing for optimal snorkelling conditions, the Gods of Bora Bora rewarded us with our best weather yet – and on the day we had reservations for a “reef discovery” tour! The tour was billed as including four snorkelling stops, featuring coral gardens, lots of fish, manta rays, and eagle rays.
We were met at the hotel dock by a tan and handsome Frenchman in his sleek 8-passenger speed boat. It wasn’t long before the excitement began...2 manta rays (likely a mother and juvenile) in the shallow waters off Le Meridien Hotel.
Keeners that we are, we were out of the boat and drifting over the deep blue sea for several minutes before we realized that everyone else was still getting their gear on! Normally, that would’ve been no big deal but this spot was prime shark habitat. A healthy coral reef featuring a steep drop off to an open channel 40 to 60 feet deep! It was also home to a “cleaning station” for manta rays. These 6-12 feet wide, plankton-eating giants come each morning to have their mouths picked clean by small reef fish who have evolved specifically for this task. So there we were, floating and trying not think of what might be swimming around below us.
The rest of the group (9 of us including the guide) eventually caught up to us. Shortly after, the guide spotted 3 manta in the dim depths below. We watched quietly as they glided along in a slow motion ballet along the white sandy bottom of the channel, and were awestruck when one of the larger rays decided to ascend to inspect Mark! The ray was within 3 feet of the surface and even closer to Mark. Of all the times (and there have been many this trip!) for my underwater camera not to work! ARRRRGH! I guess some memories just have to be lived.
The coral gardens here can be beautiful but also dangerous. Even the briefest contact can result in a nasty scrape, as 2 of our fellow tour people found out.
The density of fish here is just amazing! Thankfully the camera decided to play along later in the day.
As if all of this wasn’t enough, our last stop was another drift snorkel. Et voila! We were treated to the vision of a school of eagle rays, which more resembled a flock of birds as they swooped and dipped along the channel floor, about 30 feet below us.
We reluctantly dragged our tired and sunburnt bottoms back on to the boat and endeared the kidney-jarring, wave crashing ride back to the hotel, all smiles. The scenery above the water was lovely too.
What an adventure, even sans sharks!
We finished our last day on Bora Bora with a hasty trip into the village of Viatape, across the water from our hotel. Linette finally found just the right pearl pendant. It wasn’t this one - which we fondly refer to as "not even if it would please you my darling" - LOL
Mark got a couple of T-shirts, which at this point in the laundry service he needed as much as he wanted.
Tomorrow we leave for the last leg of our journey – the atoll of Tikehau. We will have several fond memories of Bora Bora, including the ever changing view of the mountain...
...double rainbows...
...and getting absolutely drenched running back to our room last night! Although it’s been sunny here, it’s also been tremendously windy. That stormy night back on Moorea was a cake walk compared to here. Let’s hope Tikehau’s as peaceful as everyone says it should be.
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