If you are ever thinking about visiting a S. Sea island, forget about Tahiti and head straight to Bora Bora! What a beautiful place. There is a main island surrounded by smaller motu's, or islands and a barrier reef. A break was made in the reef during the second World War, so ships can go into the lagoon to anchor. We were anchored in what used to be the center of a volcano, right next to the Paul Gaugin, a Princess ship that cruises Polynesia.
We were cleared to go ashore at about 8. I had tried to make arrangements for a boat to go snorkeling. I'd emailed before we hit Tahiti, but after that our internet was down so I didn't get the reply until the morning we arrived. I did reply that 6 of us would be on the dock at 8:30, but that was at 8, so wasn't at all sure we'd find a boat waiting. After a short tender ride we arrived at the pier. We asked around, finally finding the company I'd communicated with. He said he didn't get a confirmation from me, so couldn't take us until 10. That worked out great! We had time to shop the market before getting on the boat.
Once on the boat, we took off toward the reef. We were with a couple from Toronto, a woman from the San Francisco Bay Area and her friend from Germany. Our first stop was in deep water so the German woman, who had never snorkeled before, stayed on the boat. It was a bit rough, but the coral was beautiful. There were also many fish. Such clear water! Next stop was on the reef where rays come to be fed. They were a lot larger than the ones in the Grand Cayman and a LOT of them. We were also swimming with black tipped sharks about 4' long. They just cruised around, also looking for food from the boats. Turned out that our guide also spoke German, so was able to help Rosemary learn how to snorkel. He was a nice guy. She was so thrilled to be able to swim with the rays, it was really cute. The Canadian woman, Pat, wasn't too sure about the rays, especially when they bumped up against her. We were all snorkeling around within a short time. It was glorious! I usually wear socks when I wear fins to protect my feet. The boat didn't have fins, so I just wore socks to protect my feet from the coral. A yellow black and white fish fell in love with pink I guess. It would come up to my feet then dart around. It did this for at least 5 minutes. It was really cute.
After swimming with the rays, we went outside the reef to swim with more sharks in deep water. It was about 30' deep. We could see the reef going at a steep angle down until we couldn't see it anymore. The sharks were somewhat larger than the others had been and swimming more since the water was so deep. It was impressive. We'd hired the boat for 3 hours so we had time for one more stop. I wanted see one of the small islands so I said "Go to Motu". :) We went to a private island with one home on it. The guide knew the owners. They are currently getting a divorce so the island is for sale. It's only 3.5 million euros, about $4 million. Only problem is that every 6 years or so the island gets wiped out by hurricanes! The last one put it totally under water. It sure was beautiful.
Back in town, we walked around a bit. There is only 1 road that goes all the way around the island. There were several pearl shops, galleries and grocery stores. I found the post office but it closed at noon. We headed back to the ship at about 3:30 to get ready for the special meal on the Lido deck. Mel had been asking the executive chef when he would be serving roast pig, today was the day. It was actually very good. There was no show that night, so I wanted to go back ashore. I'd hoped to get there in time for the sunset, but that didn't happen.
On the tender there was a group of 6 who were headed somewhere. Once on shore they were going on a van...I asked if we could join them. They were headed to Bloody Mary's, named after the bar made famous in the musical South Pacific. We went in for a drink and bought a shot glass. It was a nice place with a counter to check your shoes...the floor is sand. We were back on the ship at about 9.
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