October 21 2012 Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Swimming with the fishes

I was up on deck early this morning for our entry into Bora Bora’s lagoon where we are now ‘anchored’ in the middle of what was once the crater of the volcano. Similar to some of the islands we have visited on this cruise, only the outer rim of the volcano survives, and in the case of Bora Bora the surrounding volcanic peaks are very lush and picturesque. In the town of Vaitape roosters could be heard crowing and as it is Sunday the sound of singing in the churches carried across the water.

Today I joined a privately organised tour which Sherrie arranged through Patrick (Maohi Nui) who has the reputation of offering the best excursion in Bora Bora, and his outing certainly lived up to this. Our group was divided between three motorised ‘outriggers’, 12 people in each, and then we were off across the lagoon to our first stop, snorkelling with black tipped reef sharks.

We then moved on to a shallower part of the lagoon where we were able to stand in chest-deep water as sting rays came in to be fed by Patrick. The sting rays feel like wet velvet as they move past you or stop for you to skim your hand along their back. These adult rays are used to being handled – and kissed by Patrick – so we just shuffled around as they swam around us.

Our final snorkelling stop was near a coral reef. Once again, having my own fins was a great advantage because I could stay in longer and the slight current didn’t bother me as it did some others. I kept close to the reef where there was a greater variety of fish including lots of parrot fish, trigger fish, saddled butterfly fish and even a Moorish idol (which moved too quickly into the coral for me to take a photo of it.

All this sea air and activity helped us work up an appetite for lunch which was held on Patrick’s private motu. A pig had been pit roasted, along with a chicken dish, and there was also barbequed lobster and yellowfish tuna steaks, poi, plantain, etc., all served on banana leaf plates, and accompanied by French champagne, (or Mimosas for most of the women), beer and soft drink. If that wasn’t enough, picnic tables and chairs with shade umbrellas had been set up in the water with fabulous views over the lagoon to the Bora Bora peaks across the way.

By the end of the excursion we had circumnavigated the main part of Bora Bora, had been well fed and had seen lots of marine life.

After a shower to get all that salt out of my hair and a nap to recover from all that fresh air and activity, I went in search of dinner and discovered that tonight there was a Polynesian barbeque on the outside Lido deck (I should read the daily program more closely).

All up, a big thumb’s up for the day!

NB. All above photos were taken with the Canon Powershot D20, an underwater compact camera which I'm quite pleased with.