Moorea, Anne and the Shark Pack

22nd May 2017

Justin left yesterday evening and after filling with fuel we set off to sail to Moorea. It was Julien's first sail and he handled the boat well. The mountains are so dramatic, rising out of the calm blue water of the encircling lagoon inside the reef.    We anchored in Cook's Bay supposedly visited by him in 1777.

Neighbouring boats include Oceana with Canadians Luke and Aline on board and Tina of Poncé with Guy and Rika (Frederika) who we had corresponded with on the Puddle Jump Net crossing to the Marquesas.

We took the dinghy out to the reef, swimming a long way against the current and eventually getting to the breaking waves.   Coral mostly looking rather dead, but nonetheless there are lots of interesting fish.  Such huge variety of fish! Each time I float, gazing down them, I try to memorise their amazingly individual patterns.   There's a thick book of fish on sale in Papeete - I will buy it!

Sketch from memory of the White-banded Triggerfish

Having observed the white banded triggerfish closely for several minutes on many occasions I've now tried to sketch, it but find that my memory just will not produce an accurate map of its colour and pattern.  I noted the pale yellow band across the lips with a middle stripe of iridescent blue interspersed with black.

Across the eyes are three stripes of vivid deep blue interspersed with black, but I cannot recall how they terminate! On the back there's a pale patch bounded by black and often crossed with a band of chestnut brown which bands down to the belly.

On the flanks are deep black veins of which two are larger and the other two shorter.  The tail escapes me!   Its behaviour pattern involves taking bites out of bits of coral growth and then spitting out larger chunks while spraying fine white sand out of its gills  Parrot fish on the other hand secrete the sand from coral that they have eaten.

We had moored opposite a café and went ashore for sundowners.  It turned out to be heavily themed on Veuve Cliquot, complete with souvenir shop.  A bottle of VC cost $220!   Instead we drank expensive Piña Coladas whilst watching a vivid red sunset.

23rd May 2017
We motored round to the next bay to track down TopDive for Emily and Julien.  Many more boats here but no cafés.  We went snorkelling again on the reef.

24th  May 2017
Next day we motored 3 miles down to the Intercontinental Hotel to find Top Dive.  En route we explored and found the spots where tourists swim with sharks and rays. It was quite amazing having 15-18 black tip reef sharks at least 4 feet long swimming past in shoals and I got a great video of Anne swimming with the sharks.  Then there were the sting rays under one's feet which was quite worrying!

Black Tip Reef Sharks

Emily and Julien on alert as stingrays circle them

The infinity pool at the Intercontinental Hotel

Sadly Emily and Julien's dive was cancelled due to an engine failure, so we had a drink and a swim in the infinity pool and then went off to see the Dolphinarium where, for $260, you can swim with the dolphins.  It was a sad sight with the ocean just the other side of the net and three bored captive dolphins, two of which had floppy fins - apparently a sure sign of depression.  We considered whether we could release them by cutting the wire that night, but failed to do so.

Turtles

Then we went to see the turtle clinic where injured turtles are fed and cared for until released again. There were lots of babies plus some very large adults - both Hawksbill and Green turtles.

On the way back we stopped in at the Town Quay to find that the four-masted cruise ship WindSpray was delivering all its guests ashore. There were stalls set up and Anne enjoyed shopping for more pearls.  We mooched round a couple of local supermarkets and then went back to Tin Tin for supper.

The WindSpray cruise ship

Know your Pearl!

Local supermarket

However Bill Hirsch on Sand Pebble invited us aboard for drinks. So at sunset we took him a bottle of wine and met his 5 crew.  One of them, Robyn Love, was cooking a delicious Chicken Gumbo, but we weren't catered for so we had a cold beer and a tour of the ship and then left. It was an impressive amount of space in a 55' hull and, if we didn't have sailing in mind it would be a brilliant boat to have.  It had 3 double cabins forward and a big state room aft with  saloon, dining room, galley and big engine room, workshop and storage. It seems that he had the boat built in China, and then had it shipped out to Tahiti with the intention of cruising westwards to Indonesia.  He's on his own, so he invites crew out through websites, and they fund their own flights and get food and lodging on board.  Robyn Love was keen on Mark!

25th May
Had a happy morning snorkelling along the shoreline and saw lots of new fish and a turtle. I tried diving down deep, equalised twice but it hurt a bit!  Not sure whether the perforated eardrum, that was diagnosed on my medical course in November, is healed yet.  We set sail about 11:30 for Papeete and with little wind motor-sailed to get there by 16:00.  marina manager, Philippe, found us an alongside berth which Mark surveyed with him, as it was a tight manoeuvre, and then parked us into it beautifully.  

We organised a taxi to the airport for Anne at 05:30 and dined ashore on a metre of pizza (again!)

26th May

I was up early to see Anne off at dawn, only to have her return at 07:00 as her flight was cancelled!  It was a busy day as I'd arranged, through Tehani of Tahiti Crew, for various workmen to do jobs.  She and her female team set up shop at a table under a tree at the Casa Bianca bar every morning and then dealt with all the requests for help.