Wednesday 20 August 2014

Day 87 - Cruiser escapes from massive sharks and rays!

Another not so good night so the bugs aren’t yet gone.  When it got around to getting up time, Paula wasn’t sure that I sounded well enough, but once I was vertical and fortified with a Coldrex, I passed myself fit enough to cope with day on Moorea.

We discussed our options at breakfast and decided that if there were any vacancies (only a few left last night according to those on the Papeete dock), we’d take the Hiro’s Tour.  As a tender port, those of us at the top of the Princess loyalty scale get preferential tender access.  In truth, the boats hold about 75 passengers, so the first 55 or so come from the Elite’s meeting area and the other 20 from those waiting in a separate area.

We met D & S at 9:20 and we managed the 4th tender (D & S still have a few days before they get their prized black cards) and that was only 9:40, by which time, the Elites had all gone, so no big deal.

A smooth and fairly quick run to land and we headed straight for the Hiro’s stand (there were others) and were charged $40 each (without the BBQ).  The guy running it claimed it was the only tour where they fed tourists to the sharks…

We had to wait about 30 minutes for the small boat to come in, which already had some passengers on, as they had already done a whale watch.

What a hoot!  Our tour leader Marco was an enormous man with a great sense of humour.  First of all, we headed anti-clockwise, fairly close to the coast of this spectacular island, towards a shallow area about 15 minutes away, not too far from the burres of one of the local resorts.  At the resort, we just caught a glimpse of their dolphin finishing off a show.

Just past the resort, they dropped anchor and the sharks and manta rays were plainly visible in the crystal clear water.  (Makes ‘Jaws’ noises…)

The dark skinned Marco headed for the water and his parting words were not to worry, as the sharks only ate white meat…

Now as many of you will know, I am no water baby, but Paula is.   So she grabbed the camera and ushered me into the water.  Collecting evidence that I was in fact eaten by sharks?

This was a simply stunning experience.  The massive reef sharks (hey, all fishermen lie about the size of the ones that got away) were around, but the manta rays came up really close and were pettable.   I doubt there was anyone who didn’t enjoy the experience, certainly after they had touched them for the first time.  (They feel very smooth like a wet chamois leather.)   Paula was busy taking pics, not just with our camera, but also one owned by a couple of ladies.  The best pic she took was on their camera.

After half an hour or so, during which time I found a floating cocoanut (taken on board) and Marco fed flakes of fish to the sea life, we clambered back aboard.

We headed for an island just a few minutes away and they ran the boat up the beach, which just happened to be festooned with Princess blue and white striped pool towels.  The crew got busy lighting a BBQ from bits and pieces they found around the place whilst Marco opened the bar.  Which is to say, either fruit juice or ice cold beer.

We had a BBQ table under the trees giving us plenty of shade, just 20 yards from the water’s edge.   More manta rays plus other small fish in the shallows.

Marco did a couple of demonstrations.  The first was several of the ways to tie a pareo using Susie as a willing model.  He claimed he’d learned how to do it on YouTube.  He also showed the male method.

Using nothing more than a wooden spike he also showed us how to split the outer and inner.  The outer fibre (copra?) he claimed they used to clean the pots (along with Palmolive)  and twisted it into rope to tie down anything, including houses, tarps - and their women.

He warned that a dropping ripe cocoanut was lethal so to watch out for them.  The biggest casualties were Japanese, as they were too busy taking photographs.  (Loved his humour.)

We stayed until 2pm and then headed back to the wharf having had a simply great experience.  Probably the highlight of this cruise for many.  Seeing Moorea, even the small portion that we saw, from the water rather than from the land, just added to the magic.  Picture postcard perfect; warm water; interacting with manta rays; fantastic crew, who could ask for more?

No queue for the tender return, as no doubt many were leaving it as late as possible – and who could blame them?

We were of course famished so the first call was the buffet (after washing our hands of course) and just a bowl of soup.  (Hey, I am trying.)

Trivia, then an attractive sailaway, with a whale too far away for my camera to catch.

After dinner, the late show in the Vista was Australian ventriloquist, Sarah Jones.  She isn’t a bad ventriloquist but apart from the last five minutes, with a member of the audience as the dummy, the show was a bit too flat.  She needs a much better script, so sorry Sarah, only a 6/10 from me.

Paula and I had a hot chocolate before retiring.  We were pretty tired but so pleased that Moorea was a huge success.  Exactly what we wanted.  Just two days at sea before Pago Pago now and that is it as far as ports go for us.  After that, just 3 more days at sea and we not exactly looking forward to the huge temperature drop in NZ, but we will be happy to be home.   There are huge plans afoot for August 25th – more of which later.

 

PS: Reef sharks are about 500mm long and unlike the sting rays, manta rays don’t kill.

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