Longitude: 149 34.247 W
We spent the evening of day 5 in Opunohu Bay on Moorea with Brian and friends on Furthur. We met other cruisers from Curious and Freestyle and enjoyed sundowners until long after the sun went down, before returning to Worrall Wind.
Day 6 – Rays, Sharks, and a Tough Hike!
On day 6, Garyn and Jess decided to go hiking and find the three coconut trail they had seen in their guide book. Russ and I chose to do some dinghy exploration. After dropping Garyn and Jess on shore, Russ and I packed a picnic lunch, took sun umbrella, snorkels, and fins, and headed towards the old Club Med property via a dinghy pass through the coral reefs. Brian had given us some frozen fish chunks the night before to feed the rays. He gave us directions how to find the the ray and shark hangout along the way.
It took us about an hour with the dinghy to find the sandy white bottom high spot amidst the coral where the reef shark and rays hangout and tourists come to visit.
There were some white mooring balls which we attached the dinghy to. Russ jumped out first.
The water was a little over waist high. There was another tour boat with about 5 people close to ours. The rays and sharks were circling. I was a little worried about getting out of the boat, but when I saw that the sharks were standoffish and not remotely interested in the other human edibles, I finally got in the water.
The rays were amazing. There were about a dozen or more rays 3-4 feet across who have become accustomed to daily feedings. They eagerly surrounded us, nudging us, folding their wings up and around us, allowing us to pet them.
They loved the little bits of fish we gave them. I tried to feed them like I would a horse, flat palmed, but since their eyes are on top and mouth on the bottom I don’t think they could see where the food was.
I got nipped a couple of times by their toothless jaws. One of the nips actually broke the skin on my right middle finger. It was a good thing that was the last piece of fish as I wasn’t inclined to feed them much after that. And with the sharks around, I didn’t much care to have any blood in the water.
The black tipped reef sharks just kept circling, but never came very close….thank goodness.
After our ray and shark experience, we motored on to the Club Med property and took a few photos from the water.
One of the photos (night shot) was taken 16 years ago. It was the genesis of our dream to return to Moorea.
There is a similar shot, not exactly from the same perspective, that we took from the dinghy.
Returning to this spot wasn’t exactly how we envisioned it. We did come in our boat, albeit the dinghy, and we would have enjoyed walking the Club Med property, but that wasn’t to be. Nevertheless, we had returned and the circle was closed.
As we returned to Worrall Wind, it became apparent to us that one of the dinghy pass markers was missing. We went straight from one post to another, only to find ourselves in the midst of shallow water and coral heads. Sure glad our dinghy had a hard bottom and we had pulled up the motor. We tried paddling, but the fetch and current made it too difficult. We finally had to get out of the dinghy and find a path through the sand and between coral heads until we were in waist high water and could see a pass out to deeper water. Russ got few coral scrapes which I immediately squeezed some fresh lime juice on (I had heard that this was a great anti-coral-bacterial). When we returned to the boat, we took care of our coral scrapes and ray bites with antibiotic ointments.
Jess and Garyn returned to the boat about 4:00 p.m., hot, muddy, and sweaty. They had gone on a 15 mile hike without ever getting to the three coconuts because the trail was so overgrown. They were exhausted. I think we had the better day.
Day 7 (Tuesday, June 8, 2010) - We left Moorea around 10:30 this morning and are now tied up bow first on the quay in Papeete. on Tahiti. We are right next to SV Sula from Paradise Village in Puerta Vallarta. Papeete is the port city and capital of French Polynesia.
It is obvious from the structures that the no taller than a coconut tree does not apply here.
Garyn and Jess have gone off to explore. Russ and I are hanging out on the boat doing some cleanup work and waiting for agent to come and check us in.
The kids only have three more days before returning to the states. We will probably rent a car and do a circle tour tomorrow or Thursday. There is a lot to see and do here.
All is well on Worrall Wind
Thank you so much for these posts. I know it takes a lot of your time, but I feel as if I'm taking the trip with you. I especially appreciate the details of sailing (since I don't know anything at all) and all the work and details you need to attend to. The photos are beautiful. Your posts are an education and a virtual vacation rolled into one!
ReplyDeleteSusan Martimo