Bora Bora and Manta Rays

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Bonjour day three, we woke up in Bora Bora. Not too bad right? Wen and Hinano told us to be up by 6:30 to go see the manta rays. There is nothing better than a sunrise for me, and I was up well before the rest of the group. The catamaran pulled anchor and set off before 6:00 am. Wen piloted the dingy to the spot where the manta ray feed on plankton. The group exited the boat, I always do my best impression of a Navy SEAL, holding my mask against my face, I drop off the boat with my camera in my other hand, feet straight up in the air. The water was cloudy and visibility was not but a few meters, but with a little effort to swim towards the bottom it didn’t take long to see the beautiful majestic manta rays. Wen let me know that this is just one family that lives in that area, eight of them. I possibly saw all eight, three at one time was the most. In previous blogs I made the claim that “I swim like a goddamn maniac.” This was in reference to when I saved the girl in Thailand. (Read that post, it was the most amazing day of my life.) I am surrounded by water, this part of the world is referred to as Oceania; my swimming has come in very handy, and today was no different. I had to swim down 50-60 feet to get good photos of the mantas. Now, I told you that I can swim, and I can hold my breath for a very long time. (As an example I can swim two and a half lengths of the pool without taking a breath.) Wen puts me to shame, he stays under water a good 30-45 seconds more than me. Anyway, the manta ray were a sight to see, they are about 10 feet wide and appear to float through the water. It is a gift to behold.



After returning to the boat we traveled to a small village on the outer atoll surrounding Bora Bora, Pointe Fareone. HHere we snorkeled, took a few photos, there was a volleyball net and our boat played a team comprised of four people from another catamaran; we later ate an amazing lunch off of plates woven from coconut leaves and topped with another large leaf that I do not know the name of. We sat eating lunch in Bora Bora, French Polynesia with Mt. Otemanu rising over 700 meters out of the sea in front of us. The whole thing seems surreal. Last week I was in Omaha, and just two days ago I checked Facebook, the only thing being posted was about Husker football. Stephane and Nancy update, (They are awesome by the way; I spend more time with them than the other two couples, who are great also, I just feel closest to the two of them.), they are definitely a couple. I had broke out my tripod and other lenses to take photos of Bora Bora and he told me that if Nancy would marry him I was going to photograph their wedding. Actually he said “If you will marry me you are going to photograph the wedding.” Nancy and I had a laugh after she corrected him. They speak to me in English and I speak to them in French. Stephane has mentioned to me a couple of times that he likes country music, I just think it is funny and I imagine him learning English from Alan Jackson. Il est un bon homme.



Hinano and Wen had to hurry back to the boat as it appeared to be floating off. Turns out the anchor had broke and instead of going snorkeling as our next item on the agenda we were going to amend that and head into town to get a new anchor. While the anchor was replaced we were turned loose to hit up the market close to the harbor; merchants talked me into a few more trinkets than I would have expected. One merchant was from France, taught French in a school in LA, and now lives in French Polynesia. Not too bad right? He had some very rare teeth from a hammer head shark, I now possess one of them. The boat waited a few extra minutes for the Italian honeymooners, once they boarded we took off for the snorkeling. Wen chummed the water with an old baguette and us snorkelers were treated to a frenzy of feeding fish. After a solid fifteen minutes of this we hopped back in the dingy and then off to the catamaran before setting sail to the spot we are staying for the night. Ralph asked for some vodka so we shared a drink and I started to type this out as the sun was setting over the Pacific Ocean. Hinano is preparing pasta bolognaise as I sit here and type this. I am hungry and going to end it here.

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Photos

I was very close and very deep here.
Lost one fin swimming to the top.

Margarette took this
Too funny not to post

Comments

[Pat Zwink]

What a lucky man you are! I am totally jealous.