Blogs from Moorea, French Polynesia, Oceania - page 6

MOOREA We enter Opuhon Bay and anchor. To port, the Sheraton is in view. The towers of white smoke give us pause, but it seems that locals rake their leaves and burn them. Given the dry conditions, I’m surprised they still do it but they do. Hope the hotel is here tomorrow when we arrive for two nights. Our tour today is the shark sighting, ray feeding, and snorkeling adventure. We arrive to the site and a group of black tips swim by. The stingrays gather for a snack. The water is about three feet deep and we stand there petting the rays as they gather for food. They feel like plush velvet and seem to enjoy our caresses. They also like the food. Small reef fish gather for the crumbs and the sharks keep their ... read more

hey Leute, kurzer Eintrag zu unserem 4-Tagesurlaub auf Tahiti! Traum-location nicht??? Mitten im Meer und dann bekommt man franzoesische Croissants und tolle Baguettes ... :-) ... mampf ... denn alles - andere ist ziemlich unleistbar... ein Bier kostet sage und schreibe 8 Euro ... unter 15 Euro ist sonst kein Essen zu bekommen. Unterkuenfte fuer 80 Euro (das Billigste, was wir bekommen konnten) sind sehr, sehr, sehr schlecht und dreckig, aber mehr wollten wir auch nicht ausgeben ... dafuer ist das Meer traumhaft schoen ... sind 1.5 Tage auf Papette gewesen und dann zum Relaxen haben wir es uns 2 Naechte (3 Tage) auf der Insel Moorea gut gehen lassen ... 30 Grad im Schatten, toller Strand, viele Palmen, viele schoene Fische, die um dich rum schwimmen und hellblaues Wasser ... ... read more

Tahiti: island of dreams I was so sick as we approached French Polynesia that I finally broke down and went to the sketchy boat doctor. He was more than happy to prescribe me a Japanese cocktail of strange drugs. I took them all 4 x a day and didn't get out of bed for 3 days. Finally Tahiti appeared before my eyes. A gorgeous lush tropical island, surrounded by crystal clear water, large mountains and deep mist. Looking at the gorgeous water, I was determined to dive no matter what! We went to a small island called Moorea and bunked into a garden chalet with 20 other friends from the ship. I raced off to dive that day and it was absolutely beautiful. Nearly kissed by a sea turtle, I danced with it over the ... read more

Today was the reason that our budget had been tight all week - we'd booked to do a whale and dolphin watching tour. Unfortunately the day didn’t start off great as I’d had really bad earache all night (I think I got some water trapped in it when snorkelling) and Matt was in pain with his leg as he’d hurt it yesterday. Luckily the trip wasn’t until lunchtime so we both took pain killers and lay on the beach reading our books until we felt a bit better. We were surprised to see that the trip was full of Australians and Americans. We’d been thinking that most tourists here were French, but actually it’s just that our hotel is French and many of the other (expensive big resort) hotels seem to be full of English speaking ... read more

Another day started with bread and jam, then it was on to the beach to read our books. After a while we went out for a snorkel and tried out the underwater camera for the first time. Matt got some amazing shots. The current here was still strong so it was difficult to hold still when you wanted to watch a particular fish. Today some fish were really brave (or stupid) and came right up to us, even spending time sitting on Matt’s blue flipper while he had it on the floor to balance himself while taking some pictures. I think the angel fish are the most beautiful, but the little bright blue ones are pretty special too. We have to find a fish book from somewhere soon so that we know wha we're looking at! ... read more