Author: richwest3

July 27 & 28, 2012

We spent our last couple of days back in Cook’s Bay before heading on. We did some grocery shopping and met some newly-arrived friends for lunch on the deck of my beloved Bali Hai hotel.

Before we left the next day, a miracle occurred. We went for a long walk to a town outside the bay and found, at last, a decent cappuccino at small bakery cafe.

On the way back to the boat, we discovered a pizza place so good we seriously considered staying a few more days.

More winds were predicted and our clock was ticking (we have a 90-day visa in French Polynesia), so we needed to head on. I know it doesn’t sound very sailorly to want to avoid wind, but here it tends to bring sloppy seas and uncomfortable conditions (or maybe we have just become big wusses). In any case, our goal was to see Huahine and then be at Raiatea with its grocery stores and restaurants before the next wind’s arrival. So sadly, we headed on, knowing it would be unlikely to find a place as nice as Moorea- perhaps our favorite place yet. -Cyndi

July 22 – 26, 2012

Here are some more pictures of Opunohu Bay in Moorea that we just had to share.

Stress?  What was that again?

July 25, 2012

I have been singing the praises of anchoring in the bay instead of “out on the reef” as other people call it (or “the blue water” as I call it).  That area is often too crowded, too vulnerable to wind, and not as pretty as it is tucked into our bays.

But there was an exception, an area that few people seemed to venture into or even know about.  I don’t know why, but maybe it’s because it’s not as well marked, not as easy to see, and there’s not much written about it.  Plus, when there are a lot of masts in a different area, you think that’s where you’re supposed to go, and it’s just easier to follow the crowd.

Our brave friends on Aleris deviated from the crowd and ended up finding this beautiful spot.  The water was like glass, they could snorkel on the reef not far from their boat, and there were only a couple of other boats there.  It was more vulnerable to the wind than our bay, but they had a secure anchorage in sand, and they weren’t surrounded by other boats.

We passed through this beautiful area on our way to see the stingrays.  What a find! We were tempted to move Legacy out here, but decided to just enjoy it from the dinghy.  We snorkeled on the nearby reef over the famous underwater tikis (large carved stone tikis that for reasons I don’t know have ended up underwater).  On the way back to our boat, we stopped at an underwater wall that dropped from about 10 feet to over 50 feet.  More wonderful snorkeling.  Here are some pictures from this great day. -Cyndi

Did you notice the stingray in the lower left corner? How about in the picture above?

July 25, 2012

Here, some video of the stingrays we fed and swam with in Moorea. -Rich

July 25, 2012

Stingrays make me nervous and sharks make me nervous.  The idea of them together wasn’t filling me with joyful anticipation, but our friend Larry had done this and was saying how great it was so I knew I had to give it a try.  Larry was insisting we needed to bring fresh fish to attract the rays, who will then practically climb on you while you feed them.  I wasn’t so sure I wanted stingrays “climbing on me,” and thought maybe it would be better to just watch other people feed them but we arrived first, and Rich went in. I tentatively followed.

We had our fresh tuna chunks and Rich managed to attract a ray by waving some in the water.  It came near but not close enough to take it from his hand.  He dropped a piece of fish for it, then another came by, but again, not too close.  I was watching and thinking it was going pretty well, and I wondered if we’d attract any more.  I turned to look around and said something along the lines of, “Holy Crap!!!!”

A few feet away was a large formation of rays coming fast.  This mass had about 15 rays, swimming about 3 high and 5 wide, looking like a battle star squadron from Star Wars.  Suddenly, we were surrounded.  It was nervous fun feeding them tuna by hand as they did indeed climb on us.  When it got to be a bit much for me, I jumped in the dinghy.  Rich soon followed while we watched and laughed and took video and waited for our friends to arrive.

Rich was soon back in the water filming them (see our next post), but I opted to stay in the dinghy.  Some small sharks swam on the outskirts but never came too near.  It seems this is the stingrays’ thing and the sharks respect that.  In all, I did very much enjoy the stingray encounter and have developed a soft spot for them.  I have not, however, developed a soft spot for the sharks but if we ever get back to Moorea, I will definitely do this again! -Cyndi