Scuba Jim
Contributor
EPISODE IV
OF ALL THE DIVE JOINTS IN ALL THE WOILD, YOU HAD TO WALK INTO MINE
OR
FRANCKENSTEIN - THE DIVEMONSTER
Well, we took the plane from Raiatea to Bora Bora, and the pilot was kind enough to fly round the island in both directions, so we could all get a good view of the lagoon. From the air this place looked amazing, with the most exquisite hues of turquoise and blue in the lagoon.
Bora Bora Lagoon from the air
The airfield was originally built by the Americans in WWII, in advance of any further expansion of the Japanese control over the S Pacific. Luckily the airfield was never actually needed during the war, but you can still see some remains of gun emplacements dotted around the big island. On arriving we found the transfer people for our hotel, and took the boat ride from the airport island to the hotel. I had decided that after Tahaa we ought to try some where more middle of the road. After all, not everyone can afford to stay in luxury 5 star hotels. I knew that it would be a bit of a come down after Tahaa (what wouldnt be?!), so we braced ourselves! On initial arrival at the Eden Beach Resort it seemed quite nice. A jetty took you across the shallows to the main reception/dining area, with a little swimming pool and fabulous views back across the lagoon to Mt Otemanu on the main island in the middle. We checked in and were taken to our bungalow, which was clean and comfortable, though without the facilities of the Tahaa PBR. It was only afterwards that I got my brain cell into action and realised that under normal circumstances a beach bungalow at this establishment was $300 a night. In Thailand you would have paid less than a tenth of that for the same kind of room.
However, once we had checked in we went for a stroll along the beach and the water was stagnant and stank. It seems that no fresh water circulates along that stretch of the motu as the nearest pass is such a long way away, and no new water gets to circulate along the shore. Despite them clearing the beach of weed (they just shoved it to the end of their stretch, rather than actually removing it), the beach smelt like a stagnant pond.
Dinner was disgusting - Suzie had soup that she left, I had mussels that tasted like old boots. There were 2 dishes on offer for the main course. Chicken curry and something else I have forgotten. We both chose the chicken curry, but in fact there wasn't any. We had a steak. Suzie asked for her's well done, I asked for mine rare. Her's was rare, mine was raw. And it was the toughest, stringiest bit of beef I have ever had the misfortune of eating. I think it was a dead dog they had picked up from the side of the road. The potatoes that went with it were like concrete, and when you finally got your teeth through them they went all powdery and tasted like talc. The beans were over cooked. And to cap it all the "waiter" was without doubt the campest, gayest transvestite drama queen I have ever seen. While I am not normally offended by people's "preferences" this guy was so over the top, with jewellery, pink bows in his hair, lipstick, red nail polish and the lot. He minced around flapping his arms and squeaking like a girl. It was exceptionally off putting, and to some degree rather intimidating! We left the food - we couldn't be bothered to complain, as we decided then to move out, regardless of the fact that we may not have been able to find somewhere else.
There was also no atmosphere at all in the resort. Everyone else looked as depressed as we did; no one looked happy at all.
We laughed at dinner because here we were in one of the romantic spots in the world, and we were feeling homesick!
After dinner we arranged with the lady there to check out the next day; we packed that evening and left the bags in the room as were off at 7.00am to go diving. I was going to arrange to pick them up later, once I had found somewhere else to stay. On the way to the jetty the next morning we met the owner; we did not want to say what we felt about the place purely because our bags were still at the resort. I subsequently heard from Wendy at Blue Nui that Serge, the manager, was also leaving, as the owner is hovering around all the time and getting in his way. There was quite clearly tension there. (An update on this resort for you all! Pearl Beach Resorts, who were managing the place, have subsequently dumped it and Serge has left.) I would not wish even a 1-night stay at this place on even my worst enemy well, maybe Tony Blair! So, anyone who ever wants to go to Bora Bora and are recommended the Pearl Beach Resort take head of my warning. Or there may be wailing and gnashing of teeth!
Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, errr Whatserface (Scott, Robin, do you remember her name? Not Wendy, the other gal who worked at Blue Nui?) picked us up from the dock in the Blue Nui Landrover Defender. There are a lot of Landrovers in FP they dont rust as they are made from ALUMINIUM (note spelling again, please!). She said that we were picking up some more people on the way. We stopped at the Sofitel Marara and who should be there waiting to see us? It was some lovey-dovey kissy-wissy honeymooners called Scott & Robin. Oh, smoochy smoochy, cuddley wuddley, snoggy-snoggy all the time. Yeeeeeeeeeeeach! And to cap it all, Scott could have been my brother, as we are both tall, dark & handsome! (To let you into a secret, we sort of knew in advance that we MIGHT hook up together as Scott had sent me an email via someone in Papeete while I was in Rurutu saying they would be in Bora Bora at the same time as us.) We all got along famously, especially as we had all noticed the tendency of hotel waitresses to actually be more waiters than waitress If you catch my drift. This kept me & Scott amused for hours, Well, boys will be boys Or waitresses.
So we all had a laugh about our exploits at the Eden Beach, and headed out to the Bora Bora Pearl Beach to go diving. The first thing I did was arrange a beach suite (about the only room available!) at the Pearl Beach for the remaining 3 nights. What a sense of relief! Whewy-wooey! Fall on the ground and kiss the sand.
All credit to the Eden Beach, to be honest, because they brought out bags over to the main island and let me pay there, rather than go all the way back to the resort. If I ever see that place again
So, we managed to secure ourselves a beach suite at the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort. This was a beautiful hotel with a great atmosphere, thought I think we were the only ones there NOT on honeymoon! The set up was similar to Tahaa but was less formal. Our room was superb and it made a change to have a land based room rather than an overwater bungalow. Our suite had a private garden at the back, a jacuzzi, open air bathroom, a bedroom, a sitting room at the front and access directly to the beach. No one seemed to use the beach in front of the beach suites, which was great.
Pearl Beach err... beach!
Mrs Crusoe on said beach
If we had sat there all day we would have seen 5 people walk past. The resort had a poolside restaurant for lunch and snacks, and a smart open air/partially covered dining room for buffet breakfast and dinner.
Pool with posh restaurant above & behind
It also had a cocktail bar for me to buy my prerequisite pink girly cocktails and half price between 6.30 and 7.30pm!
View from the cocktail bar. Hic!
Anyway, I digress, as you no doubt want to know about the diving. Oh all right. So, we, Scott & Robin and few other people clambered into the boat and set off for Fafapiti, the world famous manta dive within the lagoon itself. Now, if you have never done a manta dive before this could be a great place, as it is shallow and virtually currentless. BUT, being within the lagoon, the viz is pretty poor we had about 25ft if that. Firstly, having explained to the dive guides that Suzies ears could give her problems, we descended to about 20ft under the boat and then had to swim about 5 yards before swimming over the top of a piece of reef that came to about 4ft below the surface, to then go back down to the main dive site. So, Suzies ear got buggered up and this ended up being her last dive. Why we couldnt just swim the 5 yards on the surface and go down from there, I dont know. Still, they are French. Also, I dont think our dive guide Franck quite knew what he was doing. He seemed to be taking us back and forth across the reef (and not a very interesting one at that.) We saw a few mantas, but they were lurking in the gloom and instead of sitting on the bottom and waiting for them we kept on swimming about. The highlight was a free swimming moray that swam between Scotts legs. Or was it something else, eh?
Is that a moray in your pocket or are you just happy to seem me?
So all in all it was a very disappointing dive. (At the end of the last day I dived I chewed Francks ear off for this and various other misdemeanours and told Wendy what I thought of him. She was apologetic and said he was new to the job (having worked there before and returned). I would hope by now that they have sorted him out. Anyway, so that was the first dive in Bora Bora and much to Suzies disappointment her last of the trip. She subsequently had a painful ear for the rest of our holiday.
After a surface interval of about 1 hour we did our second dive, at Tapu. This is a section of reef just outside the main pass. It starts in about 30ft of water and shelves down to the depths. Not much feature to the reef, but it is a favourite place for inexperienced divers to have their first shark feed. Now, we could argue for weeks about whether shark feeding is a good or bad thing. The environmental angel on my left shoulder was wagging his finger in disgust, but the photographic devil on my right shoulder was going Weh-hey. I know it is wrong, but if you want to get photos of sharks, sharks that are consistently fed are the best ones to take photos of! So, this time the other dive guide Patrice went down with us in a group and we were meant to have sat down in a circle and watched the shark feeds. However, Patrice again got this somewhat wrong, as instead of getting us in a circle and then handing out the food, he stuck the fish under the coral and then got us all to attempt to sit in a circle, with all these black tips thundering about. Hmmm .odd. Anyway, I was below everyone else, as I wanted to photograph upwards. Scott & I saw a couple of chunky lemon sharks further down the reef and I sneaked off down the reef to see if I could get to them. Suddenly, a hand grabbed me and I turned to find Patrice wagging his finger at me. Slapped wrist I was going to deep, I should be with the group, Im English, Ive only done 6000 dives for Crissake. Mumble mumble and so I didnt get near the lemon sharks. In subsequent emails with Wendy I have informed her that some people do not like having their hands held on a dive and a modicum of flexibility would be appreciated. Cut them some slack, basically. I have been assured that this will now be the case! Anyway, despite this nannying, it was a good dive - there were lots of blacktips, lots of nappyfish, some morays, turtles, you name it, they were flying about. And with exceptional viz and no current. As a shark dive it was great fun.
So, we went back to the resort and had lunch, and I was glad to find that I could eat to my hearts content and not get nagged by Suzie for the quantities I ate, because I could easily have turned to her and said: But look how much Scott has got I do like to meet someone who enjoys there food as much as I! We then relaxed the rest of the day, reading, relaxing & sleeping. Having been married for 6 years with 2 children we avoided what all the honeymooners were up to, but we could feel the earth shaking under Scott & Robins overwater bungalow half way round the island!
(Scott confided in me later that day read in best Scottish accent!: "I've given her all she's got, captain, and I can't give her no more.")
That evening we met Scott & Robin at Bloody Marys a famous eating hole in town, where we had some good food and a few beers. The idea is that you go up in small groups and look at the various dishes on offer and say Ill have one of them, please. The man behind the counter had this irritating way of explaining what was what: Youve got your tuna steak here. Youve got your mahi mahi here. Etc etc. My tuna? My mahi mahi? I dont want ALL of them, for Crissakes!
To add to Suzies ear problems she got the squits from her meal!
The next day Suzie stayed at the resort and I met up with Scott & Robin at the dive centre and we went off with just two others Marty & errrr umm Stephanie, was it, Scott & Robin?) to go diving. The first dive was at White Valley. This was on the outer reef behind the above the Pearl Beach Resort. The only down side of this site was that the mooring was situated about 200 yards from the site itself and having descended the mooring line we were forced to swim at 80ft of water to the site. A waste of air, me thinks. Again, if I had known, I would have preferred to have swum on the surface and done a free descent after all, I have done it before!!
The first things that struck me about this dive was the viz again - at least 150ft. The second thing that strcuk me was that as soon as you had jumped in there were sharks right below you.
"Hey look up there - divers. Let's go eat!
We swam across a flat area of coral with some small sand channels, and off to the right the reef sloped gently up to the island. We were followed by about 5 or 6 grey reef sharks. We then came to a large sand channel about 40 yards wide that stretched from the bottom of the slope out to the edge of what looked like another drop off. The sand patch was covered in garden eels. From where the sand dropped off the lip of the reef a large number of grey reef sharks started coming in from deep water, swimming purposefully towards us. Grey reefie swimming over the sand at White Valley
A school of jacks also came in from the deeper water.
I'm all right, Jack
I was very keen to swim to the edge and look at what it had to offer. After all, it was probably only at about 120ft, so hardly a deep dive. However, I could feel Francks eyes boring into the back of my head and so I didnt bother. I expect very few people have even bothered to see what was down there. What a pity!
Well, having seen White Face we then proceeded to return reluctantly to the boat. However, this is where the fun started! I must confess modestly that I have gills, so despite being a tubby lump of lard I breathy my air quite conservatively. While the rest then proceeded up the mooring line the grey reef sharks swam round and round me getting closer and closer. There were perhaps 15 or 20 of them and the biggest were at least 6 or 7ft long.
A little shy at first.
A little bit closer...
Closer still....
Even closer....
Right in your face!
Looking up I could see Scott & Robin and the others looking down and there were sharks circling above me as well. Yoohoo down there!
Finally, to cap it all a school of about 400 big barrycudas swam past, but I had run out of film. Despite the fact that it seemed a little silly swimming so far to get to the dive site, and that we did not spend much time there, this was a fantastic dive for shark photography. If anyone who is reading this has dived Blue Corner in Palau, this place I FAR FAR better. Bigger and more grey reefies right in your moosh and no need for a reef hook in a 3 knot current. If I was to ever go back to Bora Bora I would insist on going back to this dive site without anyone telling me what I could or could not do, as I would be very keen to drop over the lip and see what is hanging about.
The second dive was back at Tapu, where we had a great encounter with a very friendly turtle. One thing I have noticed about turtles in Tahiti is that they may not be very big (2ft was about the biggest I saw) they are very friendly. Most turtles will give you a couple of minutes of your time before saying, Right, thats enough harassment, thanks, Im off! Here they seem quite content to sit on pose for you for as long as you need them. This one turtle just seemed willing to hang about with us, and Scott took pickies of him from one side as I took pickies from the other!
Yoohoo down there!
I snapped off about 10 shots of this guy as he bumbled across the reef top.
Oooh, aren't I a poser?!
Do you think this is my best side?
Go on, give us a kiss....
Again, we had heaps of black tips trundling around, and we had a great encounter with a nappy fish, who posed beautifully for both me & Scott. Nappyfish are wonderful creatures - inquisitive, ugly in a lovable kind of way, with big rubbery lips, but very intricate markings.
I've got my eye on you....
No, I'm going to ignore you now, because...
...he's probably got food. Ow! How dare you poke me in the eye!
Well we then returned to the hotel and I said goodbye to Scott & Robin because we had to hobnob with the hotel manager for dinner (and I had to get down on bended knee and thank him profusely for the room!) I then went back to the room to find my dear wife had been sunbathing under the palm trees and now had a hurt ear, the squits and a dose of sunburn. On the third count, she will never learn! It was a pity we did not see Scott & Robin again! They may have been on honeymoon, but at least they didn't smooch around the whole time!
The next day we had a trip round the island. Despite the fact that there are a fair number of hotels on Bora Bora it is not that crowded, especially if you are in one of the resorts on the islands on the edge of the reef. You get a much better view from them as well, as you can see back to the big island! Mt Otemanu is very dramatic, the remains of a volcanic plug that is of harder rock than the surrounding volcano was, and remains where the rest has eroded. The island is covered in rainforest and except for the thin coastal strip is pretty much uninhabited. The view from Matira point and that area of the lagoon is superb, as the water is of varying depths here and the colours are well shown up.
Matira Point
The following day we flew to Moorea, and had a look around for the day.
Moorea coastline
It is a very dramatic island, with sheer-sided mountains and rugged peaks. 2 deeply indented bays, Cooks and Opunoho divide the coastline in the north. A wider coastal plain has allowed for a little more development, but the centre is pretty much untouched. There is a much wider choice of hotels here and lots of restaurants also. There were also quite a few cultural shows, the first real ones that we had seen, to be honest. Tiki Village was the best, and we saw the tail end of a traditional wedding. We had an excellent Chinese meal (makes a change from mahi mahi!) and looked around a few hotels. I spoke with Raphael, who runs the dive operation at the new Pearl Beach Resort, and he informs me that they have no mantas in Moorea but they do have a lot more sharks than in Bora Bora. They have lots of lemon sharks in Shark Alley and at Tiki, so I am told. I would like to return to Moorea one day and do a couple of days diving! (Hey, wouldnt we all!) As we were driving to the airport we stopped to look at the view of Tahiti across the sea, and saw two humpbacks about 50 yards off the reef right below us. This was a great way for us to finish the trip having snorkelled with them myself in Rurutu, it was nice for Suzie to see them also!
There's whales in them there waters.
In the late afternoon we returned by plane to Papeete and stayed at the Beachcomber for the rest of the evening, watching a tacky show while eating a mediocre meal. The Beachcomber was not very nice a rabbit warren of corridors leading to small rooms nothing like the Sheraton. At about midnight we checked out of the room to get the transfer to the airport for the flight home. To cut a long story short my camera case was misplaced by the porter and with the assistance of the duty manager and much searching we finally found it hidden behind some other luggage in the storeroom. The moral of the story? Dont stay at the Beachcomber!
So, we checked in for the flight home, jumped the queue and flew business class. Got what a long journey home and the most chronic jetlag I have ever had! It took me week to recover!
So, did I like Tahiti? You betcha! Would I go back? You betcha! Would I recommend it to anyone? You betcha!
I am planning a return trip in 2004, and I plan to go back to Moorea for a couple of days, I then want to go to Huahine, up to Manihi or Tikehau and then take the long flight to the Marquesas, which are the most remote and some say stunning islands in FP.
Anyone want to join me?!!!!
OF ALL THE DIVE JOINTS IN ALL THE WOILD, YOU HAD TO WALK INTO MINE
OR
FRANCKENSTEIN - THE DIVEMONSTER
Well, we took the plane from Raiatea to Bora Bora, and the pilot was kind enough to fly round the island in both directions, so we could all get a good view of the lagoon. From the air this place looked amazing, with the most exquisite hues of turquoise and blue in the lagoon.
Bora Bora Lagoon from the air
The airfield was originally built by the Americans in WWII, in advance of any further expansion of the Japanese control over the S Pacific. Luckily the airfield was never actually needed during the war, but you can still see some remains of gun emplacements dotted around the big island. On arriving we found the transfer people for our hotel, and took the boat ride from the airport island to the hotel. I had decided that after Tahaa we ought to try some where more middle of the road. After all, not everyone can afford to stay in luxury 5 star hotels. I knew that it would be a bit of a come down after Tahaa (what wouldnt be?!), so we braced ourselves! On initial arrival at the Eden Beach Resort it seemed quite nice. A jetty took you across the shallows to the main reception/dining area, with a little swimming pool and fabulous views back across the lagoon to Mt Otemanu on the main island in the middle. We checked in and were taken to our bungalow, which was clean and comfortable, though without the facilities of the Tahaa PBR. It was only afterwards that I got my brain cell into action and realised that under normal circumstances a beach bungalow at this establishment was $300 a night. In Thailand you would have paid less than a tenth of that for the same kind of room.
However, once we had checked in we went for a stroll along the beach and the water was stagnant and stank. It seems that no fresh water circulates along that stretch of the motu as the nearest pass is such a long way away, and no new water gets to circulate along the shore. Despite them clearing the beach of weed (they just shoved it to the end of their stretch, rather than actually removing it), the beach smelt like a stagnant pond.
Dinner was disgusting - Suzie had soup that she left, I had mussels that tasted like old boots. There were 2 dishes on offer for the main course. Chicken curry and something else I have forgotten. We both chose the chicken curry, but in fact there wasn't any. We had a steak. Suzie asked for her's well done, I asked for mine rare. Her's was rare, mine was raw. And it was the toughest, stringiest bit of beef I have ever had the misfortune of eating. I think it was a dead dog they had picked up from the side of the road. The potatoes that went with it were like concrete, and when you finally got your teeth through them they went all powdery and tasted like talc. The beans were over cooked. And to cap it all the "waiter" was without doubt the campest, gayest transvestite drama queen I have ever seen. While I am not normally offended by people's "preferences" this guy was so over the top, with jewellery, pink bows in his hair, lipstick, red nail polish and the lot. He minced around flapping his arms and squeaking like a girl. It was exceptionally off putting, and to some degree rather intimidating! We left the food - we couldn't be bothered to complain, as we decided then to move out, regardless of the fact that we may not have been able to find somewhere else.
There was also no atmosphere at all in the resort. Everyone else looked as depressed as we did; no one looked happy at all.
We laughed at dinner because here we were in one of the romantic spots in the world, and we were feeling homesick!
After dinner we arranged with the lady there to check out the next day; we packed that evening and left the bags in the room as were off at 7.00am to go diving. I was going to arrange to pick them up later, once I had found somewhere else to stay. On the way to the jetty the next morning we met the owner; we did not want to say what we felt about the place purely because our bags were still at the resort. I subsequently heard from Wendy at Blue Nui that Serge, the manager, was also leaving, as the owner is hovering around all the time and getting in his way. There was quite clearly tension there. (An update on this resort for you all! Pearl Beach Resorts, who were managing the place, have subsequently dumped it and Serge has left.) I would not wish even a 1-night stay at this place on even my worst enemy well, maybe Tony Blair! So, anyone who ever wants to go to Bora Bora and are recommended the Pearl Beach Resort take head of my warning. Or there may be wailing and gnashing of teeth!
Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, errr Whatserface (Scott, Robin, do you remember her name? Not Wendy, the other gal who worked at Blue Nui?) picked us up from the dock in the Blue Nui Landrover Defender. There are a lot of Landrovers in FP they dont rust as they are made from ALUMINIUM (note spelling again, please!). She said that we were picking up some more people on the way. We stopped at the Sofitel Marara and who should be there waiting to see us? It was some lovey-dovey kissy-wissy honeymooners called Scott & Robin. Oh, smoochy smoochy, cuddley wuddley, snoggy-snoggy all the time. Yeeeeeeeeeeeach! And to cap it all, Scott could have been my brother, as we are both tall, dark & handsome! (To let you into a secret, we sort of knew in advance that we MIGHT hook up together as Scott had sent me an email via someone in Papeete while I was in Rurutu saying they would be in Bora Bora at the same time as us.) We all got along famously, especially as we had all noticed the tendency of hotel waitresses to actually be more waiters than waitress If you catch my drift. This kept me & Scott amused for hours, Well, boys will be boys Or waitresses.
So we all had a laugh about our exploits at the Eden Beach, and headed out to the Bora Bora Pearl Beach to go diving. The first thing I did was arrange a beach suite (about the only room available!) at the Pearl Beach for the remaining 3 nights. What a sense of relief! Whewy-wooey! Fall on the ground and kiss the sand.
All credit to the Eden Beach, to be honest, because they brought out bags over to the main island and let me pay there, rather than go all the way back to the resort. If I ever see that place again
So, we managed to secure ourselves a beach suite at the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort. This was a beautiful hotel with a great atmosphere, thought I think we were the only ones there NOT on honeymoon! The set up was similar to Tahaa but was less formal. Our room was superb and it made a change to have a land based room rather than an overwater bungalow. Our suite had a private garden at the back, a jacuzzi, open air bathroom, a bedroom, a sitting room at the front and access directly to the beach. No one seemed to use the beach in front of the beach suites, which was great.
Pearl Beach err... beach!
Mrs Crusoe on said beach
If we had sat there all day we would have seen 5 people walk past. The resort had a poolside restaurant for lunch and snacks, and a smart open air/partially covered dining room for buffet breakfast and dinner.
Pool with posh restaurant above & behind
It also had a cocktail bar for me to buy my prerequisite pink girly cocktails and half price between 6.30 and 7.30pm!
View from the cocktail bar. Hic!
Anyway, I digress, as you no doubt want to know about the diving. Oh all right. So, we, Scott & Robin and few other people clambered into the boat and set off for Fafapiti, the world famous manta dive within the lagoon itself. Now, if you have never done a manta dive before this could be a great place, as it is shallow and virtually currentless. BUT, being within the lagoon, the viz is pretty poor we had about 25ft if that. Firstly, having explained to the dive guides that Suzies ears could give her problems, we descended to about 20ft under the boat and then had to swim about 5 yards before swimming over the top of a piece of reef that came to about 4ft below the surface, to then go back down to the main dive site. So, Suzies ear got buggered up and this ended up being her last dive. Why we couldnt just swim the 5 yards on the surface and go down from there, I dont know. Still, they are French. Also, I dont think our dive guide Franck quite knew what he was doing. He seemed to be taking us back and forth across the reef (and not a very interesting one at that.) We saw a few mantas, but they were lurking in the gloom and instead of sitting on the bottom and waiting for them we kept on swimming about. The highlight was a free swimming moray that swam between Scotts legs. Or was it something else, eh?
Is that a moray in your pocket or are you just happy to seem me?
So all in all it was a very disappointing dive. (At the end of the last day I dived I chewed Francks ear off for this and various other misdemeanours and told Wendy what I thought of him. She was apologetic and said he was new to the job (having worked there before and returned). I would hope by now that they have sorted him out. Anyway, so that was the first dive in Bora Bora and much to Suzies disappointment her last of the trip. She subsequently had a painful ear for the rest of our holiday.
After a surface interval of about 1 hour we did our second dive, at Tapu. This is a section of reef just outside the main pass. It starts in about 30ft of water and shelves down to the depths. Not much feature to the reef, but it is a favourite place for inexperienced divers to have their first shark feed. Now, we could argue for weeks about whether shark feeding is a good or bad thing. The environmental angel on my left shoulder was wagging his finger in disgust, but the photographic devil on my right shoulder was going Weh-hey. I know it is wrong, but if you want to get photos of sharks, sharks that are consistently fed are the best ones to take photos of! So, this time the other dive guide Patrice went down with us in a group and we were meant to have sat down in a circle and watched the shark feeds. However, Patrice again got this somewhat wrong, as instead of getting us in a circle and then handing out the food, he stuck the fish under the coral and then got us all to attempt to sit in a circle, with all these black tips thundering about. Hmmm .odd. Anyway, I was below everyone else, as I wanted to photograph upwards. Scott & I saw a couple of chunky lemon sharks further down the reef and I sneaked off down the reef to see if I could get to them. Suddenly, a hand grabbed me and I turned to find Patrice wagging his finger at me. Slapped wrist I was going to deep, I should be with the group, Im English, Ive only done 6000 dives for Crissake. Mumble mumble and so I didnt get near the lemon sharks. In subsequent emails with Wendy I have informed her that some people do not like having their hands held on a dive and a modicum of flexibility would be appreciated. Cut them some slack, basically. I have been assured that this will now be the case! Anyway, despite this nannying, it was a good dive - there were lots of blacktips, lots of nappyfish, some morays, turtles, you name it, they were flying about. And with exceptional viz and no current. As a shark dive it was great fun.
So, we went back to the resort and had lunch, and I was glad to find that I could eat to my hearts content and not get nagged by Suzie for the quantities I ate, because I could easily have turned to her and said: But look how much Scott has got I do like to meet someone who enjoys there food as much as I! We then relaxed the rest of the day, reading, relaxing & sleeping. Having been married for 6 years with 2 children we avoided what all the honeymooners were up to, but we could feel the earth shaking under Scott & Robins overwater bungalow half way round the island!
(Scott confided in me later that day read in best Scottish accent!: "I've given her all she's got, captain, and I can't give her no more.")
That evening we met Scott & Robin at Bloody Marys a famous eating hole in town, where we had some good food and a few beers. The idea is that you go up in small groups and look at the various dishes on offer and say Ill have one of them, please. The man behind the counter had this irritating way of explaining what was what: Youve got your tuna steak here. Youve got your mahi mahi here. Etc etc. My tuna? My mahi mahi? I dont want ALL of them, for Crissakes!
To add to Suzies ear problems she got the squits from her meal!
The next day Suzie stayed at the resort and I met up with Scott & Robin at the dive centre and we went off with just two others Marty & errrr umm Stephanie, was it, Scott & Robin?) to go diving. The first dive was at White Valley. This was on the outer reef behind the above the Pearl Beach Resort. The only down side of this site was that the mooring was situated about 200 yards from the site itself and having descended the mooring line we were forced to swim at 80ft of water to the site. A waste of air, me thinks. Again, if I had known, I would have preferred to have swum on the surface and done a free descent after all, I have done it before!!
The first things that struck me about this dive was the viz again - at least 150ft. The second thing that strcuk me was that as soon as you had jumped in there were sharks right below you.
"Hey look up there - divers. Let's go eat!
We swam across a flat area of coral with some small sand channels, and off to the right the reef sloped gently up to the island. We were followed by about 5 or 6 grey reef sharks. We then came to a large sand channel about 40 yards wide that stretched from the bottom of the slope out to the edge of what looked like another drop off. The sand patch was covered in garden eels. From where the sand dropped off the lip of the reef a large number of grey reef sharks started coming in from deep water, swimming purposefully towards us. Grey reefie swimming over the sand at White Valley
A school of jacks also came in from the deeper water.
I'm all right, Jack
I was very keen to swim to the edge and look at what it had to offer. After all, it was probably only at about 120ft, so hardly a deep dive. However, I could feel Francks eyes boring into the back of my head and so I didnt bother. I expect very few people have even bothered to see what was down there. What a pity!
Well, having seen White Face we then proceeded to return reluctantly to the boat. However, this is where the fun started! I must confess modestly that I have gills, so despite being a tubby lump of lard I breathy my air quite conservatively. While the rest then proceeded up the mooring line the grey reef sharks swam round and round me getting closer and closer. There were perhaps 15 or 20 of them and the biggest were at least 6 or 7ft long.
A little shy at first.
A little bit closer...
Closer still....
Even closer....
Right in your face!
Looking up I could see Scott & Robin and the others looking down and there were sharks circling above me as well. Yoohoo down there!
Finally, to cap it all a school of about 400 big barrycudas swam past, but I had run out of film. Despite the fact that it seemed a little silly swimming so far to get to the dive site, and that we did not spend much time there, this was a fantastic dive for shark photography. If anyone who is reading this has dived Blue Corner in Palau, this place I FAR FAR better. Bigger and more grey reefies right in your moosh and no need for a reef hook in a 3 knot current. If I was to ever go back to Bora Bora I would insist on going back to this dive site without anyone telling me what I could or could not do, as I would be very keen to drop over the lip and see what is hanging about.
The second dive was back at Tapu, where we had a great encounter with a very friendly turtle. One thing I have noticed about turtles in Tahiti is that they may not be very big (2ft was about the biggest I saw) they are very friendly. Most turtles will give you a couple of minutes of your time before saying, Right, thats enough harassment, thanks, Im off! Here they seem quite content to sit on pose for you for as long as you need them. This one turtle just seemed willing to hang about with us, and Scott took pickies of him from one side as I took pickies from the other!
Yoohoo down there!
I snapped off about 10 shots of this guy as he bumbled across the reef top.
Oooh, aren't I a poser?!
Do you think this is my best side?
Go on, give us a kiss....
Again, we had heaps of black tips trundling around, and we had a great encounter with a nappy fish, who posed beautifully for both me & Scott. Nappyfish are wonderful creatures - inquisitive, ugly in a lovable kind of way, with big rubbery lips, but very intricate markings.
I've got my eye on you....
No, I'm going to ignore you now, because...
...he's probably got food. Ow! How dare you poke me in the eye!
Well we then returned to the hotel and I said goodbye to Scott & Robin because we had to hobnob with the hotel manager for dinner (and I had to get down on bended knee and thank him profusely for the room!) I then went back to the room to find my dear wife had been sunbathing under the palm trees and now had a hurt ear, the squits and a dose of sunburn. On the third count, she will never learn! It was a pity we did not see Scott & Robin again! They may have been on honeymoon, but at least they didn't smooch around the whole time!
The next day we had a trip round the island. Despite the fact that there are a fair number of hotels on Bora Bora it is not that crowded, especially if you are in one of the resorts on the islands on the edge of the reef. You get a much better view from them as well, as you can see back to the big island! Mt Otemanu is very dramatic, the remains of a volcanic plug that is of harder rock than the surrounding volcano was, and remains where the rest has eroded. The island is covered in rainforest and except for the thin coastal strip is pretty much uninhabited. The view from Matira point and that area of the lagoon is superb, as the water is of varying depths here and the colours are well shown up.
Matira Point
The following day we flew to Moorea, and had a look around for the day.
Moorea coastline
It is a very dramatic island, with sheer-sided mountains and rugged peaks. 2 deeply indented bays, Cooks and Opunoho divide the coastline in the north. A wider coastal plain has allowed for a little more development, but the centre is pretty much untouched. There is a much wider choice of hotels here and lots of restaurants also. There were also quite a few cultural shows, the first real ones that we had seen, to be honest. Tiki Village was the best, and we saw the tail end of a traditional wedding. We had an excellent Chinese meal (makes a change from mahi mahi!) and looked around a few hotels. I spoke with Raphael, who runs the dive operation at the new Pearl Beach Resort, and he informs me that they have no mantas in Moorea but they do have a lot more sharks than in Bora Bora. They have lots of lemon sharks in Shark Alley and at Tiki, so I am told. I would like to return to Moorea one day and do a couple of days diving! (Hey, wouldnt we all!) As we were driving to the airport we stopped to look at the view of Tahiti across the sea, and saw two humpbacks about 50 yards off the reef right below us. This was a great way for us to finish the trip having snorkelled with them myself in Rurutu, it was nice for Suzie to see them also!
There's whales in them there waters.
In the late afternoon we returned by plane to Papeete and stayed at the Beachcomber for the rest of the evening, watching a tacky show while eating a mediocre meal. The Beachcomber was not very nice a rabbit warren of corridors leading to small rooms nothing like the Sheraton. At about midnight we checked out of the room to get the transfer to the airport for the flight home. To cut a long story short my camera case was misplaced by the porter and with the assistance of the duty manager and much searching we finally found it hidden behind some other luggage in the storeroom. The moral of the story? Dont stay at the Beachcomber!
So, we checked in for the flight home, jumped the queue and flew business class. Got what a long journey home and the most chronic jetlag I have ever had! It took me week to recover!
So, did I like Tahiti? You betcha! Would I go back? You betcha! Would I recommend it to anyone? You betcha!
I am planning a return trip in 2004, and I plan to go back to Moorea for a couple of days, I then want to go to Huahine, up to Manihi or Tikehau and then take the long flight to the Marquesas, which are the most remote and some say stunning islands in FP.
Anyone want to join me?!!!!
