Moorea & Tahiti
Blue Sky's Voyage
George & Michael
Sat 10 Jul 2010 21:30
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Hello
Friends "17:35.2S
149:36.9W"
We had a brisk sail back to Moorea
from Rangiroa - 25 knots on the beam for most of the run and a rather tedious
sea to contend with, especially when the tide was against it, but fast
certainly. After getting little sleep on the overnight passage, the anchorage in
Moorea - deep in an inlet - was blissfully peaceful.
Here's an early morning photo of
the morning sun just starting to kiss the Moorea mountains. I was watching this
and thinking that the view was incredible, but made more so by the fact that
we've sailed 26,000 miles and nearly half way around the world to see
it.
 Even Greg got up early to go
bicycling and take a look around. The bay where Blue Sky is anchored is by his
left shoulder:
 Our next stop was the ray 'feeding
station' on the NW corner of Moorea. This is an area of shallow water with a
sandy seabed and a few mooring buoys. The tourist boats come here and feed the
stingrays with small fish etc and in consequence it's packed with rays who want
to play and be fed. This is an amazing and sometimes intense experience as the
rays get very excited and leap up at you like over-enthusiastic labradors. Along
with the rays there are quite a few regular tropical fish and the inevitable
sharks and remoras.
These are the stingrays, not
stinging today !
 And here's one of the sharks which
were hanging around the edges of the party. The sharks were particularly
numerous on the edge of a steep bank into deep water, but they didn't seem at
all aggressive and Greg was observed chasing a shark with a piece of bread in
the hope of getting a better photo ! The larger sharks were over 2 metres long
and they'd swim right up to you...
 This is definitely an experience
worth travelling a long way for - a 3 rosette tourist site in our
view.
Anyway, we're now back in Tahiti
in the marina, a little earlier than planned, but you'll have to wait until the
next blog to find out why we're back so soon...
Last night Greg went out to town
to see some entertainment as it's the start of the Heiva festival here in
Papeete. We picture him getting a traditional Polynesian welcome from the very
lovely Miss Tahiti.
 That's it for now - check back
soon for the next surprise blog.
best wishes
George, Michael and
Greg
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