So this week we left Tahiti and headed for the nearby Island of Moorea. Moorea is also part of the French Polynesian Society Islands and is accessible via a short ferry ride from Tahiti. At 134km² and with a population of only 16,000 it’s a lot smaller than Tahiti. Imagine all your stereotypical views of an exotic island developed from books like Treasure Island and films like Castaway and you’ll have a pretty good idea of the beauty of this place. It is truly magical, with jagged volcanic mountains, white sandy beaches and aqua blue shallow lagoons.

Our accommodation was another Airbnb in Opunohu Bay, which whilst basic, was more than adequate for our needs and had the added advantage of being literally a coconut’s throw from the shore. We were also lucky enough to have access to kayaks.

After our failed attempt to swim with Humpbacks in Tahiti we booked another trip this week. This time our luck was in, as no sooner had we left the reef than we spotted a mother and her baby slowly moving parallel to shore. We were immediately told to don our flippers and masks ready to enter the water and briefed on how to get in without making noise that would likely scare the whales. I am not sure everyone understood the instructions, as one of our larger passengers entered the water in a way that may well have set off the tsunami warning system. Despite this, the whales stayed around and we were rewarded with some really close encounters.  Fran actually had the mother swim directly under her at a distance of about 4m and Stuart had to use all his swimming skills, combined with a moderate amount of panic, to avoid a rapidly approaching wall of blubber in front of him. Seeing these animals at such close quarters and in their natural environment is one of the most amazing experiences and your mind remains in the moment, something we both struggle to achieve in our daily lives. You also forget that you are in the middle of the Ocean in deep water inhabited by creatures not so gentle. Before entering the water, we were briefed on the different types of sharks and which ones not worry about, along with what action to take if one of the more worrying kind appeared. The instruction was distilled into “If you see a pelagic shark, swim towards me and become vertical in the water and you will be safe. Do not swim away from the group and definitely do not splash in the water, or you will be eaten”. At this point we were really concerned about our larger American passenger!! Needless to say whilst swimming with the whales we didn’t see any sharks but at the end of the trip we went to a shallow lagoon where we saw plenty!!

It’s a funny thing human psychology; if we had been alone snorkeling when we’d confronted our first shark then we’d have probably had a meltdown and found the quickest way to exit the water. As it was being with a lot of other people and a self-confessed shark expert (admittedly with some   significant scars on his arms) seemed to normalise the situation. The lagoon we anchored in was very shallow and you could stand in most places. The water was crystal clear and so before we had even stopped, we had seen numerous sharks and stingrays. Whilst thankfully the sharks are a bit nonchalant about your presence and leave you alone, the rays do not and it’s all you could do to not step on them. At one point Stuart had one unexpectedly climb up his back…….. his normal calm demeanor temporarily left town.

The marine environment is not the only great thing about Moorea. Like Tahiti it has an amazing interior, which unlike Tahiti is easy to hike across, so spraying ourselves with Deet laden mosquito repellant we donned our hiking shoes and went off into the rainforest. We found some amazing walks with tracks that were good underfoot and devoid in the most part of other people. The tracks had wild mango and other fruit trees growing in abundance and at one point we passed through an area (obviously farmed) of pineapples. We finished the walk at Belvedere Lookout, from which you can get awesome views of the mountains, bays and rainforest. Supposedly one of the top ten views in the world. Not sure it competes with the Isle of Wight when viewed from Lymington sea wall but it was certainly up there.

We finished the week off with a jet-ski tour in which again we were lucky enough to see more sharks, rays and tropical fish along with an incredible encounter with turtles. Now it is a known fact that Fran has a problem with speed, she’s even been known to apply the brakes during downward legs of triathlons but on a jet-ski she’s a maniac and when it was her turn to drive she took great joy in scaring Stuart in a way even the prospect of meeting a tiger shark couldn’t !!!  The end of the trip saw us encountering whales in the bay where we’d previously gone kayaking.

Finally, a note on ferries. The system for getting on and off ferries is not at all obvious. Now Papette ferry terminal isn’t the largest, but it didn’t stop us nearly travelling to Terevau (yes we don’t know where it is either) and caused plenty of chaos as we had to back-off the ferry to catch a boat going in the right direction. Next stop is once again Tahiti but with our relaxed approached to seaborne transport we could end up anywhere !!!