September 8 – 11, 2014
Opunohu
Next stop . . . swimming with sting rays and sharks again for our third time!
So that we could have a shorter dinghy ride to “sting ray city”, we anchored as far west of Passe Tareu (mouth of Baie d’Opunohu) as possible. s/v Macha has a much shallower draft, so they were able to enter at Passe Taotoi and pick up a mooring.
For the next couple of days, we dinghied back and forth with Macha, enjoying the water activities. While the boys boogie boarded Passe Taotoi, Justine and I snorkeled near the pass. The water was too cloudy and a moray eel caused us to exit the water sooner than expected, so we dinghied out to look for whales instead. One morning, the guys on Macha served us a wonderful pancake breakfast!
butterfly fish amidst sting rays
eager sting rays immediately swarm
sting rays seem to enjoy being touched . . . especially when food is available!
we can stand safely among them
a dog’s trick ~ flipped food from nose to mouth
sting rays feel so velvety soft
even when the food is gone
just like petting a dog!
string ray tail & a child’s feet ~ the two happily swimming together
eventually shark presence grows
. . . and the sharks get closer
hmmmm . . . can you hear the Jaws music?
the more sharks, the more aggression
shark behavior lesson ~ when pectoral fins are down, the shark is exhibiting aggression, and it’s time to leave the water
bug-eating stowaway discovered ~ named Sam
All fun things must come to a brief interlude. Soon it was time for us to part ways with s/v Macha. They were going to return to Ha’apiti for some more surfing, and we had a few things to wrap up before returning to Tahiti to pick up Wil. Playing in Moorea during Wil’s absence had been another nice distraction from the pain we had all been feeling.
