Well, it's after 9pm before I type the first word of today's blog post, so you know we had a great day. We did get to Motu Ofetaro (finally!) and I did some of the best snorkeling of the cruise to date, totally unexpectedly right from the motu. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
We approached Raiatea by cruising down the west coast of Taha'a and passing through Apooiti (A-PU-u-EE-tee) Bay, with Taha'a on our left and Raiatea on our right, curving a bit to avoid the reefs (see video I posted on December 8 as a visual aid). We had an overcast start to the day so the reef didn't pop with color the way it sometimes does, but this island still has one of the most beautiful approaches we see.
After breakfast in the Club Restaurant, we walked off the ship and headed right to the grocery store behind Champion (whose name I do not know). It has become our favorite one here, and, being Sunday, we knew that, if it was open at all, it was only first thing this morning. We needed more toothpaste and hand soap and another tube of Genie laundry detergent.
Our errand complete, we returned to the ship and quickly packed for a beach day. We were on a boat by 10am to make the five minute trip out to Motu Ofetaro. One look at the motu as we approached told us that this was going to be another rocky beach experience, but at least we were swimming in that gorgeous blue lagoon surrounding Raiatea and Taha'a. As it was Sunday, there were several family groups enjoying the day on the motu, and it looked like some had even camped overnight, so G and I first walked down to the other end of the motu, away from the others and set out our trusty tarp under a heavily leafed tree for some shade. I wasted no time getting in the water.
Taha'a in the distance across the lagoon as seen from Motu Ofetaro
It was a bit difficult to get in the water, as the bottom was heavily rocky/coral-y and the water was very shallow. The current was also moving quickly, parallel to the motu. I first used my hands on the bottom to pull me against the current toward the end of the motu and closer to the where the huge waves were crashing on the barrier reef. Eventually the water depth was enough that I could walk on the sand, making my way against the current between the coral heads. It was very much like a maze; the coral was so close to the water surface that it was nearly impossible to swim over it. Instead I had to go wherever the sand "path" would allow me to, between the corals.
You can see the sand "path" between the coral heads here.
At one point, I was in the midst of thousands (no exaggeration) of thiese small silver fish, each about five or six inches long. I have never seen such a large school of fish before.
I think the little orange fish peeking its head out might be a clown fish (like Nemo) and, if it is, it's the first clown fish I've ever seen (and there were two others, too). Very exciting!
After I moved against the current to the very end of the motu, I turned around and simply flew back to where I had entered the water. It was tricky snorkeling... I had to swim in those "paths" without touching the coral at all while the current was strongly pushing me along. I could see why so many snorkelers return to the Pacific Princess in Raiatea with coral cuts and scrapes.
We had packed our beach tote/cooler with our metal water bottles filled with ice, and beer, Sprite Zero and gin. We had to be totally self-contained; there were no facilities on the motu at all. We wore mosquito repellant but didn't actually see any buzzing about, which was comforting. We did see hermit crabs by the dozens, and some beautiful shells in the water. Still, this motu up close was not as pretty as it appears from the ship when we cruise past it from the ship. All we see then are palm trees and a bit of beach. Up close, it appears much more rustic. Douglas Pearson has told us French Polynesia has a perpetual autumn, requiring constant landscape raking. In a natural setting, where that doesn't happen, the ground is covered with dead leaves, palm fronds and branches. Add to that downed coconuts and other fruit, and piles of broken coral, and it makes for a very rough surface with occasional tufts of grass and patches of sand.
We eventually moved down the motu closer to where the shuttle had dropped us off, wanting to make sure we were seen as it came and went between the mainland and the motu (roughly every 30 minutes). The last shuttle was at 4pm, but shortly after 3pm a rain shower moved over just as the shuttle arrived, and we took that as our cue to pack up and go back to the ship.
It took quite a while to get everything washed and hung out to dry, and this cabin is trashed tonight as things slowly dry. By 5pm we were up on the pool deck for the Children of Raiatea folkloric show, then went to dinner in the Club Restaurant at 6pm. It was Italian night, which was prefect. We were starved, having skipped lunch, and I had my favorite penne arrabiata topped with chicken and broccoli and three scoops of lemoncello sorbet for dessert.
Production show Stardust was performed one time tonight at 8:30pm, but we are skipping it to rest (G) and blog (me) and then plan to go back out to watch the Raiatea Nui folkloric show at 9:45pm on the pool deck. I'm not exactly certain what time we sail tonight (11pm? 4am tomorrow morning?), but we have to go only as far as Bora Bora (which we can almost see from here) by 8am tomorrow. All on board time is 10:30pm, which is kind of a mute point. Sunday night in Uturoa, Raiatea does not offer many compelling reasons to be off the ship.
