Anchored at Tahaa

SnorkelAnn!

SnorkelAnn and the YellowFish

Snorkeling!

Sea Anenome

Another view of Bora Bora in the background from the snorkeling spot at Coral Gardens off Tahaa

Mike from Astarte: "Is it time for a beer yet?"

This spot is so beautiful we decided to stay one more day now that the wind has dropped.

The colors are so amazing. We’re anchored just inside a deep blue line (i.e. about 50 feet) in 17 feet of water (cerulean blue) and just 20 feet behind us the water turns almost clear in six feet over sand. We look over that very pale blue color toward a motu with shimmering green coconut palms. All of this is set against deep blue sky with the distant purple outline of Bora Bora’s distinctive double peaked mountains about 10 miles away. Amazing that we’re here.

Much of today was just relaxing. We did a lot of lounging and reading, but also made time for two snorkel trips out to the reef. The highlights included an octopus and the biggest moray eel I have ever seen. I know water magnifies things, but this eel’s head was at least 10 inches tall and I could see it snake at least five feet back into the rock it was under. Just huge. When it came out to say; “hello”, I couldn’t get away from the rock fast enough. I don’t like eels. I haven’t had enough experience with them to know what to expect and they are so huge they could do a lot of damage if they wanted to.

Don and Deb from Buena Vista showed up in the afternoon and dropped anchor behind us. After they set we went for an afternoon dive, then just soaked up the sun the rest of the day. The evening included a pot-luck on Astarte with Buena Vista and Ladybug. Great fun and lots of laughs. We have to leave tomorrow and head back toward Raietea as Monday is our check out day for French Poly. Sad to go, but hope to continue friendships that we’ve made here on across the Pacific as we move west toward New Zealand.