Who would have thought after such a chaotic night that we could enjoy such an incredible day swimming with the sting rays and sharks..... but we did! We headed out of our anchorage in Opunohu Bay followed the white markers that line the reef edge and narrow passage to where the water changed colour so rapidly as we sped across the aqua, blues, turquoise and ice green coloured water making it a peripheral blur of opal zooming under our dingy. I looked up and saw that we were truly in the middle of the pacific as the volcanic ruptures from years past are now covered with soaring palm trees further up than I ever imagined. He who hums, Pedro and I anchored the dingy with other friends and flippered up, donned our masks, snorkel and fell back into the crystal water. The water was only chest deep - but you just got to fall backwards like a diver to do justice to the kit. Snorkelling across to the dive boat to see what response the resort guests got from the feed they held out in the water. Holy smokes! There were sting rays everywhere and as large as my outstretched arms could prove. Now if their brother ray hadn't taken our croc hunter we would be thrilled to see them, but as they fanned by us in numbers and swept up against our skin it was enough to bring on an asthma attack of sorts. I could see he who is now mute standing rigid in midst of them and many black tipped sharks approaching a humming vibration. I quickly made my way it seems he who has such a high pitch hum it resembled a squeal. In all fairness, it was my gentle tickle on his bare skin from behind that brought on this reaction and that was a laugh-til-you- cry moment for all of us. There is a question you would ask; Why.... would you willingly go from the top of the food chain to the bottom? And it did cross our minds, but when you stay long enough to observe them, these ray fellas are friendly. They loved the attention and when they returned for more I eventually felt brave enough to reach for the 1inch thick wing and allow it to slide through my grasp. They are velvety and slippery, texture like mushroom to touch with a pimpily zone on the crown of their ....head?..... (not sure what word replaces that for a sting ray). However their piercing little non committal aqua eyes do look at you but are way too small for the wing span which is what makes them look odd. The tail is like a long straight stick and the 2 barbs are there waiting like a thorn to retaliate should you threaten them. As for the sharks they took my breath away literally and I tolerated them snooping by, but didn't like it when I saw them all have an idea at the same time and change tact in unison. It was right then, when they were heading my way that I recalled that they like to hunt in packs.... so now I make a quick exit back to the dingy that is too far away to be cool calm and collected. Exhilarating, invigorating and stimulating are three words to describe this self-inflicted madness. By this stage we were drained of all adrenalin ...we heaved ourselves into the dingy with no technique what-so-ever and we putted off to see what beauty lie beyond that part of island.