OK, so we have been swimming with dolphins, check, humpback whales, check, sharks, check and now we can add to the list stingrays. Not quite out in the wilds of the Pacific, but in Mo'orea, where the hotel daily feeds them and so they are pretty much tame and all over you if you want a close encounter. After negotiating the shallow water channel between our yachts and the motu (tiny island) where they are, we were in no doubt as to the location of the rays, it being ambushed by 3 boat loads of cruise-shippers and honeymooners, all slightly pink in matching swim wear (I mean top and bottoms, not all of them in the same swim suit!) The Goody, Luna, and Pegasus children jump right in, with the instruction from Mia that if the black tipped reef sharks swim towards you, don't worry, just swim towards them and they'll swim off, they head straight to the centre of the feeding rays. Dirk (aged 2) wasn't too impressed however and I was the first to offer to go back to the dinghy with him and work on his two word level language skills (that'll be $60 please!!) “Big shark” “two rays” “mummy's gone” “Mia's hat” etc etc.
In the afternoon, I once again kidnapped the two mums (as I did in Martinique with Samba and Eol) and whisked them off for a hike up to Belvedere point, a four hour round trip. The rain didn't deter us, whilst we stomped up the hill and had a nice girly chat with no kids. A beautiful view rewarded us from the top, before we had to head back before it got too dark.
We take it in turns to cook on each boat and are making the most of Goody being here when they have just sprung it on us that they have to fly back to South Africa for 3 months in 10 days time, much to my (and Jacolette's) disappointment. I think the parcel has now been cleared by customs now ready for collection (though my French is not so good when someone speaks quickly on an answerphone) so we'll probably return back to Tahiti in the next couple of days and then be ready to make our onwards journey, though we'll be sad to leave French Polynesia.