Sh, shh, shaaaark

I'm not sure which travel genius came up with the concept of an attraction where feeding the sharks was the main event but here in Mo'orea it's big business.

Pretty much all day there's a steady stream of tour boats and kayaks heading for a sandy bank on the reef where the sharks and rays know to come for some free and effortless nosh.

Sardines is apparently the favoured dish and the rays will eat out your hand. Or your hand if they can get it.

"Feed them as if you're giving a horse a carrot" said the rather attractive "guide" showing a tinned sardine on the opened flat palm of her hand. The poor girl was obviously supplementing her income with this summer "guide" job as poor thing could only afford the bottom half of a bikini.

After twenty minutes of instruction I thanked her and went off to commune with the wildlife.

Sharks and ray's were all around, in the crystal clear water, the rays happy to brush their silken wings up against you to get a morsel, or in one case, a nibble of a tourist's index finger. If only she'd had the instruction!

We leave our anchorage here, mid reef in the lagoon to head for Huahine, an overnight sail of about 85 miles. The forecast is good so we should get a good run.

Pics when I work out how to get them off my underwater camera and onto this phone.