Swimming with Stingrays in Opunohu Bay
16 June 2018 | Moorea, French Polynesia
Sandra
Once we restocked Mazu's lockers with French Wine and the fridge with fresh Sashimi Sushi we pushed off the dock to set sail for Moorea.
It was a very windy day 20-25 knots but Moorea is only 12 miles downwind from Tahiti and a break wasn't forecast for a few more days. Coming through the channel to exit the bay we were amazed by the strength of the locals who were paddling their solo outrigger kayaks upwind. Mazu was traveling about 4 knots and they were almost keeping up with us. I can't imagine how they managed the big waves once they exited the pass to the outside of the reef. With only the gib unfurled we flew downwind to Moorea at 7 knots. Our "apparent" wind speed was 20-27 knts so the actual wind had to be at least 30. The waves are much faster than Mazu which means we can't surf in front of one but we soar to the top of the crest and then drop to the bottom as each wave passes. It's fascinating to watch the huge following waves approach our stern but not engulf us.
Moorea is a tropical paradise. The steep mountains stretch up to pointed spires with jagged peaks along the valleys between the high points. Peter described the outline like the graph of a stock market which unfortunately ends at sea level. It's a small triangular shaped island with only 65km circumference but the mountains reach 750-1200 meters high. The myriad shades of green from the palm trees on the beach to the pine trees up the mountains create an impressive backdrop. We are anchored inside the reef at the mouth of Opunohu Bay, one of two deep bays on the north side of Moorea. The points bordering each side of the bay are developed with the Hilton Resort and Intercontinental Resort both of which have luxury thatched bungalows built on pilings over the sea. Last night we went to the Hilton for a Happy hour to enjoy some exotic tropical cocktails. I could definitely see myself staying there.
On the reef in front of the Intercontinental Resort there is a school of overly friendly Stingrays who are used to being fed by the tourist boats. We took our dinghy along the well marked channel between the coral (more like a road for tour boats, jets skis and other sailing dinghys) and anchored in chest deep water. We got into the water with our snorkel gear and were immediately surrounded by black tip sharks. They seemed pretty friendly but I was happy that we had decided not to feed the fish just to swim with them. Then like a musical ballet the Stingrays gracefully swam towards us. They look right at you sometimes flapping both wings and other times just one as if to wave hello. They swim so close that they gently brush over you. It feels incredibly soft like velvet, not at all like a slimy fish. We took some nice videos of these majestic beauties. We swam around with the stingrays and sharks until the crowds of other boats started to arrive. To each new boat the sting rays would go and greet it to see if they had any food. We saw one tourist standing in the water who had obviously been given some food by his guide. There were two or three stingrays who were pushing right against him almost crawling up his chest and he was backing away a little overwhelmed. He didn't have a mask on so its unlikely that he was aware of the sharks circling around his ankles waiting for any left over morsels.
Just another day in paradise.