I've just been snorkelling with sharks and stingrays, which was absolutely fantastic, but very scary!
We set off on a boat with some very rich americans ('I love the size of your diamond' type coversations were happening all around us!). We first went out to find some sharks, and when we did they told us to put the snorkels on and to stay behind the ropes in the water!
It was very scary being in the water with about 30 black tipped lagoon sharks, probably each around 1.5 to 2m long. They would swim towards you and look you straight in the eye and when you thought you were a gonner, they swerved at the last minute.
The next stop was the stingrays, who were so inquisitive. They would come right up to you and try to wrap themselves around you, which I think I found even more terrifying than the sharks!
We then went further to an uninhabited island for lunch where we fed on bbq fish in fresh coconut milk (I now know how to open a coconut - a useful life skill!) and fresh pineapple and bananas.
After we had let our lunch settle a little, Jane and I went to do some more sedate snorkelliing with the fish amongst the coral. There were so many different colours, and the little fishes didn't seem to mind the great big white fish with the snorkel - it was like a different world!
All in all, I had a fantastic time in Mo orea and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I think I will miss evening on the jetty, with the night, so warm and so still and the moon so bright you could see to the bottom of the sea - paradise!!
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