A few weeks before setting sail on our Tahiti cruise, I booked an excursion in Moorea called “Whale watching in a zodiac”.
It sounded like a fun way to get up close with these remarkable creatures and I was very excited by the prospect.
What the initial description didn’t mention was that we’d be jumping out of the zodiac and swimming 100 metres across the open ocean to observe the whales.
Awesome! But also slightly terrifying.
We arrived in Cook’s Bay in Moorea on the most glorious morning and were collected by the aforementioned zodiac.
I told the tour guide that while I wasn’t afraid of the water, I was not a “strong swimmer”.
This was a gross misrepresentation of my swimming ability. My parents emptied their bank account on swimming lessons for me as a child.
Nothing took. The swimming instructors were confounded by their inability to teach me. I finally managed to dog paddle five metres and we called it a day.
So, back to chasing whales in the open sea … it was … a lot. I was clinging to the tour guide’s life preserver with one arm and dog paddling with the other, while frantically kicking with my flippers.
She shouted that we needed to swim faster or we’d miss the whales. I was struggling to stay afloat, let alone go any faster.
Finally, we spotted three whales in front of us: a mother, baby and pilot.
The baby (above) twirled and played as we watched in delight.
When the trio finally disappeared from view it was time to swim back to the boat.
Far out. Totally knackered. But we finally made it.
It was a looooong, rough trip back to the ship aboard the zodiac, but the tour guides poured us a rum cocktail as we finally approached the pier, which helped soothe the exhaustion.
Arduous, but such an amazing way start to our cruise!
And, as luck would have it, we anchored in the bay where the Coral Gardeners are located. The eldest gave me a gift from them for my birthday last year – a piece of coral that they’ve been tending in Moorea.
The message said: “Happy Birthday Mum! Since you love exploring coral reefs, I thought you might like adopting a baby coral to help conserve and rebuild marine environments.”
The coral is grown in an underwater nursery (above) and monitored until it’s mature enough to be outplanted onto the natural reef.
I thought it was such a lovely gift and I was so excited to drive past the Coral Gardeners’ headquarters on our way for a swim at a local beach.
In the evening local singers and dancers came aboard and performed for us, we loved their energy and joy.
This morning we’ve arrived in a new island group called the Tuamotus … stay tuned for the lowdown.
(Ohhhhhhh, my aching muscles.)
Song of the day: Dolly & Kenny “Islands in the stream”
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