Pacific Odyssey - Leg 3

Another phenomenal day, if the leg continues like this . . . it´ll be quite something.  We woke up to a beautifully sunny day with Moorea on our starboard side, as majestic and lushly green as anything we saw in the Marquesas.  Moorea has a very dramatic silhouette; she has many spectacularly shaped peaks, with smaller peaks coming off the bigger ones.  The flanks of the mountains are covered with a variety of foliage of different trees and bushes, very interesting to look at.  Around the base of the island runs a road and the majority of the businesses and homes find themselves there.  It looks peaceful from the ship.  Last night I was the last person to go to sleep.  When
I went on deck to brush my teeth, the deck was covered in sleeping bodies, all was dark, there was not a sound . . . stunning, I loved it.  In Papeete there was always noise, even during the night.  Moorea has small villages all around the outside of the island and these become quiet quite early.  I´m sure there are things going on in the more touristy hotels, but where we are, there was complete silence.  I stood on deck and spent a moment listening to the absolute quiet, one of those precious moments of offshore.  We all ate breakfast together on deck.  When we are tied up or at anchor, meals are usually eaten like this.  We gather amidships, sing grace and file down through the hold hatch, pick up our food at the table and file up again through the foc´sle hatch.  We cluster in groups on the deck, eating and chatting, a very enjoyable way to spend an hour.  After dishes trainees made plans for the day.  There was a lesson in snorkeling, methods and safety, and then trainees were taken to their various activities.  Some trainees swam off the boat to the reef nearby and snorkeled, some went ashore and hiked all day up a mountain ridge, some went ashore and explored the island of Moorea, and some stayed back on the boat and rested, read, snorkeled, etc. Everyone seemed to have a good day.  The snorkeling off the boat was wonderful; after 20m the water becomes suddenly much shallower and you can see the bottom and the colours change. There were bits of coral with a few fish.  I saw a very large ray resting on the bottom, until he saw me and floated ever so smoothly away.  He spanned about 1m. across his back and his tail was just as long again.  After 100m there is lots of coral and amongst every cluster of coral there are many different fish and types of plants.  The variation in the colours and shapes was spectacular.  From very tiny fluorescent purple and aqua-green fish to 30cm multi-coloured parrot fish, to yellow, black, and white angel-type fish, to 30cm black with white dots puffer fish, to bright orange hand-sized fish . . . so much to look at and to marvel at.  Inside the nooks of the coral were all kinds of very brightly coloured anenome-like sea animals that were shaped like little pine trees which closed when you swam near them.  There was so much life under the water.  It was very enjoyable to float and look, to be suspended in the water, trying to absorb all there was to see.  It was a great opportunity for the new trainees to test out their new snorkel gear and get used to snorkeling again.  Everyone except for 2 of the crew, returned to the ship for supper, another one-sitter on deck.  It gets dark early near the equator, around 1800hrs.  Soon after supper, a group was in the stern picking out constellations.  It always takes awhile to find familiar ones from the last long passage, constellations that help to orientate yourself to the night sky again.  Jordan put a stargazing program on the computer that Skipper had bought at the Victoria Observatory and we used this to help us locate star groups.  It was incredible, an amazing teaching tool. Part of the program explained the stars and the stories behind the names of the constellations.  Chase brought out a laser pointer his brother had given him, and this made finding the different constellations even easier.  Paul, Caelan, and Graydon joined us and were eager to learn.  We continued to look for at least 2 hours.  After dishes Karen played ´telephone charades´ with the trainees.  From the cabin, where I was putting my boys to bed, I could hear roaring laughter; the game was enjoyed.  Tomorrow morning at 0800hrs we are moving to a neighboring bay, Opunohu Bay, where we will spend the day.  I am looking forward to visiting an agricultural school which is supposed to be very interesting.  This is it, until tomorrow, good night, Bonice.