We woke up in Cook’s Bay to an absolutely beautiful morning. We knew Mo’orea was a place worth spending a bunch of time on, but our visas had expired, and we were now unwelcome and “en route” to the Cook Islands. We lifted anchor and continued on.
The first Bumfuzzle, in the same spot, September of 2004.
Tour boats were zooming in every direction as we pulled out. The humpback whales have arrived. We steered around them, spotted one whale ourselves, and were soon making great time with our newly repaired Code Zero doing all the work. It feels great to have this sail back in our arsenal.
The next morning we were dropping the anchor in just six feet of water off the island of Taha’a.
A pile of pork chops and potatoes on the back deck. Perfection.
We spent a couple of days anchored in Taha’a doing nothing but hanging out on the boat and swimming. Water clarity wasn’t what we’ve become accustomed to.
We snorkeled over one of the reef passes. For an hour or so we rode around in a sort of giant eddy. We’d start at the deep drop off at the entrance, get carried in along the shallow section for awhile, then slowly curve out to deeper water where we’d get sucked back out to sea. But back at this entrance we’d get stopped and sucked back in again. Saw a couple of blacktips briefly, but not as much activity as we’d have expected in a spot like this.
This reminded us all of one of our favorite anchorages back in St. Croix, USVIs. Same color, same depth, and same soft sand.
A quick dinghy ride away we snorkeled another area and found this gigantic turtle just sitting on the ocean floor, unmoving, about twenty feet down.
Clearly, something was wrong.
He wouldn’t move.
There was nothing we could do for him. It was getting dark. It was time to go.
Taha’a and Raiatea are two big islands comfortably ensconced inside one giant encircling reef. It was nice to be able to motor along shore for ten miles in the morning, enjoying the views, as we made our way around Taha’a before exiting the reef on the other side.
On the left are the small waves breaking on the reef at the edge of the pass. On the right is our next destination, Bora Bora, looming just twenty miles away.
Iconic.
8 Comments on “To Taha’a”
You’ll definitely be able to stock up on fresh food on Bora Bora! I went to Tahiti once. Moorea scenery is absolutely beautiful!
Spectacular pics….colors and scenery gorgeous……Stay safe bums…..
Beautiful photos. Glad you have good memories of St. Croix; come back any time.
So, you suspect the turtle was unable to move, possibly dying or it just hoped you’d go away & let him sleep??? Amazing specimen, huge turtle…..
I strongly suspect it’s a statue. 🙂
The carvings on his “shell” kinda give it away. Probably doesn’t show up on a phone screen, but on my laptop…haha! Very cool.
Great pics! Always cool seeing turtles, especially one that big! I think the latin name is cocretusback.
Ahhh…..St. Croix!
Never seen a turtle that dirty and didn’t recognize the type either. It was wearing a couple of steel rings in the front though. That must be a key identifying attribute. 😉