The Pacific Ocean is famous for its denizens of the deep. From white whales to great white sharks to giant squid, the vast ocean and its murky depths have inspired all sorts of tales of dangerous monsters. The most famous is probably Moby Dick (Wordsworth Classics)
.
By contrast, the lagoons of Polynesia are relatively peaceful. Certainly, the food cycle of life is ever present. However, most of the marine population seems to coexist pretty well together and with man.
During your cruise, you will have lots of opportunities to view coral gardens and reefs, to snorkel among dazzling fish, and to feed friendly stingrays, and cautious reef sharks. Do as many of these activities as your pocketbook will allow. These are unique experiences and, perhaps, some of the most accessible marine wildlife anywhere. A couple of suggested marine life guidebooks for the Pacific: Diving & Snorkelling Guide to Tropical Marine Life of the Indo-Pacific
, and the even more comprehensive Reef Creature Identification Tropical Pacific
.
You may wish to pick up a Tahiti Reef Creatures Guide Franko Maps Laminated Fish Card 4″x6″
to try to identify the hundreds of different iridescent fish. Even standing on a restaurant patio overlooking the reef entry passage at Rangiroa, we saw fish with unworldly colors of orange and aquamarine.
One tip for snorkelers is that fish like shade, particularly when it is tropically hot. So, the greatest collection of colorful fish may be under your snorkel boat.
I would say the biggest surprise of the trip was the sociability of stingrays. I’m not saying every stingray is a drinking buddy. But, they can certainly be taught by recurring excursion experiences that nice behavior will lead to a snack.
We witnessed this in a couple different Bora Bora excursions. And we have the pictures and videos to prove it. In one, we put on diving bells and “walked” on the sea bed while a stingray cruised back and forth to “photo-bomb” our portrait. In the other, we stood in chest-high water while stingrays ran over our feet and even flapped their “wings” on the shoulder of the guide, who happened to be holding a bright red pail of fish treats.
This is the same species whose deadly spines did-in the world-renown Australian wildlife guide, Steve Irwin. Yet, here they were, acting like golden retrievers fetching for a treat. I will never forget it.
I did not get a chance to see the large Manta rays. That will be top of the list, the next time I cruise to Polynesia. They favor the lagoon at Bora Bora.
