Day 9 -- Moorea

We are in Cooks bay – named after the explorer. We took the morning tender ashore and a 20 minute drive to the Intercontinental hotel where the aquatic activity is. Then a nice boat ride out to the lagoon. We swam for 30 minutes then it was our turn to dive. We were fitted with 85 lb diving helmet and lowered into the water. Beautiful fish and very large and friendly manta rays. The rays swim right up to you and you can touch them. It was quite an experience. We stayed under for 30 minutes visiting the fish.
In the afternoon, we went back to the shore in search of an internet café. It was easy to find in a hotel right next to the pier. We also found a fantastic little gallery of Marquesan art where Bo bought two (after a long deliberation) tapas and an unusual necklace and bracelet. Marquesan traditional tapas are made from the inner bark of the breadfruit (mei) tree in a long process of beating the bark, stretching it and drying/bleaching it in the sun and they are decorated with traditional symbols. Unfortunately, the big ones Bo really wanted are very hard to find outside of the Marquesas and expensive.

This was our last night on the ship so we had a farewell dinner with Sybil and Phil, which then turned into a long farewell at the bar. We’ve enjoyed their company very much and it was definitely a stroke of luck that we met them at the first dinner on the ship.