We entered the beautiful lagoon of Fakarava Atoll just after sunrise. After breakfast we disembarked and spent the morning in a small town on the atoll, just strolling, pearl shopping, and bicycle riding. The highlight of the morning undoubtedly was that we got to meet Marcelo the nurse shark. Nurse sharks have made friends with some of the locals here and come to the beach often. It was an incredible feeling to get so close to such a magnificent animal and then get to even touch its sandpaper-like skin. Not only did we get to touch a shark, but in the afternoon, we got to swim with some! We repositioned the ship to the atoll of Toau and found a very healthy reef to snorkel on—a reef that very few people get to experience and that no expedition ships had ever visited before. Healthy large coral heads (Porites) everywhere, decorated with many kaleidoscopically colored Christmas-tree worms! Black-tipped reef sharks, Napoleon wrasse, parrotfish, guineafowl pufferfish, trumpetfish, butterflyfish—such diversity and colors!
9/20/2022
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Tahanea Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia
Entering the pass of an atoll in French Polynesia is always a beautiful way to start the day. This morning we arrived at Tahanea, a small island with no permanent population. The water here is some of the clearest our staff have ever seen in this region. With winds and currents to contend with, our divers found a beautiful site to spend some time underwater. They enjoyed a healthy coral reef, some sharks, and large fish. On their way back to the ship they even found some manta rays and jumped in the water to snorkel with them. The rest of us split into two groups: the hikers and the swimmers. The hike ashore was full of birds and plants to observe and photograph. The swimmers launched from the snorkel platform into crystal water where they poked around the coral heads and grew even more comfortable swimming with reef sharks. We had an afternoon aboard. We began with a presentation by our guest speaker Tom Ritchie about the most useful plants in Polynesia. At tea time, the hotel team put out 13 different sweet treats, not to mention the sandwiches and fruit. Before recap, undersea specialist James Hyde gave us a condensed history of the natural world—starting with the big bang! Tomorrow will be a busy day for us as we transit to some islands we have never visited before. So it’s quiet on board this evening as we all head to bed to rest up for whatever tomorrow has in store.
