Wednesday 8th August

Opunahu bay,
Moorea

17 29.318 S
149 51.059 W

We decided to stay for one more night at Opunahu Bay as the place was so pretty and we all wanted to go for another snorkel. After having a lay in and a late breakfast we prepared the dinghy for a trip out to the reef. All the snorkelling gear was put into the dinghy and then we all found a space to sit. It was only when we got out to the reef that we realised that no one had thought to put the ladder in the dink – we were going to have to struggle to get back into the dinghy from the water, I was all for going back to the boat and getting the ladder but the other two just laughed at me and donned their snorkelling gear. We all jumped into the water and began a slow swim around the reef. It was well spread out and I’m happy to say alive with beautifully coloured coral and loads of different reef fish, unlike any of the ones we had seen in the Caribbean. We all kept pointing out different things to each other and dragging each other to different spots to see things – it was really a good spot to snorkel. After about half an hour Gerry had had enough and told us he was heading back to the dinghy, Abigail and I wanted to stay a little longer so we snorkelled back to the dinghy via a longer route. Gerry was already in the dinghy and Abigail was easy to haul over the side and on board – that left me. I started to giggle as soon as I had my hands over the edge of the dink; the other two didn’t help much by laughing and offering feeble advice on how to get in. I eventually climbed up the back end and for a while laid half in the dink and half out, it took an exhausting effort to get myself onto the seat but I got there in the end – next time I’ll be the one checking that we have the ladder with us before we set off! Back at the boat Abigail and I sorted out the rinsing of swimmers and packed away the snorkelling gear whilst Gerry dinked across to Isabella, a yacht we knew from Panama, to have a chat with them. On his return we learnt that they had invited us for drinks that evening. It was by now around lunchtime so we ate on board before succumbing to the heavy eyelid syndrome. Once we were over the afternoon nap we packed a cold bag with some wine, rum, beer, fruit juice and nibblies and dinked across to Isabella. The owners, Max and Tracy along with their friend John welcomed us and we sat chatting, eating and drinking in their cockpit for the next 3 hours. It was interesting to chat with some Aussies who had undertaken roughly the same trip as we have at around the same time, their tales were fairly similar to ours and we have crossed paths with the same boats along the way at different points in time, no doubt we will meet up with them again before we get home. Lorie – just to make you laugh – as we boarded their boat we could smell curry cooking and both Abigail and I commented that it smelt good; Tracy’s response? – Well, I had this meat in the fridge that I wasn’t took certain about so I thought that it would be best to make curry with it. So you see it’s not just us! Anyway it was pitch black by the time we made our way back to our boat (and the beef curry that I had cooked the day before!). After dinner we all sat reading until it was time for bed.