Welcome to Bora Bora

This morning we started the day with a snorkel in our newly discovered location. The water is really shallow in this spot, as well, but the snorkeling was nice. There were some pretty coral formations and some nice color to the coral. There were a lot of sea anemone stuck to the coral, which are pretty to look at. There were still a lot of sea urchins around. There wasn’t a ton of fish, but a decent amount, though not too many colorful fish. There were small Parrotfish and Trigger fish. There were a lot of angel fish. The fish are obviously used to being fed and have no fear of getting close to people. They wouldn’t let us touch them, but we got within inches. Continue reading

Welcome to Tahaa

We got up early and prepared Kosmos for departure. We were going to Tahaa, another island in the Society Island chain. Fortunately, there wasn’t much to do, so in no time the lines were cast off. Bye Bye Tahiti!

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We are noticing a distinct pattern now. The other day when we were on a day trip, the seas were nice and calm. But, of course, since this was an overnight trip, we had strong winds on our port aft quarter (right back corner) producing 6 8 foot following seas (waves coming from behind) with the periodic 10 foot beam wave (from the side) that knocks us all over the place. Why the conditions are so similar every time we are out for more than a few hours is beyond us. It drizzled all day, and as soon as it got dark, rained really hard all night long. Poor Shelley was Continue reading

Bastille Day Celebration

Christi started the morning by finishing the bottom. Much to her dismay, everything she had scrubbed yesterday had a fine little layer of growth return. She decided to just pretend like nothing had grown back and to just work on the previously uncleaned areas. It took her an hour.

From there we went snorkeling in the coral reef next to our boat. As we were swimming out there, the people we had met from San Diego, Eric and Gisela, came up to us in their dinghy. They were also going snorkeling, so we all went together. The reef had small spots of color, but was mostly all light brown. There were a lot of coral shaped like Bryce Canyon, which was neat. There were a few fish, but not a ton. We did see a couple new fish we have not seen before. One had a beak and came in a few colors. We saw one black tipped reef shark about 5 feet long. There were a lot of plants growing on the coral that had long spindly branches with thorny looking things at the ends. The most noteworthy plant looked like a single dark pink rose stuck on the side of a coral head. It almost looked like someone had glued a plastic flower to the coral. We only saw one. Continue reading

Cleaning Fish & The Drift Snorkel Ride

Christi awoke feeling brave. “I can do it. I can clean the fish” she chanted to herself. She pulled the fish out of the refrigerator and pulled out an instruction book. Hmmm”¦. How do I know if I follow the small fish directions or the flat fish directions? It isn’t clear how small “small fish” is. She grabbed a different instruction book, but it was no clearer. Both books used technical language that she couldn’t comprehend. This was a desperate situation. Time was ticking on the Continue reading