February 10 – The Day on a Boat, Bora Bora, French Polynesia

We are spending most of the day on the lagoon.  These were the photos taken throughout the day...partly cloudy in the morning and rather dreary and more heavily overcast later in the day.

It was raining pretty good here. 

We were picked up by Ruma for our long cruise around the lagoon.  First stop was the coral garden where we had an hour or more of really great snorkeling. 

The “Love Bora Bora” sign on the sand near the coral garden.

The coral garden.

Lots of fish.  We think they are all identified correctly.

Black Dotted Butterflyfish

Double Saddles Butterflyfish

French Grunt

Honeycomb Grouper

Oval Butterflyfish

Sapphire Damsel

Scissortail Sergeant

Shadowfin Soldierfish

Six Bar Wrasse

Teardrop Butterflyfish

White Banded Triggerfish

Yellow Striped Goatfish

There were schools of fish around the edge of the coral.

Some colorful clams.  All you can see are the colorful lips. 

A big sea cucumber

We eventually headed back to the boat and were on to our next stop.  This was on the other side of the island where the manta rays usually hang out.  And another boat was there who had already spotted a manta.  That made it a lot easier for us.  Paul got in the water and before Mary could get in the manta had moved on.  So Ruma headed out, found it, and dropped Mary off and went back to pick up Paul.  We had some great viewing of the manta.  It just kept circling this bit of coral.  This was our first time seeing a manta ray.

Then it was back on the boat for the ride to a nearby shallow area where we got to swim with some black-tipped reef sharks,

a stingray that occasionally swam by,

and tons of Threadfin Butterflyfish. 

We tried to get a photo of the black tips cruising by out of the water but never really quite managed a good one. 

By now it was near lunchtime so we headed off again.  On the way we saw a large number of spinner dolphins near the harbor area.  There must have been 15 or 20 of them.

We ended up on a private motu for lunch.  Our picnic table was in the water. 

And we had lots of mullets swimming around our feet hoping for a handout. 

After lunch we took a walk through the motu and out to the barrier reef.  There was a long, natural coral wall about two feet high all along the motu.  From there we coral was flat to a small drop off into the sands that was spotted with coral.  The actual barrier reef must have been another forty or fifty feet out.  It was interesting to watch but the waves hitting the reef weren’t too large today.

Some tiny snails along the reef.

Mary tried out here macro lens but didn't have very good luck.  Photos were only marginal. 

There were lots of crab holes along the walk.  Occasionally we could see one ahead but they were very shy and it was hard to get close to photograph these shy guys.  But we managed a couple. 

Relaxing in a swing, enjoying the island. 

It rained while we were having lunch.  This is a small lagoon off the picnic area. 

By now it was midafternoon and we decided we were done so we headed back to the resort.

We did some packing and work and finished out our last day in Bora Bora.  We both would like to come back again someday.  We loved this lovely island.