2026-01-20 South Pacific: February 4 – Mo’orea, French Polynesia

We are in Mo’orea this morning. A gorgeous cruise into the massive lagoon. Mountains everywhere. It is just spectacular.

Things were much easier this morning. Most passengers getting off here are joining shore excursions. We signed up for a snorkeling excursion that was scheduled for 9:30. We didn’t get off quite on time but the cruise boat was waiting for us…about 40 or so on the boat. The cruise on the lagoon to the snorkeling site was breathtaking.

First stop was an area in the lagoon that was frequented by black-tipped reef sharks and stingrays. And we weren’t disappointed. Paul went one way towards the reef. He saw a lot of reef fish but didn’t see either a stingray or a black-tipped reef shark until he was done and heading back to the boat. Mary headed the other direction and saw several sharks and stingrays.

There were still a number of people in the water when we got out...and a lot of other boats. We could watch as the sharks cruised around the people still in the water.

And one of the guides played for a while with a ray. Apparently, the rays are quite gregarious and curious and enjoy interreacting with people.

Next was off to a turtle sanctuary where we saw a few green sea turtles from the boat. No swimming here.

On the way we saw a lot of very long, skinny trumpet fish, or maybe bluespotted cornetfish, near the sand at the bottom. The water was very clear, and the fish are very distinctive, looking almost like snakes with their very long, skinny body.

Then it was off to a coral garden near the far end of the reef. The coral here was a lovely purple/violet color that we had not seen before. Really lovely.

And there were corals with stalks that waved in the current. Turns out is actually an algae that is not good for the coral.

There were a lot of fish in the coral garden. Most were pretty small.

Lemonpeel Angle Fish

Lemonpeel Angle Fish with Blue-Green Chromis

Neon Damselfish

Oval Butterflyfish

Honeycomb Grouper

Three Stripe Damselfish

At one point, we felt we were being splashed…turns out there was a little rain shower while we were snorkeling. A very strange sensation to be in the water and being sprinkled with more water.

We were back on board, showered and had a late lunch. We spent the afternoon working.

Some photos of the huge lagoon with fishing boats.

This evening was Azamara’s wonderful White Night. They decorate the pool area, set up tables in the pool area and on the surrounding running track and everyone is encouraged to wear white.