Bora Bora April 3rd. 2011

Captain Jerman's farewell dinner was yummy, it was held tonight because the remainder of this cruise is busy with ports of call. We are all looking forward to time ashore tomorrow and because we tender into port we'll have to be up early,  our swimming with the sharks tour starts at 8.30am from the tender dock.

This is the final call into French Polynesia for the Royal Princess, all their snorkeling and dive gear is on sale at really good prices. I picked up some reef shoes, a must for these parts for $8.99. There are good buys on fins, breathing tubes and masks but we have no room for them in our luggage.

Slept fitfully last night, I'd put in a wake up call for 6.30am then lay awake all night waiting for the phone to ring. That plus my cough which usually starts when my head hits the pillow, even with extra pillows, such is life.

We are inching our way into Bora Bora carefully avoiding the coral reefs, I'm listening for the anchor to drop after which it will take about 30 minutes for the authorities to clear the ship then we'll try to make the first tender.

WHAT AN AWESOME DAY IN BORA BORA.

Words are impossible to describe the beauty and wonder of this verdant Isle, set in a sea of many, many shades of blue, far too numerous to add up on my fingers. The Royal Princess arrived early and it was pleasant being on deck as we sailed in. After a light breakfast we took an early tender, about a 10 minute ride to the dock, being a small ship means less pax we had no trouble finding room aboard  life boat #3.

The first and only time we were in Bora Bora was in 1989. We'd sailed from Sydney to Papeete for our 25th anniversary. Not a lot has changed on the island since then, a large number of over the water bungalows have been built and that's about it. Our group all showed up before Patrick arrived in his motor driven outrigger, soon we were on our way to circumnavigate the island with three strategic stops.

The first stop was to swim with the sharks, it was a neat experience. These sharks are called Black Tips, probably because their dorsal fin is black, they were three to five feet in length, with no interest in taking a nibble out of us, they only eat dead fish and they can spot them PDQ. There were at least thirty of them circling us with lots of colored tropical fish too. I do wish I'd brought along an under water camera.

Next stop was absolutely fantastic, we were at the home of the Sting Rays, silently gliding past waiting for us to feed them. They were not aggressive but still I couldn't help thinking of Steve Irwin. Patrick had some cut up pieces of fish, which he handed out to us and that got them going, they'd swim right up and nudge us until we pushed the piece of fish into the gill next to their eye, very strange but the fish liked it.

Their skin on top was much like that of the dolphin and they enjoyed the petting, though food was their main interest. I was nipped on a couple of times as they searched me for food but it was more of a playful nip. I liked the way they rubbed up against me flapping their wings, they are quite powerful. All the while I kept an eye on the tails.

It was a hot one out there, now my eyes are streaming, from the sun screen laden sweat, it's made them teary and sore. Guess who didn't pack Visine!

Dinner was good, and the tiramisu was delish. It's almost show time so until tomorrow, aurevoir.