Tag Archives: snorkeling

Sunken Treasures

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I am ashamed to admit this but I have never snorkeled the sunken treasures site located less than 5 minutes from our Tahiti anchorage.  You are probably thinking, WTF?  Yes, we have anchored in the same spot in Tahiti for 3 years at least 2 dozen times!  Yet, I have never been to this super cool spot!

We gather our friends Thomas and Marika (from “Scooter”) and we make the short trek to the snorkel spot.  Directly under the dinghy is the first of two sunken ships.   I jump in to see the shell of a rather large ship.  The smaller of the two ships is located 30 meters away near the airplane.

Strategically placed together are the Cessna 172 airplane and the smaller ship.  The two ships did not prove to be very interesting as they had no coral growth or wildlife on or around them.

Matt decides he wants to fly the plane so he snorkels down 10m (30’+) while Thomas goes down with my GoPro. 

Matt has to wiggle into the cockpit, but manages to give us a thumbs up.

The plane proves to be far more interesting to shoot from all different angles.  If you look closely, you will see that the tires are still on the plane!

Rumor has it that on April 16, 1995, following an emergency landing, this plane sank near the runway of the Tahiti airport.  Now it remains at the site of the Aquarium with two other boats and a work station in 10 meters of water.

Working Remote?

Next to the plane is the strangest thing….a small desk with a lamp, adding machine, pencil cup and an apple computer (complete with keyboard).  We’ve been saying that internet is hard to find in French Polynesia – but this shows we exhausted all possibilities!

Just because it is such a cool shot, here is a single photo of Matt at the desk after he pounded it when he realized he had no connectivity.

We also had lots of super curious fish coming to check us out.

And we found a beautiful heart made of coral because we love Tahiti.

We say farewell to Fakarava after some fabulous shark dives.  Events from this blog post occurred toward the end of March 2022.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual events.

Christmas Tree of the ocean

The Ocean’s Christmas Tree

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Kimberly, my beautifully talented sister, went Christmas tree shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend with her family.  Pangs of jealousy and want shot through me.  Not only because I was not there with them for the holiday, but also because we would not be getting a tree as well.  Sure, we have a small wooden one for the boat, but it is not the same.  Yes, even living in paradise, with the one you love, still has you wanting more.  Greedy little thing that I am!

A few days later, Matt took me snorkeling in the little protected reef where we are anchored within the Amanu lagoon.  It has been calling to us to explore for a few days, but the winds have been such that it was not conducive to good visibility.

There were not many fish, but there were tons and tons of ocean christmas trees!  I love these little creatures (yes, they are live)!  When they are out in their full glory, they look just like miniature christmas trees. 

Sure, I can’t smell them or decorate them or even enjoy them for a month like you landlubbers do.  But I have living, breathing, colorful christmas trees.

Love the variety of colors on each christmas tree

Love the variety of colors on each christmas tree

Each worm (yep they are worms) sprouts two trees.  You always see two by two in the same colors.  They also seem to like the same type of coral.  Check out the black tree with a white top (3rd photo down on left).  Just love all the colors.

A Christmas Tree in every nook

A Christmas Tree in every nook

They are fascinating and fun to play with.  Probably not nice, but I love to watch them disappear and reappear.

We also found loads of clams with a rainbow of lips.

Colorful clams

Colorful clams

Several really large oyster shells – all growing upside down with little things that look like teeth.

Large Oyster Shells

Large Oyster Shells

A beautiful, little starfish sitting in the middle of the sand with nothing else around her, large sea cucumbers, and my own little fish enjoying the snorkel.

The reef is full of beautiful coral sculptures that invite closer to visit its communities.

The reef itself is beautiful.  The top photo is the reef above water and the rest are below water.

When they get scared or feel threatened, they suck themselves up into their little tubey thing.  These are my favorite shots from this snorkel.  I love the pink and white christmas tree.

Love the pink christmas tree

Love the pink christmas tree

We may not have access to all of the holiday trimmings, but seeing these sweet christmas trees brightened my holiday season!

Events from this blog post occurred around the 1st week of December, 2020.  Our blog posts run 8 weeks behind our adventures.

Ile Makaroa – The Rocks

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New island, new anchorage in Makaroa.  We left Mangareva and headed to the rocks.  There are three islands that make up this southerly set called the rocks.  All three islands are uninhabited and difficult to anchor near.  Our friend had given us some waypoints (locations to anchor) so we thought we would give it a try.

There is no anchorage near Ile Manui.  Ile Makaroa is supposed to be fine for a “day spot” only.  The water is supposedly deep and does not offer good holding.  But there is good snorkeling here.  The last island is Ile Kamaka which has a nice sandy beach.

The three rock islands

The three rock islands

With the current weather, wind, and swell we decided to try Ile Makaroa first.  We drove around looking for a good spot and found a decent sandy area in 6 meters of water.  We added 4 pearl floats to the chain to prevent it from getting tangled on the coral and sat it out to see how the boat sat.

The top photo is of three islands on our approach.  The bottom two are of Ile Makaroa.

It is a bit rolly from the swell, but we decided to stick it out and go exploring.

We decided to stay one more night despite the rolliness.  It is a pretty spot with super clear water.  It is really amazing to look out your window and see the coral at the bottom of the ocean.

Snorkeling in the Rocks

We went for a snorkel to explore the beautiful coral. It is spectacular to see so many varieties of hard coral thriving here.  Staghorn, tables and more.  We were visited by schools of curious fish, large and small.

There were several schools of parrot fish and a few varieties of other small fish hanging around to check us out.

There were also a lot of jelly fish.  Normally I am completely freaked out by jelly fish.  I swim backwards, sideways and out just to get away from them.  But these are not stinging jelly fish.  Matt showed me by touching the inside and outside.  I did manage to touch one on the outside and I was completely surprised at how hard it was!

No Wind Creates Havoc on Our Floats

A good anchorage is one with at least a little wind.  We want the boat to always face the wind to give us a nice breeze inside the boat, to hold the boat in a safe position and to keep her safe.  However, when there is no wind, we do circles and do what we call the anchor dance.  Not really a big deal when you are all alone in an anchorage, but when there are other boats or coral heads you are trying to avoid it can be dangerous.

Our floats decided that quarantine was over and they gathered in a group.    They should be spread out with 7-8 meters in between each float.  Even though they are technically still doing their job of keeping the chain off the coral heads, they should be further away from each other.  The top photo is a view from the bow of our boat. The other two are from underwater showing you how the floats work.

Anchor floats not doing their job

Anchor floats not doing their job

The bottom photo has them all touching each other – don’t they know about covid-19?  Ugh!