Day 93: More Moorea (April 10, 2011)

Good thing the torrential downpour waited until 7 at night or it might have put a damper on today's boat tour and lunch at the beach. I was napping when the downpour started (although it had been drizzling for a while) and it woke me up, so I'm in the middle of cooking dinner (chicken noodle soup with veggies) and thought I'd blog while I boiled the water. I'm not sure if the tap water here is potable, so I'm being safe and either drinking bottled or boiled. I would have cooked my can of "pur boeuf ravioli" but there is no can opener...

The longer I'm at Motel Albert, the less enamoured I become. :\ The large motel yard is filled with chickens, which aren't a problem, and also roosters, which are. They crow at any time of day or night, especially at about 6 in the morning. And the windows here are more like plastic slats than actual windows that might block out the noise. My stove, which is gas, has to lit by holding a candle to the gas (Really!? Who does that anymore? Well, I guess I learned a new trick. Or rather, got to try an old trick I learned about somewhere.) And the number of wiggly creatures in my front room -- but not the bedroom, fortunately -- reached epic proportions last night, so I don't want to go barefoot. This feels more like I'm staying at some kids' camp ground from like the late 1970s, after it's closed down for the winter season. Except its warm. The sheets appear clean, but I unrolled my little sheet sleeping bag just in case. Oh well, I sleep fine, and that's mostly what I need this place for. Am counting the days until Easter Island, my next stop.

So today was good. I booked a spot on a boat tour around the island -- well, about 1/4 of the island; it would take a long time to go all the way around. The trip was, of course, beautiful.

A couple of the fancy hotels.

But the highlight of the trip was stopping to swim in the water with the sting rays and black-tipped (black-finned?) sharks! There was a moray eel nearby too, but he had to be coaxed out of his rock with food and only appeared for a second. He didn't come out and play with us like the others, so :P to him!

I didn't touch the sharks but they swam pretty close a few times, maybe as close as 5 feet away. They weren't scary, at least not when a big group of us led by a guide told us it was safe to swim with them.

The sting rays, on the other hand, were constantly among us, so I got to pet several of them. They'd also swim right up next to us and brush us and we couldn't help but touch them. People who knew what they were doing, like our guide, would even gently grab them by the mouth and drag them along to join us. They felt solid, but with a giving and velvety-soft skin. Their tails felt kind of scaly, like a lizard, not like a fish. Oh and speaking of fish, we were also surrounded by bright tropical fish, which we could easily watch if we put our snorkling goggles on. And I held a sea cucumber, which until recently I though was a made up critter you're supposed to /love/ in the World of Warcraft. Nope, it's a real ... thing. And it looks and feels just like its name describes. So it would be really creepy to /love/ it. It was all very cool.

He's just dragging the stingray around like it's no big deal.

Our next stop was the beach for lunch. Our guide did some prep work, then called us over for a "demonstration." What that really meant was, he needed help making lunch. I happened to be standing right next to him so he picked me to help, but that was a good thing because (1) I wasn't bored during the demo and (2) I now know how to make that awesome raw fish salad I had the other night!

For my memory as well as your entertainment, here's what you do (skip if you don't like reading instructions): Get a bunch of high quality raw white tuna. Cube it and put it in a bowl. Add a lot of salt, stir. Cover it all with water, stir. Drain water. Mix in chopped raw cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes and onions (I intend to leave out the onions). Squeeze citrus over the mix (we used lime) and stir.  Update:  How did I forget the best part... add coconut milk, squeezed from the coconut shavings if possible.  Eat! Yummy, and so easy, I think even I could prepare it.

We finished the day with more time to swim and then a show about how to open a coconut and eat/drink what's inside. One doesn't need a machete to open a coconut -- it can be done with a pointed stick wedged firmly in the sand to remove the outside, then whacked against the inside to open it up for the edible bits. If only they knew this in Ghana, I might have been spared that giant machete scar!

Something I didn't realize about Moorea -- I don't know if it's true of all of the nearby islands -- there are not a lot of beaches here. We had to drive 1/4 of the way around the island to get to one, and it was barely what I'd call a beach. Yes, there was soft sand in spots, but a lot of rocks and coral are just under the water. The part of the sand that extends under the water extends very far in most spots, so the waves break several hundred feet or meters away from the shore. It allows for easy playing in the water, so sissies like me feel comfortable, but no surfing or jumping over waves as they roll in. And it probably accounts for the lack of what I think of as beaches, since there's not a steady beat of waves eroding the land. Along most spots, the land just kind of pops up out of the water.

Pretty, but not much room for lounging.

From what I could tell at our little beach, the sand here is all white because it's made from crushed coral.

If you look closely, you'll see a little crab carrying his little seashell house.

Oh uh, it's 8:30pm and the little wiggly guys have started to invade my front room, so I'll have to retreat to the bedroom. Well, that's where the only outlet is, and I'll need to charge my netbook soon anyway. I think I'm about to give in and splurge on a few hours of super expensive internet service. I don't want mom and dad to think I died here in the islands, or ran off with some hunky polynesian man. Oh, speaking of that, as we were being dropped off at our respective hotels at the end of the tour, my guide kind of cuddled up to me and asked what I was doing tonight. I told him I was just spending time at my hotel. He looked kind of optimistic, so I added "alone" in my stern librarian's voice, and he smiled and backed off. He was funny, and it was flattering, but he wasn't handsome enough to tempt me. (Now name the book I borrowed that line from!)