Moorea Island: Swimming with Sharks & Stingrays

February 11, 2019

MOOREA ISLAND, French Polynesia – I swam with sharks and stingrays in the gorgeous turquoise waters off Moorea Island today during our first port of call on our 12-night Oceania Marina cruise throughout French Polynesia. This is the closest to both marine species I’ve ever come and it was definitely exciting!

Got up at 11 a.m. I felt exhausted and anxious. Mom and I had departed Papeete, Tahiti Island, early this morning for the short trip over to Moorea after we boarded Oceania Marina yesterday afternoon. I gathered my things for my shore excursion, “Snorkel & Stingray Safari.”

We went up to Deck 12 at noon for our first buffet lunch at Terrace Cafe.

We disembarked at 12:35 p.m. and boarded a tender to shore (10 minutes).

Marina was anchored in Opunohu Bay, and the tender delivered us to the pier at the village of Papetoai on Moorea’s northwest coast.

Moorea, population 17,230, covers 51 square miles just a dozen miles west of Tahiti in the Society Islands. The island’s name means “yellow lizard.” Samuel Wallis was the first European to sight the island in 1767. The major industries are pineapples and tourism.

My excursion met at 12:50 p.m., as did Mom’s land tour, “Moorea Island Highlights.” My boat headed east back toward Opunohu Bay, passing a popular surfing spot.

We cruised around the north edge of the bay, then along the coastline past the Intercontinental Resort Moorea Island, which features the famous French Polynesian overwater bungalows.

We reached our first snorkeling spot at 1:50. One of our guides started throwing fish to attract the black-fin sharks and stingrays. Although it was fantastic to swim so close to these marine creatures, I felt attracting them by human feeding is not an ethical practice and likely disrupts their natural environment.

My guide swims with stingrays and sharks

The black-tips are about four feet long and are considered harmless – unlike their much greater cousins. The stingrays were huge, and our guides said they are also harmless unless you poke them in the eyes. Well, I’d be pretty damn pissed if someone poked me in my eye too!

Snorkeling with Sharks & Stingrays at Moorea Island

My tour proceeded to our second snorkel stop on the northwest coast near the village of Tetaiuo.

This site featured a coral reef and colorful fish. I also spotted a green eel and a couple black-tip sharks.

Snorkeling off the Northwest Coast of Moorea Island

Tendered back to the ship and returned to cabin at 4:18. We sailed away about 5 p.m. for our second port of call, Raiatea, 115 miles to the northwest.

Oceania Marina Sails Away from Moorea Island

Mom and I headed down to the Grand Dining Room at 7:56 for our first dinner in Marina’s main restaurant. I had an outstanding meal with a main course of steamed Maine lobster with castilla-la mancha saffron rice.

Dinner: main course
Dinner: dessert

Returned to our cabin, where I sorted today’s photos and used the ship’s free WiFi to post them to Facebook. This is the first cruise I’ve ever been on that offers complimentary WiFi (one account per stateroom; can be shared by both passengers but can’t be used on multiple devices simultaneously). The satellite connection scored a download speed of 1.68 mbps and an upload speed of 0.11.

A nice first full day of our cruise. Looking forward to six more ports of call here in French Polynesia!