Saturday, November 21, 2015

Raoria Atoll October 9, 2015

We sail about 450 miles south from the Marquesas to the Tuamotu archipelago.  Though both island groups are in French Polynesia, they have separate cultures and languages.


Our First Atoll!

We arrive outside the pass to the lagoon at Raoria, wait for daylight,
wait for the tide to be right, wait for the supply boat to go through
ahead of us, then cautiously pick our way through the pass.  We sail
across the lagoon to the windward side of the atoll which is the calmest
safest place to anchor IF you are on the lagoon side, not the ocean side.

So we hop in the water right away to see what is there, plus it is time for a bath after that passage.



And right away there is this squishy, googley thing.  I think
Henry had one of these in the bathtub.


Lots of small fish with bright colors, strange shapes and
wonderful patterns.  Lots of fish, trust me.


This is a bottle brush anemone.  Each spiral is about the size of a
thimble and can retract in half a heartbeat.


This is the business end of a manta ray (and some of the
internal workings.)  Debbie took this pic elsewhere
 but she doesn't read the blog so mum is the word.
This guy is about five feet  from side to side.

This eel swims around in a tide pool on the ocean side of the
island.    It is about a foot long.