Tag: underwater video

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Brad Kellogg owes me $67.25

South Pass of Fakarava, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

Did you know that when Sharks get into large groups (say like 50 plus) they school, like fish?

So we learned something new today.

More of that in a minute, let’s get down to brass taxes:  Brad Kellogg owes us $67.25.

For those of you who are not friends with us on Facebook, you should be.  Mainly because that’s where most of the commentary for the blog happens each week.   Why is this?  Probably because thanks to the miracle of the friend finder, all our old smart aleck friends from our previous lives have connected with us and form some form of hybrid “metamind / advice giving / peanut gallery” thing.

So enters Brad, good friend from high school and expert at egging Greg on.  Actually, good at egging anyone on.  The guy’s got a gift.  If he ends up a senator, I called it.

After my last post about the sharks, Brad comments to Greg:  “5 bucks float with the sharks for 5 minutes, and I’ll toss in an extra quarter for each shark ya can count, double dog dare ya!”

Ok, I’m a worshipper of A Christmas story.  I’ll even spot you the Triple Dog Dare.

(If you don’t understand the Christmas story reference, you OBVIOUSLY don’t watch TBS on Christmas…and your life is poorer for it 😉

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Wait Greg, there was a MAX of 7 sharks in that video, assuming every new cut was with new sharks.”  So that’s $6.50.

Yes, that.  Here’s the rest of the 250 sharks we went swimming with (dive masters best estimate, not mine.)  Oh, and the highly lethal stonefish which doesn’t count for an extra quarter but could kill you just as dead.

Now we were in the water for about 45 minutes but since there was no repeating stipulation on the bet, I won’t advocate for the $605.25 I could potentially claim.   😉

The South Pass was not all just highly lethal sea creatures.  I mean really, 250 sharks aren’t just going to hang around unless there’s food nearby and wow, was there.  A smorgasbord of every color and type of tropical reef fish, coral, you name it.  Amazing does not describe what we saw:  this video hardly gives you a taste of the varied and beautiful sea life that surrounded us every time we got in the water.

(PS – thanks to Serge & the guys from Fatu Hiva for the awesome music!)

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Playing on a desert island

Kauehi, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

Ok it’s, uh, pretty and all.  Really, really pretty but what do you DO there?

Well all throughout the village and along the islands are coconut crabs.  Which are crabs.  That eat coconut.  They also live in little burrowed holes in the beach sand and the islanders are good at catching them for supper.

If catching your next meal gets old and/or frustrating (fast little buggers) you can always go for a swim.  Remember how I said Kauehi had clear water?  Yeah, and lagoons are breeding grounds for everything from tropical fish to coral to the most colorful clams I have ever seen.

If the lagoon gets old, you can wander down the road (“the” as in singular.  As in the only one on the island) to the other beach.  It’s not like it’s a long walk.

Since the island is an atoll surrounding a lagoon, it has beaches on both sides.  The “inside” beach has sand but no waves.  The outside beaches, which face out to the ocean, would be really great for surfing or boogie boarding except for one tiny detail.

**20100510A – archive – Kahuei beach**

Allan is really excited because he has dragged his board, sails and gear all the way from California in order to go windsurfing in the Tuamotu.   The barrier reef islands provide a good shelter from the ocean waves but are also low enough to the water to allow the wind to blow full force over the lagoons.  Big wind but no large waves creates an ideal windsurfing environment.

I know I said this before back in Mexico but it bears repeating.  Allan loaded all of this gear onto his sailboat.  He then proceeded to sail his boat from California to the middle of the South Pacific.  We have been sailing for months now to get here.  So we sail here, on a sailboat, using the wind to sail our sailboat to this lagoon and the thing Allan wants to do here?  After all that?  He wants to go sailing on a smaller sailboat…

…really?

He insists it’s different.  It goes faster or something.  Me, I know addiction when I see it.

-Greg

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Polynesian Snorkeling

(Continued from previous post… Tahuata, French Polynesia)

As we continued to travel north along the island to our next anchorage, Hanatefau, reportedly the 3rd prettiest in Polynesia, we saw some spectacular waterspouts along the shoreline.

Upon arriving we found that the anchorage was indeed gorgeous.  Beautiful living reefs no more than 10 feet below the surface on each side of the anchorage, a pristine white sandy beach, crystal clear water with 30-50 feet of visibility, and gorgeous sunshine.  A Manta Ray swam right past our stern.  It was amazing.  Tiff started off the day helping out a fellow cruiser by free diving 30 feet straight down to get a dropped piece of equipment, which is a rather impressive feat.  (Actually, I started it by swimming some banana bread over to Rod and Elisabeth on Proximity, and when I swam back, I saw the Manta Ray fly past our boat! ~Tiff)

As thanks for helping them out, Michael and Gloria of Paikea Mist, a beautiful Beneteau Custom 50, (www.PaikeaMist.com) invited us out to go snorkeling with them.  Now, again, I am still learning how to use this camera well underwater.  That being said, there are some absolutely amazing parts of sea life just wandering around a few feet below the surface.  This is a taste of what I saw:

Unfortunately for us with this much unrestrained beauty below us, perfect warm, clear water all around us and a baking sun above us, it is quite easy to lose track of time.  We did just that, much to both of our extreme regret.

Let me tell you, it hurts.  It hurts a lot.  A LOT!  I took a shower, used a wash rag and some warm water by accident two days later and was laid out on the bed for a good hour writhing in pain as it felt like someone was jamming broken glass into my spine.  It took two ice packs and not moving much for the rest of the day to bring me back to a degree of normalcy.  Needless to say, a bottle of waterproof sunscreen has been permanently added to my ashore backpack.  But such are the risks for living in paradise.

Needless to say the tiny island of Tahuata was supremely amazing, well beyond any of our expectations or even our imaginations.

–          Greg

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