So our ship docked in Raiatea but we entered the lagoon right by its sister island Taha’a and it was at Taha’a that I spent most of the day. I booked another snorkeling/lunch adventure and this was even more fabulous than the previous one.

Our boat picked us up at the marina beside the cruise ship dock and we motored over to Taha’a to a offshore spot near the edge of the reef but still in shallow water to swim with the sharks. The blacktips were there waiting for us and continued to circle our 2 boats for as long as the guides discreetly threw out food. I finally got a fairly decent picture:

Next we motored up the beautiful west side of the island to visit a pearl farm. Learning about the whole cultured pearl process again was still fascinating. The Tahitian black-tipped oyster is the only one in the world that produces colored pearls, up to 178 shades! This farm has 90 hectares of farm, approximately 2 million oysters. We watched the whole process from seeding to plucking out the finished pearls.

Then we motored over to a narrow channel between two island motus to snorkel in the current. We walked along the beach of one motu until the nearest point to the outer reef, then jumped in to ride the inflowing current back to the boat. Exhilarating! Some of us quickly hopped out to do it again. The corals heads were mostly covered in this funny, spongy bulrush-y looking soft coral, and wasn’t in great condition but I did see 2 large octopus, a bright blue jack, a humongous moray eel sticking halfway out hole staring at us intruders, 2 Pinocchio-like parrot fish.

Continuing further around the lagoon we had a 2nd snorkeling spot at the north end of island where the water was clearer, the coral healthier and many small fish. There was hardly any current so it wasn’t as exciting a ride, more a gentle push.

Lunchtime! So we went further round Ta’aa to dock at a deserted motu with a big palm-thatched open air building which had our delicious lunch spread. We were joined by another large tour boat so I think it’s a business independent from our snorkeling company. No matter, there was food and beach chairs for all. We had an hour after the meal to swim or soak up the sun.

Next was a visit to a Vanilla Farm. I’d already seen one on Moorea so I was happy to stay on the boat with my book till everyone returned. Then, completing our circle of Taha’a, we headed back over to Raiatea to the cruise ship.

The evening ran its usual course: evening trivia with Aspen and Chad, the Solo Cruisers Meet, saw the comedy show, then dinner.