I had my second dive (Aquarium, Depth 6m) and Bill joined in. This time we dove outside the pass (yes, in the ocean). There were more fish, sharks and coral. The reef is fairly damaged there, so you can see it's shape. It's like a long sloping ridge, that undulates and curves like the Cascade Mountains (only way smaller).
Photo left to right: A mexican diver, Tomas an instructor, Laurent, an instructor and gendarme we met the day before when he came around the anchorage to remind everybody our stay is limited to 7 days.
Afterwards we dinghied over to Cooks Bay, bought some fish and two jugs of diesel and explored.
Friday, the Big Day:
A checkout dive (Tiki,18m), by another instructor our last lesson (Taotoi, 18m) and the Final Exam for our PADI Open Water Certification
We went to the NW corner of Moorea (Taotoi, 18m) outside the reef into Shark Soup. Bill counted 19 sharks! The dive masters seem to know them all. Some get petted. One was preggers too. Wowie! Holy Moly! Cowabunga! There were also Moray eels. One wasn't too shy and came out of his hole to menace us. A real highlight was feeding a hawksbill turtle. We've got great underwater pictures and video. Will post soon.
Then we went back to our boat to warm up and eat lunch and cram for the final that afternoon. We managed to pass the written test, and despite botching some of the in the water dive skills, we passed. That was a relief. We're looking forward to spending yet mo'money and enjoying the underwater attractions here in the Society Islands, Tonga and eventually Fiji.
After a week of lovely sunny, breezy weather, the torrential tropical downpours returned.
Yay! More free fresh water!!
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