Our offering to Poseidon while crossing the equator is paying off hansomely. The atols, coral barrier reefs that are formed around vulcano lava islands from which the island itself has to various degrees been eroded and into the Pacific, surrounded by crashing waves surrounding the lagunas showing off a palate of every color of blue imaginable. To this backdrop we enjoy our daily swim, snorkel and dive adventures and we get to know the Polynesians.
On Raitea I met with Mat, a local art teacher at the highschool and Joseph, descendant from a danish man , named Peder... who shipwrecked a little over a hundred years ago after working in the african goldmines. he used his saved pay, a golden bracelet, to set up shop and refused 'resque'. Today he has hundreds of familymembers named brotherson.
Cedric has followed into the foodsteps of a familymember, sir Alain Gerbaut, who was the first to circumnavigate the world solo between 1923 and 1929, stayed here afterwards.. and has the only commemerative headstone at the port of Bora Bora.
Last night, coming back to the ship with the dingy we encountered 5 mantarays of up to 4 meters dancing around the underwaterlights of the dock of this posh hotel. An incredible sight, more so when we got our snorkelgear and got into the act for some syncronised swimming. After only a few minutes one got so close coming up from the deep on a backward 360 flip that our faces almost touched, before we both spooked and upped to lift our faces from the water together; 'peter's manta kiss'....