Sleeping Beauty

While on Moorea we did many exciting adventures. We went on a Motu Picnic which included snorkeling in the deep ocean with sharks and in the more shallow waters with sting rays. Then they would take us to a very small uninhabited island to have a picnic. This picnic consisted of fresh fruit, "punch" which was really a huge bowl of mai tai and poisson cru. A yummy island favorite with which rice, onion, celery, bell pepper, fresh tomatos, carrots and raw fresh tuna. There was then a ritual of coconut breaking, sharing a sip of the coconut milk and or water and then shaving the coconut meat inside the shell. The shredded coconut was place inside cheesecloth and then twisted and they would squeeze until the milk came out of the coconut and filled the bowl of rice with the coconut milk. After that, fresh limes were squeeze onto the raw tuna to "cook the tuna" This bowl of goodness was wonderful, and usually cake for dessert. 

On one such day, we decided to go for a whale swim and of course it was in the deep ocean. Did you know there is a perfectly straight line between the dark blue deep ocean and the crystal clear turquois shallow water. What an exciting day. First off, there was a sinking boat as  we headed towards the deep ocean. So we stopped and threw it a tow rope. When we finally made it to our destination there was a mother humpback whale asleep on the ocean floor. She also had a baby with her. Then I suppose the motor of the boat woke her up because she started arising to the top with her baby following. That whale could have easily crushed or turned over our little boat but it didn't. It acted like it knew we were friendly. She swam around the boat and she swam underneath us. I feared she would raise up and dump the people contents of our boat out into the ocean. But she didn't. Instead she acted like she was trying to communicate a thank you to us. She was huge and beautiful and I'm so thankful and blessed that we were able to have that once in a lifetime opportunity.