Paul Gauguin Diving, July 7, 9 & 12, 2010

Tony Crocker

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The Paul Gauguin cruise ship has a sports platform in the stern with free sign-ups for kayaks, water skiing or windsurfing. I did not do any of these, but they also have full scuba gear and facilities to run dive trips directly from the ship. I did these for a July 9 night dive on Bora Bora (I was on an all day island tour from 9:30AM - 4:30PM) and a July 12 morning dive on Moorea. On Raiatea the ship is docked on the opposite side of the island from most of the dive sites, so the ship contracts with a local dive shop that picks us up in a van. However the PG divemaster Dominique did come along for the Raietea dive July 7, and it's a good thing he did. He's a great photographer, and this is what we saw within a couple of minutes after we submerged:
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This was only the second whale shark the Raiatea divemaster had seen in 5 years. I was with him and 2 other divers in the water earliest and closest to the whale shark. The last 2 divers with Dominique dropped in too close (perhaps one of these in the second picture) so the whale shark left us then.

Dominique had a knack for capturing sea life with divers identifiable in the background. I'm at the bottom of this picture in Raietea with a couple of the ever-present black tips.
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On the Moorea dive I'm watching a turtle here,
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And an eel here.
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I saw a lionfish like this one on the Bora Bora night dive.
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These colorful clams could also be seen snorkeling on Bora Bora and at the Blue Lagoon on Rangiroa.
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This lemon shark was on the Moorea dive, but I also saw them on the bottom when snorkeling outside the reef on Bora Bora.
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if I choose to see the next eclipse on the Paul Gauguin in November 2012 the diving should be even better in Fiji and New Caledonia.
 
Very nice pix! I envy you the whale shark. Sarah and I went to Akumal, and tried to do a day-trip to a nearby location where whale sharks congregate this time of year to feed. We tried this 2 different days, but had terrible luck with the weather. One trip was called off after we spent an hour in the boat (getting up at 5:00 am), and the other one before we left the hotel :-( The day before our first try, they had seen 100 sharks or more! Oh, well, something to look forward to next year.

Still, we had a lot of fun diving on the nearby reefs and snorkelling in Akumal Bay, with some of the friendliest turtles you'll ever see. These guys don't care if you get right in their faces! Got some nice pix and vids. And ironically, we routinely saw more lionfish per dive than I ever saw in Hawaii or the places I've dived in the Indian Ocean, which is their native territory. True last year in Jamaica also. This invasive species is getting to be a big problem in the Caribbean for the ecology, but makes for some great photos, since they don't swim away! I highly recommend Akumal for a nice combo of diving and other activities. And if anyone is thinking about getting an UW camera, I can highly recommend the new Sealife DC1200. I got one for Sarah for our anniversary just before this trip, and she loved it! I have the 2 generatons earlier model, which is also very nice but not quite as user friendly.
 
One of my work colleagues was recently scuba certified and spent a week at a resort on Glover's Reef in Belize in June. They were successful in finding 7 whale sharks on one of their dives. Thanksgiving week 2004 in Belize was my first destination trip after being certified.
 
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