Motu Ahuna

Though we had a fair number of drinks yesterday, we made sure not to overdo it so as to not feel crummy for the main event of the day: Laura's scuba dive. After the wine pairing last night I was a little worried, but two cups of coffee had me feeling right as rain.

Laura was feeling a bit nervous, so I had a big breakfast while she nibbled on hers, and we set off to the dock to catch the boat out to the first dive location. Laura donned her gear, and along with the dive master and 4 other divers, took the giant stride to plunge into the South Pacific. They were under water for about 45 minutes, and upon surfacing Laura excitedly reported seeing giant Manta Rays and a Sea Turtle 🐢!

Once all the divers were back in the boat, we motored to the second dive spot to see black tip sharks 🦈. About half way we saw the telltale sign of whales -- several sprays of mist rising 🐳. Sure enough, moments later a few whales surfaced, tails and all. It was fantastic luck; the dive crew reported they were the first of the season.

Laura and the gang made their second descent, and immediately saw dozens of sharks. One got right up in her face 😨 before swimming off. She also saw two octopi 🐙, and of course, many many fishies 🐠. Her favorite was the trigger fish, an aggressive little guy who chased off anything that came too close to his turf. While Laura was diving, I whale-watched, snorkeled, and generally worked on my sunburn.

Once we made it back to the resort, we ate more fish for lunch and had a good nap. We read and spent a little time at the gym before catching our taxi (a boat) to take us to the main island for dinner. We had a cocktail and watched the sun go down at the sister-resort, and then got picked up by the restaurant taxi (van) to whisk us off to our second fancy dinner of the trip.Read more