Today’s Chronicle can be found here.
Up bright and early this morning for snorkelling – we’re thrilled to go again after Rangiroa, as everything we’d heard previously suggested there would be no further opportunities once we reached the Marquesas.
That said, the Snorkel Leader John did mention this is the first time in recent memory that the Silver Cloud has attempted to snorkel at Tahuata – perhaps the first time ever – and we’re keen to see the results.
My wife had dashed off to sign up immediately after the briefing, which mean that we were part of the first zodiac and the first cohort at 8:15 am. Space in the zodiacs is limited, so we were encouraged to bring as little gear as possible – mostly just whatever we could cram into our mesh snorkelling bag.
In my case that meant my fins, mask, snorkel, sunglasses case, water bottles and GoPro with accessories. I’ve been using an off-brand diving case for my GoPro which includes different coloured filters to balance off the blue underwater tint.
I find that the lightest of the filters works best when close to the surface, and the sealed case does a good job of keeping the salt water off the GoPro – though GoPros are rated for ocean use.
After a brief zodiac ride, we reached the edge of the safety zone and it was time to drop into the water. And what a view awaited us:
I’ve never seen a manta ray before, and I was immediately struck by their size. These were perhaps 4 metres wide from wingtip to wingtip, which just feels massive when you’re this close. Large manta rays can be 7 metres wide. It felt as though they had zero fear of humans, almost like they were playing with us.
I wish I could say that everyone who snorkelled with us that morning had the chance to see the rays, but sadly it was only the first snorkel cohort of three zodiacs that got to do so. Such is life on an expedition ship, unfortunately – same ship, different trips.
But there was more yet to see – including schools of fish clustered close to the shore, drifting with the flow of the swell:
It was an incredible and wholly unexpected morning.
My wife and kids went back to the ship to work on homework for a bit, but I elected to take a brief walk through Vaitahu.
The village is known for its Catholic church, and its beautiful stained glass windows:
But the natural beauty continued to steal the show.
Back ashore and off to trivia – we correctly identified hydrogen as the most prevalent element, but failed to list the correct year of the premiere of Game of Thrones – we had 2012, as opposed to the correct answer of 2011. But we did well enough to secure second place.
My daughter and I once more set off for lunch at the Restaurant.
Today’s menu:
My daughter had a pizza:
(And let’s be honest, I had some too. It was very good – but way too much food.)
I had the red snapper:
We once more repositioned during lunch time, arriving in Atuona on Hiva Oa. Conditions were somewhat rougher during the zodiac ride into port, but only mildly splashy – small fry compared to swells in South Georgia and the Falklands.
The port was a few kilometres out of town, so Silversea had laid on shuttles to take us into town. There was one large bus but also smaller vehicles too. We took one of these down to the community center, where we listened to traditional music and saw demonstrations on the making of bark cloth.
While Atuona is a larger town, the scenery remains stunning:
We visited the Paul Gauguin museum but did not spend much time there. He’s not our favourite person for reasons that won’t be mentioned here, but are Google-able for those so inclined. We briefly walked through the gallery, though it only contains replicas – the originals are spread around the world.
The museum’s grounds do, however, have some stunning carvings:
Though it took a lot of pursuading to prevent our children from climbing this ladder:
The cloudscapes ringing the mountains became increasingly dramatic:
This culminated in the first real rainfall we’d experienced in the Marquesas – we’ve lucked out, as it’s typically much rainier than it has been these past few days.
We decided to pass on visiting the cemetery that holds Paul Gauguin’s remains. We initially tried to find stickers or post cards for the Marquesas, but gave up after the third shop we visited. We tried to stop in at the post office, only to discover that it had closed at 3 pm – ten minutes before we arrived. Ah, well.
We elected to walk back to the pier, passing the beach as we went.
Should have brought our swim trunks!
It was a longish walk, but we didn’t mind – we have three sea days ahead, so it was good to get one final leg stretch.
And there was plenty left to see along the way. Both flora:
And fauna:
And always those dramtic views:
Back to the ship to change for dinner, and to snap a photo of one last spectacular sunset:
Farewell, Marquesas. We shall miss you deeply.
Time for briefing and recaps. Three consecutive sea days coming up, during which we will be covering more than 1,000 nautical miles:
Swells are expected to be a modest 1.5 to 2 metres over the next few days. Fingers firmly crossed that conditions are favourable for a landing at Pitcairn.
John gave a brief recap regarding ocean currents, and how they can create the beautiful clear waters that are ideal for snorkelling:
Essentially, upwelling is the process in which deeper, cleaner water replaces surface water faster than algae and other contaminants can breed.
Harry went through all of the marine life we had spotted over the past few days:
It was an extensive list!
Alex provided a brief overview on the history of tattooing:
Tattoos were not just decorative – they conveyed status, profession, family, the number of children, and so on. Essentially someone could immediately place you based on your tattoos.
Off to dinner at the Restaurant. Tonight’s menu:
My wife and I had the lobster bisque as our starters:
She had the lamb rogan josh for her main:
While I had the grilled boneless baby chicken:
I did feel vaguely evil eating it – but in my defence it was really, really tasty. (And extremely spicy!)
My daughter had the coffee mousse for her dessert:
It was delicious – well worth the wait, apparently.
With a sea day coming up, we managed a nighttime cocktail before collapsing – which gave us a chance to photograph the cocktail menu for the first time:
This seems vaguely familiar but I’d be curious to hear if any regulars spot any recent additions or deletions.
We elected for a pair of Silver Spirits, sadly not pictured. Guess we’ll have to order another round to get a proper photo!
But that will need to wait til tomorrow – our first of three sea days as we head for Pitcairn island.