Whales in Moorea

I had been looking forward to crossing the International Date Line. I find it fascinating and a little hard to wrap my head around! On one side of the line, one is 12 hours ahead of the UK, on the other side of the line, one is 12 hours behind. Crossing the line thus results in gaining or losing a day. The only practical way to time travel without a flux capacitor!

To get from Fiji to Tahiti we faced two flights with a lengthy layover in Auckland. The journey was expected to take around 20 hours and we were due, after crossing the International Date Line, to arrive four hours before we left! Leaving our hotel room at 5am on the 18^th September, and after 20 hours travelling, we were due to arrive at our destination at 1am on the 18^th September. Time travelling at it’s very best.

As it turned out, Air New Zealand had other ideas! I won’t bore you with the details. Well actually, I’ll make it optional. 😉 If you want to read what looks like the output from a therapy session, see below.  Otherwise, suffice to say we had a bit of a delay…  

In any event, despite Air New Zealand’s best efforts we arrive in Tahiti after a 22 hour delay! Ironically, because of the International Date Line we arrive at around 11pm on the 18^th September. After two days of travelling, despite everything, we have still arrived on the evening of the day we left! Doc Brown would be proud!

We catch a ferry the next morning to Moorea, one of the 121 islands that make up French Polynesia, before checking into Manava resort. The island is beautifully rugged with lush green mountains dominating the interior.

We spend most of our time snorkelling and making friends with a resident turtle. I see him each time I go out and he seems pretty content to forage amongst the rocks as I attempt to take photos. We’ve been fortunate to see a lot of turtles on our travels, but being able to spend so much time with one is pretty special.  

I have to say that Moorea does not feel as friendly as the places we have left. Staff and people generally are somewhat surly. Not impolite, but they certainly seem to lack the warmth of the Fijians. It is a beautiful island though.

We have a whale-watching trip booked, something we are both looking forward to and the primary reason for visiting Moorea. At this time of year there are around a thousand humpback whales in French Polynesia.

We wake to heavy cloud, which is actually fine for a full afternoon on a zodiac. The day before had been roasting and might have been a bit oppressive.  

The arrival of our zodiac pretty much coincides with the arrival of the wind. Our guide advises that we will be headed out further than most boats go – looking for whales on the open ocean. No guarantees though. Can’t argue with that!

We set off, going at a fair old lick, exiting the lagoon, and heading out into the ocean. The waves get up along with the wind and it starts to rain. The cloud is low over the mountains, the rain gets increasingly heavy, and the water looks pretty menacing. The waves toss our little boat about, ensuring that we are drenched from a combination of rain and sea spray. It’s exactly as you would imagine an idyllic, tropical boat trip to be… 😉

There is a photographer on board. He comes over to speak to us. Really nice guy. Asks if there is anything special that we have in mind. I resist the urge to say that I’d like a close-up of Jenn and I riding a humpback as it leaps out of the water and clears the boat… 😉

It takes a while, but then the whales start to show up. First encounter is with a mother and calf. The calf is pretty playful, breaching the water and having a grand old time. However, Mum has other ideas and leads the calf into the marine park, where we are unable to follow.

We don’t have to wait too long for another. Two large adults. The captain positions the boat, we are given instructions, don our masks and snorkels, and over we go. The water is a welcome relief,  warmer than the boat! Visibility is great too. Water looks grey from above, but is bright blue beneath the surface.

The waves are pretty high, and whilst Jenn has no problems keeping up (she’s part dolphin), I fall behind (cue world’s smallest violin). It’s a reasonable distance to the whales. Jenn gets a great view of them, whilst I get more of a fleeting glimpse! Pretty damn cool though – absolutely enormous and as majestic as you would imagine! Photos courtesy of the photographer, who unlike me, has a decent underwater camera.

Back on the boat, we head off looking for another willing exhibitionist. Plenty of whales, but none are positioned in the right place for us to swim alongside. Eventually, we find another mother and calf. This time I make sure I’m upfront. Get a great view this time. Beautiful. Mum is huge, but the calf is still a good 5m long itself. Really lovely to be able to see them in the water. What an experience! I can see why people find swimming with them so emotional. Particularly nice to be out here alone. Most trips in Moorea go out en masse – but this feels very intimate.

Back on the zodiac it’s got no warmer. We are offered the choice of going to a sandbar where a good number of sharks and rays hang out, or going home. Despite losing feeling in our hands and feet, and with the rain still coming down, we opt for the former.

Great spot! The rays and sharks are obviously fed, as they come very close. The Black Reef Tip sharks keep a slight distance, but the rays literally throw themselves on us. It’s amazing. I’ve been on boat trips in the past where people have jostled over one another just to glimpse a ray or a shark. Here we are surrounded by them. Feel very lucky.

We make it back home, cold but exhilarated. Great experience and one we will remember for a long time!

Tomorrow, we head back to Tahiti to catch a flight to Raiatea, where we will meet our catamaran. We are spending 8 days cruising the islands of French Polynesia. Shared charter with 8 other guests. Weather doesn’t look great. What could possibly go wrong! 😉

….REALITY OF TRAVEL ALERT…

Air New Zealand Rant

Having arrived at Auckland International Airport, the departures board announced a delay to our flight. The delay turned out to be three hours. Not the end of the world – but a pain after a long day.

We felt grateful to be boarding the plane and excited about our time in French Polynesia. We always knew this part of the journey would be a slog, and settling down to watch the inflight entertainment, we felt the hard work was over. We’d even managed to negotiate the confusing New Zealand visas.

However, an hour and a half into our flight, the pilot announces that we are turning round. We are told that there is torrential rain in Papeete, and they have closed the airport. We’ll be given further information shortly. Brilliant!

Arriving back at Auckland we have to fill out the same immigration cards and go through the same process as we had when we first in New Zealand earlier that day. By the time we make it to arrivals, it’s about 2am and a queue of passengers are in line waiting to speak to Air New Zealand reps. After half an hour or so we make it to the front. We are told that they will not book accommodation for us and that there are unlikely to be any hotels available. They offer us blankets and advise that we sleep at the airport. They are not able to comment on when a new flight will become available – but invite us to follow the app for further instructions. Fair to say we are not amused.

For various reasons we appear to be way down the priority list. Having established that losing our tempers isn’t going to help, I go on a reconnaissance mission to explore our sleeping options. Not good! There are people curled up on the only available benches and several passengers have broken out sleeping bags on the floor. Not appealing!

Meanwhile, Jenn has drawn a blank with half a dozen hotels. By now its 3am and the majority of the flight has dispersed. We try again with the staff. Now that business class, loyalty programme customers, and pretty much everyone else on the flight has been taken care of, we are offered one of the remaining rooms.

Cue a 45 minute wait for a taxi – but at least we have a room for the night. Or rather we would have, had the Crowne Plaza’s systems not been down when we arrive. You couldn’t make it up.

Eventually, once the technology decides to play ball, we make it to bed.

Next morning we discover that Air New Zealand have pulled out all the stops to remedy the situation…

We are offered a flight on the 25^th September. In seven days time! No apology, no phone call, just a rearranged flight for the following week!  

Fortunately, when it became apparent that Air New Zealand were about as useful as a chocolate teapot (apologies if I have inadvertently offended any chocolate teapots with that analogy), we had booked ourselves alternative flights. Just as well we did.

By now we had discovered that Papeete airport had not been closed. We’d been lied to. I found the CEO’s email online and wrote him what I considered to be a very balanced note. 😉 ‘I felt sure he would want to be informed…’ Seemed he did. Wrote back very quickly.

I was initially impressed, he apologised and advised that the reason we had not landed was because a runway had been closed, not the airport. At least he bothered to respond.

I was less impressed when 30 minutes later he wrote to advise that he had been misinformed. The reason they hadn’t landed was due to the fact that they had missed their designated slot due to the earlier delay.

Again, an apology and the suggestion that the incident had taught them the criticality of running to time. Who knew that to run a successful airline you have to meet a timetable? Truly profound!

Although we managed to get ourselves to Tahiti, I am pretty disgusted at the attitude of a flagship carrier. Left to their devices we would still be at Auckland airport with a blanket, looking forward to another 3 days of the same treatment. Lack of accountability in the airline industry is unbelievable at times. That said, I think Air New Zealand managed to achieve new lows.

Rant over! 😉