J and I went to enjoy the view of Bora Bora from deck 15. We could see the much smaller Paul Gaugin ship was anchored here in Bora Bora too. I generally try to put on sunscreen before I leave the room so that I never get caught off guard and am on a sunny deck I protected. Skin burns so very easily here. I have heard the ozone layer is thinner here so we have seen many people with burns turn to blisters in just one day. J thought I was packing excessively by bringing along 4 bottles of sunscreen!! It will all get consumed, though we generally try to wear long sleeve protection when out in the direct sun.
After breakfast on the terrace where you really can enjoy the open air and 30 C temperatures (the design of the Marina is well suited for French Polynesia), we headed back to our stsateroom. We enjoyed a few card games, reading and blogging. We have a 1 pm snorkel booked with H2O Bora Bora, recommended by some Cruise Critic people. They are supposed to offer some snorkel spots frequented by far fewer boats and have just 4 guests onboard the boat - so we shall see!
Just a few comments about the design of Oceania Marina rooms. We really like the size of the bathroom. There is a stand-alone shower (with a rain shower head too low for J, so he unscrewed the attachment and e use the other wand shower head). There is also a bathtub (a rarity on a cruise ship) with a long clothes line across it. Great for hanging all our wet gear after a day in the water. The sink in the bathroom is nice and deep so you can hand wash clothes easily in it. The mirror features hidden shelves behind it on both sides. Also two big shelves for storage below the sink.
Where Oceania gives more space in the bathroom, they take away from closet storage space. There is one closet for hanging clothes about 4 feet in length. It is long enough. But access is right right next to my nightstand and it is awkward to get into it. Doors always have to be closed because there is a light inside the closet and shirt sleeves frequently get stuck in the contact points of the closet.
There are four one foot square drawers - and then a selection of 3 very tiny skinny draws in our night stands. We had to work pretty hard to find room for all our belongings , but we made it work.
J’s complaint about the room is that everything is too short for somebody 6’4”. The couch is too short, the table is too short, the desk is too short and the shower is too short and the lights in the bathroom are too low. But we do have beautiful big windows to look out. (Albeit very covered with seawater!). But the size of the room is comfortable - the room is amazing considering we have the second lowest category of stateroom on the ship!
So time has passed and we have now returned from our snorkelling excursion with David of H2O Bora Bora. What a fabulous afternoon! First of all, David only has 4 guests on his boat! Talk about personalized service! Two acquaintances from Cruise Critic recommended him and are we ever glad they did!
The very first snorkel site was an area to spot a manta ray! And we saw one - about 4 metres long - just comfortably gliding in circles in an area where the manta rays like to go to clean up. A certain smaller fish populate this area and they pick the barnacles or whatever is on the manta rays skin - so the rays go there when they want to get clean! Talk about exciting.
Stop two allowed us to spot eagle rays - sometimes called leopard rays because of their spots. We also saw a barracuda, Tahitian Starfish, a pufferfish and a black tipped shark- not enticed by being fed!!
Stop 3 was a lovely coral garden with no other boats there. We saw a tiny spotted eel. We saw the Harlequin Wrasse - it was a juvenile and was orange and white striped in color (like a clownfish) but with a slight blue on the tail.
Stop 4 had a stronger current, but I saw genuine yellow tail clownfish (J had always doubted that I identified them properly in the past - this time he was by my side to confirm the sighting). J got a video of a moray eel - I was okay to miss that!
We would highly recommend H2O Bora Bora!
Back on the ship, we cleaned up and backed up photos. Dinner at Jacques tonight was delicious. They offer a poached scallop gnocchi with lobster as a hot appetizer. J said that dish alone would make him consider booking another cruise with Oceania!! The wait staff is so well trained in these specialty restaurants - there is nothing to fault. J was hurriedly sweeping his own bread crumbs so that the waiter wouldn’t come along with his little wisk (officially called a crumber according to my google search)!
We will see if we can stay awake till 10:30 pm when they have a party on deck under the stars while in port at Bora Bora!
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