Tuesday was the all day Eco Tour excursion on our outrigger boat with 5 other couples! We started the morning out at 9:30 and had 3 things on the agenda. We also knew it would be sunny, so we packed all the sunscreen and reapplied as much as possible!
We headed out to an area where the guide does shark feeding everyday. The minute our boat was in the general area, we could see black tip fin sharks swimming all around.
Part of the tour was swimming with the sharks, so needless to say, I was kind of freaked, but excited. Once in the water with our snorkel masks on, we could only stay between the boat and the outrigger part attached to the boat, which didn't give us much room. Our guide told us, if the sharks bother you, just kick them. He failed to mention what to do if they had already chomped down on our foot though. However, it was really cool too see that many sharks in one area and they didn't even bother us as we watched them. Mike and I bought an underwater camera at the gift shop and he took it in to take some pictures. After about 4 of them, it broke...stupid camera, so we didn't get anymore pictures of them in the water. The lesson in this is to figure out how to use your new camera prior to entering the water with 4 foot long meat-eating fish. However, we did get some from inside the boat. We stayed with the sharks for about 20 minutes or so, and then headed on our way. We continued our tour around the island and learned some more stuff about the history. We finally made it all the way around and it was time for the next part...
Sting ray feeding, which was also cool. Again, I had to take pictures from the boat, but in some of them you can see the outline of the sting ray with its stinger!
So this feeding was definitely different as the sting rays were swimming all around us and as they passed by, they would touch us. Each time I had a sting ray slide by me, I would yell....they are slimy little buggers. Eww The guide told us we could also touch them, but to be carful about the stinger. I touched them a few times and they are really soft, which is not what I expected. However the underneath of them is slimy, which is what touches you. We spent a good while and it was cool. Then we headed over to a private motu for our picnic lunch, which was really good. The people that live there BBQ-ed some fish, meat, and chicken for us as well as providing a salad, rice, and drinks of all varieites. After lunch Mike and I spent some time just wandering in the water and sitting in it as we drank some Hinano beer. Unfortunately it was time to head back and on the way back, our guides now, sang and played some music for us using a drum and conch. We all passed the conch around to see if we could make some noise and both of us did after the 2nd try. It wasn't very loud, but hey, it was still noise.
All the couples agreed to meet for happy later that evening to continue getting to know each other. That's when it got interesting so to speak....
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