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SHARK AND RAY FEEDING
Besides dining at one of the best restaurants and staying in one of the nicest rooms, the absolute highlight of the trip might have been Maohi Nui Tours lagoon excursion. The owner, Patrick Tairua, is a success story: he started out working 20 years ago at Bora Bora hotels, doing everything from Polynesian shows to teaching Tahitian arts and crafts. Then he started his own company and he now offers a variety of tours and operates three tour boats in the area. Natalie and I were fortunate enough to have a private tour ($750 USD) but if you go on one of the group tours, it's a fraction of the price. Patrick and his driver showed up right on time at the Four Seasons pontoon in a bright yellow outrigger canoe made of wood and decorated with leaves and flowers. Both Patrick and his driver are dressed in local garb so they are practically naked (especially when in the water) and their warrior tattoos are exposed. Patrick's two-year-old son from France joined us so we were very lucky to meet him, too.



STINGRAYS
Both Patrick and his driver took turns playing the ukulele, which is very soothing while cruising along the calm waters, taking in the multiple shades of blue in the ocean and sky. The three-hour lagoon excursion includes snorkeling in the coral garden, ray/shark feeding and a picnic on a motu. Patrick provides the snorkeling equipment as well as drinks. Since it was our last day and the weather wasn't looking good (it cleared up ... phew!), we skipped the coral garden and made our first stop at a shallow reef to feed the stingrays. Yes, that's right. Stingrays. The same creatures that killed Steve Irwin. When we pulled up to the secluded stop (later, two other boats arrived, including another of Patrick's), 15 to 20 stingrays swam towards our boat. I suppose they're like Pavlov's dog. I realize it's not cool to feed the wild so I only fed them one little fishy, one too many, perhaps, but this was a once in a lifetime chance.

SWIMMING WITH RAYS AND SHARKS
Getting into the warm, blue, three-foot-deep water still made me uneasy, especially considering what happened to my boy the Croc Hunter. However, Patrick assured us that the stingrays wouldn't hurt us unless we grabbed or startled them, which is supposedly what Steve Irwin did. Patrick put it this way: If you're walking down the street and a stranger wraps his arms around you from behind, what would you do? You'd shake him off, any way possible. He's got a point. He then showed us how to properly pet them (they feel like wet velvet) and shoo them, by holding your hand out flat and pushing off gently from their nose (see my video below). It was so surreal when these things kept climbing up my chest looking for food. And then, when I saw the first dorsal fin of a Black Tip Reef Shark, I was like ... what?! But again, Patrick said that they're more scared of us than we are of them and that they won't hurt us – no matter what color your bathing suit is or what you ate for breakfast (good thing because I ate everything!) The moment I saw the shark, I popped my snorkel gear on so I could see exactly where these guys were swimming. It's indescribable to swim around the sharks and rays. It was a magical experience and I never wanted to leave.

PICNIC ON A MOTU
We were going to go to the ocean side to feed the sharks and look for whales but since we'd just swam with them and both saw and swam with whales in Moorea, we nixed that plan. We finished our unforgettable excursion on Patrick's motu with an authentic Tahitian picnic. His crew cooked fresh caught lobsters, chicken (they usually cook a pig), tuna salad, plantains and fruit. His driver taught us how they make fresh coconut milk for the salad. The setting is unreal and what's interesting is that Patrick's property is right next to the Four Seasons. It turns out that the huge obnoxious signs that read "Stop over development and preserve the natural beauty of our lands" are his! I said, "I bet the Four Seasons must hate you since guests can see your signs while they're swimming or dining at the Faré Hoa Beach Bar." He went on to say that he has nothing against the Four Seasons; it's their developers that just keep building new hotels, which doesn't make any sense since the current ones have a low occupancy rate. He's a got a point. If it wasn't for the fact that I ask hundreds of questions, I never would have known those signs were his doing – I had to drag it out of him. One thing is for sure – he won't have to drag a smile out of you if you do one of his tours. Maohi Nui Tours, Tel: 011 689 791 911 or email Patrick directly at patrick@maohinui.net.

VIDEO
Here's a four-minute Johnny Jet video of my trip to Bora Bora. We also have all the Johnny Jet videos ever made on YouTube.

NEXT WEEK
Next week we fly back to L.A. but we don't stop there. Yee haw!

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Note: This trip was sponsored by Tahiti Tourisme.

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