Arriving at the ports of call in French Polynesia , a collection of exotic islands, it felt like arriving in paradise. Perfect climate, lush greenery, sparkling crystal clear turquoise water, fine sand beaches and friendly inhabitants. Mor’orea was our favourite island and we vowed to return some day.

A conversation with our tour guide in Papeete, Tahiti was rather odd. He remarked that the island was desperate for tourism dollars to mitigate the island’s financial woes. Strange request because we were there for Saturday and Sunday and were disappointed to find all the shops and restaurants were closed. I believe one bar was open.

After  leaving Mo’orea and French Polynesia, we were at sea for six days surrounded by sparkling marine blue water in all directions as far as we could see with no land or sign of life in sight. (Except, of course, for the wild life on board.) Hal was on the deck leaning on the railing when he called to me “come quick”. Evidently he spotted something I needed to see…..perhaps we were not as alone on the vast Pacific ocean as we had thought. 

      With his fish tracking “eagle eyes” Hal had spotted flying fish near the ship. How exciting! These remarkable underwater inhabitants kept us entertained  while schools of them jumped out of the water and flew across the water. They are actually miss-named because they don’t actually fly.  They propel themselves at 20 mph out of the water and glide through the air for up to 1200 ft  before diving back into the water.  Their entry is either smooth or with a large splash. I expect it was the adolescent fish that made the most splash. We watched them for miles. Just imagine a creature that can effortlessly fly through the air and live underwater. If you care to fish for these flying creatures, just take your boat and flashlight out in the dark of night. Shine a light out over the water and these fish will jump into your boat! 

      On one of our sea days heading to Hawaii, we had two low flying planes pass overhead…….I hardly recognized the engine noise.  On another day we were very excited to watch a school of dolphins swimming alongside the ship.  They looked rather small because our cabin was on deck 10 which made us realize that the flying fish we had seen were much larger than we thought.

Who knew we would find such entertainment out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?

Painting by Lynda Manson

Acrylic on Linen 16″ x 20″ $350

Lmansonart@gmail.com

http://www.lyndamanson.com