January 23rd, 2024

The surf and turf dinner on the pool deck the night before was excellent. Viking did a great job and they opened the lid on the pool deck so there was a great breeze. Apparently if the wind is too strong they can’t open the lid on the pool deck because the wind will force the lid off its track and then hard to get back on. The crew told us that the Captain waited until the last minute but then said they could open it. Tons of people came out for it and they served in courses and had lots of pre-made cocktails circulating. They served a deconstructed Caesar salad, then a small sirloin with a lobster tale and a sliced potato. They also had some sides and bananas foster for desert which Kathy said was excellent.

I am up on deck 8 and you can see Michael and both Kathys waving in the center of the photo.

Another view and you can see it was well attended.

We had a late sail in to Bora Bora and arrived at 11am. The weather was mixed with rain and clouds but also got some patches of sunlight so you could see the classic Bora Bora view. I was going diving and Kathy was snorkeling with sharks and rays. We took different tenders in because Kathy had to stay with her excursion group. Since we anchored late we were only able to do a 1 tank dive and I was using a different company than Roger and Marilyn whom I dove with in Honolulu.

The iconic view of Bora Bora

Views from the sail in. You can see the lagoon and the great water color.

The dive company picked me up around 1pm and drove us to the shop on a beautiful white sand beach. Another couple from the ship was with me and they were doing and introduction to scuba diving.

The beach where the dive shop was.

As to the dive it was not great. Even though I went with a different company I ended up at the same dive spot with Roger and Marilyn. The dive site was a big sandy area with some coral around it. The area is known for eagle rays and our dive master was pretty confident we would see some. The current was very strong and we swam against it for about 15 minutes and no eagle rays. We did see 1 clown fish and then nothing but sand and the visibility was poor so you had to swim hard to keep up. Our dive master finally turned around and now we were going with the current but again we swam over sand for a long distance and the water just got deeper and deeper and no eagle rays. We finally surfaced and then bounced around for 12 minutes waiting for the boat to see us and pick us up. The dive master felt so bad that he waited a few minutes and then took us back down to some coral so we could see some fish. Needless to say not my favorite. Kathy had a great snorkeling experience and saw lots of sharks and rays just did not get any pictures of them.

One thing you see a lot of is clams in Tahiti. They are all different colors and imbedded into the coral.

A few fish

The only clown fish I saw and it was a big one.

Kathy and I met up at the dock and took the tender back to the boat. I was pretty tired from all the swimming and fighting the current so we went up to the buffet for dinner and then back to the cabin to watch some shows on the iPad. Kathy continues to have good luck downloading shows for us to watch.

I was going to dive in Moorea but the company sent an e-mail saying the swells were too big so diving was canceled. That was a bit of a disappointment since the diving in Bora Bora was a bust but we are also signed up for diving in Papeete so fingers crossed.

Next stop Moorea