More thoughts on Moorea

 The passes through the reef surrounding Moorea can admit strong currents depending on wind direction and velocity. Such was the situation on our snorkeling afternoon, so we had to visit an alternative location. 

The corals we visited were dispersed coral heads on a relatively shallow sandy bottom, far enough below the surface that we weren’t really concerned about bumping into them (there was almost no current in this location) but close enough to the surface that we could really enjoy them. The day was somewhat overcast, do the colors were subdued, but still beautiful different greens and blues and purples.   

This photo posted by a fellow cruiser who had an underwater camera is representative, but taken in somewhat better lighting than we experienced    Note the absence of fish.  When following the “Slower is better” mantra of my snorkeling Jedi Master we observed numerous small black or yellow/silver reef fish darting in and out of the nooks snd crannies of the coral heads.  But not the profusion of somewhat larger species that one associates with a coral reef system, or that we saw from our semi-submersible glass bottom boat excursion in Cozumel - see earlier post.  Perhaps the separation between the coral heads - 15-20 feet or so - influences species population .