Noordam in Moorea

Moorea Snorkel Safari

As we disembarked the tender in Moorea, a guy with a sign for our excursion number (13) stood in an empty boat with rows of seats under a canvas top just across the dock. The top of the island was shrouded with fog and later it rained a bit, but you’re going to get wet snorkeling anyway. Weather like that is great for preventing sunburn, but a bit chilly for wet people sitting in an open boat. Other than the somewhat leaky canvas top the boat was open all the way around.

snorkel boat

They took us for a bit of sight-seeing on the way to the first stop, first going at a good vantage point for ship photos and then past a closed resort on the shore with another resort on a hillside above it that is still in operation. Much of the water is very shallow throughout that lagoon with coral just under the surface so there are marked paths that the small boats follow to keep from running aground.

resorts on the shoreline

The first stop had lots of small sharks and big stingrays near where the boat anchored and small patches of coral teeming with fish beyond. The current was pretty strong there, but the water was quite shallow so standing in or walking through sandy patches between the corals was pretty common whether as a means of getting somewhere or just to look at stuff without drifting away. Of course all those people standing or walking in the sand stirs it up and makes the water murky so swimming out farther than where most people went to where the water was still clear was the best way to see stuff. Most people stayed near the boat.

stingray

They had said we didn’t need fins, but while fighting that strong current I wished I’d put mine on. It took quite awhile to get out as far as they allowed, but there were lots of fish and patches of coral with nobody disturbing the sand so it was worth it. The water was quite clear there. Where all the people were walking around disturbing the sand the water was filled with sand particles swirling around in it. I would have gone farther, but they had a guy on a jet ski patrolling the area who made it clear where the limit was on how far I could get from the boat.

reef shark

It took next to no time at all to drift back to the boat on the swiftly moving current. Swimming against the current definitely would have been easier with fins. I think they didn’t want people to wear them because so many of them stood or walked around instead of swimming and they’d be more likely to accidently step on the corals if they had all that fin sticking out beyond their feet. A lot of them had shoes on though so unless they were watching where they put their feet they could easily step on things without noticing.

snorkel boats at the first stop

Since the water was so shallow everything under it was close-up almost as if we were diving near the bottom, but with no diving required. There were a lot of different fish. All the sharks and rays stayed near where the boats anchor up. There were other boats besides ours all in the same area. Probably the place they are allowed to anchor so they don’t disturb the coral elsewhere since it was mostly all sand in that spot. Things other than sharks and rays stayed out in the coral patches, but the water everywhere was shallow enough to stand in with your head and upper body above the water in any of the sandy patches between corals. I’d rather swim regardless of the depth because that doesn’t disturb the bottom, but most of the other people did not seem to feel that way.

brain coral

After snorkeling awhile in that spot everyone got back on the boat and it moved into a more sheltered cove without the current. Swimming away from the boat was much easier there, taking very little effort at all. There weren’t as many rays or sharks at that location, but plenty of fish once you swim a bit away from the boat. It pulled up nearly to shore there in some pretty rocky sand without much to see, but farther away from the boat there were a lot of patches of coral and I even saw some puffer fish.

puffer fish

I tried to stay where there weren’t any other people because even though you could easily swim everywhere there without disturbing the sand, people still kept walking around and mucking it up. Without the current the other place had to clear the sand away the water at this location got even murkier than at the other spot when they did that. It was totally clear when staying away from people who couldn’t be bothered to swim or float – which is way easier than walking on the sand anyway. Luckily most of them didn’t venture far from the boat and the few who did stayed on the surface. Probably also wanting clear water to snorkel in.

big fish

This was quite different from most places we’ve gone snorkeling. Usually when snorkeling from a boat the water is deeper than people are tall so they have to swim or float rather than walking around mucking up the bottom. It was nice to see things up so close when drifting over top of the corals. There were a few too tall for that where going around rather than over them was necessary, but most were just far enough under the surface to float over without touching them. Corals are fragile and can be sharp.

lots of fish

On the boat they offered juice or water between the two stops and pieces of fresh pineapple after the second one. The second stop was near a beach where other people from the ship had a land-based excursion on that motu. A motu is a small islet on a coral reef. There was a picnic area and small restroom onshore where the other people were. They were at the edge of the water on the beach with a big ray when we first arrived, but went back into the woods shortly after.

corals

Returning to the port there was a very long line to the tender to wait through before returning to the ship. It would have been nice if the excursion boat could have dropped us off at the ship rather than the tender pier, but the only place I’ve ever seen excursion boats allowed to load or unload passengers directly from the ship is in Belize where it’s quite a long distance between where the ship anchors and the port.

black fish

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2025