National Geographic Orion arrived at sunrise to Moorea, an island gem in French Polynesia. Moorea is renowned for its towering green mountains that meet a blanket of azure water at the seaside. As the ship approached the island’s shores, there was a slight tropical breeze and the sounds of Tahitian music in the distance.
Guests enjoyed a relaxing morning exploring the island with local guides and swimming and kayaking at a local beach on the north side of the island. Only thirty feet off the shoreline, guests were delighted to see anemonefish on a magnificent anemone and flashes of blue parrotfish darting around the coral reef.
In the afternoon, two catamarans came to National Geographic Orion to take guests snorkeling with black tip reef sharks and Tahitian stingrays. The blacktips around Moorea keep reefs healthy by eating sick and injured fish and keeping these fish stocks genetically fit. The Tahitian stingrays gather in this region in particular because of the extensive sandy lagoons rich with the crustaceans that they feed on. As the catamarans navigated to a small motu where we spent the afternoon, guests were surrounded by green sea turtles feeding on a nearby seagrass meadow. Our final day in the Society Islands was certainly unforgettable.
