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| Jim Markowich | profile | all galleries >> Society Islands (April-May 2004) >> Moorea (May 5-8, 2004) | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
| Moorea is the most exceptional of the islands. Its knife-edge mountains are visually irresistable, and the twin bays on the north shore are sublime -- especially Opunohu Bay, which has almost completely escaped development. The views from Belvedere, overlooking the bays and the mountains, can knock the speech right out of your throat... or something like that. |
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 That's Dr. Poole on the left. Guests on the right are hoping to see something. Poole claims a 95% success rate in locating the beasties. |
 more turquoise lagoon water (where you won't see a dolphin) |
 What's that, to port? |
 a group of spinner dolphins thirty yards out to port |
 They're not on the move. Once they were found, we could just slow the boat down to a few knots, and stay among them. |
 a mother and calf, as we drew closer |
 spinner dolphins The clear water made it easy to see them below the surface as well as above it. |
 spinner dolphins The accidental horizon line shows how far from shore they were. This was in the lagoon, but very close to Taota Pass, on Moorea's west coast. |
 spinner dolphins In twos, we were allowed to sit in the bow of the boat and look over into the water there. |
 spinner dolphins Even at our slow speed, the dolphins seemed to like the pressure of the bow wave, and willingly milled about the front of the boat. |
 spinner dolphins The wavy distortions are neat... |
 spinner dolphins A bunch at the bow -- the largest are about five feet long. Dr. Poole estimated that we were observing about 45 individuals. |
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