Bora Bora 2013: Part II

This is a continuation of our recent trip to Bora Bora in Feb 2013. If you missed Part I, click here.

I hope to start sharing more pictures from our diving in these installments. We chose to dive with Topdive Bora Bora as there was an office located at our resort. I can recommend them highly. We booked a group package ahead of time and prepaid to save a little money. We were very pleased with our experience. We dove mostly with Cyril, but also interacted with Julian, David and Freddy. They were wonderful to work with and catered well to our skill levels and wish lists.

Cyril waiting for the group at the end of a dive

Molly was very newly certified and was extremely nervous regarding diving with sharks and at depth. Despite a recent diver who was the victim of a fairly significant lemon shark attack the day we arrived, they went out of their way to allay her fears and Cyril made sure to keep an eye on her comfort level while diving. There was no pressure from them regarding her fear, just reassurance. We started with a few dives that didn't have as high numbers of sharks, and luckily did not see any on these dives. The next few days did feature some sharks, but Molly was able to acclimate well and ended up being quite comfortable with the local reef sharks in fairly high numbers by the end of the trip. I am fairly certain she actually enjoyed the diving greatly!

I was very proud of Molly during this trip. She logged 10 dives and I watched her blossom into a capable and relaxed diver. She worked to fine tune her buoyancy as the trip went on and her skills far surpassed many other new divers we interacted with on our many days of diving. I found my own comfort level increased as the trip went on because I really didn't have to spend time worrying about her. I know she will only improve from here and I look forward to many future dives with her. Just six months ago I was practically begging her to get certified, and we seriously wondered if she would dive at all on the trip!

Rob and Cassy are also fairly newly certified. It was great to have a couple of close friends to share the trip and experience with. We played some mean games of euchre while topside during our lazy afternoons!

You might notice the different hues in the water and obvious clarity differences. Most of the diving in the open ocean, out of the lagoon had deep blue, clear water. Parts of the lagoon had great clarity, but other parts were very sandy, or had high amounts of plankton. We tended to dive these sites more due to the presence of wildlife that we focused many of our dives on. The next installment with focus on the animals we saw while diving, especially while I was shooting wide-angle.

Stay tuned for Bora Bora Part III.

Happy diving!

BH

If you want to read the rest: Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV.