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Monday, November 4, 2024
HomeTahitiMooreaSwimming with Sharks & Stingrays in Moorea

Swimming with Sharks & Stingrays in Moorea

Swimming with Sharks & Stingrays is part of the Tahiti Triumph Trip Report. It covers the following cities:

See the Picture Preview here and see how this $60,000 trip cost $1999 here. Be sure to check out TPOL’s Map, the best feature of the blog.


I’ve done some wild things in my life from bungee jumping in Victoria Falls (see 3,2,1 Bungee! Bungee Jumping Victoria Falls) to eating blowfish in Osaka (see I Want to Eat Blowfish, But I Don’t Want to Die). I thought that swimming with sharks in Moorea would be on that list. It is not. On the contrary, it was a peaceful experience.

Boat

The boat picks up tourists from the Hilton Moorea and takes them to shark alley.

a boat on the water
Shark boat
a body of water with mountains in the background
Leaving the Hilton

a body of water with a hill in the background

a group of sailboats in a body of water
Approaching shark alley

a sailboat and a boat in the water

Stingrays

First, the stingrays come for a visit and tourists are allowed to touch them.

a stingray in the water a woman in a swimming suit with a shark in the water a blue water surface with a stingray

a stingray in the water
They really look like the automatic pool cleaners.

a stingray swimming in the watera man wearing goggles under water

Sharks 

Then the sharks come out to play Like the stingrays, the sharks are used to tourists. They circle around peacefully and keep to themselves.

a group of sharks swimming in clear blue water a person swimming with sharks a shark swimming in the water

Selfies

Then everyone dives under the water to become one with nature i.e., take selfies.

a man wearing goggles and swimming with a shark in the background
One shark take one.
a man in goggles underwater with a shark
Two sharks take one
a man wearing goggles underwater
Two sharks, take two
a man wearing goggles underwater
One shark, take two.
a man wearing goggles underwater
Is this what it is all about?

The Debate 

a person swimming under water with a hand up
I have a question.

Should humans be touching stingrays? Should tour companies put out chum to attract sharks? Should wildlife be domesticated for the sake of selfies? I don’t think so. Then again, I did it and now I have this blog post to show for it.

a man wearing goggles and snorkeling
Shark in my ear

 

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4 COMMENTS

  1. My understanding is that humans shouldn’t touch stingrays because it wipes the mucous/coating on their skin off and makes them vulnerable to bacteria. I think just hanging out with them or watching them swim is not an issue though, so just choose to not touch.

    I am also not a huge fan of luring wildlife in with food, if it means they become dependent on that as a food source, or if its food they wouldn’t eat in the wild. For this there is a nuance to how often it happens, how many companies do it, etc. However there is a benefit to people swimming with sharks and seeing they aren’t killers just cool animals that we should protect. It’s like the snorkeling with dolphins thing– dolphins sleep during the day, and when tours are constantly coming to snorkel where they sleep to see them it is bad for the dolphins and messes up their sleep patterns, but it’s also good because then people care about the dolphins and donate to dolphin rescue etc. So like most things, there is a balance that should be regulated.

  2. I dove in Moorea two summers ago, and we we were explicitly told NOT to even think about touching the rays or feeding the sharks. Our dive operator, Moorea FunDive, said that unfortunately other dive operators in the area are creating problems.

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