Sue and I just returned from our Tahiti Aggressor charter of
Dec 21-28 2002, having flown a "red-eye" (22:15 on Air Tahiti Nui
on 12/28 from Papeete, Tahiti to LAX), followed by another "red-eye"
(22:15 on Continental on 12/29 from LAS to EWR (Newark), to make
our way back to BNA (Nashville) and another 2 hr drive home. :-)
So, theoretically we haven't slept since we left the boat in
Rangiroa on 12/28 and took the 10:35 flight to Papeete Saturday
morning.
Since one or two readers were expecting some kind of "trip report",
I am trying this innovation of doing a pseudo-report in several
parts, COMMENTING on reports by others, compared to what we
experienced in our week. Takes much less energy and work this way,
not to mention much less originality.
Let me start with a few comments on the latest (12/30/02) "Captain's
Log on the Aggressor webpage, http://www.aggressor.com/log.php3#cap6,
written by Alan Roberts for the week of Dec. 7-14:
> Dec. 7-14, 2002 "Water temp. 82f; Air temp 85F+; Vis 100ft+;
> Wet suit req. 3mm Calling Earth from the "Mothership" Tahiti Aggressor
On 21-28, Water temp was 84-85F. 3 to 5-7 mm suits were the norm.
It was plenty warm for Feesh with blubber on all 22 dives with 1 mm.
Only 4 dives (Sunday through Thursday) and 2 dives on Friday -- to
alleviate divers from eaten by Tiger sharks and to allow daylight to
search for "blown away" divers (if needed).
> After re-reading my Tahiti Aggressor weekly reports for the past
> three months I?ve come to the conclusion they all sound the same.
> Week in week out I have reported our sighting of the big Pelagics,
> Manta?s, Eagle Rays, Grey reefs, Hammerheads, Black tips, Silvertips,
> lemons and even Tiger sharks. Friendly Turtles, schooling
> Barracuda?s, Tuna?s, Mango snappers, Threadfin jacks and Giant
> Napoleon wrasses.
The week of Dec. 21-28 was no exception, thought no Tiger was
sighted this week, but dolphins came while divers were UW on
several dives. Only one hammerhead was seen all week, but alleged
to be an "18 footer". <G> I said alleged because it was the
number given by DM Pierre and one other diver, and I could only
see the shadow of it in a ripping drift dive of limited vis.
> I report on a weekly basis of the unbelievable 200ft visibility
> or more, the pristine untouched hard corals of the corners of the
> passes, the beautiful blue skies and calm seas (Not 100% of the
> time though!) that we get to enjoy here in the Tuamotu?s.
Pretty accurate description. 200ft+ vis was no Tall Tale on
several dives.
> I have tried to describe the exhilarating sensation of Flying at
> 4-7kt on our "Pass Flight" dives through the passes of Tiputa,
> Avatoru, Toau, Fakarava, Apataki and Tikehau. The sensation of
> flying through the Wall of Grey Reef sharks at Apataki is hard
> to put down on paper.
Just the rapid-current "Pass Dives" (even in the absence of sharks)
was something hard to describe if you haven't been at the Barracuda
or San Juan (in Cozumel when the current was REALLY moving), or
at the Peliliu Corner (Palau) at the height of tidal change, or
at the sites in Cocos Island where the sharks have to swim hard
to maintain position.
However, I'll mention that while the Captain and DMs TALK a
lot about 10-12 kt POSSIBILITIES (mostly to scare the real
beginners to skip those dives, I think, because in our week
there were at least two divers with less than 25 dives under
their belt, one of whom actually skipped most of the dives),
one SHOULD have a modicum of experience in drift diving in
fast currents as well as just plain DIVE experience before
trying out this liveabord, to maximize SAFETY and enjoyment!
The fastest current during our week was no more than 3-4 kts,
though, and only briefly so.
> But if you have experienced the close fly-by of the squadron
> of F-16 Grey Reef sharks!
Saw that. On TWO of the Pass dives only (out of a dozen or so).
The sharks are not as well-trained to show as those in Blue
Corner of Palau :-) or the ever-present ones in Cocos.
On two of the Tahiti Aggressor dives, sharks were chummed by
fishheads! Even on one of those, only about 5 sharks showed
up for the snack. :-)
IMHO, if you like diving with sharks in THEIR environments,
do Cocos Island! Palau (Blue Corner) is consistently more
exciting and the dive SITES are much more varied. On the
Tahiti Aggressor, there are only three dives (they look almost
exactly the same on all islands): Wall dives (off the Corners)
Big Corners (entering from walls and before getting to the
Passes); and finally the Pass Dives (into the Lagoon mostly;
or out to the sea outside of the lagoons -- we did none of
the latter, which would have risked some divers lost forever).
> "You will know what I mean" Ive mentioned that a lucky few of
> our guests have enjoyed a moment of a lifetime sharing a dive
> with "Slash" the friendly dolphin at Fakarava.. One, which I
> don?t believe, they will soon forget.
We didn't see "Slash" at "Slash's Reef", but did attract a
couple of dolphins in Rangiroa. As hard as the DMs tried to
get their attention (by twisting and doing acrobatic moves),
these wild dolphins are bored by clumsy divers very quickly. :-)
> Lets not forget the moving carpet of Paddletail Snappers also
> at the center of Fakarava Pass as well as the hundreds of
> Chevron Barracuda?s on the corners.
And other BIG schools of jacks and other "medium" fish.
> "Mr. Big" the Tiger Shark made a major impression of authority
> when he showed his smile and stripes! To an excited nervous few!
No Tiger showed this week.
> Manta?s, Manta?s and more Manta?s what else can I say!
You can say they're not nearly as plentiful as in Yap. :-)
We (collectively) only saw three or four during the entire week.
> Well it seems I have forgotten in all of the excitement to
> mention the ever-present smaller critters and our friends we
> have come to enjoy on a daily basis. The Lionfish, Orangefin
> anemonefish, Moorish Idols, Emperor Angelfish, Flame Angelfish,
> Longfin Bannerfish, Anthias, Schooling Raccoon Butterflyfish,
> Shortspined Puffers, Bluenose Trumphetfish, Chain eels, Green
> eels and Mottled eels, Peacock Flounders, Chromis of every
> color, Cresent-tailed Bigeyes, crabs, lobsters and octopus.
> The list goes on and on but I think you get the picture!
> All I can report for this week is "Ditto" more of the same OLE stuff!
I might add ... plenty of unicornfish, Titan Triggerfish, and
a few Clown Triggerfish.
> 18 very happy and excited guests from the UK, Switzerland,
> France, USA and Scotland enjoyed a Saturday early crossing down
> south to Fakarava.
We had two Italian spending their honeymoon on board. The wife
doesn't even DIVE! The rest were mostly 'Merkins, with the
exception of one or two others. Lots of academician PhDs.
One archeologist had a philologist husband (about my age)
for a buddy -- which I promptly misheard for a 'phytologist'
of Strike's phyto-plonk variety, but I was just as promptly
corrected. <BG>
> Allowing two days of pass and corner diving
> before cruising north to Toau for Tuesday.
Our week started with two days of dinghy-diving in Rangiroa
because the skiff was broken from the preceding week and was
still waiting for parts! The rubber-dinghy I dived from was
big enough for about 6 divers and not fast enough to chase
down anybody caught in a fast current. TEN of us were put on
one dinghy, with a DM and a boat-driver. Even *I* was getting
a bit stressed in that cattleboat with hardly room for me to
get into my 'short' fins, on day one, after a Pass Dive in
which Pierre (more about him later) ignored the dive plans
COMPLETELY in the first TWO dives he led.
On the THIRD dive Pierre led the first two days, I learned to
"draft" behind him, never more than a few feet from him, when
kicking AGAINST moderate currents, as bicyclers do in Tour de
France. On THAT dive, he lost all but about 4 divers at the
end. On the 4th dive he led (Pass Dive of course), he lost
everybody on a fast drift (WITH the current) about halfway
through the dive, except me! :-)) We even grabbed the pass-
bottom for a minute or so to look for signs of others behind,
to no avail. :-) We surfaced together at the end, and then
started picking up little bunches of divers all over the place.
The skiff was back in operation by Dive Day 3, and it was MUCH
more relaxed diving, even though it was hardly ideal, as a
cattleboat with 17 divers, 2 or 3 DMs, a boat hand who often
doubled as a boat skipper/driver.
> My time here in the Tuamotu?s
> as come to an end for a short while Captain Paul Stone will be
> reporting these adventures in the upcoming weeks!
> "Come fly with us" Soon..." Capt. Alan Roberts
The Tahiti Aggressor is still in the process of getting its "act"
together. Captain Paul was transferred from Fiji or Palau.
TWO DMs were brand new on the week of Dec 21-28. One was from
the Palau Aggressor. I overhead one DM asking another if the
dinghy-skipper spoke any English :-) -- when facing a POSSIBLE
10-knot current on a slow rubber boat. :-)
The 2nd Captain (DM) took video all week, but never showed any.
The photo Pro showed the slides he made in Palau and Truk!
He didn't have any original slide until the very last day when
he showed his CD ROM of slides which he sold for $25 each.
The "boatique" Show and Sell wasn't scheduled until Sue asked
when it would take place, and it took place between the dive
the briefing was held and the next dive. <G> My poor HEARING
cost me a little bundle. I should have known it was too
good to be true that a hood with a shark's fin on top would
cost only $17. So I promptly bought 3 and wondered why nobody
else bought any, figuring they were too humor-challenged to
buy such a gag-toy, until I saw the bill that those little
gags were SEVENTY dollars each. :-) Well, they were
functional little caps that kept bald-heads from losing too
much heat, and they had "Tahiti Aggressor" on them with a
blue shark-fin on black which color-coordinated with my 1-mm
blue and black wet suit or my 1-mm black titanium suit. :-)))
It's SEVENTY and not SEVENTEEN buckeroos each.
Three couples (Sue and I were one) booked the land "package"
between our arrival at Pepeete and boarding the Aggressor in
Rangiroa. We were supposed to have breakfast and lunch at
Rangiroa with a "tour" in-between before boarding the boat
at 14:00. We were not served any breakfast or lunch nor
given any tour that day. I haven't called the Aggressor's
Office yet which arranged for that "Welcome package" I paid.
But all's well that ended well -- EVERYONE survived, and no one
was bent - YET. One guy did two dives with a land operator on
Saturday afternoon, and was surmising his own predicament at the
airport when his dive computer said he wasn't cleared to FLY,
from Rangiroa to Papeete. He flew anyway, I think. ;-)
This should do for Part I of my 'trip report'.
-- Bob.
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