Swimming With Sharks In Bora Bora; Is It As Scary As People Say?
Intro
We participated in various activities during our stay at Conrad in Bora Bora (which you can read about below). The scariest one was swimming by far with Blacktip Sharks, as you will read about in this post. I write "scary" since that is how I felt before we got in the water. However, after spending a couple of minutes in the water, I realized I was just an overreacting baby😅.
After confirming with the hotel for a private tour for 250$ per person for 4 hours, a Frenchman picked us up on his 25-foot boat.
The day's first stop entailed a 15-minute drive to where the Blacktip Sharks were patrolling the area. Once we arrived, the sharks were curious about the engine of the boat. Great, I have a fear of sharks, and in front of me lay some Blacktips🤥!
After contemplating life for a few minutes, I decided to jump in the ocean (after the guide of course, what do you think I am, crazy?).
The first two minutes were petrifying. I stood there like a cactus in the desert waiting for the sharks to perhaps view me as a piece of coral instead of prey😩. A giant stingray decided to swim by and say hello! It's not like I'm afraid of those either🥴.
Eventually, the sharks started to warm up to us and came closer.
And then even closer. At this point, I could have reached out my hand and touched its fin. The guide decided to touch the shark right when it was next to me, which annoyed it😅.
Enough is enough, after 20 minutes I swam back to safety (the boat) and curled up in my towel.
Okay, once you get acclimatized to the fact that there are sharks around you, it's not as scary as you thought before. Overall, I am so happy I went in, and I would end up going in again with sharks triple the size!
We departed a few moments later to head to the second spot of the day, to go and snorkel by some private island.
This spot was incredible. The fish were some of the most beautiful fish I have ever seen, better than the Maldives or the Caribbean.
Words cannot describe how incredible this snorkel was, you must do it! Well, until I saw a sea snake😅 and swam faster than Usain Bolt runs back to the boat😂.
After being shaken to my core, it was time to head over to try and see a Manta Ray. Usually, Manta Rays are only seen in the mornings in Bora Bora and we were on an afternoon tour due to our schedule.
After jumping into the deep blue ocean, and being ripped apart by a horrific current, we managed to get a glimpse of a Manta Ray! After seeing them in Bali with tens of boats hovering around 5 Rays, that was no match for seeing them in private in Bora Bora.
Once we were back in the boat, the classic Bora Bora rain hit us hard for about 5 minutes. We got under the covered part of the boat and began the drive back to the resort.
On the way back, we spotted a giant Eagle Ray (No pictures sorry) and many stingrays.
Final Thoughts
The moral of this story is: if you are going to Bora Bora, don't be scared of swimming in the ocean. The sharks are friendly, the stingrays smile and the Manta Rays are gorgeous. I am so happy I decided to get in the ocean as I would have regretted it if I had not and you might as well😉.
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