Note: This week I'm blogging and tweeting live from the Society Islands in French Polynesia. We're sailing aboard the m/s Paul Gauguin from Paul Gauguin Cruises and will also enjoy overnight stays at the InterContinental Tahiti Resort and Le Meridien Bora Bora.On our second day in Moorea (Friday), we spent the morning with marine biologist Dr. Michael Poole. He leads the popular dolphin watching excursion that can be booked while sailing with Paul Gauguin Cruises. It's a three and a half hour tour and we needed all that time since we searched about four different bays before we found a large pod of spinner dolphins. Dr. Poole has a 95% success rate of finding dolphins and he definitely did right by us.
We met up for this excursion at 8:15 am in the Grand Salon and then tendered over to the dock at Vaiare, Moorea. Dr. Poole's boat accommodates about 20 people. It's covered so sun isn't a problem but you will get wet when the boat speeds along the water. Wear a bathing suit and bring a towel!
According to Dr. Poole, the spinner dolphins stick to the lagoons in Moorea so we systematically searched each bay from Vaiare to beyond Papetuai on the northwest coast. We passed many landmarks, such as the Sofitel, Moorea Pearl Resort, Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort, InterContinental Beachcomber Resort, Legends, Le Petit Village, and the old Club Med location.
The scenery was gorgeous so we weren't worried that we hadn't yet seen dolphins. However when we hit the northwest section of the coast, we were surrounded by dozens of dolphins!
This isn't a terrific photo, but it's the only one in which we captured a dolphin actually "spinning".
We love animals of all kinds so this tour was ideal. However, it's important to note that this is not a dolphin petting excursion. Dr. Poole is a scientist and observes these animals in their own habitat. He does not insert himself or his boat into the dolphin's daily routine. He follows them and watches them but there is no interaction between the passengers on the boat and the mammals in the water.
We enjoyed Dr. Poole's presentation so much that we've already decided to go back to Moorea during humpback whale season (July–October) and will go out on one of his whale watching excursions.
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