What an excitement to finally get to French Polynesia. I remembered myself being home with my foot covered up in a foot trail, because of the operation I had on the 16th of May. I was scrolling through Instagram and saw the announcement "Zimy da Kid" made of having an second Expedition in French Polynesia end of November.
"Swim with Humpback whales, Rough tooth Dolphins, Stingrays, Black tip reef sharks, Oceanic Whitetip Sharks, Pilot whales and more while learning videography and photography as well as ocean conservation and shark behavior."
My heart was literally stopping when I read it, this was like the perfect expedition for me! I got way to excited and I new, I had to be there. Me in French Polynesia in two month? I couldn't even walk at that time, but I had to make it happen... somehow!
I mailed the beautiful soul Gaily (one of the hosts) and when she told me I would take the last spot, I just booked it. I didn't even know how I'll be there but I was pretty sure everything would work out, like always in life. The universe is on my side, this I know for sure.
23rd September - flight from Singapore to Papeete (Tahiti - French Polynesia). It was a long one. A Stop-over of ruffly 10 hours in Nouméa - New Caledonia, just to explore another new country. It was okey, unfortunately I didn't have time to explore a lot, so the shuttle bus brought me to a very touristy area. Actually I hated it (lol), but then I tried to turn it into a good experience, so I walked all the way down to the very end of the beach where the Kite-Surfers where. I felt better surrounded by athletes. I couldn't move around a lot, because I had my backpack with me and it was kinda heavy. Anyways, flight to Papeete happened the same evening, which made me very very happy.
Arriving in Papeete, local musicians welcomed everyone with their traditional music - what a vibe! So excited to explore this beautiful country I just new from pictures on Instagram. As a welcome gift, my surfboard didn't arrived though. I had 80% of my stuff in this surfboard bag, using it as a luggage. Well, I didn't know at that time that it wouldn't arrive for a whole week, so I didn't see it as a big problem. I was actually kind of happy that I hadn't carry it all the way to Moorea. The only thing I was concerned about, is that all my diving gear I just had bought new in Bali, was in that exact surfboard travel bag.
First Ferry to Moorea at 7am, Bus to my lovely Airbnb, check-in and chill. The Airbnb was an open spaced living area, very quiet and a dorm where you had kind of an own room, which was very nice. Later the day hitch-hiking to do groceries - The driver was a local and her friends where Swiss people from the French part, very funny encounter. Hitch-hiking back; with a lovely Dad and his two daughters.
25th September, First day of the Expedition. We all checked in at our place. I was living with Anthea - a German military member who I shared my room with, Patrick and Ramy - two Swiss guys from the French part and Sebastian - a guy from France. In the other house further down the street there where living the other guys and the hosts Zimy and Gaily.
And then after lunch time we went out straight away with Maomana Fundation and DeepSeaGuardians (Zimy&Gaily) to look for Humpback Wales. How exciting hm?
If you want to check out the Expedition, please follow the link below. There you can also find the program for the whole week.
What an adventure! I will just let the pictures and videos talk by itself. I feel beyond grateful to have met such beautiful souls and won them as a family! On top of this I had the craziest experience of my life in the open ocean. We saw all the animals! The most mind-blowing situation was with a playful dolphin just swimming with and in between us, coming towards me and just vibing with our excitement. Then a momma Humpback Wale with her baby coming up to the surface so so so close! I was concerned if the tail is going to hit me, but they where still a bit further away. WOW, what a huge, beautiful, elegant and powerful animal. I got a totally new perspective of us humans! We act big, but we are so small. We are lost in the ocean and we are slow. You can't imagine how slow in comparison to this creature. Two movements and it's gone. I felt the whole energy of this living organism, I felt how big the under water world is and I felt so connected to Mother Earth. We were all hipped!
Coral Gardeners - Mo'orea
One Day of the Expedition we got to see how the Coral Gardeners work and create something very special for Mother Nature.
They restore the reef in the Ocean. It was so inspiring and interesting to dive into their world for a day!
Find more details here: https://coralgardeners.org
Shots by ZimydaKid - Nicolas Zimmermann