Diving Coral Heads in Tahanea

Yesterday was an absolutely spectacular day aboard Helios. After a day and a half of squally conditions, we awoke to clearing skies and decreasing winds. The daily conversation of “what do we want to do today” generated a jam-packed schedule: go for a 20-30 minute swim to get some exercise, clear the anchor chain wrapped around the local bommies, go snorkeling on the larger coral heads we encountered on our journey across the lagoon, take photos from the top of the mast, go paddle boarding, relax in the floaty chairs. By the time we got in the dinghy to cruise to the nearby bommies to snorkel, the wind had died and the surface of the lagoon was completely glassy, the ocean blurring with the sky at the horizon. Conditions below the surface of the sea were equally amazing—vibrant, healthy coral, a multitude of fish, a five foot barracuda, schools of parrotfish, grouper, threadfin and redfin butterflyfish, lemonpeel angelfish, unicornfish, scissor-tail sergeants—the glassy surface of the water surrounding us with the surrealist of reflections.