The Coral Garden of Taha'a

Did you ever dream of these fascinating exotic aquariums where you can see the most colorful and beautiful fishes? Well, here in Polynesia you don’t need any aquarium and you don’t need to dream about it. because here you can see all this for real! You just have to go to the coral garden of Taha’a and feel yourself like a fish in one of the most amazing snorkeling spots.

I know, I know, some of you will again be terribly jealous about this location… In advance, I’m sorry for that, but I can’t keep it for me and want to share the beauty of this snorkeling spot with you, fellow lomographers….

The twin island of Raiatea is called Taha’a and both islands share the same lagoon. The lagoon is delimited from the ocean by the coral reef and it’s there that you find the most beautiful waters capes. Along the coral reef are some “gates” between the lagoon and the ocean, with intense in/out water streaming, and these places are the richest ones. Most of the time, on both sides of this “pass” you’ll find 2 little sand islands (called “motu”) which were built by the never ending streaming between the ocean and the lagoon. And the underwater life is really intense there.

Well, after this little technical introduction to explain the location of a coral garden let’s come to the point: the coral garden of taha’a is located on the west side of the reef, in a very small pass, just in front of Bora-Bora island. The place itself is a real beauty and a big hotel is built on one of the “motu’s”. You can’t access this place, unless you paid for a bungalow in this hotel and it’s very expensive… But the other motu, on the other side of the pass is public and has free access. Of course you need a boat to come here from the main island, but that’s not very difficult to find…

Once you’re on the little sand island, just put on your snorkeling equipment and simply jump into the water to get lost in the coral garden, surrounded by multicolored fishes and many different kind of coral species. The fishes almost don’t notice you and you can see them very closely and of course shoot them too. You can stay hours in these waters as the coral garden is very big and you always discover some new kind of fish or coral you didn’t notice before.

Well, there’s nothing more to say… just have a look at the picture gallery if you aren’t convinced! :)))

written by vicuna on 2010-07-05 #places #nature #lagoon #underwater #color #fish #coral-reef #location #recife #paradise #snorkeling #fishes #coral #coral-garden #nikonos-v-camera