diving in Fakarava

We are at the south end of the island of Fakarava. The reef pass is a protected Unesco biosphere due to the diversity of fish and number of sharks that call it home. There is a restaurant and dive operation on the docks sticking into the lagoon. It has rustic thatched huts lining the water's edge for accommodations. Today we took the kids on their first real scuba dive, and first dive in tropical waters. Both of them wrote their views of the day, which I have included below. We are here during the grouper breeding season, so there is an abundance of grouper, other fish and sharks to eat the young. We had an incredible dive and it was so awesome to see the kids reactions. They went from nervous to exhilarated.
Julie

Axel's views of the day
Today I did my first open water dive. This morning when I woke up I felt excited. I had 1 and 2 halves of banana muffins before I went over to the dock to get ready for scuba diving. When we got out on the dive boat we went to another dive spot to drop off other people before going to our spot. Our instructor, Vincent, grabbed my BCD in the water to help me put it on. Vincent was also my dive buddy, so I had to stay with him at all times. I got scared sometimes when he got me really close to the reefs. What also scared me was pushing me down when I was standing up straight so that I wouldn't go up to the surface. In the middle of our dive, there was a school of around 100 black and silver tip sharks. Near the end, I saw a Napoleon Wrasse around 5 feet long and it looked like a fish from a cartoon. In the end, when we got back to our boat, I got another banana muffin.

Gigi's views
Today I went for my first real open water dive. My family and I piled in our 10 foot Avon dinghy and motored into Tumakuhua pass. MY father pulled our dinghy in front of the dive shop where we would soon meet our dive guide. Soon after, we were all suited up and ready to go diving. We got into a small power boat that was already loaded with a family of four, a local diver, and the boat driver. The driver drove the other passengers out to their dive spot, then went back into the pass a little to drop us off. We jumped off the boat and slowly descended into the ocean. As I slowly dropped down to the coral coated bottom I felt butterflies in my stomach. I was nervous t go on my first open water dive, but excited because of all the new things I would get to see. My nervousness faded away once I saw the beautiful coral stretching out over the bottom. There were bright and colorful fish and coral teeming with little animals. I saw many black tip sharks and white tip sharks swimming in schools around me. I saw a spotted leopard ray swimming gracefully beside me. But the best thing I saw was a giant Napoleon Wrasse. Along with those things, we also saw a school of needle fish, a large school of bright yellow and black fish, and smaller black and yellow fish that stared me in the face, their small eyes alert with curiosity. The dive was an amazingly fun experience, which I will remember forever.