Moorea, located in the French Polynesia, is one of the best places to swim with humpback whales, dolphins, stingrays, and even sharks!
We visited Moorea at the end of October which was just in time since the whale season was about to end (whale season is from July to November). What we really wanted to do was to be able to swim with whales so we had to go during this time (it was also Brea’s birthday).
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Swimming with Whales, Dolphins, Stingrays, and Sharks in Moorea
From all of our past experiences, we learned that we get the best experiences and photos on private tours. That way we can take longer at some spots if we didn’t get the shots we wanted without worrying about other people. There are several tour companies in Moorea that offer private tours. After some research, we decided to do a full day tour with Moorea Ocean Adventures.
They picked us up from our hotel’s dock at 7:30AM. We told our guide (Matthieu) what we were expecting: swim with whales, sharks, stingrays, and see some dolphins. If you’re on a private tour, let them know what you’re expecting. The full day tour lasted from 7:30AM to 4:30PM. We did have a short lunch break in the middle. By the end of the day, we were exhausted but feeling very satisfied!
Dolphins
We saw dolphins within the first hour. The dolphins we were able to see from the boat and drive along side them. If you have a GoPro and a selfie stick, stick it inside the water if this happens to you and you’ll get great shots! The dolphins were very playful this day and kept swimming next to our boat and doing tricks.
Whales
We also saw whales within the first hour as well! It was our lucky day. The first set of whales we saw were actually racing. The one leading the race was a female whale while 4 other male whales were racing after her. This is actually a rare sight to see and requires experienced swimming ability in the water with fins. We were hanging out on the side of the boat a lot with fins and goggles ready to go at any second as our captain would finesse his way trying to get us in great view of the race.
At a later time in the day, the other boat from the same tour company saw a mom and calf whale so we headed to that next. Instead of finding the mom and calf we heard a singer whale but was unable to find it. It’s just like in the music tracks.
We found the mom and calf whale at a different location but it was surrounded by other tourist companies. Apparently there’s also an enforcement boat specifically to make sure the tourism companies comply with the safety for the animals (such as not getting too close). We came at a good time as the other companies were leaving so there was only one other boat around.
The mom and calf were playing with each other when we saw them. This is rare as the mom has traveled to Moorea during the summer to give birth, feed the baby and protect the baby but not have any food for herself. Usually the mom will be sleeping while the baby plays at the top by itself.
We stayed longer to allow the other boat to get a spot for the mom and calf (we were also waiting for them to bring us our lunch since we didn’t have time to go to an actual restaurant haha).
This was probably the highlight of our whole trip. I’ve never seen anything like it!
Stingrays & Sharks
We visited the stingray bay (the same one we visited during our transparent kayak tour) towards the end of our tour. Here you will see a lot of stingrays and sharks. It is also a great spot to fly your drone if you have one. Our tour guide showed us a good spot for Brea to fly her drone and then I also flew it while she was in the water with all of the stingrays and sharks surrounding her.
To get a good photo, ask your tour guide to feed them! You’ll be surrounded by stingrays and sharks in no time. Don’t worry though because they won’t hurt you.
Another area where we saw sharks was at the shark reef area. There were a few sharks here but tons of corals in the area.
We went to a fish attracting pole in the middle of the ocean to see what fish are around. This is where you can also possibly see dangerous sharks as they eat the fish eating from the fishing pole.
I would say that going on this tour with Moorea Ocean Adventures was the best decision we made! Not only was it jam packed but it was also tailored to what we wanted to see. Not many can say that they swam with humpback whales, dolphins, stingrays, and sharks – all in one day!
