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Had fantastic day out with The Captain Terrible aka Peter. Visited a number of snorkeling spots, plenty to see at each even in overcast weather. The giant fishes, the huge clams, a turtle passing by, the purple coral, little island stops were all a stand out for us. Lots of time at each location, never rushed, sometimes felt like time just stopped, fully apreciated uniqueness of it all.
Peter was always calm, supportive to those who needed extra help in the water, humoruos in a nice and kind way. Sharing his stories about the place, work and family allowed us to get a glimpse of the local life, his connection to the place. The stories of bone fish feast of the old days, local laws and traditions and the tale behind the "One Foot Island" were memorable and something to learn from.
One suggestion for the tour operator though is to find a way not to throw bread to attract the fish, bad for them and scary when massive trevally flying an inch from your face trying to grab it.
The place itself is a pure paradise and needs all the care from us all so it continues to exist and recover from over use, over fishing, over everything. And even though Peter reminded everyone in advance not to touch what you see, people were still being silly, getting to close to the corals, touching fish that can take your fingers off. So be smart, enjoy the cruise, don't touch the wildlife or clams, don't stand on corals and bring the refillable bottle so you don't need to use plastic glasses that can fly out and take millenia to break down in the ocean. And one more thing don't do a fly-in / fly-out day cruise, you are not going to see much. Support the locals, stay a night or two in a local accomodation and go on a...
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Compared to other boat tours, you get to see a lot here. There are three snorkelling stops and you can see corners of the lagoon where others don't go. In addition, there is what other tours also offer, namely Honeymoon Island and One Foot Island. Thankfully, there is only music at the end of the tour. On another boat there was terrible entertainment with drunken guests singing along to 80s songs.
Fortunately, it's all about the unique lagoon and nature. Teking has been in the business since 2002. He is some kind of character, but I like him.
He has been using a new boat since July 2024. The very powerful motor makes it possible to get from one spot to the next quickly.
The food on the Motu was very nicely arranged and tasted very good.
There was a lot to see and the day flew by.
The tour is for people who want to see a lot and don't just want to get a quick photo of the most important spots and then hang out on a beach for hours like on many other tours. The daily schedule is tight, but there is enough time for snorkelling.
He was very nice, informative and thoughtful. You can feel how much he loves the lagoon. He likes to remove Crown of Thorns from the lagoon to protect the coral.
We came to the jetty in the west with our own vehicle. The tour ends in the east and they actually drive the hire car there as a service. How nice is that?
I would have loved to do the tour again, but our last few days were already planned. We will go with him again when we travel to...
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Wonderful day trip with Teking tours today. We visited 3 unique snorkeling spots. The first one had Giant Trevally and a huge Wrasse. You get to swim amongst them and experience first hand their graceful but violent feeding frenzy. I never felt scared, but we were told not to touch them or move our hands towards them, as they may take that action as an attempt to feed. The second spot had Giant clams. There are hundreds in all sizes and colours, although you need to swim around to see them all. My favourite was the green and aqua colored ones. The largest clam was over a metre wide. Next stop was honeymoon beach, where you can explore and get some beautiful pictures. Soon after we had a BBQ lunch with salads. Next we moved to our third snorkeling spot which had purple coral. With every snorkel there was no hurry or time limit. It was controlled by the people snorkeling. When everyone was back then we moved on. The final spot visited was 'One footprint' island, here you can get your passport stamped, as well as send unique postcards from this spot. All in all a great experience. I'd highly recommend this tour to anyone wanting to see the corals and wildlife on this island. Cost was NZ$175 p.p and $10 if you needed to hire a snorkel and mask. No need to bring towels as these are supplied. Water is available but bring your own bottle. Also ensure you have good sun protection, as you spend a lot of time in...
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