The first part of today was a non-day.Daddy left at 
homework.
New: Dinner was an amazing feast. It always is, but that night especially because it was our farewell dinner. There were two types of tuna, taro (a traditional root), breadfruit and fresh shrimp curry. The coconut milk in the curry took three coconuts to make. One type of tuna was done as sashimi. You dipped the pieces in a soy sauce mixture and then you ate it (with or without rice). The other tuna had a spicy sauce already poured over it. This tuna was on a bed of salad. You ate this tuna on the taro. The taro was sliced very thinly and then fried. The shrimp in the curry were huge and done perfectly. The curry sauce was exceptionally light and flavorful.
After diner we had an in house show. A couple days earlier Romilda had taught Sue and I
Tahitian dancing. Or at least, she tried to teach us, Sue and I looked very silly and we couldn’t get. Who knew wiggling your hips was so hard! So anyway, that night was our performance. Before dinner we had been practicing with some Tahitian music. Romilda and I wore traditional dance costumes (grass skirts and matching tops). Sue and Momma had to wear paraos. We were a hoot. Everyone had fun watching us, and we had a great time dancing. At least, Romilda was dancing…
September 6th:
We went to the motu again today. This time however, Taufa and his cousin took us. His cousin’s boat is an outrigger motorboat. 
The boat itself is quite narrow, but the outrigger makes the boat unable to tip. It was too windy to go back to the
There were very few stingrays though. And Daddy tried to grab one of those, but not on purpose. Georgie asked if Daddy would dive down and grab the stick that looked like a spear for him. Daddy promptly dove down and grabbed the “stick”. No sooner that he had wrapped his hand around it than a section a meter and a half wide in front of the stick detached itself from the ground and started powering away from the sea floor. He had grabbed the end of a stingray. Him, the biologist!
While we were gawking at the pretty fishes, Taufa was busy fishing. He swam around with a spear gun shooting fish to feed to the stingrays. Taufa waved a fish piece in the water and four rays promptly came to the smell. 
We were in water up to our knees, so the rays were less intimidating. They came right up to us, sitting our feet, and gliding past our knees. If you held a piece of fish in front of their noses, they would flap out of the water to get the food. The rays don’t have any teeth, so the way they eat the food is by sucking in. Georgie claimed he could feel the suction.
When there is that many rays around you are definitely going to brush up against them. The first time I brushed up against a tail I jumped out of the water, sure that I had been stung. But it was only the texture of the tail, like sandpaper, except with huge sand lumps. The rays’ bodies are mostly very soft, getting rougher near the base of the tail. But the rest of the body,
the wings and head, are softer than the nose of a horse. The top of them are slightly slimy, but still very soft. Their underside is very soft. The wings are very gentle, and when they brush past you it feels very soft, like silk. Their front is firm, and silky soft.
Taufa, being who he is, played with the rays. He sat on them. He bit them. Can you believe it?! He bit/kissed the ray’s nose! And he teased them. Taufa would hold the food just in front the ray, making it flap out of the water, on to his lap, and over the others. Silly Taufa.
September 7th:
New: Today was our last day on Mo’orea. The morning was spent looking at where Momma, Sue and Jenny had worked the whole week. They had spent the week digitally mapping the marae and the associated agricultural sites that my Mum studied. marae were the Polynesians temples. 
They are raised paved platforms, sometimes 15 by 35 meters. At one end of the marae are stone tiers. The more levels built, the more important the marae. You can tell by the different stones which chief ordered the marae to be built and in what era.
Just walking on those ancient sacred sites made my imagination go into overdrive. What if when I touched the alter stone I was transported back in time, and I couldn’t understand the language! Or maybe they were doing sacrifices, and I was in the way! I could almost see the chiefs walking on the marae, calling down and offering food to the gods.
We hung out at Paulette and Gré’s in the afternoon. Or at least, Momma and Daddy hung out, while Georgie and I did math. We had a lovely last dinner with them and had a said a sad goodbye to Romilda and Gré. Taufa and Paulette would drive us to the ferry the next day.
Tomorrow we will be leaving for Raimiti. There is no internet access at Raimiti, so I will not be able to update the blog. However, when we get back to LA on the 15th, I will do my best to upload everything quickly.
