I know there are lots of sharks in the waters around Bora Bora. How aggressive are the sharks? Have there been any documented/know reports of attacks over the past recent years?

The sharks inside the reefs (in the lagoons) are mostly (almost all) non-aggressive. The injuries I've heard of have been to the people feeding them fish (there are shark-feeding tours where the guides get in the water with fish to attract the sharks and if they absent-mindedly hold a piece of fish behind their backs, they can get bitten while feeding another piece in front of them, know what I mean?). Mostly, you'll only see black-tipped sharks (they're about 5 feet long with a black tip on their dorsal fin) and as long as you don't have fish or meat in your hands, you'll be fine (they really do ignore you). Some people do suggest you don't splay your fingers out when swimming near them (in case they think you're offering them small fish). We also saw a lemon shark on Fakarava when snorkelling (that startled us as it's twice as long), but our hosts said it wasn't dangerous to us unless trapped. It did defend itself from the dogs that were with us (they cornered it in shallow water). You can't blame it for that,though. There are some tiger sharks (more aggressive), but we haven't seen them and I don't think they're very common.

It's a bit unnerving the first time you swim with sharks, but you get used to them. On Fakarava, I swam into a bay by myself once and there were a dozen blacktip sharks milling around, waiting for garbage from a restaurant and I just swam by them and got out of the water and did the drift-snorkel circuit I was on again (going back into the same bay without a second thought).

I bet all of these issues sound intimidating.

For anyone reading here, OW, they may think that you are the bravest person. Like all of those high risk takers on shows such as Survivor.

Truly, FP is the best place in every way except for the fact that you have to go home. Safe and so beautiful that it makes me cry every time.

Stan, we will be waiting for your trip report!

LOL, holte. Stan, I'm a 53-yr-old grandmother, not a brave (or very good) swimmer. I'm actually afraid of swimming in dark water (that's why I love snorkelling in FP--you can see what's in the water)!

There's a difference between the species of sharks you'll find in the lagoon and the species you'll find outside in the ocean... sharks are usually not attracted to humans at all unless someone is cleaning fish or feeding them fish regularly at a particular spot. If at all something happens it is mostly due to the shark mistakingly biting a hand or arm of a person cleaning or feeding fish or a certain type of shark joining (lemon, white point, grey shark etc) the group of black tip sharks. Their behaviour being not the same.

You will see sharks on every dive, and it will be great!! They honestly do not care one bit about you -- you do not resemble anything they eat.

However, my husband and I always cover up our wedding rings with a band-aid and wear no other shiny jewelry when diving, because barracuda (supposedly) may think the flash of the sun on your ring is a tasty, darting fish. I've never seen a barracuda while snorkeling in Tahiti (although I'm sure it's possible), we usually see them in deeper water on dives.

I have never seen any barracuda either. But I have heard of a couple people who did have the misfortune of being biten by one.

Yikes. They can be big fish. Getting bitten would be no joke.

I dived and snorkeled with reef and Lemon sharks and it was scary for the first couple minutes and then it became oddly comforting...

Tiger sharks are the garbage disposal units of the sea - they are more scared of you than you would be of them. There was a case back in 2009 of a dead whale off Bora Bora (outside of the island near the airport/Pearl resort) that had a heap of tiger sharks feeding on it. It's also good to note that feeding sharks in the lagoon is not allowed any more, so the sharks in the lagoon are just hanging out. They won't hurt you.