Moorea, Winding Down

For our final full day in Moorea, we decided to rent a jet ski and go out on the water in the morning for about an hour. Riding a jet ski there involves a guide, as you have to be very careful of where you ride due to the low depths in the lagoon and the coral.

It was amazing seeing the mountainous and lush island from the water. Definitely a whole different perspective.



Nate wanted to drive and I didn't mind being the 2nd rider. I just had to hold on really tight. I didn't want to be the numskull that fell off the jet ski.



I just couldn't get over the amazing blue color of the water the whole trip. Now if it got in your eyes, that was another story! Thank goodness for sunglasses that stay in place while riding a jet ski. I was getting sprayed the whole time!



Our guide seemed to be quite experienced (he was smoking a cigarette on a jet ski!) and he was able to point out a school of dolphin to us while we were out on the water.

The hour flew by, but we had a lot of fun and were glad we decided to jet ski. The island is just gorgeous!



When we returned to the resort from our time out on the water, we grabbed some snorkeling gear from the rental place by the beach. One nice thing about the resort was that snorkeling gear and canoes and kayaks were free to rent at any time. We got out on a kayak a couple of times and paddled around our bungalow area. As for the snorkeling, we could snorkel right off of our bungalow dock or there was a great spot under the bridge leading to our bungalow that had tons of fish.

This particular day I saw a huge school of these fish with zebra tails (I'm sure that's their scientific name )...



Besides the snorkeling, we spent most of the afternoon chilling on the beach and enjoying our last day in beautiful Moorea. Later in the afternoon I walked around one last time, snapping pictures of the pretty flowers, the resort and this huge old tree....







...all in hopes of capturing a small piece of this magnificent place to take home with me.

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Now Back....

....to our regularly scheduled programming as we continue the chronicle of Kelley and Nate's honeymoon adventure in French Polynesia....

As you may have noticed in some of the pictures from our snorkeling adventure on the motu, it was a bit cloudy and overcast that day. Well, it ended up pouring rain that afternoon. Pouring!! We had a nice nap during the rainstorm and then woke up to this...

This really is paradise, isn't it?

That evening for dinner we had signed up for the Tahitian barbeque and dance show at our resort. Due to the rainy weather earlier in the day, we weren't able to dine outside in the wet sand, so they moved everything indoors. There were spreads of everything imaginable, mostly authentic Tahitian cuisine, but there was some Western food available as well. I've probably mentioned it before, but I think my favorite thing to eat on the trip, besides anything with vanilla in it, was all the fresh fruit. It has never tasted so good. And of course, one of the best parts of the buffet was the dessert table. I tried a bit of everything and distinctly remember biting into a tiramasu-like creation and nearly spitting it out... Coffee. Ick!

Once we were finished with dinner, things started to get exciting. The Tahitian dancers showed up!

Unfortunately, they also had a crowd participation part of the show and our table was obviously too close to the front of the room...or now that I'm thinking about it, maybe the Tahitian guy thought I was cute?! Anyhow, apparently I didn't make the least amount of eye contact because one of the Tahitian guys ended up pulling ME onstage.


Uh, for those who know me well, I'm totally not the "everyone look at me" type. We were supposed to be shaking our hips like the Tahitian women, but I was out of my comfort zone and I just didn't seem to have the gyrations down....


Luckily they didn't make me suffer too long and ended the show with one final dance.



Although this was probably one of our most expensive dinners, it was truly worth it to experience the Tahitian cuisine and the Tahitian dancers at their finest!

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Lunch on a Motu

The next day, we had planned to stay around the resort. At the resort activities desk we had heard about a water ferry that made several trips a day to a nearby motu. What is a motu? Well, it's the term used to refer to a very small island off the main island. There was a restaurant at the motu and an area for snorkeling, so we thought it'd be a good afternoon activity.

The water ferry ride was kind of choppy because of the windy conditions, but we got to see everything from a dog walking around in the lagoon to the many tour boats and wind surfers.





The restaurant was very quaint. The menu was written on a large chalkboard and carried by the waitress from table to table. The tables were setup right on the sand and we had a pretty view of the water from our table.



Nate and I shared a salad with fish and a lemon vinagrette. Very light and yummy. Don't we look relaxed?



Then we traversed the water to circle the small island to get to the snorkeling spot. I can't say enough about water shoes...they are a MUST here. There's no way to get around in the water without them...there are some large pointy rocks. Also, there's almost no way to avoid walking in the water in some spots, so they are a lifesaver.



Anyway, the snorkeling spot was quite peaceful. There were only a couple of others there. Just us and the fish! We had a good time exploring on our own and saw some beautiful fish. Here is my favorite:


Isn't he so colorful? And it just looks like he has a painted on expression!

One traumatic event of the day...I was wearing my newly purchased, island style wedding ring and it slipped off in the water while I was snorkeling. I saw it float to the bottom and one of the little fish grabbed it! I thought he was going to take off with it, but I guess he decided he couldn't eat it, so he spit it back out. Nate saved the day and dove down to retrieve it. Whew! Even though it wasn't my real wedding ring (thank God) it still had sentimental value and I would have been upset to lose it.



After an hour or two of snorkeling, we made our way back to the water ferry pick-up spot and headed back to the resort.

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Afternoon around the island...

Once we left the roadside beach, we continued our drive around the island and stopped at the Toatea Overlook. The view was gorgeous. We could see the island of Tahiti rising magnificently on the horizon and it just looked monstrous.

Directly below were the overwater bungalows of the Sofitel Moorea Beach Resort, as well the as the beautiful green-blue lagoon speckled with brown from the coral.

Watching the waves crash from above, Nate snapped a picture of me in all the windy glory. It was always windy!


From the Toatea Overlook, we traveled back down the hill and turned onto a windy dirt road surrounded by a coconut grove, which took us to the Temae Plague Publique, Moorea's finest stretch of public beach. The beach is an extention of the Sofitel Resort beach. One of the nice things about sticking to the resort beaches is that the staff rakes the coral and driftwood from the sand. So at this public beach, it took us a bit to find a "smooth" spot to lay down our towels.

It was nice seeing a few locals in their element, especially for Nate. A couple of topless ladies strolled by in the surf--back and forth a couple of times. There were also a couple of families out enjoying the beach. We only layed out about an hour. It was HOT and we (well, probably me mostly ) were getting hungry and needed to find some lunch.

I had noticed a restaurant called Maria Tapas in our guide book. We had already eaten so much French food at that point, we were looking for something different. What better than Tex-Mex! The restaurants there typically had an outdoor element and this one was no exception. It was entirely outside, with a teeny tiny kitchen and just a handful of tables.


We both ordered a beer, Our first experience with Tabu beer and it was the beer we ended up drinking the majority of the trip. It was similar to a Corona and tasted fabulous after time in the sun.. Ahh! The waiter was nice enough to snap a picture of us with our lunch. Can you tell I'm a little red?

The food was quite tasty and the fresh taste we were looking for. After lunch, we made stops at several gift shops like this one.

The shops sold a variety of merchandise. Every shop had pareos, which were cloth wraps in vibrant colors. The shops also had jewelry, knick knacks, other clothing, lotions and soaps, etc. It was fun tooling around and looking at souvenirs. We also picked up some groceries at the supermarket while we were out. Definitely the way to go to save some money.

We were able to circle the island and see some residences and Moorea's one golf course. One thing I was bummed about was that my travel book talked about a waterfall, but come to find out the waterfall had dried up about a year before, so no waterfall viewing for us. Oh well. When we got back to the resort, we were there just in time to catch the sunset...


and I got to finish the day off just as I would have hoped...curled up in a lounge chair with my book!


We took a shuttle to dinner that evening at Coco d'lle and had our first pizza on Moorea. The restaurant had some different ambiance with it's sand floors and casual atmosphere.



It was a nice ending to our day of exploration.

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