Sunset from our deck.
The ship arrived in Papeete at 8 am. We had been here before so decided to catch a ferry to Moorea and spend the night there. The ship would be there the next day. We were hoping to catch the 8:30 ferry so we raced to their pier which was fairly close to our pier. By the time we decided which ferry to take, it was too late for the 8:30. The 9:15 ferry was a faster one so we ended up arriving in Moorea 5 minutes before the other one! It also gave me a chance to go back to our pier and check out the market. We had arranged with another passenger and his nephew to share a taxi to the hotel once we reached Moorea so we were traveling with them. We arrived in Moorea at about 10:30. I asked a security guard at the pier there if there were rental cars available. He said at the hotels. So we found a taxi and took off. There is only one road that goes around the island so easy to get around. We were at the hotel by 11.
I made the reservation at the Hilton almost a year ago. We had seen the over-the-water bungalows in Bora Bora on our last trip. It seemed like the ultimate thing to do. I had been looking forward to this our entire trip and it did not disappoint! When we arrived our rooms were not ready so we rented a car to see the island. The first place I wanted to go was a juice factory. I knew it would close at noon since it was a Saturday, so we headed there first. Mel designated me as driver which allowed me to stop whenever I wanted. The factory itself was closed but their shop and tasting bar were open. We tried a lot of things including their special fruit punch (with alcohol), coconut and ginger liqueurs, and some fruit juices. We ended up buying a bottle of vanilla rum because the bottle is beautiful! We bought a couple of other items also. Not usual for us to drink that much let alone before noon!
We started back around the island road. The one road going into the interior was up to a lookout point called Belvedere. From there we could see the 2 inlets on the island, Cook's Bay where our ship would be and Opunohu Bay. It was a beautiful view. It would have been nice to see it with our ship there too. The hotel had told us a about a nice place to stop for lunch so we did. It was a small building with a kitchen with most of the tables out under trees and by the water. It was packed. We were asked if we had reservations, ah, no. We had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. Then we had to wait another 15 to order then 30 for the food to come! But it was delicious. I had their version of ceviche done with coconut milk and shrimp. The guys all had steaks. It was all worth the wait. We saw our cabin next door neighbors there. They took a message back to the ship for us for a friend. He was going to come to the Hilton the next day to snorkel. We wanted to let him know that we had rented a car and would pick him up. It worked out well. We next stopped at a small shopping area then a Cultural Village. There was supposed to be old buildings like the original Tahitians lived in as well as a nice shop and dancers. When we arrived there were some guys standing around out front. They said there was going to be a wedding there that day. We walked thru the shop which had nothing of interest, then went out to see the buildings. There were 5 young women dressed in typical dress of the islands complete with coconut bras! The guys got a kick out of posing with them for a picture, especially the young one. I think Mel enjoyed it too.
Back at the hotel our rooms were ready. They took us out on a golf cart as it was quite a walk with a small suitcase. Our bungalow was almost at the end. It was beautiful! They had laid out single bougainvillea flowers on the bed and on top of all the rolled towels in the bathroom. There was plexiglass under the coffe table to watch the fish from inside. From the manager we had a bottle of champagne on ice and a box of 8 different flavored macarons, yum! We immediately put on our swimsuits and went out on the deck. It looked like a lot of rocks in a sandy area, not very exciting.....but when we went in with snorkel gear all the rocks were coral full of beautiful fish! It was even better than in Bora Bora. We snorkeled for over an hour right off our deck seeing so many types of coral, some of it HUGE, and fish that we hadn't seen before, it was a lot of fun.
After getting cleaned up we found Al and Christian to go to dinner. The Hilton was having a special Tahitian buffet that night but for $100 per person, we decided to pass. We had passed by a nice looking restaurant so went back there to eat. We found out later that people seldom go there anymore which explains why we were the only ones there the entire time. It was an experience! The owner/waiter/cook (?) spoke very little English. He carried 2 boards with the menu written on them for us to see. Mel tried to take a picture of them but he quickly turned then around, no pictures. Strange. He tried to tell us what it said but we didn't understand everything. Three of us ordered mahi mahi which seemed safe. Mel ordered the fresh fish of the day which we only knew had bones. It turned out to be mostly bones! It took him a long time to eat it. The owner asked us how our parrot fish was, we ordered mahi mahi. He said oh yes, I mean the mahi mahi. Not sure what we ate. It was good though, not excellent. We passed on dessert to go back to the crepe bar at the Hilton.
We think the red guy is Mel's boney fish.
The crepe bar is at the intersection of the 2 docks with bungalows. They served both savory and sweet. They also had a lot of lights on below them and fed the fish, which were mainly sharks! Most were black tip sharks like we had swam with before there was one huge one that was a nurse shark. This was a few dozen feet from where we were swimming this afternoon! I had a chocolate coconut pineapple crepe which was huge! I gave part of it to Christian and had enough for breakfast the next day. I also had a Chi Chi drink which was basically a piña colada made with vodka, very sweet and very good. It was a great ending to a wonderful day. And it was nice to sleep in a bed that wasn't moving and no engine noise for one night.
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