Last night, we had a special delivery from St. Nicholas of the Netherlands. A card was handed to us from St. Nick (one of the dining room staff), the patron saint of children, and it was for St. Nicholas' Eve, December 5th. This feast is celebrated annually with the giving of a gift, such as the chocolate letter S and one chocolate chip cookie we were given. The card was signed Sinterklaas 2019. This was a new one for us.
The name Moorea means yellow lizard and it is or port of call for today. A mere 10 miles from Tahiti, Moorea was formed by a volcano millions of years ago. It is known as the magical island or Tahiti's little sister. About sixteen thousand people live here, and that number increases with visitors from all over the world. The island is shaped like a heart with two quite scenic bays on the top. One is Cook's Bay, and the other is Opunohu Bay, where we would drop anchor today. The island is located about 30 minutes by boat from Papeete, and has a total of 37 miles of road around the coastline.
The fast ferries we saw yesterday bring many locals from the hustle and bustle of Tahiti for rest and relaxation on weekends. Every day at the arrival of the ferries, two island buses leave to the little village of Haapiti, one on the east coast, and one on the west coast. The fare is 300 Pacific French francs or $3. per person.
Shore excursions offered six site-seeing, water, and culture tours with snorkeling, picnic and ray feeding, or a 4x4 safari adventure, an island drive, dolphin watching, and finally a photography expedition. Adventure and more water tours included a catamaran escapade, jet ski, ATV tour, or a CATA jet boat. And we saved the best for last….a dolphin encounter at the Intercontinental Hotel Lagoon, which was $240 each.
One of us was up with the crack of dawn, and filmed our sailing around the entire island of Moorea. It was finally decided we would be tendering from Opunohu Bay, and not Cook's Bay as it was written on our itinerary. And we soon found the reason why. The Paul Gauguin ship was taking Cook's Bay this morning. Both bays are scenic, but we really prefer Opunohu for its location and tender landing shopping.
We left the ship around 11am to a very warm and cloudy day. Thunderstorms were in the forecast, so we packed umbrellas. It was a smooth ride over, and we discovered that the landing spot had gotten better since we were here last. Back on the world cruise earlier this year, we had to scrap this port due to an extremely bad storm. That meant stranding some folks that had done the overnight tour in the huts over the water. They had to fly to the next port of Bora Bora. So we were happy to be going there today.
Once ashore, we located the really nice local lady vendor that has supplied us with her shell jewelry for several years now. Even though she speaks little English, she did remember us. And of course, we found a suitable set of a necklace and earrings. She always loved to pose for photos, and we took another one today. From here, we walked to the main road, and ran right into Denise and Howie. Both of them shared stories of their trip in Tahiti with us, saying they saw everything that was promised on their all day private tour. The only thing they missed was the Marketplace, since it had closed at 5pm. They will be back on another cruise, and so will we.
Continuing up the road, we made it to the Intercontinental Resort and Spa about 12:30pm. We happened to run into a couple from the ship, who directed us to the opposite side of the resort. What a surprise we had to discover that there was a dolphin exhibit here, as well as a turtle recovery area in their lagoon. The majority of the bungalows were here, built with a manmade lagoon in the center. Just gorgeous. Following the signs, we located the turtle enclosure, where a couple of fellows were swimming with their "patients". Some of these green turtles were full grown adults, and some smaller ones too. Then we found the dolphin area, where three adult dolphins were swimming in their private quarters. Apparently, they have a tour that lets you swim with the dolphins, as well as watch them doing acrobatics and water ballet. This happened to be one of the ship's tours, and it ran about $240 a person for a 2 hour visit. Although we did not see the actual show, we did get to see the dolphins swimming…..and for free. The two males and one female were 8 feet in length and weighed well over 450 pounds. Recently, a young girl was attacked by the same type of dolphins while vacationing in Mexico, and just by watching them, we could see how that could happen. A person, especially a kid, would not be a match for such strength and speed. We did recall learning that these dolphins are capable of ramming sharks and killing them. Of course, we got a million photos of them.
Moving on, we were in search of lunch and beer. Beer first since it was a long and hot walk from the pier. Making our way back through the lobby, we were seated in the Beach Bar, where lunch was being served. The Hinano beers were ice cold and the breeze cooled us off. Guess what we ordered? Well, a ham and cheese pizza naturally. And it was tasty, just like we remembered. Two scoops of vanilla ice cream finished the meal perfectly. By the time we were ready to go, there was lightning and thunder so close, we knew it would rain soon. Asking our waitress if they had rain yesterday, she said yes, and it was heavy. It had rained all night, but cleared up this morning.
We began our walk back, when it did begin to sprinkle. Not enough to open the umbrella, it barely got us wet. Truthfully, it would have felt good. The rain held off for the rest of our stay. And as we have been doing, we stayed on our balcony during the sailing out of the bay. It was just as scenic from our side of the ship. Before we knew it, the sun was going down, and the picture-taker had only done half of the photos by 7pm. But then, over 600 had been taken.
Dinnertime found us ordering mains of a moonfish entrée and one sweet and sour pork. Again, both were excellent. Testing every fish entrée has been a success this trip for one of us. No fishy smell and no bones is what our waiter, Tama, has advised. Now we trust his opinion.
Tonight's entertainment was a BBC Earth footage accompanied by music from the orchestra. This seems to be the way many of the cruises are going with the shows at night. And perhaps it is a good thing. We missed this show, because tomorrow is another Polynesian port – Rangiroa. Got to rest up for this one.
Bill & Mary Ann
