Today's port of call was the island of Mo'orea, belonging to The Society Islands and part of the Windward group. Yesterday's islands of Raiatea and Taha'a, along with Bora Bora belong to the Leeward group. As it turns out, we will be at anchor in Opunohu Bay for two full days, right next to Cook's Bay. Mo'orea is considered another most beautiful island in the world with emerald green cliffs, stunning lagoons, and many quiet beaches. There are about 16,000 inhabitants who have a slow pace of living. The weather almost dictates how fast the locals move since it tends to be warm, humid, and rainy at certain times of the year. And today was no exception with overcast skies, which cleared by the afternoon, before clouding up again.
Naturally, we need to take the tenders to shore at Papeotai, located next to one of the oldest churches in French Polynesia. Built by missionaries in 1870, they happened to build it over a very important archaeological site, losing the artifacts forever it is said. The fun part about this tender drop off has to be the extended buildings with roofs that house several local vendors. There is a little bit of everything like island jewelry, clothing, some food stands, and even some black South Seas pearls. The ships tour group join their boats or buses and vans there. If you did not book a tour onboard, there are always excursions to take from the locals. Several taxis and mini vans are available to go to restaurants or resorts and beaches. Expect to pay dearly for these rides, we have been advised.
So here are some of the ship's excursions. A lagoon cruise in two bays runs $60 for 1½ hours. You can take a 4- wheel drive adventure for 3½ hours for $100, or for the same amount of time, you can do the island drive and Belvedere lookout for $100. A 3¾ hour highlight drive will run $110, while a snorkel safari for 3 hours will be $100. A motu picnic and ray feeding is 5 hours for $180. Or the locals offer a 2- hour minivan tour to Belvedere lookout, a marae temple, a pineapple plantation, vanilla garden, jam tasting, a distillery, and a stop at Cook's Bay – all for $40. A similar local tour for 3 hours is $50 per person.
As for us, we stayed onboard working on yesterday's photos, then left the ship by 10:45am. The ride was quick and easy thanks to the fact the wind had died down and the waters were smooth. The first stop was at a craft table with the local elderly lady we have known for years. She does not speak English much, and we do not speak French well, but we always have luck finding one of her seashell creations to purchase. She even took the time to get the necklace on correctly, as I chose to wear it. The collection is growing…..
Our goal was to take a long hike to enjoy the sights along the waterfront road. The ultimate goal was finding a restaurant that would be opened today. For some reason they tend to close on Wednesdays. The Intercontinental Hotel, about a three- mile walk, has been shut down, abandoned, going on three years now. Another fun place for lunch was Holy Steak House, but they were not opened today. We had already passed a small lagoon side café that was filled with locals at noon. It was an option if nothing else presented itself. Later on, we found out from friends that this roadside café did not take credit cards…only cash. And we are not sure if they took US dollars. Remember to ask before dining.
Highlights of our slow walk took us through the village of Papeotai where there were some mini roadside cafes, tiny supermarkets, a hardware shop, hair salons in local homes, and beachside houses. School kids were out on a walkabout as their teachers led them back to the school along the lagoon. From watching the increased local traffic and a few buses, we came to the conclusion that the school takes a long lunch break, then resumes a few hours later. Besides the church at the tender pier, there was another one – Catholic by the name of St. Michael's Chapel. Many small businesses offered scooter and bike rentals, and possibly cars and 4-wheel dive vehicles. Most are within walking distance of the tender pier.
Several of the local residents were busy selling fruit from stands on the road. That included a whole lot of mangoes (in season), pineapples, small & large bananas, melons, papaya, guava, and squash of all kinds. Small tables had been set up outside some homes where they were giving away the over-abundance we assume. No one was present to take money.
We have to add that it is wise to do some homework before going off blindly, although not all of the info is updated. We discovered that if we continued walking the road past the Intercontinental bungalows over the water, now closed, we might come across a place called Taoahere Beach House Snack. Eventually we found a road sign advertising this eatery and an arrow pointing right. We walked down a very private street with really nice homes that were gated and fenced. This road continued down towards the lagoon, but still we found no signs. Just by luck, we came across a nice lady who was waiting outside a solid fence door for a taxi to arrive. We asked her where that restaurant was located, and she said right here. That's when we noticed the small sign on the door. Happy we found it, she described the food and drinks and highly recommended it. Good enough for us, we needed to go no further.
Walking past the resort part of the property, we reached the water where there was an open-air patio with several tables. This was perfect. Eventually, we ordered a cheeseburger with fries to share, and large two Hinano beers. It took a little longer than we expected to get our food, but we had no specific time to be back. Remember, we were overnighting here. While we dined, we got to watch the many boats with snorkelers in the massive lagoon area. We were close enough to the water, we could see tropical fish of all sizes just about right under our feet. People were even kayaking past the café. Then the best was to arrive – a dessert of profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream, drizzled with a chocolate sauce, and sprinkled with chopped nuts. It was quite a treat, and a dessert we always look for while in French Polynesia.
A group of crew members, including several front desk people and Arnold, the Mariner rep, wandered into the restaurant. They had taken a taxi, and the driver had recommended this place to them. They had more fun taking photos of each other before their food arrived. It's always nice to see crew members out and about in these ports. Even though they have less time to explore, they know how to make the best of the time they have.
All good things come to an end, and we had to start back to the pier at 2pm. By now, the clouds had blown away and the sun was out. It was hot, but there was a breeze. We rode back to the ship with a super good friend, recalling a story of her stuck- on- the- reef tender boat ride last year. We were back at the tender port at 3:30 and onboard by 3:45pm, and ready to work on photos and relax on the cool veranda. Before we knew it, dinnertime had arrived.
We had small Caesar salads, because we think they are running out of lettuce. One of us had the Mexican chicken soup and the other had the Thai beef salad. Both on the spicy side. Mains were one plate of BBQ baby back ribs (which arrived with 6 ribs) and one fettucine with a shredded roast beef Bolognaise sauce. Desserts were a rum cake with vanilla ice cream and a plate of pineapple slices. There was a movie, The Bounty, in the World Stage at 8pm, but we suspect most folks were done in tonight and called it a day. We know we did.
One more day in Mo'orea, but we are not sure what we will do. Many people we talked to said they were staying onboard.
Bill & Mary Ann
