Our second port in French Polynesia was Moorea, the sister island of Tahiti and a hop and a skip away from Papeete. However, our itinerary showed we were to arrive at 9am at Opunohu Bay with scenic cruising beginning at 8am. The Volendam left the harbor at Papeete sometime around 4am, so where did we go for five hours? Apparently we were circling the area until we were ready to enter the bay. Now here's the funny thing……we were already in the bay when we woke up. What happened to the bow opening at 8am? Guess it never happened nor was there any explanation of what changed the planned scenic sail in. We have been lucky to have been here numerous times over the years, but the first time sailing into either Opunohu or Cook's Bay was memorable. Many folks that are here on this cruise are first time "world cruisers" and would have appreciated the effort. Anyway, we were here and anchored and ready to go ashore later in the morning.
As you may have guessed, there were some tours here today. Discover Moorea, a bus ride, was 3 hours and $80. Also the same price covered a 2-hour lagoon cruise into both bays for 2 hours. A snorkel safari was 3 hours for $100, and the Aito safari adventure was also $100 for 4 hours. An island drive and Belvedere was 3 hours for $100, while Moorea highlights was 4 hours and $120. The Ohana catamaran escapade was 3 hours for $160 and dolphin-watching was also 3 hours for $170. A popular excursion was the motu beach picnic and ray feeding for 5 hours and $180. A photography expedition was 4 hours and $180. One time many years ago, we took the ferry from Papeete with our host at the time. We spent the day at a beach, then took the ferry back. There was one problem that cropped up that day and that was traffic we did not anticipate getting back to the ferry landing. Had we missed that ferry, we would have been stuck overnight and missed our ship. Not a good feeling, we never tried that again.
It was going to be another hot day in paradise as the 7am temperature was already 79 degrees with 72% humidity. Winds were 16.5 mph which decreased during the day. We stayed onboard until most of the excursions were taken off. The tender boat was full of guests and one of the last seats in the front near us was taken by a man who talked incessantly about his career and flying all around the world. All we could say is "that's nice". He continued on, but then his phone rang. How funny is that? It was his significant other who called to tell him to move and sit by her in the tender boat. That way they could be the first ones off. With that, he got up and moved, working better for us as it was really cramped for space.
As the driver approached the tender dock, he went straight ahead and rammed into the dock. Gosh, we thought he put a hole in the boat it hit so hard. Guess he was not watching and made a mistake. Ropes were thrown and we were tied up snug so we could get off. And we did quickly but did not see any damage. The welcome group of musicians were there as well as the usual tables of precious souvenirs. A sign posted on a pole stated that all of the pearls were genuine black pearls. They may be of various quality, but they are real. Good to know. And as always, we looked for our sweet Tahitian lady that has been selling her designs for many years now. And there she was, sitting in her same spot as always. Her face lit up when she saw us as did ours. This time she asked in broken English if we were from Hawaii. Maybe because we always have a tan when we arrive here, or it is closer to Polynesia by ship. She really laughed when we said San Francisco. Then we inquired how long she had been working the souvenir stand, but she understood that as how old was she. We never would have asked that, but she showed us eight fingers, indicating that was her age. Gosh, she is close to our ages, which we never suspected. Then we did buy one of her seashell designs with some blue shells to match the blouse I wore. She was pleased with the sale and we wished her well as we continued our hike.
Many independent tour guides were at the exit with good prices on excursions. They had a lot of takers. We headed up to the main road, turned right, and began our long walk to lunch somewhere. Passing many private houses, a church, a few closed restaurants and fruit and veggie stands, we visited along the way with those who were out and about. Being that it was Sunday, most locals were enjoying a lazy day raking leaves, hanging laundry, watching little ones, or simply hanging out. Most all of the locals young and old are friendly.
It took us a while to get as far as the old Intercontinental Hotel, due to the heat, we went from shade to shade tree, and bus stop to bus stop benches. We had time and were in no need to hurry. It would have been nice if it had rained. The clouds came and went, and we did get some misting on the way back. Anyway, we decided to check out Holy Steak House or as it is named these days Holy Delizes. According to the internet ad and the sign on the road, they were opened for lunch. It had better be after climbing the steep road to access it.
Yes, they were opened and welcomed us to sit on their breezy patio. They are located high enough to see over the palm trees right to the lagoon. We ordered Hinano draft beers, the large size, then added a cheeseburger with extra fries to share. Those Hinano beers are life savers for sure. They had a nice chocolate mousse dessert, so we finished our meal on the sweet side. As we walked out of the restaurant, the waitress handed us a shotglass full of pineapple rum. Really tasty
We figured if there was a taxi that came by on the way back, we might take it. However, no one stopped and we slowly made it back to the pier by 2:30pm or so. While sipping some lemonade, we happened to talk to the beverage manager who was manning the stand. We mentioned that it came as a surprise to find the Lido bar had Blanton's whisky at the special cocktail party we attended a few nights ago. Actually, he said that the case was delivered by mistake in San Antonio, but they decide to keep it, selling the shots for $16. Once it is gone, they did not know if they will get anymore. We mentioned to him that we heard Carnival had Blanton's, which he seemed to know. But HAL does not know if they intend to restock it. Hopefully they will host another party for our group and we'll ask for the good stuff once more. A tender boat had just arrived, so we had a quick ride back. The air-conditioning never felt so good.
The Captain came on with his update around 5:20pm, with the all aboard time of 5:30pm coming up. He claimed there were 25 more guests to be transferred, then the last tender would be loaded and we sail out of the bay shortly afterwards. There was really no mention of why we missed the sail-in this morning. We had another 149 nautical miles to reach Bora Boa tomorrow with the bow promised to be opened by 6am. By the time we left Moorea, the temperature was still 84 degrees with12 knot winds, which may or may not have caused some problems early on. By the time we went to dinner, we did catch a nice sunset as we left the island behind.
Neither of us were really hungry at dinner tonight, and we think it was due more to the heat than anything else. One of us had a Caesar salad and a bacon-wrapped tenderloin appetizer, which was so good it should have been an entr?e. A bowl of Italian wedding soup was just right for a starter. One entr?e was swordfish and the other was pork tenderloin….both were excellent. Dessert was one sliced banana to fend off possible leg cramps and one scoop of vanilla ice cream.
A comedian, Simon Palomares, was the entertainer in the World Stage this evening. We heard he was hilarious.
Ready or not – Bora Bora here we come………..
Bill & Mary Ann
