Moorea, French Polynesia, And Then Papeete, Tahiti

The port stop today is in Moorea, French Polynesia. We were greeted by mostly sunny skies this morning, and were excited to spend the day visiting another beautiful French Polynesian Island. The ship was already approaching Moorea when we woke up at 6:00 AM. We thought there would be a good sunrise photo opportunity initially, but then a few clouds moved in and obscured the sun from our view as it rose above the horizon. That was all right since the ship was heading almost directly into the sun, and the photos needed to be taken from the bow of the ship, but because of the cloud cover, we deemed it not worth the effort of getting ready and taking the camera out to the front of the ship.

The photographer/blog writer was a little tired from being up until close to midnight working on getting the Bora Bora posting done, and taking advantage of the better internet reception we have after most of the passengers had retired for the evening. This is also another tender day, so we wanted to avoid the delay we experienced yesterday and get to the tender ticket line early. We are renting a car from Avis today, and they are meeting us at the dock where the tender drops us off.

We were a little sluggish getting ready, and the ship was actually a little early getting anchored, so by the time we finished breakfast, gathered up all of out gear, and headed to the tender waiting area, they were already giving out the tender tickets. Ticket distribution started 45 minutes earlier than they had scheduled, but we were glad we did not have to stand in a line first before we entered the dining room to get our ticket, and then sit impatiently waiting to be called. We ended up with tender tickets for group number 2, just like yesterday, but there seemed to be fewer people waiting on the tenders today than there were yesterday for Bora Bora, so we hoped for the best.

Apparently, there were less tours scheduled for first thing in the morning here in Moorea.  After only waiting  about 15 minutes, they called for tender ticket numbers 2 and 3, so off we went to board the tender. It took about 15 minutes to ride to the dock and get tied off. The ship is anchored in Opunohu Bay, one of two deep water anchorages on the island, the other being Cook’s Bay. Cook’s Bay is the normal anchorage for the smaller cruise ships that visit Moorea.

The Avis Rental Representative was set up at a small table off to the side after we walked through some vendors selling souvenirs. We rented a small red Ford Fiesta, and were on the road by 8:45 AM. The entire island is encircled by just one major road, so there is not any way to get lost. We had some written information on places to stop at along the way. The Avis representative had suggested going clockwise around the island, so we headed out in that direction. Apparently it only takes about 2 hours to drive around the entire island, so we had plenty of time, we did not have to be back on the ship until 4:30 PM.

We made our first stop at a viewing area where we could photograph the ship sitting in Opunohu Bay. Of course, as soon as we stopped, a couple of taxis carrying fellow passengers arrived. Our plan is to try and stay ahead of all of the tours if we can, so we did not stay long, opting to head up to Belvedere Lookout, which is a scenic overlook up in the mountains where you can see both Cooks Bay and Opunohu Bay.

We were surprised to see that there were already two buses at the lookout, both for Princess Tours. I guess they were on the first tender, and had gotten on their buses and headed out while we were getting our rental car.

The road up to the lookout had reminded us of the Hana Highway, but steeper, more winding, and with much sharper turns.

At one point on the way up we had to backup to let a large tour bus go by that was heading down, barely negotiating around the sharp curve on the road. We were glad we were not riding on a bus up or down that road.

At the end if the road, there was a concrete lookout area, and also a trail that headed farther up the mountain.  Since all of the bus tour passengers were on the concrete lookout, we opted to head up the trail. It was about a half mile to an area that gave us a much better view, and we were not overwhelmed by all of the crowds.

We stayed a while taking photos of all of the views, and then headed back on the trail to the parking lot. By that time, there were some different smaller tour buses there. We sort of wished that we had gone the other direction around the island, opposite of the tours so that we did not have to compete with them the entire day, but it was too late to change.

After the Belvedere Lookout, we headed around the island, stopping along the way at various areas with scenic views looking out onto the ocean reef areas.

We stopped at a public beach on the end of the island but it was not very pretty or impressive, there was also some construction being done on the dirt road, so it was just not a very pleasant place. It appeared that is could also be a congregating point for some of the homeless. There were quite a few local folks there, it just did not have the same appeal as some of the more touristy areas.

The next major scenic stop was the Kia Ora Lookout, where you could look out over some of the water bungalows (similar looking to the ones in Bora Bora), and also see across to the Island of Tahiti, which is only about 16 miles from Moorea.

The remainder of the drive around the back side of the island was not very spectacular other than the occasional scenic stop along the beaches. It is a little funny that most of the really pretty beaches are privately owned, mostly by hotels.

We thought that you could stop at many of them and pay a fee to go to their private beach, but since we get to the beach a lot at home anyway, we opted not to do that. We made it most of the way around the island by 11:00 AM, even with the various stops.

We went to a few shops in the last town closest to where the tenders dropped us off, then decided to go around the initial part of the island again, this time hoping to stop at some of the small stores that were overwhelmed by tour bus groups on our initial “lap” around the island.

We also went to a few of the larger pearl stores just to look at pricing on some of the Tahitian Black Pearls, which are for sale everywhere in these islands. Shopping for pearls seems to be harder than diamonds or automobiles. There are no real certified rating methodologies, the ones in use in French Polynesia are not backed by any type of universal grading lab. It causes a lot of confusion, and there are even two different rating scales in use.

We found this all out by talking with some of the jewelers, mainly trying to get a feel for the value of a couple of different items. Then there are the various colors and shades of colors, then the shapes. Even some of the stores insist on giving grading certificates, but those only appear to be something they themselves issues on their pearls stating what they say they are, not backed by any standard grading agency, or standard scales of ratings. More like ” I swear this is a good pearl, because I am stating it is here on this certificate” They are really just certifying themselves on paper.

After the pearl shops, we headed to another gift shop that we had seen on lap 1, and they really had a lot of nice things, mostly handcrafted wood and mother of pearl. We bought a couple of small items.

We made a couple of other stops before heading to a gas station to fill up and then head back to the tender pier to drop of the rental car and to look through some large tents where  vendors were set up selling items.

After looking through some of the items for sale, it was starting to get hot, so we headed to the dock and waited for a tender where we could sit on top for photos, and to also stay cooler, as we headed back to the ship.

This is an odd port stop, we are actually pulling up anchor in Moorea at 4:30 PM, and then heading over to Papeete, on the Island of Tahiti, which is only 15-16 miles away. We have never been to two ports in one day on a cruise.

We will be spending the night in Papeete at the dock. We actually arrived in Papeete early, and were able to get off of the ship at about 7:30 PM.

All of the shops near the pier area in Papeete were already closed, so we walked around a little, and then headed back to the ship to eat a late dinner at the buffet.

After dinner, we went to watch a Tahitian Dance show with authentic Tahitian dancers, male and female. When we arrived at the large theater, it was already standing room only.

There was a repeat performance later at 10:15 PM, but we knew we would not make it that long, so we just stood in the back of the theater and watched four dance routines, two by the men, and two by the ladies. We were tired so we headed back to the cabin to turn in.

Tomorrow, we are on a ship’s tour of the island of Tahiti in 4-wheel drive vehicles, which sounds like it will be fun, and we will hopefully get to see a lot more of Tahiti.