Moorea

What a difference a day makes. A 32 hour cruise from the flat Tuomotos and we find Moorea. The sister island of Tahiti. We will go to Tahiti in a couple of days after we explore Moorea.

Anchored in Cook Bay. Named after Captain Cook (although we are told he never sailed into this particular bay). Beautiful mountainous green covered peaks of basalt. Unbelievable how steep these canyons are. They go up nearly a mile. We rented a car and drove around the island. Took a couple of hours. With stops. Not a very big island. Very friendly people and pretty easy driving. Especially since I forgot to bring my drivers license to the rental place so Dawn had to drive the whole thing. So I saw a beautiful island. Dawn saw a lot of winding, twisting, pot holed roads.

Vivo is the cat on the right. The one on the left are our friends Nexus.

The first night we were here was the usual Friday night happy hour, dinner and show at the local resort.  Nice place. They didn’t seem to mind a few ARC boats invading and clogging up their dingy dock. Dinner and drinks were very nice. Actually got most of what we ordered so that was a surprise. The after dinner local show was very nicely done. Sometimes you get the feel that they would rather be home watching reruns than doing the show but this group was very good. Very proud of their culture and it showed. We really enjoyed it. Seemed like they did as well. After they invited everyone to come up and get a picture taken with the group. Started off kind of slow as no one seemed to want to be the first but it got going pretty well after a couple of boats and crew got their pix. For us it turned out to be one of my favorite pictures so far. Dawn and Merc and I were in there for one then Iris and Lorenzo photo bombed it. That’s the one that is my favorite. But where is Bob you might ask? As well you should. Well, Bob had been running to the bar and getting drinks and got to be quite popular with the gals serving there. Seems Bob got one free for every one he bought. Or maybe two free. Not sure. At any rate when we went up for the picture Bob was nowhere to be found. We did find him later on and got him back to Vivo safely. He had a good time. Not that he remembers but we filled him in the next day. We are going to have to Photoshop him into the picture at some point. I am looking for a picture of him in a suit at a wedding or something and I will insert him in there. Should be a bit of fun.

Think we were having a little fun? Wheres Bob?????

So we take the rental car back to a place we had passed the day before. Lagoonaquarium they call it. It’s a small island, (motu), just off shore where they have a snorkel and feed the critters attraction. Kind of Disney but kind of interesting. The stingrays and reef sharks are quite accustomed to people and they swim right in amongst us. Little kids with swimmies on with stingrays and reef sharks going under them. They have the utmost respect for he nature here but they very much live with them. We are getting used to being in close proximity with these animals. More so that I would have thought. Now I am only scared of pirates. Sharks are way cool by me.

Please don't bite me Mr. Shark. This is not zoomed in or cropped.

Mr. Charles. Ray to his friends.

Nice place this island. In the end we spent three days there. I would love to go back.

Oh, wait! Get this! I went to church! Easter Sunday Dawn wanted to go to a local service so we found the Catholic Church across the island and off we go. The five of us. (Me, Dawn, Merc, Bob, Lorenzo) First time I had been to church in…. hmmm… no idea. Bob as well. Was waiting for lighting to come down but, a nice surprise, it never did. Nice service. All in French and Polynesian so I understood about as much as I usually would have anyway. But very nice people. Very welcoming. You know the part where you say “peace be with you” and you shake hands. They say something in Polynesian and kiss on the cheeks. Guys, Gals, everybody. Got all kinds of kissed on that day. Pretty women, hairy women, guys with huge face tats, and a priest for crying out loud. I am not kidding. They smooch like it’s going to be illegal tomorrow. It’s a very nice formality but I don’t think it will ever catch on in the states. To bad. Except for the large tattooed guys and the priest I got to kind of like it.

So we get ready to head for the big city. Papeete, Tahiti. Have been told it will be a bit of a culture shock after the places we have been accustomed to for the last couple of months. We are heading for the city dock, which has been the source of a lot of rumors. Like, its closed for construction, or its full and no more boats may enter, you have to get clearance to go past the airport, or this, or that. We’ll find out soon.

I am posting this from Tahiti where we arrived yesterday. All I can say about Papeete is……..   bedlam.   Rented a car and broke about ten traffic laws in the first ten minutes driving here. Chaos. More to follow. If I don’t kill myself in the rental minican car.

M