Island of Moorea

The island of Moorea was our first stop. You can see Moorea from Tahiti even so it took us all night to sail to our anchorage in Cook's Bay. Most of the stops/ports on this cruise were in the middle of a bay or lagoon so you could walk outside on the top deck of the ship and see land on 3 sides with open water on the fourth. Moorea is a heart shaped island with 2 bays. The one we were in is named for Captain James Cook who came to this island several times. The other bay is called Opunohu Bay. Moorea is now the pineapple growing center of French Polynesia. 

the clearing is a pineapple plantation

On our first week, Jeff and I selected different excursions; he would go on the Snorkel Safari and I would go on the Island Tour with Belvedere Lookout. These were our first excursions in the world of Covid so we weren't totally sure how everything would work - would we have our masks on constantly, would the guide wear a mask, how packed in would we be? Guides tended to take masks on and off a lot and usually if they were talking the mask was off so you had a fighting chance of understanding them! Although most of my guides spoke very good English. There were fewer people in a van/boat/jeep then normal and if we were in fresh air, we tended not to wear masks. 

The island tour took us to UC Berkeley Gump Research Station, to Belvedier Point, past a pineapple plantation, to a marae, a new national park, and a couple of bays. UC Berkeley Research Station was our first stop. It is not an impressive looking spot, but then you learn what they are up to there and you end up impressed. It is a group of 1 and 2 story buildings and a couple of covered areas like a picnic pavilion. Oh, but the details. The 2-story building is a dormitory that welcomes researchers from around the world. They can come here with just a suitcase of clothes and everything else they will need is there from scuba to lab equipment. Additionally, this island paradise is a study abroad opportunity for UC Berkeley students and in fact we saw a group. Between the students and the researchers there this island is one of the most studied marine spots in the world. It was here that I learned how their white sand beaches were formed - it is not sea shells but coral. Fish try to eat plants, etc. off the coral and gets some coral which their bodies cannot process so it is excreted.

our guide at UC Berkeley Gump Research Station

After leaving the research station, we went to what will become their first national park.  It has been donated to the government and will have some great hikes in the future.  Currently its claim to fame is that it is the site that was used for Bali Hi in the movie South Pacific. 

Bali Ha'i

From there we would journey up to Belvedere Point which is one of the highest spots on the island and we would be able to see both bays from the lookout point.

My pictures from Belvedere Point.  While I could see both bays at once, I could not get them in my camera at once!  Also took another picture of the surrounding mountains.

Cook's Bay - our ship has the masts and the other is a yacht

Opunohu Bay

The mountain I saw was Mount Totui.  It is in the picture below.

Snorkel Safari

Scott and I traveled in a covered outboard boat within the lagoon to our first destination.  The water is very smooth due to the coral barrier protecting the lagoon.  A couple tour boats were already there, but it wasn't crowded.   You could easily see the sandy bottom from the boat.  Once you're in the water you see the Sting Rays in small groups ~10 feet away.   However, when your tour guide enters the water they immediately come closer as they know he has food.  The Rays know where to get a free meal.  These Rays use their mouth to suck on food, so the guides joke about getting hickeys as they are mouthing to get the fish.  This is your chance to pet/touch the rays.  The skin is both smooth, but also gritty in places.   If the tail with the barb gets too close the guide would gently point it in another direction.   

The Sharks stay at least 10' away and closer to the deep channel next to the sand bar we are at.   They are about 4-'5 feet long and are not interested in us at all.  I'm not sure why they are there as I didn't observe the guides feeding them, nor any tourists losing any limbs.   

Our next stop was a shallow coral reef with exotic fish.   The water was so clear I had difficulty judging the depth as I didn't want to touch the coral.   I extended my hand to assure myself that I wasn't going to end up with a cut or damage the coral.   Most of the fish were quite small and look like what you would see in a salt water aquarium.   

For our second visit to Moorea, we planned on hanging out on the ship and using the swim deck.  Turned out to be an excellent plan because it rained almost all day and all tours were canceled.  In the morning, Jeff and I hung out in the back of the ship in a small open air covered area (outdoor bar area) reading and watching the rain come and go likewise the ship was twisting and bobbing slightly so we would see different sailboats at different times.  The plus side for the day was they played a movie in the afternoon in the lounge.  We watched "Couples Retreat" which was filmed in Bora Bora.  Being a popcorn lover, I had wanted to taste their room service popcorn, but they only offer it after 10pm so I had not gotten the chance.  Guess what they served during the movie - yum!  Jeff and I had planned on eating dinner that night outdoors on the top deck with another couple but the rain continued and as we left the protection of the coral reef we discovered stormy waters so we had room service instead.  You see it was a serious storm out in the open waters as in 8-9 feet westerly swells.  Jeff made it up to the lounge to the hear the talk for the next day - I decided against and decided I was better off staying in our nice low middle of the ship cabin.  I also quickly closed the curtains when the waves were covering our porthole.  Some things are better not seen!  We ordered a light dinner, ate in the room and watched a movie.  Jeff was fine and I was ok thanks to motion sickness meds, but was glad it was projected to end in the early morning!  On to Raitea for an overnight stay - guaranteed smooth sleeping there!