Yes, I managed to haul myself out of bed and meet in the Star Theatre by 7:45 AM. Our cabin is in the rear, but the meeting is in the bow and the exit is near the stern. I got my steps in! After a short tender ride to shore we arrived only to find out that our boat was not there. So we had to wait until 8:45 for the boat to show up. There was a market on the pier selling souvenirs. But at that hour in the morning I am certainly not interested in shopping.
Here is the description of my tour: “relax on the shores of one of Moorea’s coral islets, and take a dip in the turquoise waters among the stingrays. Climb onboard your motorized vessel and set sail across the lagoon, following in the footsteps of 18 century explorers who first discovered these lands. During your cruise, admire the scenery as your captain tells stories of local legends. Your guide will attract schools of stingrays with morsels of fish to feed on. As you marvel at these gentle, graceful creatures, you’re welcome to reach out and touch them. Your captain will then moor at a sandy island where you step off your boat into crystal clear water. As your crew prepares a delicious buffet style lunch, enjoy a swim or don your snorkel and mask to explore local marine life. Then sit down to a tasty lunch, accompanied by soft island, music in a coconut demonstration.” Most of it didn’t happen!
The weather has been rather cool and rainy, and where we were supposed to snorkel the current was way too strong, so we did not do any snorkeling. As far as stepping off your boat into crystal clear water, yours truly made a three-point landing, right into the surf. The two guides on board were trying to hold the ship steady so we could climb off, and just as I was getting off, the boat went one way and the person holding onto me pulled me the other way and I went SPLAT right into the water. I was told it was very graceful. I was not hurt, only my pride was. As far as soft island music is concerned, no. The instruments they use are very high-pitched small guitar like instruments that they play extremely fast and they sing in local dialect. Regaling us with stories during the voyage, no. Our guides were young and could barely speak English, but they were nice. There was a demonstration on how to make cerviche and how to open a coconut. Next time I’m stranded on a deserted island, I now have survival skills!
So here we are on this island, and the heavens decided to burst open and pour down upon us. Fortunately, there was a tent set up for just this purpose. With the weather being so poor, we milled around, looking for something to do. Lunch wasn’t for another hour and a half. I was hoping that there would be a lovely white sand beach that one could lay upon and gaze up at the sky and just exist. No beach. Oh well, I must read the excursion descriptions better. After lunch, which wasn’t all that great, we did go into the water and saw two black tipped sand sharks floating around. Then back to the pier for the tender ride back to the ship. And take another shower.
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| Local musicians in the background |
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| No beach 😩 |
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| The tent where we took shelter from the rain |
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| Making cerviche |
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| Watching two sharks swimming around |
As an aside, the water on the ship is very drying to one’s hair. I have had my hair washed four times in two days. We will not talk about the haircut that I got the other day. Suffice to say I will probably not have to have a haircut for three months.
Interesting to note that there are only primary schools on the island. Past six grade, students must attend school on the island of Tahiti. Students get up at 3 in order to catch a bus at 4 in order to be at the ferry terminal at 5 to take an hour ride over to Tahiti. They then must catch a bus to the high school to be there for 7 am classes. They arrive home by 7 in the evening. And our pampered kids complain about having to get up early?
Michael went on what he hoped to be an interesting excursion. It was called Aito off– Road safari. It was advertised as an invigorating drive through Moorea’s deep valleys and Mountain Passes. Off-road was a good title since about 95% of it was on rocks, dirt, water, and anything other than roads. Interestingly, it turned out to be mostly an agricultural and wildlife tour. It began with a visit to a vanilla farm. Vanilla only comes from two places in the world – Madagascar and here, so this was quite interesting. |
| Vanilla plant |
They next went to visit the gigantic freshwater eels that live in one of the local streams. These guys are bigger than pythons, but relatively harmless. I think the locals eat them. Next was a drive through the tropical forest of Moorea. Here they got to see papayas and mamayas, grapefruits, bananas, and other sundry fruits and vegetables. They arrived at the very center of Moorea, in fact, the caldera of the volcano that created the island. Here, they saw 900 acres of Pineapple growing.
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The next stop was 1000 feet up one of the local mountains, to a viewing area called Belvedere. Some spectacular views could be had from up here. The last stop was a visit to the oldest Moorean temple left on the island. It was something like 1800 years old and you could still see where the king’s tomb was, and where the human sacrifices were conducted. They next headed to a place to experience the local pineapple and rum drink, but by the time they got there, it was closed, so it was back to the ship.