French Polynesia 2015
From LAX Airport, it's eight hours to Tahiti. After our flight from Vancouver, Air Tahiti is a welcome change. Movies and TV available in the seatback screen, way more legroom than Air Canada, departing on time, and even 2 meals. We leave at 10:40pm and arrive at 5:05am. Even with the early morning arrival, there is Tahitians dancing, singing, playing music and ready to greet us with a flower Lei.
As soon as we get our luggage there is a man with a WARFIELD sign, he takes our luggage, loads us into a van, and drops us at the Ferry to Moorea. Within an hour we are on board the high speed ferry and headed to our first island.
Moorea
"A wide, shallow lagoon surrounds the island's vertical mountains where poetic threads of waterfalls tumble down fern-softened cliffs. Peaceful meadows flanked by pinnacles of green will fill your senses and renew your belief in the majesty of nature. Pastel-painted houses surrounded by gardens of hibiscus and birds of paradise, circle the island in a fantasy of happy, yet simple villages."
As soon as the ferry arrives, we see another WARFIELD sign, and we are whisked off to the Sofitel Ia Ora Beach Resort & Spa.
The grounds are stunning gardens weaved along the waterfront, there is a couple restaurants and a very nice Infinity pool. With the Ocean right there and white sandy beaches against the bluest of waters, who would use the pool though? As you can see in the picture below, that's about as busy as the beach gets... a far cry from the beaches of Maui.
We have a couple hours to kill before our room is available, so we wander the beach and the grounds, before returning to the lobby. Our bags have already been delivered to the room and our hostess takes us out onto the boardwalk to our room. The room is not just a bed with a mosquito net (well it has a bed with a mosquito net).
A large bed, a large bathroom with a tub and shower, mini-bar and air-conditioning, a deck out front, and a glass hole in the floor with a couple of really comfy chairs to sit and watch the fish, or other creatures that pass below.
The deck is definitely the highlight, large glass doors open onto a deck with a couple loungers, and a stairway leads to a lower deck where you can climb right into the water and snorkle. The waters here are only 3-4 feet deep, and so so warm, full of colourful coral.
The view from the deck is amazing, and just beckons you to enter the aqua blue waters... so I did.
Looking down from the deck you can see fish meandering around the coral, when you put on your mask and climb in, you realize they are everywhere. Snorkeling gives you a different perspective, especially the few fish that have adopted our hut as their own. There is the little blue damselfish that lives in the ladder, and is always there when you are going in or coming out of the water. The funniest are the two butterflyfish that always come over to see if I have any bread or snacks for them, they are never far away from us.
Threadfin butterflyfish 
Vagabond butterflyfish
Three striped Damselfish Oval butterflyfish
We got out of the water to dry off for a bit, and then it rained... it rained a lot, lighting, and thunder, so loud it shook our hut. Half an hour later it was done, and when we woke up it was beautiful blue skies.
Our first full day on the island, and I wanted to do something a little unique, as well as get to know the island a little better, so I rented a Secma Roadster for the day. This thing was tiny, and you had to climb in through the roof. It didn't go faster than 60km/h, but it was a lot of fun and drew a lot of stares from locals and tourists alike.
I knew it was a great choice when we stop at a lookout above our resort and see this view of where we are staying.
We end up constantly climbing in and out of our little roadster, because as we wind our way around the 1 main road of the island there is something else to stop and look at. Just sitting on the side of the road is a collection of carvings, not sure why they are there, or what they mean, but they were very cool to look at.
How do you not stop and check out the waters when the beaches look like this?
At the base of Opunohu bay is a nice little black sand beach, completely deserted.
From the black sand beach we turn inland to head up to the famous Belvedere lookout. Our first stop was a fruit orchard, everyone else that arrives is provided a sample plate and given explanations of what they have from their gardens, we are ignored, get no samples, and only get service when we ask directly for some fruit ice cream and sorbet. Not sure what the deal was, so we cooled off from the 35° weather (that's 100° farenheit), sat in the shade and ate our ice cream.
Our first cultural stop was the Titiroa Marae. Marae is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. Most often a platform or rectangle made of or surrounded by rocks, they were used for rituals or tributes to the gods. Dating back to 900 AD, most marae were destroyed or abandoned with the arrival of Christianity in the 19th century. You can tell it's a sacred place because of the chickens.
At the top of the mountain and the end of this road is the Belvedere lookout.
From here you can see both Opunohu and Cook's Bay that make up the Northern side of Moorea's unique shape. Behind us is the towering pinnacle of Mount Tohiea, a distinct toothlike rock formation that can be seen from almost everywhere on the island.
Just like in Paris, someone has started the love lock tradition at the Belvedere lookout. We looked out in awe for a while, then climbed back in our roadster and headed back down to the main circular road that runs along the shoreline. As recommended to us, we stopped at the Restaurant Le Tipaniers for lunch, the view on the patio is amazing, and the fresh seafood is just as good. Enjoying a nice cold Iced Tea and a Mahi-Mahi burger we watch the Kite surfers and the changing water colours as clouds roll by overhead.
Another stop on the side of the road for what appear to be traditional Tahitian carvings.
It's starting to rain just as we stop at the Tiki Village, an authentic village and show site where several families are living in traditional huts and using traditional fishing and farming methods. We learn a little history, and also find out that we can get a great deal if we want to come back for the Tiki-Polynesian dancers show and underground BBQ dinner, they'll even come pick us up.
Once the rains stopped we dried the seats in our roadster and continued the circle around the island.
So many unique things to stop and look at, but mostly just the lush scenery. It's kind of funny when we stop for a photo, this guy wants to come over and see what you are doing there. Or, maybe he just wants to know if we have an apple?
Before giving up our little car, we head back into the main village, stock up on some drinks, and do a little shopping. In what would turn out to be a little foreshadowing, and the perfect souvenir, I bought a wooden Stingray carving to add to our collection.
Back at the resort, we enjoy a little swim time on the beach before it starts to get dark.
Always trying to fit in a little bit, we try to learn some of the Tahitian words... I think it's just polite to learn the basic greetings and Thank you wherever you are. "Ia Ora Na" means Hello (sounds like Yaranna), "Mauruuru" means Thank you (sounds like Ma-roo-roo), and "Nana" means Goodbye (sounds like nah-nah).
Tonight I would start tasting the local brew, Hinano beer, quite good. Norine wanted to taste the local wine, and as luck would have it, one of the waiters comes over, "I can recommend a wine" he says fingering the small grape cluster pin on his chest "I am a somalier". It comes across rather Monty Python style, and he becomes a running joke through our trip, as he does this to us 2 more times, and we see him do it to several other guests, "I am a somalier!". He wasn't that good, our choice without his assistance the next night was a better wine... Vin de Tahiti, Rose Nacarat. Full of fish, wine and beer we head back to our room in the dark and watch the fish through our window..
We wake up again to a lovely morning, and stop to smell the flowers after our complimentary breakfast.
Feeling safe that enough time had passed before going swimming, it was time to head back into the water and do some more snorkeling. I took a bun stolen from breakfast, and sure enough the two butterfly fish are right there to start nibbling from it.
Everybody is coming by to take a closer look until I finally create a frenzy by crushing the bun and letting it go.
Raccoon butterflyfish Bicolour parrotfish
This one Moorish Idol was quite the photo-bomber, i have a bunch of blurry yellow and black pictures.
Be prepared to scroll, a whole bunch of colourful fish photos, my apologies.
Moorish idol Bluefin trevally
The Picasso triggerfish is a really unique and colourful looking fish, known in Hawaii as humuhumunukunukuapua'a. The other yellow fish is the teardrop butterflyfish, one of the many colourful variations of the butterflyfish, also, the most friendly.
Reticulated sandperch Barred thicklip
This little black and gold damselfish was hilarious, every time I would stop and look at him, he would charge out and peck my camera.
Brown bird wrasse Bird-nose Wrasse
Black triggerfish Blue spotted boxfish
Yellow margin morayScribbled pipefish
After spotting this octopus tucked into a hole, and waiting for him to come out... he never did, it was back to our home blue damselfish, and time to dry off.
The sunsets aren't dramatic here as it sets behind the mountains, but it's still a pretty nice night sitting on the deck as the sun goes down on the lagoon.
We made a reservation at the resorts featured restaurant, 'K', not knowing what we were in for, we arrived to the fancy restaurant ready for a nice romantic dinner. We are seated and then walked through the menu, it is a 5 course gastronomic extravaganza. We suffer sticker shock when we see the price, well over $100 per person, not including the drinks.
Foie gras in puff pastry with honey roasted green apples Polynesia, Chutney Papaya and Passion Fruit
Fava beans bisque with mint
Diver scallops cooked in a jar with lemongrass - ginger scents and grapefruit salad
Pan-fried Opunohu shrimps, roasted mango, Mango cream with green pepper and pink peppercorns
Glazed duck breast, mashed potato with truffle oil, Wild mushrooms and seasonal vegetables, jus
Poached pear glazed with lavendar-thyme syrup
Sparkling chocolate - raspberry cake
Norine chooses a much nicer wine than the "Somalier" suggested the night before, and we are treated to a fine dining experience including personalized Polynesian dancers for just us and the 2 other tables that have been setup outside in the fine white sands of the beach.
Wednesday would be another adventure, we have booked an ATV with Damon's ATV Tours. We are supposed to be picked up at 8:30 at our resort, as it's getting close to 9:00 we have the concierge call them to see what is going on. Apparently they made a mistake in their calendar as today was a holiday in Moorea, and rushed over to pick us up right away. To our surprise it was going to be a personalized tour with the owner Damon. After some basic instruction, safety tips, and some practice driving in his back yard, we loaded up and headed out.
The first stop was to head back up to the Belvedere lookout, taking the alternate "road" that our roadster company told us not to take, to say the road was rough would be an understatement, but we made it. The view seemed even better this time.
Today the chicken was in the garbage can instead of on the monuments, Damon told us if we caught him, we could eat him, we didn't.
On the way back down from Belvedere we stopped at the Botanical garden/Orchard, and this time we did get service. Apparently you have to be with a local guide to get noticed. We were given a sampler of local syrups and jams, and selected some different Ice Cream and Sorbet to try, I tried the local flower Ice cream known as Tiare... it was cold and delicious.
The next stop was truly unique, we wound our way up this crazy trail, it was so steep at times you thought we would tip backwards. When you arrive at the top, we park the ATVs and it's a short hike up to a viewing platform. Magic Mountain is a pinnacle on the island that gives you a 360° view of the ocean and surrounding mountains.
From here you can see two of the luxury resorts we didn't stay at, the Inter-Continental Resort & Spa, and The Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort & Spa. It's over $700 a night for the Hilton, and we heard from locals that they think our Sofitel is the nicest on the island... whew.
After enjoying the views and the nice breezes for a while, it was back on the ATV and down the steep slopes of Magic Mountain. At least we took a different path down that wasn't quite so wild. Along the way we are stopping to check out the amazing views of the island.
Our next stop is a Pineapple plantation where Damon showed us how to steal pineapples, the different types of fruits and vegetables on this farm, and encouraged us to become ATV guides instead of farmers.
From here we got to explore some more of the dirt roads in the center of the island, including a couple river crossings.
It was a ton of fun.
Having seen everything including the elusive roadside crabs, it was back on the roads to return the ATV's. Damon's wife came out and presented Norine with a black pearl pendant to apologize for the early morning mix-up. A great day all round and it was only lunch time.
After a great seafood pasta we spent the afternoon hanging on the pretty much deserted beach. I found my new favourite beer, TABU, and we tried some stand up paddle boards before packing it in. I have to say, I was impressed that we were able to stand up as it was a little windy, but Norine did great and crossed the length of the beach and back without making a splash... I made several splashes.
Remember when I talked about foreshadowing? Our first Ray encounter happened on the way back to our hut, as we are walking along the boardwalk, a Spotted Eagle Ray is swimming in the shallow waters under our hut. So beautiful and graceful.
Every night there is local entertainers at the resort, usually Tahitian dancing girls. One night it was three guys playing traditional Tahitian songs. The more they play, the more it seems they are having a good time, smiling, laughing, then we realize they are singing a Tahitian version of Frozen's "Let it Go". That movie is everywhere this trip.
Another beautiful morning, so we go snorkeling again. Be prepared to scroll if you don't like pictures of fish.
Guineafowl pufferSpotted sea slug
Another beautiful day to just hang on the beach and spend some time at the beach bar on our last full day in Moorea.
It's a travel day, so we had to check out at 11. They said they would hold our bags as we didn't have to leave until 3:00, so we left our bags and backpacks with them and spent the afternoon in the infinity pool. Later we would discover some stuff was stolen from our bags, whether it was before or after the bellman put the bags in his office we don't know. It was small stuff, but annoying none-the-less, a small high powered flashlight, and the adapter for reading SD Cards with my iPad. It cuts down on my updates, but that's ok.
When it was time, we changed out of our bathing suits, and the same guy that picked us up at the ferry terminal, comes and collects us. It's a short drive to the airport for our short flight to the small island of Huahine. Everyone's there, so the flight leaves 15 mins early.
