Days 18 Moorea
Monday: I rented a car today. I am pretty sure it was
supposed to be an automatic but when I climbed into the tiny Ford Fiesta, it
was a 5 speed. I last time I drove a manual was when I had my Tracer, which was
approximately 1997 or so. I decided to give it a try. Surprisingly, it came
back to me pretty quickly, although I will admit to forgetting to hold the
clutch in when I parked the car a couple of times. There was one iffy moment
when I stopped at a little store to buy a bottle of water. I had to back out,
in reverse, on a bit of an incline AND I couldn’t see the road on either side
as 2 large trucks were parked there. I did drift a tiny bit forward but then
backed up without revving the engine or jerking the car. I was pretty proud of
myself.
The speed limit around the island is 60. The signs say:
Rappel 60.
There is only one road around the island with several turn
offs to the mountainous interior. Off I went in a counter clockwise direction.
I encountered what is known as the ‘bad road’. It is the same road only a part
of it was damaged during heavy rains. They are in the midst of repairing it but
have quite a bit to complete. As with everything here, the repairs move on
island time and no one is in a hurry. It’s nice though because it forces you to
slow down. I had zero incidents of road rage!!!
I came up to the top of a hill and there was a scenic
overlook. Stunned once again, I pulled over to take some pictures. I cannot
imagine waking up every day to scenes like this. It was honestly like this all
around the island.
I stopped at a variety of places looking for the perfect
gifts for myself, my mom and my sister. My Mom’s being a late birthday present
and my sister’s being a future Christmas present. I am positive I am not going to
find anything for my sister because when I returned the car, I
had nothing.
I went into a pearl shop called Eva Perles and found a gift
for myself. It is the single most extravagant jewelry purchase I’ve ever made.
I am not a big jewelry person but this pendant spoke to me. I worked with the
owner, a lovely French woman, who has lived here for many years. She owns the
shop. As I was the only customer at the time, she was very informative but not
‘in my face’.
I ended up purchasing a grade A with a very good luster, baroque
shaped pearl. She hand wrote the certificate of authenticity and noted the color
as follows: Peacock bleu heart, rose body color and emerald green overtone.
Now, at first I was drawn to a more purple colored pearl. However, when we went
outside to view the pearls the purple one looked dull against my skin but the
one I bought looked beautiful. Maybe because of the orange-y base tones of my
skin and the green-ish color being complimentary? Well, enough of that, I am thrilled with the purchase.
And here is a sort of blurry picture, that doesn't do it justice...
I also went to the Lagoonarium near the ferry dock. It’s
3200 and you park your car near the dock and a boat comes and takes you to the
motu. It’s about a 5 minute ride. They have a website if you google and the
pictures on the website are true to what the place looks like. It is open from
8-4 and you can stay all day if you like. I stayed for about 2 hours. I wanted
to snorkel and was not interested in the fish feeding.
They had a series of buoys in the water with rope between each
buoy and stated if you wanted to snorkel you MUST hold onto the rope. You could
tell why almost the minute you entered the water. The current was very strong
and I’m not sure even a great swimmer could have made their way without
crashing into coral heads or being carried away. The coral was in decent shape
and there were many, many fish. Some of them were very large and you could feel
it when they bumped into you. There were also the resident stingrays and sharks
milling about.
It was a good snorkeling place but a difficult one. Once
through the snorkeling area was enough for me—it was tiring.
I missed lunch and most of the places were closed until
dinner time so I headed back to the hotel and made do finishing up the stuff I
bought. I have a can of tonic and a yogurt left! I estimate I saved myself
about $200 buying food and water at the store.
I spent the remainder of the day by the pool just reading
and then at the bar having my 2 complimentary mai-tais and watching the sunset
over the mountains. Tough work but someone has to do it!!
I retired to my room and from there watched another
Polynesian show complete with fire dancers.
Oh and in case you were wondering, this is the view from my bed:
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