I Can't Drive 55!

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: 

Gobsmacked in Taha'a

Raiatea and Taha’a

Woke this morning to overcast skies as the ship was coming in to dock at Raiatea. Went upstairs for a quick cup of coffee and pineapple. This pineapple is to die for. It’s grown on Moorea and so sweet and so good, I’m probably ruined forever for ‘regular’ pineapple.

Headed out to meet my excursion: l’excursion Bleue. The trip started out very chaotic and I was starting to doubt all those great Trip Advisor reviews. First, the man couldn’t find me on his list, despite the fact that I paid a deposit and had the Email/Receipt to prove it. Then we were shuffled about for awhile and finally settled into a small boat. (Thank Goodness—as the large boat sat 38 people and 95% of them were Chinese.) Our little boat had 6 other new friends from our previous excursion and Cruise Critic. And there were 4 others as well.

We finally got underway and rode over to Ta’a to a Pearl farm. Our group had already seen a demonstration and the shop was loaded with all the Chinese people. It was crazy. We told our guide, George, we were ready to go but he kept saying our boat was the lead boat and we needed to wait for everyone to finish. The sun was out and we wanted to take advantage of that for our first snorkel. We waited and waited and were getting quite annoyed. I think George finally realized how we were feeling, and seeing most of the Chinese still in the store, he agreed to take us ahead of the other boat to the first snorkeling stop. To top it off, 90% of the Chinese did not go in the water.

So, off we flew to our first stop. Beautiful water, sunny skies. It was magnificent. George stopped the boat and threw some fish into the water. The black tip sharks and the rays were there in minutes. He assured us it was safe and gave us a few shark etiquette tips. It was very unsettling swimming with that many sharks but they really just ignored us. The rays got much closer. AND I have some amazing video and pictures. All of a sudden, the bar was raised for any future snorkeling. Once we got back on the boat, we were all gobsmacked. I can’t begin to describe how amazing it was.

Next, we headed to a vanilla farm. That was quite an interesting little tour. It’s amazing how profitable this enterprise is. However, it is a lot of work. Afterward, was the obligatory little store selling all sorts of vanilla products. I did buy some vanilla beans!

We then headed over to George’s Motu where a very tasty lunch had been prepared for us. Fresh fish, chicken, poisson cru, salads, fruit and this amazing coconut bread. This motu was what you think of when you think of the ‘South Seas’. A beautiful sandy island with palm trees and coconuts, surrounded by the amazing colors of water. They had comfy beach loungers. Very nice…but we were anxious to get to the next stop……

The drift snorkel!!! George anchored the little boat in very shallow water—only about a foot or so. We slogged through the water and across a motu, inhabited only by chickens and roosters! After about a 10 minute walk, we reached the other side of the motu where we entered the water once again. George led the way and it was so cool. All you needed to do was float and the current took you back along the coral garden. It was breathtaking. I think I am ruined for snorkeling any place in the Caribbean. I have never seen such beautiful coral or so many fish—all so colorful and more varieties than I’ve ever seen. We even saw eels which George coaxed out of their coral to ‘greet’ us. They are hideous looking and very, very scary.  

Adding a video: That's a huge freakin' eel.

More pictures:  I loved the coral here. It was in great shape!

When we finished there, we headed back to the boat for the long ride back to the ship, anchored in Raiatea. I was looking forward to visiting the local shops—especially the supermarket called Champion. We were all disappointed when we realized the entire town was shuttered and closed for business. Today is Sunday and I guess they observe the Sabbath the way we used to when I was a kid.  Have to get there next time. J

Tonight was Italian night in the dining room. We had an excellent meal, once again. And once again, it’s 10PM and I am very tired. Another early day tomorrow in Bora Bora and more snorkeling!! Patrick’s tour has a lot to live up to!

Huahine

Day 6 Huahine

Awoke to rain this morning. UGH. It’s not supposed to rain here, this is the dry season. But what can you do? We tendered not far from shore and met Marc, from Marc’s Motu Picnic and immediately climbed aboard our motorized outrigger canoe, complete with palm fronds and flowers decorating it.

Although overcast when we left, it wasn’t raining so off we went to our first snorkeling location complete with narration, and at times, being serenaded with Polynesian songs accompanied by a uukelele. It was very nice.

Our guide, Puka, said Huahine means: Hua = sex, hine = woman. And to prove that, showed us a mountain peak in the distance that is in the shape of a woman laying on her back. He then proceeded to show us what he said was one particular body part of an ancient God. (He said was his grandfather. LOL)

The island is very beautiful and the water was incredible despite the overcast skies. We continued on to the snorkel location. Well, let’s just say it didn’t go as planned. I had a severe leg cramp shortly after entering the water and immediately tried to move my leg to a position to relieve the cramp. Unfortunately, right below me was a coral head which took a bite out of my toe!  I didn’t even realize it until we were back on the canoe.

Here is a video from the snorkel. Pardon my thumb as I am just getting used to this new camera!

Then we saw a whale in the distance and chased it but it never resurfaced. Sigh.

Off to the pearl farm which is situated in the middle of the bay in a hut over the water. There was a very interesting presentation on how the pearl have a piece of oyster shell, from the Mississippi River grafted to the gonad along with another something I can’t remember the name of. They are then hung in nets in the water for 6 months. If the oyster has not rejected the graft, they are left alone for another 18 months until the pearl is harvested. The oysters that produced well are reused and a larger graft is put into the oyster. And they can only open the oyster a tiny bit to insert the graft AND it has to be done in a minute or the oyster dies.

We also learned the gonad produces a substance that coats the inside of the shells with Mother of Pearl. It was very fascinating. I wanted to buy something very badly—but it was the first place I visited on this trip. I hope I don’t regret it. We shall see.

At any rate, after that we headed towards Marc’s Motu for the luncheon and a drift snorkel. About ½ way there, you could see we were heading towards rain. Our guide handed out ponchos or rain coats to everyone. We were freezing cold as the wind picked up and of course the boat was travelling into the wind. We made it to the Motu, still cold but the rain had stopped. Believe it or not, (I have pictures) we were all huddled around the fire in the barbeque grill. The water was very warm but no one got back in because of how windy and cold it felt when you got out of the water.

My coral cut was doctored by our guide. He squeezed fresh lime onto it. Oh the pain. But he insisted, as did Marc, that if I did the same 2 more times today, by tomorrow it would be dried up and healed. I’m going to try it. I’ll keep you posted.

We were treated to a demonstration on how to make Poisson Cru. I’ve never eaten it before and I’m not a sushi fan so I was a bit skeptical. He started with raw Tuna they caught this morning. Over that he squeezed the juice of many limes as well as salt. He mixed that together so the tuna would start to ‘cook’. Then he added fresh vegetables—onions, shredded carrots, cucumbers and you could also add tomatoes and peppers. Then he demonstrated how to take a brown coconut and remove the husk and crack the nut to get the fresh coconut, which he then began to grate by hand. He had 6 cups of fresh coconut and he put a handful at a time into a cotton cloth. He then squeezed and twisted the cloth until all the liquid was extracted from the ground coconut. He did not put the ground coconut into the dish. Finally, he just mixed it all together and served it. OMG it was so delicious. They also had grilled chicken and grilled tuna as well as saffron rice and fresh vegetables. It was all very, very good.

There was a pareo tying demonstration. More standing around the fire and then it really started to rain. And, it was time for the long, cold, wet and windy trip back to the ship.

There were 10 very cold people anxiously awaiting a hot shower. My feet are still cold and I am wearing socks and shoes. Unreal. Fortunately, we had a great group of people in our boat and we had a very good time despite the less than perfect weather.

When I get home, I have some very interesting video of these strange fish that were right at the shore of the motu. When you first looked into the water you could not see them. They were a white color but had black markings. No idea what they were, but I called them Ghost Fish.