March 26, 2019

Overnight, the ship took about 12 hours to travel from Uturoa, Ra’iatea to Mo’orea, also part of the Society Islands. We anchored in the bay at Bahia d’Opunohu, Mo’orea, and were tendered ashore. It took about 15 minutes.

The morning temperature was 25°C, there was a slight breeze, the clouds were fewer and thinner and the sun was shining. It looked like no rain in the morning.

Our tour was in a true air-conditioned Hyundai bus, one of three buses taking over 125 passengers on the 50 kilometer circuit of Mo’orea Island. We exited the parking lot to the left to drive clockwise around the coast of the island.

Mo’orea island has a heart shape. The island is 132 square kilometers in area, protected by a coral reef, creating a beautiful clear blue water lagoon. The economy’s leading source of income is tourism followed by pineapples and black pearls. Other agricultural products are bananas, taro, sugarcane, coffee and cotton. During the drive, we passed all of the exclusive resorts located on the beaches. Our driver mentioned that electricity is expensive. He pays 25,000 French Polynesian francs or $345 Cdn each month to power his household.

The buses stopped for a chance to photograph the ship anchored in Opunohu Bay. This is the bay where Captain James Cook anchored his ship in 1777. The route takes us through the lush forests of Mo’orea. Sandy, our driver, pointed out many different kinds of trees, both hard wood and fruit, even a chestnut tree. We turned inland to a road that zigzagged up a mountain for some great views. We passed a shrimp farm, with at least six concrete ponds. Next, he stopped so pictures could be taken of the “Bali Hai” mountain featured in the movie, South Pacific, based on James Michener’s book “Tales of the South Pacific”.

Our next stop is Belvédère d’Opunoha, which is a viewpoint with a marvellous vista of Mo’orea’s two largest bays - Opunohu Bay to the left and Cook Bay to the right. Captain Cook never anchored in Cook Bay.

On the way back down, we stopped at the Agricultural College’s pineapple field. There was a tall papaya tree growing at the edge of the field. Next stop, where people applied insect spray if they had some, was an archeological excavation of Tetiiroa Marae, an ancient Polynesian temple. There was a thin hedge of tea trees. The site had a sacrificial alter, where human sacrifices were made until the English Christians arrived in the early 19^thcentury.

There was a rest stop about half way through the drive which had a kiosk selling 500 ml fruit smoothies for five hundred French Polynesian francs, about $7 Cdn. We shared a pineapple, banana, mango smoothie.

The next stop was at panorama To’area with a view of Temae Beach and the gorgeous blue lagoon. Across the water Tahiti island could easily be seen. It is a mere 10 nautical miles away. To fly to Tahiti from Mo’orea the cost is 5,500 French Polynesian francs, ($74 Cdn) but the 30 minute ferry ride only costs 1,200 French Polynesian francs ($16 Cdn).

The final stop was the Tiki Village locate on a beach only 15 minutes from the pier. We were offered rum punch or fresh orange juice and orange slice, bread fruit, and coconut and a chance to see what the cone shaped Nuki fruit, that we saw on a tree yesterday, looks like inside – like a kiwi fruit. We viewed paintings in the Art Gallery that depict Tahitian life in the 19^thcentury and early 20^thcentury. In the evening there is dinner and a Tiki show.

This was the final stop before returning to the pier, all the buses were 15 to 20 minutes late returning. The 12:30 excursion guests were waiting for the buses. The temperature was 31°C and more clouds were showing in the sky. We went to the Lido Markey on Deck 9 for lunch and then walked a few circuits on Deck 3 before returning to the stateroom to read the daily Canadian news and work on blog text and photos.

We dined with Dennis, Carol, Jeff and Susan and listened to them compare their different snorkel excursions. Jeff and Susan enjoyed their Motu Beach Picnic & Ray Feeding much more, spending over two hours in the water. They saw stingrays, sharks and a sunfish amongst the many kinds of fish. They heard that one of the ship’s passengers was bitten by a shark a couple of days ago snorkeling in Bora Bora and needed over 50 stitches. He has other health issues and is being flown back to the US tomorrow. The ship left Mo’orea during dinner. We listened to the answers to the Trivia game since it was after 7 pm before dinner was finished. The ship crossed the body of water known as Sea of the Moon which separates Mo’orea and Tahiti. The distance is 20 kilometers. As the ship approached Papeete, Tahiti, we went out on Deck 3 to watch. The lights from shore stretched around the bay.

It was a quick evening cruise, less than two hours, to Papeete, where the ship docked about 8:15 p.m. Most stores were closed, but there were a few vendors open at the little open-air market by the pier. Carol advised us that Papeete’s prices were the best. We browsed, then picked out a colourful Tahitian shirt for Larry and a shell buckle for Claire. We heard a passenger say that the stores would open at 7 a.m. tomorrow.

Back in the ship, we joined Jeff and Susan to watch the Variety Show featuring ventriloquist, Don Gaylord Bryan followed by singer, Duncan Tuck. Then called it a night. Total steps: 11,135

Fun fact: Tahiti is approximately the same distance south of the Equator as the island of Hawai’i is north of the Equator.