We recently returned from vacation in Moorea, an island just off the coast of Tahiti in French Polynesia. We had a wonderful time and it will be a tough vacation to top! However, it started off a bit rough - we landed in Tahiti at 2:30am and had to wait around at the airport until 7am for our little puddle jumper over to Moorea. That wasn't too fun. But after a quick 7-8 min flight, we arrived in Moorea, and after another 20 min ride, we reached the Hilton Moorea Resort (thanks to all of my traveling at WSP, we were able to use my Hilton points and stay for free!). The resort was located on the north end of the island, between the two main bays and at the foot of Mt Rotui. The lagoon was crystal clear and filled with fish, and we had an amazing view of the mountains behind the resort.
We were upgraded to a lagoon front bungalow, which was amazing. Our room was basically on stilts at the water's edge. We even had a glass panel in the floor in our room (although the water was only a few inches deep there so not too many fish to see!), and a deck, including a ladder right down into the water. Here is the view from our deck:
We spent most of the first day napping on the beach and swimming. We decided to eat lunch at the beachfront grill/bar at the hotel. We split a sandwich and fries and each had a delicious fruity drink, and then almost had heart attacks at the bill - about NZ$100!! In NZ, a dinner entree normally runs from NZ$20-25, and a drink is $5-10, so this was 2-3 times more expensive than NZ. So we decided that the next morning we would rent bikes and head to a local grocery store to get breakfast and lunch foods. Even grocery store prices were high, but we discovered 2 of the best things on Moorea - fresh baguettes and fruit juice. They have a juice factory right by our hotel, it is called Rotui and is awesome. I think we drank about 5L of various types of juice throughout the week. We had great views during our bike ride around Cook's Bay.
We spent the first few days just relaxing on the beach, reading, swimming and snorkeling. We had perfect weather most of the week - sunny, breezy, mid 80s. We could see dark rain clouds going over the mountains to the south but it was always sunny at the north end of the island!
On Monday we got a rental car for the day. It was weird to be back on the right hand side of the road! We started off with the Three Coconuts Tree Pass hike, which started from the Belvedere Lookout in the central portion of the island. There is some great hiking in Moorea, but few trails and they aren't marked well, so you usually need a guide. Many of the peaks on Moorea have never been summitted due to the shear cliffs and crumbly rocks (or people have died in their attempts). Luckily our hike was nowhere near that difficult! The views from Belvedere Lookout of Mt Rotui, the bays, and the other mountain peaks were amazing.
We hiked through forests filled with streams, flowers, ferns, bamboo, and other dense vegetation. The trees below are my favorite (we have the same kinds in NZ), they usually grow in wet areas and the roots branch out, but the parts that branch out are paper thin. Very cool looking!
We eventually emerged at the pass and the views were unbelievable in every direction. You could continue along the hike all the way until the road running around the perimeter of the island but we decided to head back. This hike made us very antsy to attempt Mt Rotui, but that required a guide, some rock climbing, and a big fee - maybe next time!
We finished up our hike and spent the rest of the day driving around the island. Many homes had fresh fruit or huge fish for sale in their driveways. But for the most past, Moorea was a pretty unpopulated island, and didn't appear to have anything other than tourism going on. We attempted to find some beaches on the west coast (they were marked on the map!) but that led to a fairly unsuccessful walk/trespass thru some private property. We decided that the nicest beach was at our hotel anyway! More great views of Cook's Bay on the drive home:
When we got back to the hotel in was close to sunset (which happened at only 5:30pm, since it is 'winter' in Moorea). Our room is the one on the right in the picture below. And then another beautiful sunset. We didn't see a green flash though - is that just in the Caribbean??
More Moorea in the next post!
We were upgraded to a lagoon front bungalow, which was amazing. Our room was basically on stilts at the water's edge. We even had a glass panel in the floor in our room (although the water was only a few inches deep there so not too many fish to see!), and a deck, including a ladder right down into the water. Here is the view from our deck:
We spent most of the first day napping on the beach and swimming. We decided to eat lunch at the beachfront grill/bar at the hotel. We split a sandwich and fries and each had a delicious fruity drink, and then almost had heart attacks at the bill - about NZ$100!! In NZ, a dinner entree normally runs from NZ$20-25, and a drink is $5-10, so this was 2-3 times more expensive than NZ. So we decided that the next morning we would rent bikes and head to a local grocery store to get breakfast and lunch foods. Even grocery store prices were high, but we discovered 2 of the best things on Moorea - fresh baguettes and fruit juice. They have a juice factory right by our hotel, it is called Rotui and is awesome. I think we drank about 5L of various types of juice throughout the week. We had great views during our bike ride around Cook's Bay.
We spent the first few days just relaxing on the beach, reading, swimming and snorkeling. We had perfect weather most of the week - sunny, breezy, mid 80s. We could see dark rain clouds going over the mountains to the south but it was always sunny at the north end of the island!
On Monday we got a rental car for the day. It was weird to be back on the right hand side of the road! We started off with the Three Coconuts Tree Pass hike, which started from the Belvedere Lookout in the central portion of the island. There is some great hiking in Moorea, but few trails and they aren't marked well, so you usually need a guide. Many of the peaks on Moorea have never been summitted due to the shear cliffs and crumbly rocks (or people have died in their attempts). Luckily our hike was nowhere near that difficult! The views from Belvedere Lookout of Mt Rotui, the bays, and the other mountain peaks were amazing.
We hiked through forests filled with streams, flowers, ferns, bamboo, and other dense vegetation. The trees below are my favorite (we have the same kinds in NZ), they usually grow in wet areas and the roots branch out, but the parts that branch out are paper thin. Very cool looking!
We eventually emerged at the pass and the views were unbelievable in every direction. You could continue along the hike all the way until the road running around the perimeter of the island but we decided to head back. This hike made us very antsy to attempt Mt Rotui, but that required a guide, some rock climbing, and a big fee - maybe next time!
We finished up our hike and spent the rest of the day driving around the island. Many homes had fresh fruit or huge fish for sale in their driveways. But for the most past, Moorea was a pretty unpopulated island, and didn't appear to have anything other than tourism going on. We attempted to find some beaches on the west coast (they were marked on the map!) but that led to a fairly unsuccessful walk/trespass thru some private property. We decided that the nicest beach was at our hotel anyway! More great views of Cook's Bay on the drive home:
When we got back to the hotel in was close to sunset (which happened at only 5:30pm, since it is 'winter' in Moorea). Our room is the one on the right in the picture below. And then another beautiful sunset. We didn't see a green flash though - is that just in the Caribbean??
More Moorea in the next post!
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