French Polynesia - Last Day

Last day in French Polynesia, so it was off to the pool and beach. We hung out there for several hours before heading to the one guest bungalow they have for guests whose flights leave late, and need a place to shower/change clothes. Beautiful last day....wish we didn't have to go home.

We've been meaning to take a picture of the hotel entrance for days now, and finally did it on our way out. here are a series of turtles just outside the front lobby that are made entirely of seashells. It is incredible!

Then it was off to the Moorea Airport to begin out trek home. Let me take you through the Moorea Airport visually. The bus drops you off out front and you walk in to the open air (no front door) building. There is no one there except a cleaning lady and one baggage guy who is clearly way early for his shift. Nothing is open inside. 45 minutes before the flight leaves 3 people show up (2 more baggage dudes and a ticketing lady). The 12 people waiting for their flight (including us) mosey up to the register and get our bags weighed and tickets. She then says, "have a seat wherever, the flight will be here in a half hour". No security check whatsoever. We take a seat and notice a stray cat just chilling in the waiting area with us. After a 10 minute walk of checking out all the human visitors, the cat then decides it is time for a nap on the cold tiles, maybe 10 feet from the ticketing lady. Then the flight arrives. Few people get off, and we hop on. No big deal. FAA what? Moorea is not alone, all the other islands (Bora Bora, Huahine, etc.) except Tahiti have the same process.

French Polynesia - Day In Town

Today we decided to rent a scooter and go into the central town in Moorea. It isn't really so much a town as a part of the island, meaning it doesn't have a name, people just refer to it as the central market area.

We drove around and checked out some gift shops, pearl markets, etc. Then took a little break and had some lunch at a pizza place in town. Little Red was there with us, but we forgot to take his picture.

Back on the scooter to drive around some more. We stopped at a few more places to shop, and then made a final stop for some ice cream!

I don't know what it is about Moorea, but we can't seem to see a sunset ever. There are always clouds over it right as sunset begins.

French Polynesia - Fire and Dance Show

Today we pretty much laid around the beach and pool and relaxed. For lunch we had a pizza and some new candies!!!! The first up was the Haribo Hari Croco. These are crocodile shaped gummies which come in 3 colors/flavors. Quite good, and a typically gummy candy taste. The only difference is they are a harder texture than normal gummies. Somewhere between a normal gummy and a starburst. Second candy was a Picnic bar. It is actually 2 pieces (like mounds or almond joy), but wasn't a combination I was familiar with. It is basically a chocolate wafer, surrounded by lots of peanuts and carmel, topped off by a chocolate coating. Very delicious, but very messy.

Then it was off to our Polynesian Fire and Dance Show dinner. They have a full buffet leading up to the show, and it have everything on it you could imagine. Paella to sushi to make your own pasta to bbq ribs to fish skewers. And don't even get me started on the dessert side of the buffet: crepes, tarts, pudding, pies, cupcakes, etc. Needless to say we ate too much.

Then the show began. The ladies start off by showing off their dance moves, then come around and select some victims, I mean guests, from the audience to dance along....yep thats MB in the white shirt, showing his moves.

Then the men came out with their torches and began the fire part of the show. They eat fire, step on fire, throw fire, etc. It is quite the show!

Side note: the word Moorea means yellow lizard, which we thought was kind of a weird name for an island, until you realize they are everywhere! Where do they really like to reside? Your ceiling. Yep, they live inside the bungalows on the ceilings and wait for mosquitos (thats what they eat). The native people here say it is bad luck to kill them, plus they don't do any harm to your home, they are just there to eat the mosquitos. Still kind of creepy for AB since she feared they would fall off the ceiling one night and land on her face. They are a gray-brown color with yellow spots and stripes on their back.

French Polynesia - ATV Tour/Hike

Half day hike and ATV tour today. We are so happy we did this in the morning and not the afternoon. It was so hot outside (note the sweat marks on our clothes in some of the later pictures). Albert and Louis from Albert ATV Tours were incredible...best tour guides ever!

During the ride we got off the ATV's and hiked just a little over to a creek. It was so clean, in fact, our tour guide Albert drank from it.

One of the plants/fruits that falls from trees is not an edible one. It is used to do all the native Polynesian tattoos with. When you break it open it has a dark blue juice which was used to dye the skin. Louis says not to eat it.

Our tour guides made us pose for some very funny pictures while at the Belvedere stop (Belevdere means good view). We made Albert and Louis pose for one with us as well :)

Everywhere you look there are roosters. They roam the streets like they are looking to hitch-hike, and sometimes they just like to chill on peoples roofs.

For a little break we went over to Ma's for some ice cream, drinks, and a break in the shade. Ma was Miss Tahiti in 1968, but after she won she opened her shop where she sells her homemade marmalades and ice cream. Nice lady. Speaks 4 languages. Her favorite phrase: Hakuna Matata  :)

Then we crossed over one more creek and took the ATVs up towards Magic Mountain. The ATVs will only make it so far, so you have to climb the last 5-10 minutes to the very top where there are 360 degree views. 

Here you can see some of the bungalows from our hotel.

We are very sweaty and very tired from our trip, so we will grab a quick bite to eat for lunch and then relax the rest of the day by the beach.

French Polynesia - Moorea Hotel

We checked into our garden bungalow, and it’s a little different than the other one. For starters it is not over the water, but rather tucked back into the gardens of the property. 

It has a very private deck (the fence is 6 feet tall) and it has its own private little pool. t's not very big, but it's 5 feet deep which it doesnt look like from the pictures.

The outside is still the traditional dried palm leaves for a roof, and lots of native woods used for the foundation.