Port 15 Moorea, French Polynesia

Io orana! (Remember? “yo-rah-nah”)

After leaving Papeete earlier this morning we pull in to the lagoon of Moorea a bit before 8 AM on Saturday, Jan 29th, 2022. At first I expect we are heading into Cook’s Bay, but later learn Joy was right in believing we pulled in to Opunohu Bay.  Here’s the map of Moorea so you can see what I’m talking about. Both bays face the north, but Cook’s Bay is on the eastern side, and Opunohu Bay is on the western side. Our tender pier is where the red box points at Papetoai on the edge of Opunohu Bay. In 1993 we stayed at a resort called Cook’s Bay Resort where the blue “i” information center box is located on the right side of Cook’s Bay. I’ll talk more about that resort later.

Back to my normal blog approach.

We see we’re entering the Moorea lagoon by seeing the reefline passing on both sides.

Inside the lagoon we can see the Sheraton Hotel bungalows on the point. This is the point between Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay.

Today is another tender day. We have about a five-minute ride to a relatively new pier that primarily supports the island ferry.

We are once again greeted by a local band playing beautiful Tahitian music! Notice the drawing on the ground – we suspect our art instructor, Jack Shehab, did this portrait of the band just minutes before we arrived!

A pretty, little church has a service in progress when we land. Joy goes over to listen while I scout the area and look for a rental car. This is the Papetoai Protestant church and is a rebuild of a church originally built in 1822 and rebuilt in 1899, both octagonal in shape as this one is.  (We learn Protestant churches have red roofs, and Catholic churches have blue roofs.)

From here we learn we can rent a car at the airport. A taxi driver, Joe, agrees to take us there. But on the way he calls another rental agency much closer than the airport and finds us a car for half the price of Avis! Have you heard of Albert Rentals?  Neither have we, but apparently Albert has a lot of businesses on Moorea! (I suspect Joe and Albert are best buds!) Joe agrees to meet us back at Albert’s at 3 PM to take us back to the pier. Three signatures and two initials later we head off in our little red Kia!

We decide to head in a counterclockwise direction around the island. The road rings the island so we can’t get lost, and it is only about 35 miles all the way around!

Our first stop is to visit what was the Cook’s Bay Resort. Joe told it is under new ownership and is being rebuilt, with a plan to reopen in 2023.  The hotel is blocked from the road by a construction wall, but what once was the hotel parking lot is now a brand-new tourist information center, so parking is easy.

We first see the hulk of the main resort hotel. The shell remains and it appears the roof is mostly new, but there is a lot of work to get this finished in a year. A rooster crows and reminds us of our previous stay! In 1994 we declined to stay in a room on the opposite side of this building because it overlooked a rooster farm, and the roosters crowed all night! We asked to be moved and ended up upgrading to a roomy thatch-roofed bungalow along the water.

The resort’s restaurant and demonstration hall used to be on this island. The bridge is new, and the gazebo is new. I’m not sure what is happening behind the gazebo.

This pier appears to be about where the dive pier used to be, but the dive shop is gone. And the thatch roof huts in the distance appear to be on what was the pier we used to go snorkeling. Neither pier appears to be tied to the Cook’s Bay resort anymore.

But the water is still as clear and beautiful as we knew it, and the view down Cook’s Bay is still stunning! We stayed in a little thatch-roof bungalow looking out over this water before. Now there are shingle-roofed bungalows set farther back from the water.

As with the Hawaiian Islands and most of the Tahitian Islands, Moorea is a volcanic island. The mountain peaks we see in the distance are the remnants of the volcanoe’s rim. The low areas are where the rim has collapsed.

We find one bit of wall art that I believe we saw before. It appears to have taken some damage and been poorly repainted.

And this is a view of the Sheraton Hotel bungalows coming from the east side.

Here is our ship sitting in Opunohu Bay. The little red roof on the point to the right is the Papetoai Protestant Church!

The views of the mountains of Moorea change as we circumnavigate the island. This is the view from the bottom of Opunohu Bay.

And here is a beautiful shot of old and new! The ancient peak is the backdrop for the contemporary microwave tower.

Do you remember when Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes forms asked you “What restaurant do you want to take 50 friends when you win the $10 million dollar sweepstakes?” This is the restaurant I would write down. Les Tipaniers on Moorea. I can still taste the swordfish with bearnaise sauce I had!

This church on Moorea’s west side strikes a chord with me with its tall spires standing up against the sweeping spires of the mountains.

A motu on the south side is nicely framed by Tahiti-nui in the distance.

Moorea’s mountains continue to change their face as we go around. This is one of my favorite views!

Joy wants to see what headdresses and leis cost at this stand just south of the airport. She negotiates a price in US dollars for two headdresses, but when she pulls out her dollars they won’t do the sale – they only want francs. Why did they not say so up front instead of negotiating in dollars?

Headdress purchase thwarted, we continue on to the Sofitel Hotel just around the corner.  We have a long walk from the parking lot, through the hotel, and down a path to the hotel’s gift shop. I am surprised the gift shop is so far away, but this allows us to see the bungalows!

The gift shop doesn’t have what Joy is looking for, but this trek allows us to see enough to know we would like to vacation at this resort (as if we could afford it…)!

It is time to leave the island – we turn in the car and Joe delivers us back to the Papetoai pier. We pass under a pretty sign that says “Merci – Mauruuru – Thank you” and our tender is waiting for us!

When Insignia comes into view, it looks so small compared to the volcanoe’s edge rising above Opunohu Bay

Back on board we are famished! I didn’t mention that we drove through lunch, only stopping at a grocery store to buy a drink and an ice cream bar! We clean up quickly and head upstairs for afternoon tea. The Panache String Quartet is playing, and the waiters serve with white gloves. This is our first time up, but they do thie every day. Nice! A small bite and cup of tea satisfies our hunger without spoiling our dinner appetite too severely!

As we pull out we get one more look down Opunohu Bay. It’s still a stunning sight, no matter how many times we see it!

After we clear the lagoon’s reef the sunlight shows the different layers of the mountains.  Cook’s Bay is between the 2nd and 3rd layer. The Sheraton bungalows are dwarfed by the island.

We finally get another beautiful sunset!

And we say “nana” (goodbye) to Moorea.  Next stop, Raiatea!