Day 14: Moorea

After looking forward to this day for over a year, when it finally arrived I found I was rather dreading it. I realized early on that my re-injury of the day before meant that our planned excursion was off limits...double darn it. There was no way I could climb a ladder into a boat.  But when I went outside to watch our arrival into Opunohu Bay, on the north side of Moorea, it was immediately evident that today was not going to be one of those gloriously beautiful days we’ve enjoyed here in the past. 

I took the obligatory photos to post here, but oh my...if you were a blog reader during our two seasons in French Polynesia, you know it’s much prettier, breathtakingly beautiful even, on a sunny day. 

Anchored in Opunohu Bay

Mt. Rotui never made an appearance today. 

Where’s that 50 shades of blue water??

Opunohu Bay on September 26, 2015

We are lucky that Paul and Marlene are on this cruise with us.  I had phoned them the night before and asked if they wanted to take our two spots on a Moorea Miti outrigger canoe trip to commune with stingrays and black tip sharks, and then enjoy a picnic on a motu (islet), and was happy they wanted to. And, frankly, if I didn’t strongly believe we’ll be back here this time next year, I might have thrown myself overboard, but, in the end, I watched the low hanging clouds and intermittent drizzle rather dispassionately, choosing to think of it as just a bad weather day. 

Luckily, with nearly everyone off the ship, WiFi was extremely fast, by ship standards, and especially for French Polynesia which some of you know has given us real fits over the years. I spent the day much like I spent nine weeks this summer, reading and streaming videos. Not my first choice, but, trust me, not the first thing I’ve missed out in over the years because of “that” foot. 

At anchor in Opunohu Bay, Moorea with most people off the ship

Pretty darn good!

Dinner held a few cheery surprises:  caponata (I love it) and pineapple salsa on salmon. 

Day 14 dinner menu, page 1

Day 14 dinner menu, page 2

Day 14 dessert menu

Rustic Caponata

Tamarind glazed salmon

Princess Entertainer of theYear Nathan Foley provided the day’s highlight in his show in the Princess Theater. I can see why he won that honor, and hope we get to see him again before he leaves the ship. 

By the evening, the seas got a bit bouncier and I consoled myself that I would likely be using my crutches even if I hadn’t had that small mis-step yesterday. I was feeling better and the swelling was subsiding, and two more days at sea should have me (literally) on my feet by the time we arrive in Pago Pago, American Samoa on Thursday. 

Day 14 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 14 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 14 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 14 Princess Patter, page 4

Added on October 12

Paul and Marlene had already told us they had a fantastic time on the Moorea Miti outrigger canoe excursion to swim with the snorkels, snorkel and enjoy lunch on a motu. It made us so happy to know that they were able to use our reservation, and even more content when they confirmed that I couldn’t have managed climbing up the narrow ladder rungs to re-board the outrigger canoe from the water. 

Today, Paul shared his SD card with all the images he took on the tour, and I wanted to post several of them here. They did, in fact, enjoy some sun and that brilliant blue water that we couldn’t see from the ship. 

The skies obviously were clearer toward the west side of Moorea

Over the water bungalows at the Intercontinental Moorea

 

They even saw dolphins playing in the water!

One of those beautiful Moorea stingrays...

...and a black tip shark (they’re friendly!) 

The motu where lunch was held

That water...

The water crashing in the reef in the distance

Sigh. Next year. 🤞🏼

Getting set up for lunch

Paul on the left, demonstrating his coconut handling skills

Breaking open the coconut 

Making poisson cru after washing the fish in sea water

 

Lunch on the motu 

Day 73: Moorea no more

It is 9pm as I type these first words, the end of a day that started when the alarm went off at 4:30am. Ouch!  We watched from the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet as the Pacific Princess pushed away from the pier in Papeete for possibly the last time ever and began to navigate out of Papeete harbor. It was twilight-y dawn when we first sailed, but we soon saw the sun rise from behind the island of Tahiti as we made our way across the Sea of the Moon between Tahiti and Moorea. 

Sunrise over Tahiti

As we looked back at Tahiti, we could see a small, older cruise ship approaching the Papeete harbor. G could make out its name:  The Peace Boat. This was a new one for us, but, using the ship's new internet (faster to log on and off), G Googled it. It's a Japanese ship that does cultural/ goodwill world cruises. 

It was still very early (6:15am-ish) and a long time until the Club Restaurant opened for breakfast, so we decided to eat in the Panorama Buffet. We had fruit and, in a mad moment, freshly made Belgian waffles, too. That was a splurge, but, with whipped cream and orange marmalade, so delicious. I forgot to mention that, last cruise, the shops on board were selling off the last of the Alaska souvenirs and a fellow passenger bought real maple syrup and had Belgian waffles and ice cream with maple syrup nearly every day. That's living large!

By the time we finished eating, we were sailing along the northern Moorea coastline, and we went up first to Deck 11 forward to watch our approach into Cooks Bay, but I eventually moved down to the Promenade Deck to get out of the sun. 

Moorea Hilton

Cruising through the pass into Cooks Bay

We gathered up things for a beach or pool day, uncertain of our exact plans for the day. We were on the second tender to shore and, once there, hitched a ride to the nearby Moorea Pearl Resort, where we had gone to get Hiro's tour two days ago. We were hoping they sold a day pass, and they do, for 5700 XPF per person (US $51 per person was charged to my credit card). This enabled us to use the beach, the pool, the loungers, towels, water sports equipment and included a two course lunch.

The Moorea Pearl Resort was the only major Moorea resort we'd not yet visited either this year or last (the Sofitel, Intercontinental and Hilton being the others). Of the four, it's probably the least expensive one; though it's very nice, the lagoon view from pool is blocked by overwater bungalows. Still, it was a great place to spend the day and we were more drawn to the pool today instead of the beach, and settled into some comfortable wicker loungers. 

Infinity pool at Moorea Pearl Resort

Beach at Moorea Pearl Resort

Over the course of the day we kayaked out to the reef and G stand-up paddle boarded and we chatted with a group of sisters and sisters-in-law from western Michigan whose husbands had all gone deer hunting together (really, they were drinking beer and playing cards in the woods) and so their wives decided to fly to French Polynesia. They are from a part of Michigan with which we were very familiar, and it was fun to talk about places we all knew. 

By noon we were getting hungry (after that 6am breakfast) and we went to the open air restaurant right next to the pool and were able to order anything we wanted from the menu:  one entree and one dessert. We had a feast as I ordered fresh seafood tempura and G ordered a Polynesian burger, and then split three scoops of tropical flavored sorbet and a fresh fruit plate for dessert. 

Lunch entrees and dessert

Our view at lunch

Lunch was long and leisurely, and it was 1:30pm by the time we returned to our poolside loungers just feet away. We had free WiFi at the resort, not fast but fast enough to upload these several photos which provided a good start to today's blog post. I also texted friends for the first time in almost two weeks, and it was wonderful to get caught up. While I can reconcile myself to being 'outside the loop' for months when we travel (and, in fact, it makes being away that much easier), the closer we get to going home, the more I feel the need to get caught up. 

Looking back toward the resort

At 3:30pm we packed up and walked back to the front of the resort, where a taxi was called for us and arrived soon after. We were back at the tender pier just a few minutes later, and I did some more shopping for gifts to take home. Once on the ship, we showered and were on the Panorama Buffet terrace to watch as the Pacific Princess sailed out of Cooks Bay. The ship's horn blew some extra goodbye toots, and people on shore waved goodbye as we left. Weep!  I'm sure the Pacific Princess will be sorely missed. 

We went to dinner at the new time of 5:15pm, which is very early on port days but won't be so bad on sea days, especially once we start sailing east and moving clocks ahead. We will be seeing several new menus on this 16-night cruise, and my favorite one was featured tonight, with ciappino (seafood stew) and key lime pie for dessert. The Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall began at 7pm on the pool deck. Our weather today and tonight was perfect and it was nice that we could have it out there. Afterward, we went to the Welcome Aboard show in the Cabaret Lounge (a comedian whose name eludes me right now) and that was the end of our evening. It had been a long but fun day. 

One more early morning tomorrow to watch our 6am arrival into the Bora Bora lagoon through Teavanui Pass, and then we have five (!) lazy days at sea en route to Hawaii. After 73 days, we are so ready for them. I don't know what excites me more:  lunches in the Club Restaurant, fun activities, reading on the Promenade Deck, attending lectures or turning off the alarm.

Oh yes I do, and I bet you do too. ;-)

Day 71: Moorea

I watched our arrival into Cooks Bay, Moorea from the Promenade Deck. I know, I know...it is best viewed from the top of the ship, but sometimes (and this morning was one of those times) I was lucky to be up and out at all, and assured myself that six decks lower can't make that much difference, can it?  Besides, that allowed me to have a cup of coffee and then be in the Club Restaurant for breakfast when it opened at 7:30pm. Honestly, it is right now almost 10pm, and I can't, for the life of me, remember anything more about breakfast other than I went and G eventually joined me. What I ate, how long we stayed...no idea. It's been THAT kind of day.

We were in the mood to spend the day in the water again, and G never tires of seeing the stingrays, so we decided to do Hiro's stingray, shark, snorkel and motu picnic tour. His assistant Celine is in Hawaii visiting grandchildren right now, so Hiro's sister was selling the tour on shore. Since we were in Cooks Bay instead of Opunohu Bay, Hiro taxied us all over to the Moorea Pearl Resort where his office is and where his large boat was waiting for us. Leaving from there, so far east on Moorea, we had quite a scenic cruise west along the north coast. We pulled into Cooks Bay to get photos of the Pacific Princess at anchor, and then into Opunohu Bay, and past the Intercontinental Resort and out to that second of the two motus (that you saw in photos from when we flew over them en route to Rarotonga). 

The Hilton Moorea

People always ask me, "Is French Polynesia that much better than the Caribbean?" In terms of beaches, no. Nothing beats the beaches on Antigua and Barbados. But, when you consider the scenery and the gorgeous blue lagoons, French Polynesia wins every time.

Public beach park in the eastern side of Cooks Bay

Cooks Bay without the Pacific Princess at anchor in the middle!

Finally...here's one we could afford! :-)

Overwater bungalows at the Intercontinental Moorea

It was a sunny and hot day (we've had perfect weather this cruise), and, once we arrived at the motu, I wasted no time in walking down the beach toward the reef as far as I could go, then entered the water and snorkeled right down the middle of the water between the two motus. As soon as I walked into the water, a baby reef shark swam by, obviously not uncomfortable in the water's 18" depth. Further down, I saw a fantastic head of staghorn coral, and then some car wash coral where I tried to stay in one place (there was a light current) to try to find Nemo, but, while I saw some of his common neighbors, I never did see a clown fish. 

I eventually returned to the beach where it was almost time for our BBQ:  grilled tuna and chicken, coleslaw, pasta salad, rice and lots and lots of those tiny Moorea pineapples that are sweet as candy, all washed down by one Hinano beer after another. Afterward, I walked down the beach one more time to do another snorkel circuit, and around 2pm we were gathered up and taken back to snorkel with the stingrays and sharks. I will admit that stingrays are becoming rather ho-hum at this point, but I'll never tire of swimming with sharks.

A stingray hidden in the sandy bottom

One shark, two shark, three shark, four...

The day stayed sunny and the lagoon never looked better. Once again, I concluded that Moorea really is my favorite over Bora Bora, but as soon as we return to Bora Bora in three days I'll change my mind.  We reboarded the Pacific Princess about 3:30pm, and by the time we rinsed everything out and showered, it was time to go to the Elite Lounge. I accompanied G there and to the Club Restaurant for dinner, but didn't eat anything. I had plans for the evening...it was girls' night out!

Company Performance Manager Alexandra, who managed the old cast, had stayed on this one additional cruise after they left to help with the new cast rehearsals. She is leaving tomorrow, flying to Los Angeles for a couple of weeks before returning to Cambridge, England for a few weeks. She will be missed by everyone; she was well loved. Anyway, we had plans for dinner in specialty restaurant Sabatinis tonight, and met at 7pm. Jaime was our waiter, and we had a great table at the very back of the ship, perfect for watching our 8pm arrival in Papeete. Four courses and a bottle of Pinot Grigo later, she is continuing her goodbyes in the crew bar and I am tucked into bed. Tomorrow is our last turnaround day of the French Polynesia season, and we are moving up one deck (I'll share the backstory to that tomorrow), and so face packing up our cabin tomorrow morning.  Not my favorite way to spend a turnaround day, but it will be good practice for 16 nights from now when we'll be packing up to return home. 

Returning home. Months and months of planning and the trip is almost over. The funny thing is that, on one hand, it feels like we've been here forever. On the other, it just flew by.  Eight days until Hawaii and Internet and phone service. 16 days until friends and sleeping in our own bed. And then...have I mentioned we will be home for Christmas?  I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately?

As much as I love this, I can't wait.