Day 5 — Thursday:

We headed over to the swim spot over by the grotto first thing in the morning to go snorkeling. Unfortunately, Keith still refused to get in. This is the farthest he would go:

This spot was the outlet where all the water from the grottos met the ocean, so the water was brackish. We had forgotten that brackish water makes for terrible visibility, so even though the coral looked nice from the surface, we couldn’t see much inside the water. 

Keith needed to run around and get his energy out, so Rosanna took him to the playground near our apartment and Marina Taina:

We had lunch at the apartment. After lunch, we headed to downtown Papetee.

One of the things that Rose had wanted to do on this trip was to visit a black pearl farm. Christi and Eric had visited two: one in Manihi, where we didn’t get a tour but bought a pearl necklace for Christi from the artisan who made it with his own hands, and one in Tahaa, where we went on a tour. Unfortunately, there are no pearl farms on Tahiti or Moorea, so we went to the next best thing: The Pearl Museum. Keith loved the fact that black pearls are rare and was asking that we buy pearls for him that cost as much as a new car. We left pretty quickly. Here he is with the biggest black pearl in the world:

Rose and Christi went shopping for souvenirs while Eric and Keith went to the park along the waterfront. Here is Keith at one of the playgrounds dotting that park:

In addition to playground equipment, there is also some exercise equipment at the park. Keith loved working out!

Once Keith was tired out, he had a second lunch in a near-by snack.

Rose and Christi were specifically looking for the Bazar (we are not totally sure this is the correct name). Unfortunately, they were disoriented and walked the wrong direction for quite a long way before figuring out they were turned around. They got quite a tour of downtown Papeete!

The Bazar is a building where dozens upon dozens of vendors had small stalls selling everything from fresh seafood and produce to ready to eat foods to clothing to pearls to tourist souvenirs. There is even a tattoo shop! Even though it was only mid-afternoon, several of the stalls had already closed for the day; even so, there was so much to look at that Christi was overwhelmed.

On the way back to the condo, we stopped by the Carrefour for more groceries. 

In the evening, we had dinner with a former co-worker of Eric’s, who now lives in Papetee. We had a lovely time with their family. The food was great; Rose said that was some of the best steak she’s ever eaten.

Day 6 — Friday:

We took the 10:00 car ferry for a day trip over to Moorea, an island about ten miles northeast of the island of Tahiti. The word Moorea means “yellow lizard,” and the word Tahiti means “rising sun.” The ferry is nice and ride was beautiful. 

Our first stop was Belvedere de Toatea, a scenic viewpoint that overlooks a reef with a beautiful white sand beach, with Tahiti in the background:

Our second stop was Temae Beach, the one visible beneath the Toatea viewpoint. It is supposed to be the best beach on Moorea.

Last night, we’d gone to bed much later than normal, and this morning Keith woke up at his normal time. He’s been super grumpy all day today. Keith reluctantly agreed to get into the water and put his face in to look at the sea life, but only for a short time. 

We didn’t stay for very long. We had a lot to see and not a lot of time on the island.

We followed the main road as it wound around the scenic Cook’s and Opunhau Bays on the north side of the island. Keith fell asleep, so he missed most of the pretty scenery.

We stopped at the anchorage on Oponahu where Kosmos had been anchored twelve years ago. Eric and Christi fondly remembered their experience here – a shallow anchorage with clear water that made exterior boat chores easy, and an easy dinghy ride into shore. 

We also passed many places that brought back memories for Eric and Christi, such as a waterfront restaurant that they’d dinghied to and saw a spectacular double rainbow during the meal.

At the southern point of Opunahu, we turned off the main road onto one that ran inland and up the mountain.

We passed the agricultural school, which had lots of students hanging around, but due to concerns about time, we didn’t stop for the tour. The road ended at Belvedere de Opunohu. Last time Eric and Christi had gone there, they were in the middle of a rain cloud, and it was still a stunning viewpoint. Today it was clear and gorgeous. 

There were several hiking trails that led farther up the mountain, but none of us felt like hiking. As we got back in the car, we realized that we’d already passed the juice factory, which was at the northwestern tip of Cook’s Bay. We did not want to miss visiting the juice factory, so we backtracked. And this way, Keith could see everything that he’d missed on the way here.

Last time Christi and Eric went there, they found out that this factory also make liquor, and that they give samples of their assorted liquors. Today’s samples were: two kinds of mixed cocktails — one that tasted like fruit punch with alcohol and one that was reminiscent of a mai-tai; a pineapple-coconut liquour, and non-alcoholic banana juice with vanilla that would probably taste awesome with a little of the pineapple-coconut liquor in it. Apparently, the factory no longer offers tours. Here is the statue in front:

We didn’t make any more stops. At this point, we were probably only 1/6 of the way around the island, and Eric was worried we wouldn’t make it back to the ferry terminal in time for the last ferry of the day if we stopped again.

The drive was beautiful. Here are a couple of shots:

It is clear from the homes that Moorea is an overall higher socio-economic area than Tahiti. Something that we neglected to mention about our Tahiti tour is that we were astounded by the large number of churches, and it looks like there are just as many churches per capita on Moorea as on Tahiti. 

Eric and Christi had forgotten how small the island was; we arrived at the ferry hour and a half earlier than was necessary. That gave us plenty of time to get a late lunch. Eric, Keith, and Rose were able to find some food at the grocery store nearby, and Christ went to a snack for some fries.

The ferry boarding line for the car was a bit confusing. There were two different ferry lines and we got in the wrong one at first. Then the correct line wound around the parking area and mixed with cars picking up people getting off the ferry, which made it seem like the wrong line. Eric ended up being in the last batch of cars to get on.

On the ferry ride back to Tahiti, Christi noticed that there were a lot more buildings on the hills of Tahiti nowadays compared to the photos that we’d taken from Kosmos twelve years ago. Here is Keith watching as the ferry pulled into the terminal: