Honeymoon: Moorea, French Polynesia

Travel Dates: November 26, 2012 to November 29, 2012 

Moorea was my favorite of the three French Polynesian islands that we visited; it's not as commercial as Tahiti but offers a wide variety of fun activities to fill your time. Renting a car is a great way to see the island on your own time, though most rental cars are manual and not automatic. For a direction-impaired person like me, it's a great island to explore as there is just one main road circling the island, and you can finish the loop in less than a day.

We also stayed at the Hotel Intercontinental chain in Moorea, this time in an overwater bungalow. This is the lobby of our hotel, with decorations of shell curtains.

We were welcomed to the hotel with fresh fruit cocktails and moist, scented towelettes as we were being checked in.

What luck, we were given the Dolphin Bungalow by chance, which overlooks the hotel's dolphin rehabilitation and training center.

The entry to our Dolphin Bungalow, the only door with a dolphin on it!

Tiki-decorated, roomy bathroom

It was exciting to step out to our balcony and be able to see the Dolphin Resort. Three dolphins swim back and forth among the different pools, and we got the best view.

Enjoying the sun and breathing the air

People who book the dolphin excursion could interact with the dolphins under the guide of a trainer. As part of the experience, the dolphin will allow you to hang onto its body as it takes you down for a brief dive.

Tung's new-found friend, an island bird also intently watching the guests doing the dolphin excursion

Ia Orana from Moorea!

View of the neighboring bungalows

The lagoon water was so clear, we had no trouble seeing the tropical fish, looking down from our bungalow balcony

Sunset in Moorea. Lovely pinks and indigos.

We dined at the Intercontinental's restaurant for our first night's stay. The cocktails were nice, but the bottle of Eau Royale was what you really wanted to drink to rehydrate on a balmy night.

In the morning, Tung enjoyed a Continental breakfast of fruit pie, creamed mushroom, and his favorite sunnyside-up eggs with a French baguette to dip with.

The pool of Intercontinental Moorea, flanked by palm trees

We crossed this bridge every day to exit our hotel

So picturesque, right out of a magazine!

Anchovy salad and mango juice for lunch at a local restaurant in town

When we toured Ron Hall's pearl shop, I bought my first pareau, a simple, often hand-dyed piece of cloth that makes up the main wardrobe for the islanders. Commercial pareaus are made overseas and consist mainly of polyester with machine-dyed designs, but you can find locally-made pareaus in much more breathable 100% cotton. Ron Hall settled in Moorea after falling in love with an island woman, a professional Tahitian dancer. His son, Heimata, helped us at the shop when we visited, and his aunt taught me how to tie my pareau in a variety of ways. Fun-loving, kind, and chatty, she even gave a us a ride to the village near our hotel so we could do a little exploration that afternoon.

One-shoulder style of tying a pareau so you have the option of showing off a necklace

Experiencing my first tropical storm in Moorea. The rain came down fast and hard.

Tung preferred to play Rome Total War while waiting for the storm to pass

And just like that, a rainbow, and the sun was out again

Taking a dip in the lagoon from our bungalow, right after the storm

One night, we dined at the restaurant of Hotel Les Tipaniers, set amidst a tropical garden.

Creme Brulee, one of my favorite desserts

Tung had the coffee ice cream

One fun thing we did in Moorea was book a lagoon tour. We started the day by boarding a boat where we got to see Moorea from the sea. Interesting landmarks were pointed out to us, such as this mountain formation that looks like a monkey playing the piano (look for the profile at the lowest point of the mountain):

And this one that looks like a lady's silhouette as she is lying down and arching her head back:

Our tour guide dove down to retrieve and show us these conch shells:

We passed many hotels during our boat ride, including the Hilton and our very own Intercontinental. We were very excited to see our bungalow from the sea.

The boat docked us at a shallow lagoon where we got to play in the water, snorkeling to see tropical fish and moray eels, petting the manta rays as they glided past, and watching the feeding of black-tipped reef sharks.

Shark feeding

Petting the ray. Cute and friendly--just mind their tails.

We docked at a "motu" (a small islet) for lunch prepared by the tour-guide crew.

View from the motu. You just can't get tired of this.

Local hens lead their chicks around to hunt for food.

To work up our appetite, the tour guide organized a coconut-husking contest among a few men in the group. Cuz hey, you never know when you may need to husk one of these on the fly.

Enjoying a piece of coconut after the guys' hard work

Lunch on the motu. The fish on the left of the plate  is the popular "poisson cru"--a Tahitian favorite made from raw fish, salt, lime juice, and coconut milk. Tastes pretty decent in restaurants, though we got food poisoning off this particular poisson cru prepared on the tour.

On our last day, we rented a car to tour the island and kill some time before our flight.

We visited Jus de Fruits de Moorea, a fruit-liquer shop. As soon as you enter, you will be offered a complimentary tasting of the day's selections. This place is a popular stop for tour buses.

Doing a coconut shot

We then dined at Hotel Kravaka's restaurant, home of some of the best fish burgers. The view is nice, too, and since the restaurant hangs right over the ocean, it's fun to feed the tropical fish with your complimentary French baguettes as you wait for your meal. Since everyone's on Island Time, it could be quite a while before your entrees arrive.

Our last stop was the Tropical Garden where I wanted to get some jam.

Tung had to brave this narrow dirt road in a stick-shift rental car to make it up to the Garden.

Location, location, location! Tropical Garden sits atop this hill, so there is a steady stream of cooling breeze, coupled by this spectacular view. Tung made the mistake of stopping the car on an incline to take in the view, and we actually got stuck on the slope without being able to move forward into the parking area. The store owner had to put rocks to stop our hind wheels and offered to drive our car into the parking for us.

Vanilla being grown in the greenhouse

Soursop, which makes for delicious preserves

A variety of passion fruit. The store owner plucked one of these and offered for me to take it. Unfortunately, our flight was in 20 minutes, and the fruit wouldn't ripen for a few days, so I had to decline my palatable adventure of trying a new tropical fruit.

Papaya tree

The view coming down from Tropical Garden. Goodbye, Moorea!

 Moorea Takeaways:

• You could rent a car and tour Moorea round-trip in less than a day.
• As a way to bring in diners, most restaurants in Moorea would give you free round-trip transportation if you call from your hotel. Check ahead to save on transportation costs. Same-day reservations are often ok.
• Jus de Fruits de Moorea is an interesting stop to taste alcohol-infused fruit juices. Two liters of alcohol per person could be brought back on checked baggage. Lots of good souvenirs here, such as jams/preserves, and the staff wraps up your purchases really well for your return journey.
• Tropical Garden is a good stop to see how popular local fruits and flora are grown and harvested. The view from the hilltop location is unmatched, but going up in a weak rental car could be chancy.