Tahiti and Back – Day 5
Today was an adventure of a day. We took the ferry over to the island of Moorea for the day. It was actually very pain free, except for possibly trying to squeeze between cars to get in or out of the vehicle. The driver stays with the car, but all the passengers have to board elsewhere, which makes sense. That way you don’t a bunch of people running around. When you depart, you can all drive out together.
High marks for the ferry. It was clean, well organized and effortless. The crossing wasn’t too bad. You are only in the open water for about 15 minutes, but I was glad I had taken Dramamine for those fifteen minutes.
We drove off the ferry and headed right. It takes about an hour and change to drive around the island and it is basically a bedroom community for Tahiti. Lots of folks live on Moorea and work in Tahiti.
There is very little to do on Moorea except go to the Tiki Village (which we have seen twice) or the Rotui Juice factory, unless you want to be in the water. We didn’t. We did the juice factory and did a bit of shopping. For a long time, their claim to fame was rum and fruit juices, but now they have branched out into wine as well. The gift shop, which used to be a cornucopia of treasures was a pale comparison. Still, I managed to infuse the local economy.
The Belvedere (the lookout) was next. As you might expect from its name it looks out over the island. The road is narrow, with hairpin turns and spectacular drop offs. I remember being overwhelmed by it the first time there. This time, it was pretty crowded and filled with chickens. We chatted with a nice family, whose two little ones were fascinated by Fred.
Now the hunt was one for a restaurant. There aren’t a lot of choices, even before the pandemic. Many have closed up shop due to that or a lack of business. We finally decided to try Les Tipaniers, which was a tiny hotel. We ended at their ‘beach hut’ which was inches from the water. I had a fish burger that was fabulous. You would not even have a clue it was there, Just happened to be some luck spotting by me. Thus sustained, we headed back out for nowhere.
By now, the Dramamine was really kicking in and I was getting really sleepy. I’m glad that I had glad we had a car with reclining seats. Chris drove around while I snoozed for a bit. He wanted to get back to the other side of the island before we had to check in for our return trip at 4:20. We got there at just about two and went on the hunt for some souvenirs. There is next to nothing if you aren’t with a local guide. Still, we found a few things and then headed back to the ferry. Needless to stay, we were first in line to board.
TBG struck up a conversation with some comm techs from Vone – the island version of AT&T. That’s when I discovered I had no cell service, period. I had wondered why the phone was so quiet. He chatted with them and I quilted for a bit until it was time for me to head over to the passengers lounge.
Like before, it was a few minutes wait once I got there. My leg was not happy about being stuck in the car all day long with precious little walking and protested going up and down the stairs, but they did it. I’d just barely taken a seat in the lounge when TBG appeared (I actually saw him drive on board).
I guess it was really rough on the way back, but I feel asleep again and woke up just as we were getting ready to dock. We got in our car, prepared to fight the downtown traffic, but it wasn’t too bad, but still horrific when compared to the lack of traffic on Moorea.
We got back to the room, exhausted from the driving and the sun, so a decisions was made to eat in. I took a shower and we went downstairs for dinner. It’s the same menu, so no real surprises. We both had steak, which neither of us finished more than half of it and we headed back up to the room. The music from the bar was pretty loud, but there are times when being partially deaf is a good thing. I was out like a light, off to dream about kittens with beaches for sandboxes!
High marks for the ferry. It was clean, well organized and effortless. The crossing wasn’t too bad. You are only in the open water for about 15 minutes, but I was glad I had taken Dramamine for those fifteen minutes.
We drove off the ferry and headed right. It takes about an hour and change to drive around the island and it is basically a bedroom community for Tahiti. Lots of folks live on Moorea and work in Tahiti.
There is very little to do on Moorea except go to the Tiki Village (which we have seen twice) or the Rotui Juice factory, unless you want to be in the water. We didn’t. We did the juice factory and did a bit of shopping. For a long time, their claim to fame was rum and fruit juices, but now they have branched out into wine as well. The gift shop, which used to be a cornucopia of treasures was a pale comparison. Still, I managed to infuse the local economy.
The Belvedere (the lookout) was next. As you might expect from its name it looks out over the island. The road is narrow, with hairpin turns and spectacular drop offs. I remember being overwhelmed by it the first time there. This time, it was pretty crowded and filled with chickens. We chatted with a nice family, whose two little ones were fascinated by Fred.
Now the hunt was one for a restaurant. There aren’t a lot of choices, even before the pandemic. Many have closed up shop due to that or a lack of business. We finally decided to try Les Tipaniers, which was a tiny hotel. We ended at their ‘beach hut’ which was inches from the water. I had a fish burger that was fabulous. You would not even have a clue it was there, Just happened to be some luck spotting by me. Thus sustained, we headed back out for nowhere.
By now, the Dramamine was really kicking in and I was getting really sleepy. I’m glad that I had glad we had a car with reclining seats. Chris drove around while I snoozed for a bit. He wanted to get back to the other side of the island before we had to check in for our return trip at 4:20. We got there at just about two and went on the hunt for some souvenirs. There is next to nothing if you aren’t with a local guide. Still, we found a few things and then headed back to the ferry. Needless to stay, we were first in line to board.
TBG struck up a conversation with some comm techs from Vone – the island version of AT&T. That’s when I discovered I had no cell service, period. I had wondered why the phone was so quiet. He chatted with them and I quilted for a bit until it was time for me to head over to the passengers lounge.
Like before, it was a few minutes wait once I got there. My leg was not happy about being stuck in the car all day long with precious little walking and protested going up and down the stairs, but they did it. I’d just barely taken a seat in the lounge when TBG appeared (I actually saw him drive on board).
I guess it was really rough on the way back, but I feel asleep again and woke up just as we were getting ready to dock. We got in our car, prepared to fight the downtown traffic, but it wasn’t too bad, but still horrific when compared to the lack of traffic on Moorea.
We got back to the room, exhausted from the driving and the sun, so a decisions was made to eat in. I took a shower and we went downstairs for dinner. It’s the same menu, so no real surprises. We both had steak, which neither of us finished more than half of it and we headed back up to the room. The music from the bar was pretty loud, but there are times when being partially deaf is a good thing. I was out like a light, off to dream about kittens with beaches for sandboxes!