Moorea
The natives of Moorea (pronounced muh-o-ray-uh), are proud of the beautiful topography of their island and rightfully so! Volcanic mountains rise above the shimmering water surrounding this isle. A thin, very bumpy paved road encircles the mass. But it is soon obvious that those who live on this tiny island in the South Pacific have a chip on their shoulders.
Getting there:
You get to this island the same way you get to Bora Bora, fly from LA to Tahiti then connect to Moorea. There are two airlines that fly between Tahiti and the U.S., Air France and Air Tahiti Nui. The inter-island airline is Air Tahiti…not to be confused with Air Tahiti Nui (nui means large). They are not the same company. The airport in Moorea is quite small and a little primitive as you might expect. Don’t plan on eating here!
After collecting our bags, we headed to prearranged transportation provided by our tour operator. (This is another good reason to book your travel to the South Pacific through an agent who is familiar with the area.) Our bus made stops at several hotels along the way. Despite the fact that it was only mid-morning, it was very hot and humid. We had been traveling now for close to 20 hours from the time we left our home so we were very tired, yet excited to be reaching our hotel for the next three nights. Note: if you have back problems or any medical condition that requires you to avoid being jostled around, do not go to Moorea! The road is VERY rough and bumpy. With all the rain they get, it is almost impossible for them to keep the road repaired!!
Staying there:
We arrived at the beautiful Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort and Spa and were welcomed with a cool, damp wash cloth and glass of champagne. Due to our early arrival, our room was not yet ready. But we were offered a courtesy room for an hour where we could shower and change into our swim suits. Shortly after having a lovely lunch at their restaurant by the beach, we were taken to our villa. Our room was huge and we had a private deck with a small pool. The bathroom was large with a separate tub and shower and sinks which overlooked our bedroom. The villa had vaulted ceilings. We had TV which offered one or two English speaking channels. The rest were in French.
Our breakfast was included and was a nice buffet. The food was excellent! They rotated specials and I truly looked forward to breakfast every morning.
The Hilton resort is a lovely property with a pool near their beach. The beach is small, but offers kayaks and other water sports.
Who All Is There?
We met quite a few honeymooners who were going on to Bora Bora. Yet there seemed to be a lot of other couples our age as well. We do not remember seeing any families at our hotel.
Eating There:
But our favorite part of this resort was the Toatea Creperie and Bar which is housed in a bungalow over the water. We did not eat dinner here. But for 3 glorious nights we shared a banana crepe made by the head chef
himself in front of us! It was like the best Banana’s Foster you’ve ever had wrapped in a dinner plate size tender crepe. The accompanying view of reef sharks that gathered in the water below the restaurant added to the ambiance. Each evening the sharks circled around waiting to be fed much like we circled around the restaurant to find a seat at the bar and watch our chef go to work for us!
Also at our Hilton, we ate lunch at the Rotui Grill and Bar and went to happy hour at Eimeo Bar. This is a great location for sunset pictures!
Our first night in Moorea, we ate at Rudy’s. We were a little taken aback by the simplistic design of the restaurant. It didn’t look like anything fancy and in fact looked a little sparse. We wondered if we had maybe misunderstood the recommendation. But the food and the warmth of the owners more than made up for the surroundings. We both had their specialty, Parrot Fish, which was delicious. While waiting for our dinner, we met three newlywed couples at the table next to ours. Two of these couples also stayed at our hotel in Bora Bora. We enjoyed Rudy’s so much that we returned on our final night in Moorea and had another fabulous meal.
The second night in Moorea we ate at the Moorea Beach Café. This is right on the ocean so I would suggest going before sunset to enjoy the view. The ambiance is fantastic at this restaurant and the food was equally good.
A couple of random tips on eating and drinking in Moorea:
We were told upon checking in at our hotel to not drink the tap water including the water at our hotel. They even cautioned us to brush our teeth with bottled water. So we did not have ice in our drinks nor did we eat any local produce.
Miscellaneous info:
Make sure to go to Moorea in the non-rainy season and even then, it may rain as it did for two of our three days there! The day it did not rain, we took Dr. Poole’s Dolphin and Whale Tour. You will see and learn a lot on this tour. However, I have two alerts. First, Dr. Poole accepts cash only on his tours. Somehow we missed this and were not prepared. Dr. Poole finally (after making us feel awful) let us ride along as we promised to go directly back to the hotel after the tour was over and cash some traveler’s checks to pay him. When we arrived home, I checked the website my husband had used to find information about this tour and read his emails to and from Dr. Poole and saw no mention of the cash only requirement. Dr. Poole is extremely knowledgeable about marine life in these waters and he will constantly remind you of how smart he is. It got old hearing this and detracts from the tour. We finally saw a whale and some baby dolphins and my husband swam with the sharks and rays, (an added bonus because we had not been successful in finding the whales). Second warning is that this is a fairly small boat and the water can be choppy. Several people on our trip became ill.
Summary:
Moorea is a beautiful island. It reminded me of a primitive Hawaiian island in topography. As I said in the beginning, many on the island have a chip on their shoulders regarding their more glamorous neighbor, Bora Bora and refer to it as Bora Boring! I am glad we saw the juxtaposition of the two islands and would definitely recommend that if you go to both, visit Moorea first.
