Tahiti & Mo'orea

Tahiti, baby! After arriving on an late evening flight we land on Tahiti at around midnight, and since we're going to take the 0600 ferry over to Mo'orea we have no intention of paying for a night in a le hotel and thus we spend the night on the le floor of Faa'a International Airport. And come dawn we do what most visitors do and take off of Tahiti with the proverbial tires screeching, grabbing the ferry from downtown Papeete and we're off to Mo'orea, the next island from Tahiti some 25 minutes away by sea. A green and mountainous island with the highest point at over 1200 meters, Mo'orea boasts some beaches as well as a splendid lagoon like most of the archipelago. Like they say, French Polynesia is not a beach destination but a lagoon destination. And once there, it doesn't take 10 minutes on the beachside before we spot the first of the famous stingrays, gliding quietly in the shallows near the shore!

The scene on Mo'orea turns out to be somewhat different than I was expecting. There's no waterjets screaming nearby, no masses of people around and no neon lights. What you get is a quiet spot at the picture perfect lagoon under the palm trees and surrounded by a handful of people, some cats and pure white powdery sands. My biggest initial concerns about the region were the prices, after having being told by everyone and their mother how expensive French Polynesia is. But we land a sweet deal on a barracks style room in a camping site village with the use of a full kitchen and the room located not 20 meters from the beach for 45$. And the food out of the super market next door really isn't a strain on the budget either. Relief.

It's the first time we've cooked on the trip and oh it feels fun and is a refreshing change to eat self cooked food. Another first time is having to pay for the internet, so I march into a tiny electronics shop and pay a sneering Frenchie 5$ for 1 hour of WLAN hotspot access that should work on most islands. Pffft. Well, I guess it'd be all the same to buy an expensive beer at a bar to be able to use their network as a customer.

We haven't canoed much and decide the best way to see the lagoon and the nearby motus (small islets on the edge of the reef) is to rent one. Obviously one needs snorkeling gear to go with the craft, so we stock up on water, grab the camera, masks and snorkels and head out onto the turquoise waters for a day of fun at sea. The snorkeling gear is lousy but the waters make up for it. After paddling in a strong headwind for 30 minutes we arrive to the strait between the small motus where the water is crystal clear and deep enough for proper exploration. And what do you know, we come across a few stingrays and a group doing the weird "helmet diving". They look hilarious! Mo'orea certainly is the perfect start for our Polynesian leg.

See all the Tahiti & Mo'orea pictures here!