Moorea
We got screwed. We were forced to stay in French Polynesia an extra 5 nights! The horror. Here is a little background... While we were in Thailand we got word that LAN Airlines had canceled our flights going to and leaving Easter Island later in the trip. The airline had changed the days it was going in and out of Easter Island and no longer flew on the days of the week we had reserved. So, the airline booked us on the next available flight from Tahiti to Easter Island six days after our previous flight. But, they never booked us a flight off of Easter Island saying that there were none available. That led to some anger on my part. But thankfully my mother, a former travel agent (a little fact you may not have known about her) got word that her children may be stranded on Easter Island – the most remote place in the world! - and she came to the rescue and managed to get the airlines to give us a flight off the Island and got the round-the-world ticket back on track. But, back to the point, we now got stuck in French Polynesia for an extra 5 nights. It is probably the most beautiful place in the world to be stuck – but not great for the budget.
We took this new itinerary as a present and decided to head to another island and see if we could find another piece of paradise. Moorea is the closest island to Tahiti – we booked a bed and breakfast for 4 nights and decided to make the best of this situation. Getting to Moorea is an easy 30 minute ferry ride but the island itself feels like a world away. The island has towering mountains and beautiful blue lagoons.
We reached our accommodations for the next few days and came to an electric sliding gate. When the gate pulled back there were palm trees that concealed the entrance even further. You had to wade through the palm fronds and then it opened on a beautiful property dotted with five small cabins. The property was on the water right on the Bay. The proprietors a French husband and wife and their dog PauPau met us and showed us to our cabin. This was the flip side of the coin compared to Bora Bora in terms of accommodations. Somehow, the bungalows did not feel the same. Now, when we noticed the bathroom did not have screens and that the wicker walls could easily let little critters in it just did not feel as romantic. At different points of our stay, we had mosquitoes, lizards, termites and yes a cockroach in our room. But, this place did feel a lot more like we were staying with friends or family that happened to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Every morning was breakfast which was fresh fruit and coffee sitting by the water. There was another couple staying there for the same nights as us and we shared breakfast each morning with them. Our new friends from Holland may be the most amazing couple we have met on the trip so far. Besides being amazingly nice and friendly (and being supremely interested in all things Starwood and points) they did awesome stuff. Aside from their day jobs – he was also a diving instructor they both had their kite surfing gear with them, they surf and snowboard, they have traveled all over the world and were just amazing people. We decided that the four of us would take a snorkeling trip with Philippe (the owner of the B&B who is also a dive instructor).
We were heading to three very unique spots on this trip. The first stop has underwater Tiki statues that have been sunk to create an artificial reef. The statue garden had about a dozen traditional stone Tiki in different depths. When we first got in the water, the initial reaction is to the amazing water clarity. Just like in Bora Bora, when the sun is up the water visibility is perfect. As we approached the Tiki statues it felt a little like an underwater archeology site. The stones looked like they have been at the bottom of the ocean for centuries from an ancient civilization. There was not a lot of fish around this area and it was basically pure white sand on the bottom. It was quite surreal to see these giant statues just sitting in an underwater dessert. We spent a little time here floating on top and diving to get some closer looks. Then it was back to the boat for the highlight of the day's trip. We were heading to a known sting ray and shark area to swim with these very dangerous wild animals. Well, very dangerous may be a slight exaggeration. It is true that both rays and sharks can do severe damage to people, this area is known for its friendly rays and sharks just looking for some free food handouts. Danna does not love snorkeling, in fact she does not love being in the ocean at all. So the entire time she was planning on staying on the boat for this portion of the trip. When we got to the area, the rays heard the boat's motor and immediately started to congregate under the boat – by the dozen. There was not three or four rays in the area there was thirty to forty. These were not little sting rays either – they were huge! Probably on average they were about five feet in circumference with some easily being seven to eight feet – and that is not including the huge tail with the huge stinging barb on it! And then we saw the sharks. Right at the color change – where the ocean floor drops of considerably we could see dozens of Black-Tip sharks circling the area. At this point, I was thinking Danna is a smart cookie. I don't get afraid very often but it is totally different to get in the water knowing that these guys are already there! Philippe then jumped in with a jar full of food – instantly he was mobbed by sting rays which showed no fear of the six foot human. They were swarming him from every side – head to toe. Our Holland friends quickly hopped in the water and headed out to view the sharks. Philippe then said to me - “Joe, now is the time the food is running out” I was thinking that is exactly what I was waiting for! But, I reminded myself that this why we went on this trip and I head to the water. I was not even on the bottom rung of the later when the sting rays were all over me. I hopped in and walked over (it was about 4 feet of water) to Philippe and started to play dodge the sting ray. They come in like kamikazes and go straight into you. I was literally grabbing them by the face and pushing them off of me. The animals are actually really silky feeling and it was surreal to pet them and let their wings slide through your fingers. But I was constantly avoiding massive tails that kept sweeping by. Philippe then went over to the boat and grabbed Danna by the hand. He did not want her to miss out on this once in a lifetime experience. To her credit – she came right in the water and had her own moments with the sting rays. Before she knew it she was away from the boat with the rest of the group. Philippe then said to us - “OK now lets go look at the sharks.” We did not have to go far, just about 15 feet away at the drop off point we came face to face with dozens of sharks. At one point, we were completely encircled with sharks on every side. None of them got too close and while I was alert I was not scared. It is totally different to see these animals in their own environment. They move so gracefully through the water and just cruise around. After several minutes of shark watching Danna had enough and head back to the boat – she never swam so fast in her life. She said all she was thinking was “oh great, now the sharks see I am alone and they are going to come and get me now!” I followed her a few minutes later and head back to the boat – what an amazing sense of accomplishment we had to overcome our fears and just enjoy a truly unique experience.
The third and final stop on the tour was a beautiful protected coral reef between two small islands off shore. If you have ever seen a huge aquarium and thought to yourself “I would love to go snorkeling in there” (OK maybe I am the only one who thinks like that) but that is exactly what it felt like here. Fish of all shapes and sizes all around you. Tiny neon blue and purple fish hanging by the coral, clown fish swimming in and out of sea anemones, fish with long noses and spots, stripes and every color of the rainbow. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic day. The Polynesian waters are simply amazing.
The property we were staying at had plenty of fruit trees and tons of coconut palms. Everywhere we looked on Moorea it seemed like every tree was blooming or producing some kind of produce. But this was not like the orange tree we used to have in my backyard in Miami Beach that gave one orange every other year, these trees were weighed down by all the fruit they had on their branches. The other fun thing we did at the B&B was learn how to make real coconut milk from scratch in the traditional Polynesian way. There is a common misconception that coconut milk is the liquid inside the coconut when you pick it off the tree. Actually, that is known as coconut water, the milk is really the juice of the pressed coconut flesh (the white part inside). The gardener (our guide for this class) first had me peel a coconut using a giant rusty metal spike sticking out of the ground. This is not an easy task. I had to balance using enough power to get the husk off the nut inside, but not too much power that I would impale myself on the giant spike! When I did get the nut free we learned how to easily crack a coconut open using just a sharp edged rock – very cool. We then ground out the meat with a scraper blade and using the fibers from the palm tree itself we strained and pressed out the coconut milk and drank it out of the empty shell – if that is not paradise I don't know what is! All we were missing was the little umbrella but it was a ton of fun, interesting and delicious.
Our stay in Moorea also happened to be over the Jewish holiday of Purim. We brought a small Megilla with us from home and I read it for Danna the best I could. In anticipation for holiday we had accumulated a few items for our costumes while we were traveling. Danna in her very traditional grass skirt and my authentic Polynesian tattoos would have made any warrior proud. It was a lot of fun but we missed celebrating it with our friends and family. It was an interesting experience but also made our decision to go to Miami for Passover seem even smarter.
The rest of the time we did nothing but relax. We never do that – I always say we have Shabbat for relaxing the rest of the time I want to be doing something. But, because the budget already took a hit with all the extra nights, we agreed that the best thing for us was to just sit back under the palm trees and stare at the lagoon – and that is exactly what we did.
