We stayed at the Bali Hai pension (local hotel) on Cook's Bay and had a 2-bedroom over-the-water bungalow, complete with our own private garden in our bathroom. They had a wonderful dinner dance show for 200+ cruisers the first night. At the end of the dance show, they selected some of the cruisers to get up and dance with the dance group. Jensen was one of those lucky people! Who knew she could wiggling her hips like that and the guys really enjoyed her!
(See Photos of Bali Hai & Dinner Dance)
The next day was a fun-filled day of participating in all the local Polynesian games, including va'a (outrigger canoe) racing, coconut husking, weaving palm leaves, fruit carrying races, rock lifting, learning to dance, etc. The highlight for all of us was the va'a racing. The 4 of us, along with 2 locals, raced against 5 other va'as. We felt lucky to come in second, so we did not have to race again in the finals. It is tough work paddling a va'a! But, one team drafted Garrow to race in the finals, so he did race again and again, came in second.
(See Photos) That night we had a great Father's Day dinner at the Mayflower. Thanks Garrow and Jensen!
We spent the next 2 days in the water snorkeling and paddle boarding. With 2 standup paddleboards and a double kayak, we paddled out to the sting ray feeding area. We went early before anyone else was out there and couldn't find any sting rays. Then we look down and saw them all sleeping on the bottom. They were pink whiprays, about 5 feet wide x 10 feet long. Then a tour boat came and started feeding the rays and the dance started! There were dozens of rays, along with probably a dozen blacktip reef sharks. Garrow got in and got some good GoPro shots.
(See Photos) He even got to "pet" the huge rays.
(See Video of sharks under Tony's paddleboard) We then paddled over in between 2 motus (islets on the reef) and did some great snorkeling. We had a snack lunch on our own private motu, complete with a flock of roosters and their baby chicks fighting over our crumbs.
The last day on Moorea, we took a tour with Frankyfrank. He turned out to be very knowledgeable and entertaining. We drove up to the top of Magic Mountain. The drive up was a white-knuckle experience in itself! But, the view was worth it! We later toured the botanical gardens and tasted the fruit jams with vanilla. We toured a vanilla farm and learned all about how they pollinate the beans by hand. Knowing how labor intensive it is to grow vanilla beans, it is not surprising how much they cost. And, Frankyfrank demonstrated how to play "vivo", or nasal flute, for us. Then we drove up to another beautiful viewpoint overlooking Cook's Bay and Opunohu Bay (where Captain Cook really landed). On the way down, we stopped at a farm to learn how they grow pineapples. Before leaving Moorea, we had lunch at Snack Mahana on the lagoon - highly recommended!
(See Photos)
Back in Tahiti, we went to Tehani's group final practice for the Heiva Dance Contest. Although they did not have their costumes on, the dancing was superb and it was really fun to see 160 people dancing together on stage. We did some more snorkeling on Tahiti before Garrow and Jensen left (on my birthday). A sad day! But, then a friend's daughter stopped by. She is a professional windsurfer and had an inflatable standup paddleboard (demo) that she wanted to sell before going back to Hawaii. So, she gave it to me for wholesale price (about half the retail value) and I got a birthday present! I love paddle boarding in the lagoon and seeing all the turtles and fish. I've only come back wet once, so far . . .
More Later - G&T