Honeymoon: Day 9 (Dolphins!!!)

Day 9: Wednesday
Today was my favorite on Moorea. It was also our last day on Moorea :(   We woke up and took a shuttle over tot he other side of the island, to the Intercontinental Resort, home to the Moorea Dolphin Centre. It is a gorgeous resort along the lagoon. We had some extra time, so we visited the sea turtle rehabilitation centre for sea turtles that have been injured. We saw around 6 sea turtles ranging from a baby the size of one's hand, to a 40 year old named Tortilla, that weighed more than I do. You can't touch them, but you can look down at them in the lagoon from the bridge or you can within a few feet on the shore.

Then came the best part of the trip...DOLPHINS!! Our group consisted of John and I as well as one other couple and a dolphin trainer. We had around 30 minutes in the water to swim with the dolphins. We met two, a younger male and a 35 year old female. They jumped, barrel rolled, and went incredibly fast through the water--it seemed like one was going to bulldoze right over someone and then suddenly, it would just pull up on a dime. Anytime the dolphin was in arms reach, we could rub its belly or back.

The best part, was actually holding onto the fin and hugging around the dolphin while it took you for a swim. Your arms are wrapped around the dolphin...one big breath, and suddenly you're underwater gliding along the sea floor. It was unreal.

After the dolphins, we went back to our room/dock and lounged on the deck for the rest of the day--it was one of the most beautiful days of the trip. John snorkeled more and I watched more. We read, played farkle, drank "tahiti drink" which is an awesome drink made from fresh fruit on the island and some kind of fruit liquor, ordered room service, and had our last bites of creme brulee with vanilla from Taha'a.

A perfect last day at the Sofitel in Moorea...  

On to Bora Bora!

Love you all,
Ash

Honeymoon: Day 8

Day 8: Tuesday
If we could go back, we would have done today on day 1--what a way to see this beautiful island. We took a tour of the entire island by boat and stopped here and there to hear the tahitian legends or jump in the water. Quite the experience...

This has no filter. The water really is tinged turquoise.

We were picked up at 8 am and headed out to see the island. Picture Moorea like a giant animal paw with 3 toes, the bottom of the island is one mass and the North shore of the island is broken into 3 land masses by two bays--Cooks Bay and Oponohu Bay.  We stayed along the Northeast corner of the island (along the 3rd toe, if you will :)  Our boat sailed along the northern coast and explored both bays. The first bay is called Cooks Bay, named after the famous Captain James Cook who is also notorious for his "discovery" of the Hawaiian islands. The entrance to the bay is home to a giant reef, which Cook failed to indicate on his maps of Moorea--apparently there are plenty of shipwrecks because of this.

It is from this bay that you see the best view of Moorea's mountain, which adorns all of the francs of French Polynesia.

After checking out Cooks Bay, we continued along to Oponohu bay which is also stunning. After Oponohu, John jumped in the water with our guide to see the tiki men at the bottom of the ocean. It is said that when missionaries first arrived on Moorea they were outraged by the monotheistic culture. Tahitians worshipped multiple gods--a  god of the sea, a god of the wind, etc...the main elements or life forces were paid tribute to through carved tiki men (much like the little tourist carvings you've seen). The missionaries were furious and took all of the precious tiki and tossed them into the ocean. In tribute, about 20 years ago a local man recarved the tiki and placed them in the bottom of the lagoon, to remember the tiki, as well as the missionaries who were so hasty to discard the culture and spirituality of the Tahitian people. 

On the Northwestern tip of the island, after Oponohu bay, there is a sandbar right in the middle of the ocean. It was here that we stopped to swim with the stingrays (as well as a few sharks!!)  More photos of this to come later...

After the stingrays and sharks, we stopped at a private Motu (a motu is a tiny tiny island, that apparently is not big enough to call an island) We played in the water and walked on the beach, looking across the lagoon to the previous Club Med site which has now been abandoned for 10 years or so (the lease was up and a price could not be agreed upon)

It truly felt like we washed ashore on the island featured in Castaway, I kept looking for Tom Hanks, but... I guess he was busy.

After the motu stop, the rest of the tour was onboard the boat where we had fresh fruit and pineapple juice. John immediately became BFF with one of the tour guides and was chatting it up the ENTIRE time, leading to the tour guide slipping him cups of the local Tahitian beer in lieu of pineapple juice. He  told us everything you could imagine about the island and answered any and all questions we could come up with. The last leg of the tour was extremely windy and we even got a bit of rain--I didn't mind it but the Italians on board it seemed had never seen or been in the rain, lol. 

The tour ended around 12:30 and we headed back to our dock where it ended up being a beautiful day.

John snorkeled, I watched. We read, played more farkle, and stared at the crystal blue water until dinner where we got the American buffet, and realized later it cost a fortune! Ooops. 

Honeymoon: Day 5 - Day 7

Day 5-Saturday

Our laziest yet. Besides breakfast, we hardly left the room.  Our day in a nutshell, in no particular order…

Eat

Snorkel

Swim

Drink

Read

Farkle

Read

Jump off dock

Farkle

Finish Book #1

Food

Start Book #2

Beer

Jump off dock

Feed fish

Wine

Read

Crème brulee

Sleep

the shower on our dock...the clouds tend to come in the late afternoon, and the water glows green

a waterfall on our hotel grounds

We played a few games of farkle over the last few days—John LITERALLY has yet to lose a game, and I have yet to win a game. I don’t mind losing though, I just look at the waves and drink my wine and all is well with the world…

Day 6-Sunday

Big plans to explore the island today! Going to rent a scooter and check out the island today and hopefully swim with the dolphins on the other side of the island.

…found out everything on the island is closed on Sunday. Welp! Maybe tomorrow.

Instead, we read, snorkeled, read, ate, went on a walk, drank, played farkle, and got the best massage of our lives before getting ready for the American dinner buffet—which was AMAZING.

I still have not won at farkle. Sometimes I’ll lead the whole game and come close and then John randomly rolls like 3,000 points to win it all at the end. I’ve lost countless bets, but it’s okay…he likes winning more than I do anyway. J

Crème brulee and a bottle of wine to end each day seems to be the trend…

our dock

 Day 7: Monday
A road trip around the island. I'm sitting at the computer  exhausted, so I will upload the photos and give you a glimpse and update soon....

The first stop on our road trip around the island...Our hotel is in the lagoon behind us. The Sofitel Ia Ora.

Thank goodness for the Camera Plus app. The timer saved our lives. Can you believe, even with reminders from both of our mothers...we forgot our cameras?  We used our iPhones for photos the entire trip! 

The juice factory where we stopped to try a variety of local juices and fruit liquors. 

Finally made it to Belvedere--the viewpoint from which one can see both Cooks & Oponohu Bays at the same time...it's quite the drive up there but it's unlike anything I've ever seen and the pictures don't do it justice (more to come)

 We pulled over to take a longer look at the Haapiti Church- the first Catholic church established on Moorea and still meeting every Sunday.

It's windy here...especially in the afternoon.

a pony...tied in the valley of the pineapple fields.

Fields of Ananas (pineapples)

Cooks Bay

After our long trip around the island by car, we made reservations at a French restaurant called Moorea Beach Cafe. It was started several months ago by a French restauranteur and his wife. His wife provides transportation from the surrounding hotels to the restaurant (she studied at FIDM in LA!) 

The restaurant was an old converted house directly along the shore of Maharepa (the village). It was the  most beautiful sunset...which is why it was surprising that we were LITERALLY the only ones dining--I can say we got plenty of attention and great service! :)  Tahitians and French dine much later than Americans. We arrived at 5 to watch the sunset and when we left at 6:30, we were still the only table. The food was AMAZING. We tried the duck foie gras (not our taste...it was fed to the fishes).

The food was amazing, the view was unparalleled, and the company was incredibly good looking :)

Love you all.

Ash

Honeymoon: Day 1 - Day 4

MOOREA

Where to begin…everything is beautiful and I get 12 days alone in paradise with John Little—life is pretty much perfect at the moment…

Day 1

We landed in Papeete, Tahiti around 11pm on Tuesday the 16^th and spent the night a stone’s throw from the airport. It was a short walk but was a nightmare of a hill to pull a 50 pound bag up. They don't believe in adequately paved roads here. I swear a blind man paved the driveway at night. Nothing about this hotel or experience is even worth revisiting. 

Day 2- Wednesday

We woke up, packed up, and headed off to the harbor to catch a ferry over to Moorea. Would you believe the 5 minute taxi ride cost almost as much as the ferry? The ferry was quick and we pulled into the bay on Moorea by 10 am and found our way to the Sofitel. It is absolutely gorgeous. We lounged on the deck, drank mojitos and stared at the water—it’s literally a bright turquoise—you can see straight to the bottom including the coral and all the fish, even on a dock over 100 yards away from the beach. We checked into our room which was amazing, but the receptionist let us know of another room with a bit more privacy that opens up on Friday, so we’ll move once to our new room. We snorkeled a bit and got an amazing dinner sent to the room for a dinner on our deck over the reef.

Day 3- Thursday

We settled in and got our first glimpse of Moorea, outside of the Sofitel. We rented bikes and biked a few miles to a small market to pick up some snacks and drinks at a fraction of the price. We passed a teeny tiny airport, a beautiful golf course, and countless beaches. There are really only 2 main roads on the island. One that goes all the way around the island along the coast and one that goes all the way around the island, a bit more inland. We stayed along the coast and picked up some fruit, cookies, chips, and a few bottles of wine. John tried out the local beer which he liked and I hated—shocker.

After our bike ride, we snacked in the room, lounged, read, snorkeled, and finally slept.

Day 4- Friday

We began today at the pool while they got together our new room. We met an American couple, a French couple, and a Canadian couple who are all leaving on a cruise tomorrow. It was nice to hear some English J--its pretty awkward knowing zero French words. We don’t even know how to say “We don’t know French!” lol. After a relaxing day at the pool, I realized I was getting eaten alive by mosquitos and we left to check into room 120. As we walked down the dock leading to all of the bungalows it seemed to go on forever...we were the last bungalow at the very end of the dock. We were so excited!!

Welp. The move was worth it. We are LITERALLY the furthest overwater bungalow from the beach. As I sit and type this, I can see nothing but water, 3 sailboats, 1 ferry, and the gorgeous green mountains to our right. There are no other rooms or people in sight. Our room is beautiful, but the dock is the best part. There is a huge deck overlooking the entire ocean with a smalls et of stairs leading down to our very own dock. The water is about 8-9 feet deep and I love looking at all the fish from the deck—as far as you can see, you can see the coral dotting the ocean floor—up close the water doesn’t even seem like the ocean. It looks more like looking into a pool, it’s so clear.

John likes to jump off the dock (which is around a 5 foot drop to the water)—it’s pretty fun and the water is so warm! He cannonballs or turns or just jumps in anytime he feels like it—the snorkeling right off the dock is amazing and there are plenty of fish ranging from the size of your finger to your forearm.

Had dinner on the restaurant’s dock overlooking the ocean and Tahiti in the distance. Gorgeous, but I actually thought it may be the beginnings of a hurricane, so we moved from over the water to the covered patio of the restaurant. The food was great and we watched a Tahitian hula/Polynesian dancing show that was really entertaining. The dances are similar to the hula I’ve seen in Hawaii, but even more focused on the story they are telling through the music. Really beautiful.

we love each other

More to come!

Thanks for checking in—we love you too much.

A+J

...and the Honeymoon begins

Welp. We're in Tahiti! Our LAX experience went pretty smooth, albeit a quick accidental loop around the entire terminal before finding the actual entrance to security. Not to mention my amazing bedazzled shirt set off the alarm and then the lotion on my hands set off an additional alarm. I was patted down thoroughly in a small, entirely metal room and the explosives expert was consulted before finally figuring out I'm not a terrorist. We made it to our gate and our seats were freakin awesome.

The flight in business class was about 3 stars nicer than the airport hotel we stayed in when we landed. It was the easiest flight I've ever been on. Bottomless champagne, and an amazing 3 course meal helped the time fly by. (Thanks, Dad!) We watched Modern Family, 2 and a Half Men and The A-Team before finally taking a nap until we landed around midnight local time. We made our way across the street and up the steepest hill EVER to crash before our ferry ride to Moorea where we will spend the next 8 days (EEEEE!!)

Well, I'm off to grab a little breakfast and then head over to our overwater bungalow with my husband. Life's rough in the South Pacific.

Love you all!!

Ash & John
(but mainly Ash ;)