Moorea is the sister island of Tahiti, located only a half-hour ferry ride away. It is a mountainous, trident-shaped island with two bays: Opanahu (facing the ocean on the left) and Cook’s bay on the right. Cook’s bay was the first place where HMS Endeavor and captain Cook landed when “discovering” French Polynesia. At the time of Cook’s discovery, there were about 30,000 inhabitants living on the island. I don’t know how many inhabitants there are today, but certainly not 30,000.
I got to Moorea in the afternoon and took a taxi to my accommodation: Pension Motu Iti. On trip advisor. this place did not have a good review. About half of the reviewers said that it was perfectly fine while the other half said that it was a living hell. One person even claimed that they got Dengue Fever there. The biggest complaint, however, was about the heat and mosquitos. I, on the other hand, had a great stay. For starters, it was only $15 per night, by far the cheapest place in my travels. It was right by the water and the hostel included a little dock area where you can lounge around and get into the water. There is also a restaurant to eat at and kayaks were free to use as well. I slept in an attic with no walls and enough beds for 15 people. The attic had fans and the island was windy during my stay. The heat and mosquitos were not one of my concerns. I had no complaints about the place, especially for the price I was paying. The other guests there were also nice. A lot of people were in and out during the three nights there, including the french family that was on my Papeeno Valley tour. However, during my stay, there were two constants: one was an old bearded man that slept a lot and talked to no one, the other was a middle-aged woman from Uruguay named Norma. she was really nice and I thoroughly enjoyed her company while I was there.
After checking into the Motu Iti, I walked 2 kilometers west towards Opanahu Bay. Along the way, I found a really fancy Hilton resort complete with those bungalows on the water that you always see pictures of. After 2 miles, I came across one of the most scenic beaches that I have ever seen. The area is mostly grass with some sand, but the water was an impeccable azure blue with the most beautiful view of the lush and jagged jade mountains that towered on the other side of the bay. I could’ve stayed at that beach forever, but instead, I just settled for hours. Afterward, I returned to Motu Iti and stayed there for the night.
The next morning I was woken up by the sound of the roosters crowing at 530am. They did not stop for hours. After a breakfast of local fruit, generously provided by residents of the hostel, I went looking for a stand to buy fresh fruit for myself. I walked for three miles along the road, stopping along the way to buy a fresh coconut and to check out the bungalows at the Hilton. It costs about $500 a night to stay at the bungalows, but only $15 a night for my hostel. I think we all know who got the better deal here. I never did find a stand that sold fresh fruit though. I had dreams of eating pineapple, grapefruit, and bananas but those dreams were crushed. I turned around and walked back to Motu to get ready for my ATV trip.
That afternoon I was picked up from the Motu and was taken to a little shop on the far side of Opanahu Bay to begin a three and a half hour ATV trip. the trip was really awesome. It was me, a couple on their honeymoon, and our french tour guide who was really cool and funny. At every scenic overlook, he would say “pretty cool, huh?” It was actually pretty cool. We drove on our ATVs to the road that led to Point Bellevedere- the center of the island. On Moorea, there are only two roads: one circles the entire island and the other is the only lead inland from Opanahu Bay to Point Belvedere. All the other “roads” are a little more than dirt tracks that are only accessible via 4wd vehicles. Our drive took us through the jungle, pineapple plantations, and the island’s only farming high school. Our guide was great at speaking about the local botany on the island. all of this was in the center of this giant valley- a massive crater formed from the volcanic eruption that caused this island. We were enclosed by this massive border of tall, green, jagged mountains. The nutrients of the volcano made the whole crater lush and vivacious. The tour was highly educational. Two hours into the trip we reached Point Belvedere. This place offered incredible and commanding views of Moorea because you can see both bays from the point- it is incredibly scenic. After a while, we made our way back to the shop, but before we did, we veered off onto a sketchy track full of twists and turns to the top of a place called Magic Mountain. From there we had a beautiful view of Opanahu Bay, the ocean, and the other side of the mountain. Pretty cool, huh? After this magnificent view, we went back to the shop.
That night I laid out on the dock of Motu and stargazed. I have never seen that many stars in my life. I was astonished. My brain tried comparing it to the next best thing: the glowworms at Waitomo, NZ. It’s crazy how your brain tries to rationalize things it struggles to comprehend.
I was up early the next day again because of the roosters. We get it, you’re awake; you don’t hear anyone else screaming because they are awake. I was also up early because I was going diving with Top dive again. They picked me up at Motu and took me to their dive shop located on the resort. This dive was so much less intense than the dives in Tahiti. There were 8 of us in total and although it was raining on the surface, it was calm under the water. I did two dives as usual; however, this time our guide brought bait along. we visited some coral reefs filled with sharks and turtles. Fish were all around us. There were blacktip reef sharks everywhere too. They would just swim right by you. These guys are chill though, they won’t bite you. We also saw two lemon sharks on the dive. Overall it was just a pretty chill dive.
That night I went to a Polynesian cultural show, which was pretty chill. The show was a lot like the one I went to in Rotorua, NZ- the Maori village. They had an enormous buffet dinner, they took us on a tour of the area, and they had a great show full of dancing, hula, and fire. Afterward, we got pictures with the performers. It was spectacular. However, all of this was overshadowed by my interactions with the other visitors. As I mentioned at the start of my journal, one of the reasons I love traveling is because I can get a hands-on experience of other cultures. I also love that it forces you out of your comfort zone and makes you a better person. But then there are those who refuse to leave the comforts of the resort and tour buses. These people don’t even try to broaden their horizons and I try to avoid these tourists as much as possible. Unfortunately, 90% of the tourists that visit French Polynesia are those types that I detest. since I was doing a touristy thing, most of the people at the cultural experience were this type of tourist. I was able to tell from the beginning (as they are very noticeable) but I could do nothing but observe. What they said and did bother me though. It started when we were taking a tour of the place. At one stop, our guide showed us a wall of images of French Polynesia before the tourism industry. He began to solemnly reminisce about the “before days” and explained to us how life was better back then. However, some of those photos included images of topless women, so people in the group were audibly laughing because they thought he just missed the topless women walking around. That bugged me. Then at dinner, I was seated with 3 couples from America, all on some version of a honeymoon. They were all thoroughly shocked that I was there alone. I think doing something like that would never even cross their minds. For dinner, they all refused to eat any food that they had never heard of before (ie traditional Polynesian food) so they stuck with rice, pizza, and hotdogs on a stick. When I asked if anyone had tried Poisson Cru (raw fish seared in coconut milk- French Polynesia’s most iconic dish) one couple looked me dead in the eye and said “we don’t eat seafood, and even if we did we wouldn’t eat it raw.” If you don’t like seafood, well, maybe you shouldn’t come to a tiny island in the pacific. As they ate their meat on sticks, one woman commented “this is so good, like I don’t even want to know what type of meat this is, but it’s so good,” as if she was implying it was dog meat. Everyone laughed at her remarks and agreed. It was a fucking hot dog, Janet; that’s what type of meat it was. I never want to be that type of tourist.
The next day was my last in French Polynesia. I did nothing much but hang around Motu Iti. It was a lazy morning. Around 2 I was ready to go to the ferry that left at 4. I stood across the street from the hotel waiting for a bus, trying to hitchike. The bus never came and only one person stopped for me, but she was going to the wrong place. While I was waiting for something some kids were hanging out near me. They called me John cena and played around me. There was also a middle aged asian man who was staying at Motu who was also talking to the kids. I don’t know what he was doing though. At some point he was trying to hitchike and at other times he was trying to convince the kids to get a coconut from a tree because he was hungry. After 45 minutes of trying to get a ride with no luck, I talked to the owner of Motu to call a cab for me. He called all the taxis he knew but no one could get me. I started getting desperate. I went back to the street to try hitchiking again. After about 15 more minutes a miracle happened and a taxi appeared. I was able to get to the ferry with a few minutes to spare. Once in Papeete, I was able to get to the airport.
My trip to Polynesia was over. It was a great trip, but upon visiting, a lot of the romanticism surrounding the islands was pulled back. I would like to visit again and at least hit all six main islands. There is so much more about their culture and history that I would like to know about. Plus, you will never be able to beat these views.