Moorea, Stunningly Beautiful
ENI regret that I could only spend two days in Moorea, the island next to Tahiti. I loved its steep relief and its luxuriant vegetation, its azure lagoon and the mythical Cook Bay.
In the wake of James Cook
October 2012. I'm in Polynesia. After Maupiti and Rangiroa, heading for Moorea! The crossing from Tahiti fills me with joy. It's a small journey into the great journey.
My girlfriend tourdumondiste and I board a ferry in Papeete for a journey of forty minutes. As soon as we are off and we feel the swell, I have the thrilling sensation of sailing in the wake of James Cook...
As he had to do two centuries earlier, I look with increasing impatience at the green peaks, sharp as teeth, biting the sky. This island could serve as a backdrop for Jurassic Park !
Moorea's approach is spectacular. I have a great memory of our entry into the bay.
Luxury, calm and voluptuousness
We stay in a nice little rental villa, with private beach on the lagoon. Luxury, calm and voluptuousness…
This stay in Moorea will be short, but enchanting, filled with simple pleasures: pedaling under the sun to Cook Bay, playing Indiana Jones with mosquitoes around a marae to the black stones - an ancient Polynesian temple -, to taste a raw fish salad marinated in coconut milk, to swim in the lagoon... Always this intense blue that stings the eyes.
Time is running out - Moorea is the last stop before my return flight - friends organize the next day an express tour of the island by car, with a stop at the belvedere, from where we have a fabulous view of the two bays , Opunohu and Cook, sinking deeply between the steep sides of the mountains.
The gray weather of this last day does not dull my enthusiasm. The island may not have the look of postcard full of blue, but this ambient humidity gives it an additional charm, a little mysterious, less agreed.
And in the evening, on the ferry back to Tahiti and Papeete, I still devour the eyes of the stunning beauty of Moorea - which disappears little by little, engulfed in the blue shadow of dusk ...
😍
Reading the article, it's impossible not to let out a big sigh of frustration and envy! So much beauty! I especially love the last photo 😉
@Ysbilia: yes, Moorea is spectacular, magnificent. I really regret not having had much time in 2012 to properly discover it. But I'll go back!!! 8)
Ah Moorea ...
Whether on land or underwater...
The best point for me is the neck of 3 coconut trees.
I'd love to go back and do even more hiking! I think you need to stay at least 4 days.
I understand your desire to return 🙂
@ Remi: yes, I'm frustrated to have had so little time to discover the island... The landscapes are fantastic.
@Corinne : The same! I concluded my stay in Polynesia in Moorea last July, but I stayed there for 3 days. The tour of the island, I did it hair in the wind, by scooter 😆 My biggest regret, not to have been able to make hikes inside the island. But that's only a postponement 😉
@Didier: it's the ideal island to finish off a Polynesian holiday, it seems... I'll take a rain check too!!!! 8)