Moorea. Polynesia, October 2012.
Moorea. Polynesia, October 2012.

Moorea, Stunningly Beautiful

#Polynesia

  Polynesia: Maupiti + Rangiroa + Moorea - October 2012

Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation of an article originally written in French. I apologise for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have resulted. If you read French, click on the French flag below to access the original, correct text: 


I 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

Arrival in Moorea by ferry. Polynesia, October 2012.

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.

On the lagoon, the Sofitel Ia Ora Beach Resort, one of the most luxurious hotels in Moorea. Polynesia, October 2012.
On the lagoon, the Sofitel Ia Ora Beach Resort, one of the most luxurious hotels in Moorea.
Moorea. Polynesia, October 2012.

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.

Panorama from the belvedere on the impressive Mount Rotui, which separates the bays of Opunohu (left) and Cook (right). Polynesia, October 2012.
Panorama from the lookout on the impressive Mount Rotui, which separates Opunohu (left) and Cook Bays (right).

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 ...

😍

  Polynesia: Maupiti + Rangiroa + Moorea - October 2012

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