Mo'orea

The views as we cruised to our anchoring spot at Mo’orea were maybe the most spectacular we’d yet had in French Polynesia, which is saying something. We anchored at the mouth of 'Ōpūnohu Bay with a perfect view of Mount Tohivea. It was the kind of place where it felt like you could sit and stare at the scenery all day.

But we did have an excursion planned, called a “Motu Picnic Escapade.” We tendered in to the pier and immediately transferred to a small catamaran that would take us out snorkeling and to a motu (small islet). The snorkeling stop was with sharks and rays, so it was pretty similar to things we’d done already, but it was still fun. Then it was on to the motu for the picnic. Along the way we were able to spot some sea turtles swimming.

There were actually two small islets sitting off the coast of Mo’orea with a narrow channel between them. We snorkeled in the channel, which had a reasonably strong current running through it. That made going up-current some work, but drifting down was easy. The snorkeling was so-so; shallow waters, lots of dead coral, but some living and enough fish to keep it interesting.

After snorkeling we went back on shore for the picnic. There was not a ton of vegetarian food, but what they had was good and we had enough. There was some time after lunch to do your own thing, which frankly was not really needed. Thomas had fun with a dog who routinely swims over to the motu from the “mainland.”

Going back to the ship was another beautiful journey. We passed by one of those hotels with rooms built out over the water that had been out of commission since before the pandemic. They had a dolphin still living there and his caretaker had him do some jumps for us as we passed by. I never did get the story on the dolphin as far as why he’s still there.Read more