Family and friends,
Another short post about our travel adventure from Bora Bora to our last French Polynesian island of Moorea via Tahiti including seeing the unforgettable the ‘Welcome to Bora Bora’ sign again. Many tourists take ferries among the islands but the final leg to Moorea was the first one for us. I think if we had to do the trip over again, I’d recommend more ferries than flights to get between the islands.
Click here to read on our main blog in a nicer format or just continue below. https://bergersadventures8.blogspot.com/2022/01/121521-from-bora-bora-tahiti-moorea.html
All the best to you and your loved ones, Annie
Before leaving Bora Bora, I wanted one last chance to do some souvenir shopping so Steven and I biked back toward Matira Beach where I’d seen a shop that was always closed when we’d been by the previous times.
The White House had a great selection of interesting carved Polynesian wooden figures, unique hats, and Tahitian jewelry at mostly very reasonable prices. As I suspected our youngest son back home in Denver would likely want a couple of items, I immediately sent him photos of hats, tiki sculptures, and other things via WhatsApp. Thanks to the great technology we use for free all over the world, I was able to get him exactly what he wanted.
These shells looked beautiful but, at $89 a piece, they were way more than I would pay for just a shell.
I know I mentioned in the previous post how surprised we were about the quality of living in Bor Bora. Even after spending several days on the island, we were still struck by the level of poverty we noticed.
After riding back to our rental property and dropping off our bikes, we took a taxi to the harbor of the island’s main town of Vaitape where we caught the catamaran to Bora Bora’s airport on Motu Mute.
Last views of Bora Bora as we crossed over the lagoon to the motu where the airport was located:
Even though we’d already taken the catamaran from the airport when we arrived a few days earlier, it was still a lark doing it in reverse!
We’ll never forget this iconic Welcome to Bora Bora sign!
The short flight over to Papete’e on Tahiti:
I guessed we’d soon be taking the large ship over to the island of Moorea, our last of the French Polynesian islands we’d tour on this adventure.
Every member of this family had beautiful floral garlands on arrival at the airport.
We would have thought that there was a shuttle to the ferry terminal but nope, none. So, a taxi ride took us there where we purchased tickets on the next ferry or navette to Moorea. Since it wasn’t leaving for a while Steven and I decided to walk to a souvenir stand we’d found at Place Vai’ete when we first arrived in Papete’e.
If there were 20 passengers on the huge ferry, I’d be surprised.
Photos of our ferry ride over to Moorea:
Moorea in the distance:
Wouldn’t you know that just moments before we landed on Moorea the heavens opened and it poured cats and dogs?!
A map of Moorea:
More beautiful garlands!
The Moorea harbor terminal:
A sign that was apropos for Covid: just click on it to make it bigger so you can see the cute captions.
After we picked up our rental car by the ferry landing in the south of the island, we began driving west, toward Cook Bay where our rental was located.
A local elementary school:
The local produce stand looked very familiar after seeing them on each of the other islands!
More about these two churches in an upcoming post:
Our rental had just stunning, stunning flowers everywhere we looked as you’ll also see! Initially, I must say we weren’t too enamored with the rental upon being greeted by the owner’s two very noisy large dogs, their poop by our unit, the kitchen (or at least most of it!) outside the unit, and lots of other idiosyncracies.
However, the view overlooking Cook’s Bay from our rental couldn’t have been more spectacular and that almost won us over all by itself.
Next post: Another Polynesian island, another beach to explore!
Posted on January 26th, 2022, from our home in Denver’s foothills as we await yet another snowstorm tomorrow. Help, gotta get out of here soon!
The Adventures of Annie and Steven Berger 
Always nice to have a downpour to greet you to a new place!
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Indeed!
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That’s a gorgeous view and the landscape there looks dramatically beautiful even in the rain! Looking forward to seeing more 🙂
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Sarah,
I intentionally didn’t comment on the lush and dramatic landscape we saw on arriving on Moorea, preferring to let the photos speak for themselves! I think you will also be as enthralled as we were when you see more of Moorea.
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I’ll be curious to learn what you think of Moorea, my favorite of the Society Islands. 🙂 By the looks and sounds of it, you were in a good location to start hiking in the hills, to some incredible viewpoints.
Speaking of snowstorms, Mark’s flight back to me in Mexico got cancelled because of the blizzard hitting New England today. Let’s just hope he gets back early next week…
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Liesbet,
Just like you, Moorea was hands down our favorite island for the drop dead gorgeous views everywhere we looked, the easier access to restaurants and other tourist amenities, the chances to get out and hike in a variety of places all over the island, the opportunity to learn about the culture, the island’s superior infrastructure, and more!
Sorry that Mark was delayed getting back to you because of the horrific storm. It makes our recent snows look like nothing to complain about, that’s for sure!
Haven’t heard a thing about how life has been since you crossed over into Mexico. I hope you and Mark are preferring your way of life there. All the best to you and your furry friend.
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I’m much happier in Mexico compared to the US right now but we haven’t done much yet, because Mark had to leave and we are dealing with some sad family developments. I posted one blog about Baja California so far.
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Saddened to hear about the family developments, Liesbet. As we age, I always worry when I get a late in the day phone call from one of my four brothers in Canada after two of them had a stroke and heart attack last year. I hope the days and months ahead bring you and Mark a greater sense of peace and enjoyment in Mexico. Loved catching up on your recent posts, especially reading about Shell Beach! I was missing your posts and re-subscribed now, thank goodness, so I look forward to reading updates when you have the time and energy to post again.
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Thanks for signing up to Roaming About again, Annie. I also wonder if you read my book – or might read it in the future – as 1/3 of it is set in French Polynesia. I kept thinking it would have been a great match while you were there and based on your comments regarding your curiosity about our experiences on the islands, you might like some part of “Plunge”. 🙂
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You’re right that I should have purchased Plunge before our trip but better late than never so I’ll go ahead and buy it. I’m curious how you managed sailing through French Polynesia as that sounds daunting but also really exciting if you don’t have any sailing know how as is the case with us!
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I definitely didn’t want to sound pushy, Annie. You both have been incredibly supportive already. I just kept thinking about you being there while we were as well and how you were curious about our experiences. Of course, the book is about much more than French Polynesia and goes deeper into our relationship as well. Happy reading and thank you!
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Believe me, Liesbet, the thought of your ‘sounding pushy’ never entered my mind. I look forward to reading your book for ALL that it entails, not just about FP.
In Phoenix now and thinking of your and Mark’s experiences here so recently. Only been here for a week so far so have lots more time to see what we like and don’t like about the city. Already, however, we’ve enjoyed some really fun hiking opportunities in the north and south parts of the metro area.
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