6578 This is Mount Rotui looking over Cook's Bay to the east. The jagged ridgeline is typical of the mountains here.
6593 The ms Amsterdam in Cook's Bay, Moorea.
6599 This is the Village of Papetoai from the first viewing spot on Magic Mountain. You can see the barrier reef where the waves are breaking offshore. As you can see there are also reefs extending out from the shore and some in the center of the lagoon. The village pier is the gray thing sticking out at the end of the point and the pointy orange roof to the right is the octagonal church.
6615 This is looking across the mouth of Opunoho Bay. The structure sticking out from the point across the bay is the location of the Sheraton Moorea Lagoon Hotel's overwater rooms.
6622 This is looking down from the top of Magic Mountain. You can see the lower viewpoint with the group of young tourists standing on it. In the distance the small item sticking out into the lagoon is the Moorea Beachcomber Intercontinental Resort. The land at the barrier reef almost at the horizon is Fareohe Motu.
Nov 24 – Moorea, Leeward Islands, Society Islands, French Polynesia. Mo'orea (as it's written locally) is a high island in French Polynesia (meaning it's not an atoll), part of the Leeward Society Islands, 9 miles northwest of Tahiti. Moorea means "yellow lizard" in Tahitian. Early Western colonists and voyagers also referred to Moorea as York Island.
Moorea is about 10 miles wide from the west to the east. Two small bays are on the north shore. The one to the west is called 'Ōpūnohu Bay is less developed and sparsely populated. The one to the east, where we're anchored, is Cook's Bay. The local name is Pao Pao Bay since the largest village of Moorea; Pao Pao is at the end of the bay. The island's highest point is Mount Tohivea, near its center. It dominates the island when viewed from the water anywhere around the island's perimeter.
Like many of the other islands, Moorea was first settled by Polynesians from the islands west of Moorea. They arrived on canoes coming down from South Asia looking for islands to settle. It is estimated that they arrived on Moorea roughly 1000 years ago. There are some ancient landmarks on Moorea known as marae, which consist of ancient pyramid shaped stones. Carved on the pyramids are calendars showing the schedule of sacrifices. The oldest marae is the 'Āfareaitu Marae, located in the island's main village. It was carved around the year 900.
First European sighting was by Pedro Fernandez de Quirós in 1606. The first Europeans to arrive on the island were Englishman Samuel Wallis and James Cook. Captain James Cook first settled on Tahiti and then he took his ship with Samuel Wallis and went onward to Moorea. The bay he first settled in was later named Cook's Bay in his honor. Spanish sailor Domingo de Bonechea visited it in 1774 and named it Santo Domingo but the title didn't stick; the English had a prior claim.
We've been here before and decided to see some of the island this time. We've arranged to tour the island with a professional photographer to see the island from his perspective. We are traveling just as we did yesterday, comfortably ensconced in the back of a mini-pickup. This time all six of us are in the back as the driver is accompanied by the photographer.
Our first stop was on the eastern shore of Cook's Bay. The sun was perfect at this time of day for pictures across the bay to the other shore, a view that includes the ms Amsterdam. I got some good pictures of Mount Rotui, which occupies most of the isthmus that separates Cook's and Opunohu Bays. Many of the mountains and hills here are very jagged and rough. A ridge runs inland from Mount Rotui that displays this very well. I noticed a great shadow from a palm tree on the water between the Amsterdam and me, so I took a brochure shot including both. Pretty hokey, but fun.
From there we drove west on the coast road around the rest of Cook's Bay past luxury hotels, hardly any of which is visible from the road. The buildings are not tall and the landscaping is. You'd swear that, except form some private houses, you were driving through undeveloped land. Very well done. We rounded the point between the bays and continued driving along the shore of Opunohu Bay until we were completely around it also. There we turned inland and headed up the narrow, mostly cliff hugging road to Magic Mountain Viewpoint. It was about two miles up this rough dirt road that we arrived at a very small parking area, large enough for about three pickups our size. From there we walked a narrow path along a ridge and then up to a small flat area on the side of the mountain. It was steep, rocky going. Part of the way they had put in a rope that you could grab and pull to keep your feet from sliding on the loose rock and help maintain your balance. The view from here was great. You could see the barrier reef as well as lagoon and island side reefs. The city of Papetoai was at the mouth of the valley. The city's small pier and its unusual Octagonal Church were clearly visible.
From this point, you climb another 20 feet higher by circling the remaining portion of the hill and you wind up with a 360˚ view. You can see all of Opunohu Bay and across it to Mount Rotui and back to Mount Tohivea the tallest point on the island. In the other direction, you can see Papetoai Village and down the coast all the way past the Moorea Beachcomber Intercontinental Resort to Fareohe Motu at the western end of Moorea. In short, visibility was great and the sun was perfect. I'm thinking that the photographer has timed our visits to these places to put the sun in its most advantageous position. While we were at the summit, a group of young tourists showed up on the lower viewpoint and gathered for a group picture. They also took what I call a "leap shot", where everyone jumps into the air at the same time while someone snaps the picture. From up top, I got them right at the peak of their jumps.
When we walked back down to the small parking area we found that three other trucks had joined ours. Our driver introduced Diana and I to the other drivers. On was an older man, a local named Papa John. He's the godfather of Moorea tourism. Of the other three drivers, one was from Holland, one was from Brazil and one was from Italy. Apparently, the Moorea tourism community is an international venture. As we drove down Magic Mountain, we had new vistas because the narrow road makes one-way traffic a necessity. In going up and down, we completely circled the mountain. The way up had the bay and mountain views, the way down had the reef and ocean views.
When we reached the coast we drove half way back around Opunohu Bay and then turned inland again to head up nearly the top of Mount Tahivea to a place they call The Belvedere. From this viewpoint, you can see almost all of the two bays below. Since we were here in 1991, they've added a flat platform to the viewpoint that makes it easier to cut the viewpoint itself out of the foreground of your pictures. If you turn around you can see a great profile of Mount Mouaroa. It's the surviving lava dome of an ancient volcano. While we were enjoying the views, a caravan of ATVs showed up. Now that's the way to tour. The leader had 6 ripe Queen pineapples strapped to the front of his ATV, looked like a very tropical hood ornament. I could smell them immediately. I think we'll have some later.
As we drove down from the Belvedere, we passed the local agricultural school. This time we stopped to view some of the tropical flowers they grow as well as visit the pineapple plantation on the site. All they grow are Queen Pineapples. They are a cross between the standard Hawaiian pineapple and a Brazilian pineapple. They are small, a little less than half the volume of a Hawaiian pineapple but they are uniformly sweet. When we were touring in Hawaii, our guide mentioned that a small quantity of Queens was grown there but not enough to export. When he takes pineapple to the states, that's what he takes.
The flowers were pretty. The Wax Rose (called torch plant elsewhere), banana, ginger (both red and pink) and several species of heliconia were all in bloom. Some were opened up like I had never seen before. Mostly you see them in the 'crab claw' formation. This time the 'claws' were open and the flowers inside visible. Very pretty.
When we returned from wondering the flower fields we found that our driver had cut some Queen pineapples for us to eat. He had cut them in half and then sliced around the outer skin, leaving it whole. He sliced the center into half-inch pieces and put them back into the skin angling every other one in the opposite direction so they were easy to pick up. With Queens, the center core is so soft and tasty that you don't have to eat around it you just eat the whole thing. They were great!! Not a bit of any of them was left over.
Our next stop was at a hillside stand that's attached to a vanilla plantation. The stand's seating area has a wonderful view of Cook's Bay. We're here to have refreshment and taste some jams that are made on site. The jams were very good and I bought two jars, one banana-pineapple and mango-coconut. We also had a couple of scoops of sorbet, mango and ginger. The ginger was spicy to the point of leaving a tingle in your mouth and the mango was delicious. Together they were fantastic if you didn't scoop so much ginger, it overpowered the mango. The sorbet here is every bit as creamy as ice cream, creamier than some. I think the French have a different definition of sorbet. They also had a garden full of flowers and fruit tree examples.
The views were great on the way back to the tender pier as we drove around Cook's Bay. When we arrived at the port, Henk and Crystal Mensing, the Hotel Manager and Customer Relations Manager, were mounting their foldable tandem bike for a ride around the bay as well.
Our entertainer was David Pengelly, a humorist who also plays the ukulele. He's funny in a corny way. Not really my taste but I did get some chuckles out of his performance.
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