Last day in paradise

It has been quite an amazing honeymoon. Our week started with us moving islands to a little Motu off Taha’a where it was just our own private resort. We did a day long trip around the main island Taha’a checking out the pearl farm, vanilla farm and shark farm. Jk. They don’t eat sharks but they do feed them.

The last couple of days have mostly been relaxing in our beautiful bungalow overlooking the water and fish watching. Now it is time to trade our five star resort for a five star camper van… I don’t want to leave.

Two whales of a time

As another cool excursion on Mo’orea we decided to go out on a boat with an American biologist (he’s been on German TV) to try to spot whales. This biologist told us that it is peak whale season currently and that oftentimes they like to even come into the lagoon to hang out. He was saying that you can see dolphins something like 95% of the time you go out looking and whales almost 85% of the time, that’s how many there are. Mo’orea is also a recently discovered breeding ground for humpbacks (he discovered this fact) and previously they only thought that humpbacks came to hangout here, not to breed.

So with that set up, the sun shining, the boat pulled away from the dock and we were so excited. We looked around the lagoon for a few minutes to no avail, before they decided to take us outside the reef to see if there was anyone out there. That’s when we noticed the dark clouds rolling in. The second we exited the reef and felt the waves, we realized this wasn’t going to be a nice little boat ride. For the next two hours, we boated around the roaring waves in the rain, squinting to see evidence of whales. Apparently we saw four, evidenced by blows, but Jess missed them all. Through the off and on rain though we did see a couple of sea turtles, spinner dolphins and a type of turn the guides were very excited about. Jess was a little too sea sick to think of the really hard hitting questions for our guide, but we did learn that southern hemisphere humpbacks look different from northern hemisphere ones.

Then as we reached the southern tip of the island, just as we were getting ready to go back we saw something! Two humpback whales! Literally right in front of us! Then they swam right by us, passing maybe 10-15 feet away. No cool leaps out of the water like Ben was hoping for, but we did get to see one of their tails as they swam away. After we watched them leave we drove back through the lagoon and to our nice warm hotel.

Manuia means cheers

On Saturday we went on an ATV tour to see the highlight of Moorea island… the pineapple juice/rum factory. All good ATV tours start with alcohol and this was no exception. We had a tasting of their fruit juices, fruit juice liquor, and various rums and Jess discovered her new favorite drink cleverly named “Tahiti Drink”. It is pretty much an 8% ABV fruit punch and somehow tastes like birthday cake when mixed with champagne we discovered. We will be figuring out how to get some Tahiti Drink at home, really think it’ll be a crowd pleaser in Jess’s lightweight friend group.

Back on the ATVs, we drove through a pineapple plantation, where we learned how pineapples are grown and cultivated. Each plant grows one pineapple at a time, but also grows multiple spurs that can each be pulled off and planted to grow more. We saw pathways hacked with machetes so each pineapple can be harvested by hand when they are ready. We were also given two infant pineapple plants to try to bring home and grow since they are “such easy plants” according to our guide. We didn’t have the confidence to tell our guide that we had attempted to keep an adult pineapple plant alive at home once and failed so miserably. Alas, in Colorado you can’t just set plants on the ground and come back in a couple days to them having put down roots like you can here.

At the final stop of our tour, we learned the answer to the age old question: can you summon a dozen eels by pouring canned mackerel water into a stream? The answer is a resounding yes. To answer your next question, yes they do feel as slimy as they look. But apparently in the islands eels are sacred because their faces look like coconuts and are therefore to be fed and not eaten. I feel like we need some more backstory to that explanation, but that’s what we have so far.

Now for fire dancing!!! (The performers will be holding the fire. Not Ben)

Fire Ant Highway

On Friday we went on a beautiful waterfall hike in the mud to test our waterproof shoes. What we weren’t expecting was to see ancient ruins and to get a lunch of fresh fruit from our guide’s garden, as well! We saw both the King’s and the Queen’s waterfalls. Apparently, they didn’t like each other enough to share. The Queen’s waterfall was pretty cool, but the King’s one was amazing. It is the only waterfall that is on the island all year round, not just during rainy times! And since we went right after a storm it was really going. On the way up we followed ancient stone staircases in the winding jungle trail and passed rocks that represent turtle heads that mark the way and remind visitors that the area is reserved for royalty, something the guide told us as we promptly ignored that warning. A carving of the king’s head, which our guide decorated with flowers, watches over the waterfall, just to be extra safe. Ben went swimming under the waterfall, which we think makes him royalty now, or he has a curse. Not sure which.

Thought the entire trip we were treated to warnings every 100 feet of “Careful. Fire ant.”, which obviously resulted in Jess hiking much quicker and being careful not to touch anything and constantly knocking imaginary ants off her feet. Apparently, fire ants were a recent introduction and now prevent Tarzan swinging through the jungle :( .

Our guide definitely only led tours as a way to fund her gardening habit. She couldn’t stop raving about her garden and taught us about how all the plants we saw on our walk were integral to her ancestors’ way of life and how they are still used today. We learned that all of the fruits and vegetables on the French Polynesian islands (of which there are a lot) were intentionally introduced by humans during the ancient Polynesian migrations. However now they all grow everywhere throughout the islands and I marvel about how poorly our apple tree did at home.

La orana and hello!

Our first full day in Moorea started with a food tour of the island specializing in street food. Honestly it was so delicious we wanted more after the tour ended.

We started with some delicious mon mon bon (crunchy mango with plum powder), followed by chow mein baguette (exactly what it sounds like), some traditional Tahitian dishes such as poé (coconut milk pudding), poisson cru (raw fish in coconut milk) and poulet fufu (chicken with taro leaves). Next we had some amazing dumplings and finally stopped at a beautiful overlook and had some star apple fruit, coconut bread and gardenia sorbet. Altogether a very delicious morning.