A Farewell To Moorea...

Today TJ woke up before 6am and woke up Jen so we could go and catch a sunrise for the first time. Our little island was still sleeping and it was really fun to be able to scurry around ourselves without another soul around (except the rehabilitating sea turtles). We decided to go for a big breakfast today since it was going to be such a busy and exciting day, so we hit the restaurant for a meal around after coming back to the room to nap at 6:30am. Yes, a nap when we’re usually still asleep. After breakfast we had a few minutes to read and relax, then it was off to the dive boat for jen’s first big experience in the ocean! We got out to a small reef close to the shore, and Jen got to do the big step off a boat and into the salt water for the first time – all captured on camera! T.J. stayed aboard the boat while Jen did her underwater skills and then got to do some diving around. She saw a small shark (a preview of things to come) and a whole school of eagle rays flapping above her (contrary to popular belief they were not shouting “E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!” as they swam by). According to her, it was a great experience, even if she thought they might sting her. Luckily the instructor wrote on his underwater board that they wouldn’t sting and that they were just graceful. T.J. hopped in for a dip and was in the water when Jen and her instructor were coming back, so he got a couple of good pictures. Jen came back onto the boat and was really excited, happy, and thoroughly having enjoyed herself in the water. We soaked up some of the scenery from a couple of hundred yards out from the shore and just to the side of the Bay (the O-Bay, not Cook’s) where there was a cruise ship anchored up. Those poor people won’t get to experience the Moorea we have.

We got back on dry land, and grabbed some lunch right here – the only day we’ll have more than one meal here, which is a good thing for our finances. Split some good rice and OK sushi, then relaxed a bit back at the room before our first tandem dive. Jen got in a quick nap and T.J. started getting out stuff ready to get packed up – a bittersweet thing, since it means we’re leaving one of the best places either one of us have ever been to (and signifies we’re halfway done the honeymoon) but the anticipation of getting to Bora Bora, described by several people we know as the most beautiful place on Earth, makes it a little easier to swallow. We got back to the dive shop, loaded T.J.’s gear on the boat, and headed out. This time we went out past the breakers, into a reef similar to the morning dive, maybe a tad deeper. Jen finished up her exercises and then we had 40 minutes to dive!! Although Jen almost never made it into the water, considering there were about a half-dozen black tip sharks swimming all around the boat!! These 4 footers were harmless though – our guide actually threw some sardines overboard to get them around us so they would swim with us. Jen was unwittingly brave – not sure this is what she would have picked for her first dive, but with 6 other divers around she couldn’t back out now! She did a great job, and the guide fed the fish and sharks all around us for half the dive. There were hundreds of fish swimming all around us, of every color imaginable. We bought the overpriced DVD of the dive because, well, you can never have a moment like that again, but luckily we can relive it now. The dive was great, we were under for over 40 minutes and went down to 40-50 feet, and T.J. got to explore a bit while Jen was doing some of the instructor stuff. Jen really enjoyed it, and T.J. was pretty happy that she didn’t just “like” it but really enjoyed herself and would totally be up for doing it again – although no one expects her to become some crazy diver gal. :) We got off the boat and watched the DVD that we eventually bought, and then relaxed on the deck with a bottle of wine before heading down to the beach to catch our final Moorean sunset. :( It wasn’t one of those bright-colors-throughout-the-sky ones, but the colors concentrated themselves right around the epicenter of the setting sun.

For dinner we caught the IC’s Polynesian Seafood Beach Night show. It was OK – take the Mai Kai and actually put it in Moorea and you have the same thing. The food was OK, it was probably the “least good” of our meals (since we really didn’t have anything “bad”) but there was enough of it to send us both home content. The show was decent, the food was decent, and we both felt like we had to do one of those authentic Polynesian shows, even if it appeared as though the participants were still learning this stuff themselves. Oh well – it was still fun, and was a nice and relaxing last night here. We’re both sad to leave, Moorea really felt like “our” island since it was so much fun, filled with great times, amazing sites, fantastic meals, and an ambiance that was so incredibly unique. And it was our first honeymoon stop, so it will forever be our first honeymoon memories. We’re just hoping that everything we’ve heard about Bora Bora is true, that it is the most beautiful place on earth and that we did this in the right order. Thanks Moorea – we’ll be back someday!