Post #763402 by danlovestikis on Fri, May 6, 2016 8:20 AM

hang10tiki it's been wonderful. Check out Moorea the best island.

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Continuing on with our Australia and South Pacific Cruise we have reached Moorea.

The island is so small that our tour will take us into the center of the island and then all around the outside of the island. This will only take a few hours.

As we neared the island we could see the famous huts. Everything I thought we would see in Tahiti we will see on Moorea.

Beautiful scenery as we get nearer to docking.

The sharp peaks were there too.

Our tender boat got closer to shore and then we were there.

We walked down the small pier looking for our bus.

We were met with smiles and song.

We started on the tour and everywhere we looked was beautiful scenery.

All of the road were too narrow for our bus. There were many times that cars had to back up looking for a spot to pull over so we could pass. There were many jammed up areas where people on foot had to help.

On this island we saw one tiki out in the wild.

Our ship out to sea.

Last years Sacramento Crawl mug was based on the Bali Hai and now we drove past one on Moorea.

Our bus driver stopped at the jewelery store he and his wife own and left us there for 45 mins. Way too long. Dan enjoyed looking

at tikis for sale. Even the little ones were $100 to $400.

They looked great but they were left behind.

We got to see the huts over water closer up. We were even shown the one that Marlon Brando owned.

The best tourist stop was at Tiki Village.

You get to just wonder around taking photos and watching villagers work and sing.

Everyone was so friendly and made us feel welcome.

Notice the shell wall behind the lovely lady.

Back at port there were more craft stalls to look at.

Even these simply carved tikis were expensive.

The ship was waiting for us and we boarded the tender boat. We like to get on the top for the best view.

We were raced by a outrigger. We almost fell out of our seats when our boat gunned the engine to play. It was super fun.

This is a perfect island but there is one sad thing we saw. There were many closed down resorts falling into decay along the beaches. The tourists didn't come to stay and the places closed and now they are just rotting away. Most looked like island huts, they were what we would love but these structures decay fast. There are fences and walls around them and no chance to go up close.

This tour was over way too fast.

Bora Bora photos tomorrow. Wendy