Off to Bora Bora

Monday was our last day in Moorea. I absolutely loved the island - it has wonderful beaches with great snorkeling and diving and the most beautiful mountains for hiking and exploring. But we were off to Bora Bora and I was excited. I got in one last snorkel near our bungalow and then we got ready to leave. It was just a 45-minute flight to Bora Bora and quite scenic. We saw Tetiaro, Raiatea, and Tahaa from the plane as well as a great view of Bora Bora from above.

We landed in Bora Bora and took a boat to the Sofitel Marara Beach Resort and checked into our overwater bungalow!

I hopped in the water and started to explore around our bungalow.

It seems they dumped furniture and other metal stuff in the water to seed artificial reefs and the coral and fish had started living here. On one reef, I saw a tail and as I got closer to investigate, and eel's head popped out of another hole! I backed up a bit, as I was a little bit nervous around an eel. That evening, we saw flute fish under our glass floor.

The light below the glass attracted bugs for the fish to eat.

Hiking the Moorea Caldeira

Sunday morning, we woke up, had breakfast and got ready to hike the Caldeira. When we arrived in Moorea, the representative from Tahiti Nui Travel told us this was a great expedition, especially considering there wasn't much open on Sunday, so we were excited. We started in Opunohu Valley along a road that turns off the main road at the end of Opunohu Bay that leads to Belvedere lookout, with our tour guide Hiro from Mer and Montagne Tours.

We followed a dirt road for a ways, then headed on to the trail, which was actually blazed some of the way.

It was a very steep climb and hot and humid that day; (well every day in the austral summer, but this day it was more noticeable since we were hiking!)

After a bit, we came to Col des Trois Cocotiers, with fabulous views over the valley, the two bays, Mount Rotui, Tohiea, and many other peaks surrounding the Caldeira.

Hiro explained that the Caldeira is what's left of the crater of the volcano that formed Moorea about 1.5 million years ago.

Moorea and Tahiti are young islands, compared to Bora Bora, which is closer to 60 million years old.

We rested here for a while and took some pictures, then continued on to Belvedere Lookout.

We had a perfect view of Mount Rotui and other mountains to the south and of Opunohu and Cook's Bays.

We ate lunch here and continued on to Sommet des Trois Pinus, another lookout with wonderful views.

We rested here again then finished our hike through a pineapple plantation and back to the starting spot.

Our ride brought us back to the hotel and I got in the water to snorkel a bit to cool off.

Diving in Moorea

On Saturday, we woke up excited for our first real dive since becoming certified over the summer. After a yummy breakfast with delicious fresh tropical fruit, we got our stuff and went to the Ia Ora Dive Center at our hotel. The boat went out through the Vaiare Pass just past the lagoon and we dove into the water.

We saw reef sharks even before getting in the water. At about 60 feet, we also saw Lemon Sharks as well as wrasses, angel fish, and every possible color of tropical fish. Towards the end, I was running low on air, so the dive leader let me breathe off his tank. Attached to me, he pulled up a rock and out came a Moray Eel! We headed back up and back to land, excited from our first real dive. It was great! We had a drink at the bar then decided to snorkel a bit.

Our bungalow led right out to the beach and going north just a bit past the hotel property, we came to fabulous coral reefs in just a few feet of water at the public beach (Temae Beach). We saw anemones, flute fish, wrasse, clownfish and even an octopus. All just a few feet from our room. After a while, we headed back to the bungalow to relax after an exciting day in the sea.

Before dinner, we headed up to the Toatea Overlook for a couple pictures then back to the resort for dinner.