Day 14
I woke up this morning and jumped up to look out the window to see the glorious Tahitian sun. It was like a typhoon! The palm trees were bent over from the rain and wind and the hotel workers were hunkered down in the building outside our window. The ferry was actually heading out, but I couldn’t believe it would go out in such a storm. As I turned to tell Guy about the impending evacuation, I saw ants crawling all over the cookies they had left for us in our room. We decided to go ahead and pack up since we wanted to catch the noon ferry over to Moorea Island where our paradise awaited us. We checked out and the lady said that a cab ride from the airport was 1500 Franks, but after 8pm it became 2800 Franks. (some kind of night time charge) So our lady last night didn’t rip us off, just the island in general seems to be a rip off. I asked the concierge what the forecast was for today and tomorrow and you would have thought I’d asked her to wash my underwear. She mumbled something under her breath and I had to say “I’m sorry?” to get her to repeat the words cloudy with rain. We called a taxi to take us to the ferry and he said to hurry up if we wanted to make it in time. I don’t see what the hurry is, I can see the ferry dock from my room! Well, we pulled out onto the road and I saw why. The traffic was horrible! We got into town and it was really dirty and people loitering all over. Locals it looked like. Just sitting along the road. I’m not sure if they were waiting for the bus or what, but I would be a bit afraid to shop in that area. So far Tahiti looks pretty bad and with the rain out, it doesn’t seem like such a good idea now. Anyway, our driver drove like a mad man but got us to the ferry in plenty of time. He said one of you get out and get tickets, the other one stay with me. So Guy got out to get tickets and he pulled the taxi up to the ramp where they had a place to put your luggage. He hoisted our bags into the bin and I paid him and thanked him. At least he was helpful in showing us what to do.
The ferry was huge and actually really nice inside. The upstairs had hard wood floors and leather seats that reclined. It had a TV show on that was obviously a soap opera, and I had no idea what they were saying, but I was depressed by the time I got to the other side. One lady cried the entire time. The main character was a bad looker like Fabio (that long haired dude from the butter commercials years ago). We laughed. - If the weather was good, I think the scenery would have been amazing, but the low clouds blocked the view of the mountains. Once we got off the boat, we got our luggage right away and an older gentleman took us in his cab to the hotel. He was nice and his English was pretty good. It was quite a ride to the hotel, which was on the other side of the island so I knew the price was going to be pretty steep. He said you couldn’t get lost here since there is only one road which was about 40 miles that goes around the perimeter of the island. He gave us his card and said he’d be happy to come and get us tomorrow. Just call him about 2pm and he’d be here at 3:30. His ride was 3000 Franks. So no wonder he’d like us to call him. After he dropped us off he could just quit for the day. Ha ha.
This is where our sunless paradise begins….we walk into the hotel and 3 people are greeting us and have big smiles on their faces. One lady introduced herself and shook Guys hand. She is the one who Guy had emailed back and forth with when booking the room. They gave us moist towels while standing at the desk along with a cold glass of iced tea. It was really good. After checking in, a young man took us in a golf cart to our hut. He pointed out the highlights of the hotel and carried our bags in. In our room, which is the coolest room of all time, had fresh flowers lying all around and we had slippers on our bed. I took some pictures real fast before we got it cluttered up with all our bags. What a room! Off the back there is a deck with lounge chairs and a table and chairs, then just to the left the stairs went down to our own private dock. From there you could look down into the crystal clear water and see coral and the most unusual colorful fish swimming all around. It was amazing.
Now we need food. We walked up to the restaurant and it wasn’t raining, just heavy clouds all around. We got a perfect table with a view to die for and service was fast and the food was good. I had a steak sandwich and Guy had a tuna steak sandwich. His was better than mine, so he split with me so I could enjoy his, too. *smile* After lunch we hustled back to our room as we could feel the 24 hour clock ticking down in paradise. We got back to our room and Guy jumped in for a swim. It was a bit too breezy for me and as much as I wanted to put my swimsuit on, I was just a bit chilly. I laid on the dock on a towel in some pathetic sunless attempt for a tan and watched the fish. They entertained me to no end. Guy crumbled up some Pringles we had in our back pack and you should have seen them coming! Big ones, plain ones, tiny gorgeous ones…what a blast. I got a few shots and took some moves. One of those little suckers had TEETH and you could hear him CRUNCHING the chip as he grabbed it. It was awesome.
Well, the drizzle began, so I downloaded my pictures and sifted thru them to put on the blog for today. There is internet here, but we have to go up to the bar area and pay of course, but that doesn’t really surprise us.
OK, so my first impressions of Tahiti were bad, but this is really paradise. Man, if the sun were out and I had a week just to lay here and watch the fish, swim and snorkel, I’d do it again in a flash. I think the island of Tahiti may not be too great and it looked like it wouldn’t be too safe at night, but our cabbie today said the island of Moorea only has 12,000 people on it and everyone works and everyone knows each other. He said it is very safe. The island is really beautiful with tall pointy mountains. Reminds me of the King Kong movie as we pulled up. The road only goes around the bottom of perimeter and really nothing is up in the mountains except lots of palm trees and bush. Quite lovely.
The humidity is about 214% here, so my hair is not really a sight to behold. Even fixing it will last about 10 minutes. We are contemplating just room service tonight, just to enjoy the solitude of our hut. Probably a once in a life time opportunity. We are staying here on Starwood points, but if we were paying for it, it would be $800 per night. So this is probably it. Maybe I’ll stay awake all night so I can not sleep away this opportunity.