Magnificent Moorea: Hiking and Biking Heaven!
When Rob and I were heading from Tuamotus to the Society Islands, it was bittersweet. We knew we had a limited time in French Polynesia with cyclone season just around the corner. We also had some of our friends coming to meet us in Tahiti to sail through Society Islands with us. As luck would have it, our friends had to reschedule and we had a delay in Tahiti since one major boat part had not yet arrived. Thus, we were back in best sailing mode: no schedule to follow and the ability to go where we wanted, when we wanted.
Society Islands comprise multiple islands and atolls. The best known of these are probably Tahiti and Bora Bora, which along with Raiatea, are also the more commercial and touristy of the islands. There are several others including Moorea (Tahiti's "little sister"), Huahine, Taha'a (which shares a lagoon with Raiatea), Maupiti, and Maupihaa, to name a few. We visited most of these, preferring to leave Bora Bora for another adventure, perhaps next year. These Islands are also atolls and have a protective barrier reef, but they also have the elevation of mountains which make for great hiking and tough mountain biking.
The first anchorage, and southernmost that we stayed at was at Ha'apiti Bay. There were a very few other boats there in the small anchorage which had good sand holding but some notable current. Incredible coral gardens on the inside of the reef with healthy coral, plenty of black-tip sharks, interesting shells, (some uninhabited), and crystal clear water. There was a strong current washing over the reef, so we were careful to stay away from the coral heads and to not take a dinghy into this area. There was also nice coral in the middle of the lagoon that would have been a nice night dive.
Ha'apiti Bay also has a population of spinner dolphins that greeted us when we entered the bay and also gave us a send off when we left.
We stayed in this anchorage on a couple of visits, returning after visiting Cook's Bay and Opanuha Bay, both farther up north. We met some new friends on catamaran "Oops", Kelly and Paul Watts. They are our age (okay, a few years younger!) and they are very athletic and competitive. Kelly started doing triathlons at age 51, the same age I was when I retired from decades of racing triathlons All-American with Rob. She is still racing and training pretty hard, and does on-line personal training in her "semi-retirement". We were able to get them to come out and bike with us, run and do an open-water swim. Kelly moves at about my pace, so we talked much of the time while running and biking. Such a fun couple: what a treat it was to train with them and hang out. I sure hope our paths will cross again. Until then...I intend to ramp back up on my triathlon work-outs!
We moved to Oponuha Bay then Cook's Bay which is named after Captain Cook, and it is more populated with a few restaurants and a magasin (grocery). We had a little better access for our bike rides and hikes. The first hike we did involved biking to the trail head for three hikes in one: Three Pineapples, Belvedere Look-out, and Coconut Trail. The trail was mild in intensity, hence the need for us to do three trails instead of one or two. It was a welcome change to get on land and get a good workout. One of the most memorable hiking/biking days was a 13 mile bike to the trail head for a six mile hike past two waterfalls and then continuing on up the ridge to the top of Mount Mou'a Puta, the second highest peak on Moorea which rises up 2,723 feet above sea level. The ancient legends describe how the peak represents a Tahitian maiden lying on her back and the mountain looks like her profile.
This hike is described as "difficult" with at least 12 steep rope sections which required pulling oneself up a slippery, muddy trail, sometimes holding onto tree roots or branches. It was a super-technical hike, and certainly gave us a nice work-out. By the time we arrived at the top, it was all clouded in and so we could not see exactly how steep it was on all sides...probably for the best. We ate a quick lunch then set out to beat our time back down, which we did, even stopping for a dip in a waterfall. We then biked back to the dinghy 13 miles away. Great day!
Rob and I did a bike across Moorea which was over 25 miles up to the top of Tand went past the sacred blue-eyed river eels in Faiea and the ancient fish traps north of there, the war memorial and some of the largest marae in French Polynesia. Marae are ceremonial stone platforms, which are found in the highest concentration in the society islands. Reportedly a location for important services, marriages, etc, they also had some human sacrifices. We traveled over the most mountainous stretch with inclines of 30% which were quite a challenge on mountain bikes, but the views were wonderful!
Moorea one of our favorites of the Society Islands. It is known for its whale watching since at this time of year the humpbacks are calving near the outer reefs between Moorea and Tahiti. We saw a few whales as we were sailing into Moorea. The whales were swimming straight toward us under sail, so we dropped our sails to get out of the way of the whales and got a few good pics on the way. We tried to book reservations on a small boat to swim with the whales, but they were all booked out over a week. So, Rob and I decided to go out in the morning before the whale-watching boats were out to see if we could find some on our own.
The early bird spots the whales! We had one surface withing 20 feet of us in the dinghy, when I was not even ready with my gear or camera. Rob and I jumped in to snorkel with a few whales, some single and some in pairs. You could sometimes hear them from the boat not only under the water, so it was easier to locate them and predict where they would surface. One large one was staying completely still at about 90-100 feet down. I could only go down 50-60 feet, but saw it's outline from the surface. When I swam down, it started making some more interesting clicking, tooting sounds. It knew I was there and listening. Then it decided to come up for air and when it did, it moved very quickly, seemingly effortlessly. Rob got the best shots of me in the water with the whales. My Insta360 camera has a steep learning curve and many of the times I thought I was filming, but I was not...some of my best memories are etched in my mind and not captured on film.
The first anchorage, and southernmost that we stayed at was at Ha'apiti Bay. There were a very few other boats there in the small anchorage which had good sand holding but some notable current. Incredible coral gardens on the inside of the reef with healthy coral, plenty of black-tip sharks, interesting shells, (some uninhabited), and crystal clear water. There was a strong current washing over the reef, so we were careful to stay away from the coral heads and to not take a dinghy into this area. There was also nice coral in the middle of the lagoon that would have been a nice night dive. The sunsets here were also amazing.
And so it was time to move on from Moorea toward the more westerly Society Islands: Huahine, Taha'a, and Maupihaa.
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