morrea french polynesian

Ahh the Island of Morrea...we arrive via Ferry like cattle. The trip was a delight to our senses, Rose sat back and enjoyed the trip while I took pictures and watched the water for any kind of exciting stuff. Over to the left near shore appeared to be a dolphin but it was too far away to tell. I believe it was as several other people thought so as well. People in long boats, and surfer were in the water. The sky and the water was as many different colors and textures as the people on the ferry. It was a treat to intermix with them, to be able to watch the people, the sea, the birds and watch as the Island approached. So we have arrived and our ride is awaiting for us in this very large bus. Everyone is aboard, the luggage is stored and our driver welcomes us to Morrea like this. "Welcome to my Island, on my Island you will not have any problems and if you do you all me and I will fix it. Everyone will have fun on my Island."
We are the first drop and is maybe a 10 min ride from the ferry, along a winding road that is boarded by sea on one side and mountains covered with dense plants on the other. Everywhere you look it is many shades of green and blue. I am itching to explore! Our hotel is the Morrea Pearl and Spa and we have our own lagoon. All the buildings have been thatched. We are met with a smile and warm welcome, invited to sit down and brought ice water and a cloth to freshen up with. AGAIN we find that the reservation is for Charles and Mary Buchta..no big surprise this time. Our lagoon has a white sand beach and the water is warm and crystal clear we have our own coral reefs and fish we can sit on the boardwalk and watch play. Our room has two stories with a loft that has a bed tv and dresser, downstairs we have two beds a tv and dresser, we opt to just use the downstairs.
Wow it is Tue already and we have a full day ahead of us...We am up early and down exploring our beach and having breakfast and a dip in this wonderful pool...the pool boy isn't bad either. We have a lagoon tour today that includes lunch and a swim. So the driver picks us up and takes us on down the road about 30 mins and we board this funky boat. Joseph is our guide and Brian is the photographer. After a short wait we are off..ahead of us is multi blue seas dark blue sky's, white fluffy clouds, deep green mountains and an adventure of a life time. As we boat we stop and pick up more people, lunch and just relax as we watch the beauty float by. We are told that the Island is totally protected by natural reefs that keep the rough seas out. We see people snorkeling everywhere, there are people fishing with spears, boating, and wind surfing with a para sail. We are at our first stop and the water is chest high a beautiful teal color and filled with Stingrays. We get off the boat and go into the water and have a one on one experience with these large gentle creatures. They remind me of a dog or cat that circle around your feet waiting for attention. About 10 feet from where we stand there are about 10 large black fined reef sharks circling back and forth. We finally advance toward them and we told to stay out of the deep water and watch, our photographer swims into the center and Joseph begins to feed and taunt them. They respond by circling and grabbing the fish and just swimming back and forth. We are maybe 5 feet from them and in the same water but we are standing on a sandy bottom. WOW! Now we move to our right where there is a reef and we watch as Joseph feeds large more eels and watch two very large giant clams. This is the best tour ever. I Mary Lou Buchta swimming with Sting Rays, Sharks, and Eels. So back on the boat and off to an Island where we are fed, shown how to make this delicious raw tuna meal, how to husk and break coconuts and how to make coconut milk. After some snorkeling and hanging out we are back on the boat and headed back to the hotel. Yes we bought the tape of our trip but only one and we are gonna burn a copy so we both have one. Back at our hotel we change and walk down to the town which is the biggest shopping center on the Island. We have 2 banks, a supermarket, and 4 or 5 stores. There is a great fabric store, a very interesting jewelry store and yes a store for tourist with cheap( or not) little gadgets. We do a bit of shopping and head back to swim, hang in the sun and have dinner.

Tahiti // exploring papette

Last Dec. I won a trip on Air Tahiti to either Paris or Tahiti for two. Having been to Paris twice I chose to go to Tahiti. After much discussion it was decided that RoseMary and I would go, thus followed many months of preparation. We decided not to just show up on our own and went through a travel agent and booked our land package. 1500.00 pp gave us our hotels, our transfers, a tour on Papeete and a tour on Morrea.

So almost a whole year has past and here it is Nov.6th and time to go. Our bags are packed, passports ready, and we are sitting at the Boise Airport being told they can not get us to Lax in time to catch our flight. The plane had a problem that was checked out and oked but no paperwork done so the captain will not put it in the air untill it is checked again. OK so back up and start over...how do we get to LAX? So they reroute us Boi/Pdx/Lax and we get in 2 hours late and are lucky enough to get on the 5:30 flight out of LAX.
Air Tahiti is a hugh plane with great service, we have movies or music, we get a pillow and blanket, an eye mask and two meals. I have a terrible time sleeping on planes but did just fine this time around. It was an 8 hour flight from Lax to Ppt with us arriving at 11:30 pm Tahitian time. We file off and wind thru customs to be met on the other side by a beautiful women holding a sign with our names on it and welcoming us with a real flower lei. We run to the bathroom and stop to exchange out money and then we are whisked off in a bus to our hotel (the Radissen).
Upon arrival we are met with what could have been a very nasty surprise...our reservation is in the name of Mr and Mrs Charles and Mary Buchta. I am not very happy and after they determine that this is my reservation, we are taken to a great room on the 3rd floor. We have double beds with a shower room and a hugh sunken tub (which we use for drying our swim suits), a great patio with a table ad chairs overlooking the sea. Beautiful Black Sand beach right at the foot of the patio, this time of night all we can do is hear the waves as they crash on the beach. It is like 2 in the morning so lights out for now. After about 4 hours of sleep we are up showered and out exploring the area. The birds are singing and whizing everywhere, the waves are crashing and we are two very excited ladies. We walk the beach and look at the coral and rescue a star fish and just enjoy the begining of a new day and oh what a glorious sun rise. We opt for an early breakfast a swim in the pool and back to get ready for our Island Circle tour. Our driver arrives in a large bus and we are off, our first area is called One Tree Hill and we don't even stop just hear how captain Cook planted it because you couldn see everywhere from that spot. Other spots we visited was Faarumai Waterfalls, The Blowhole, Fern Grottos, Lookout Point, Point Venus and the Lighthouse. We also went to the Paul Gauguoin Museum and Restraunt. The Museum was lame but the food was wonderful, after eating we were able to fist the fish farm where they had all type of fish including shark swimming just outside the dining area. The Falls and the Blowhole were excellent as was the Fern Grotto but the area where the lighthouse and Point Venus was very run down and the streets were filled with garbage. One our tour we learned that the natives work hard all week and play hard on the weekend. Sunday the market is open from 4am to 6 am and then everyone goes to church and to the beachs where they relax and enjoy the water. We seen surfing, boating, spearfishing, snorkling, and many friendly happy people on our tour. Managed to get in a couple of birds along the way as well. Their Polynesian Imperial Pigeons were out, loved the looks and sounds of the Zebra dove and you had plenty of terns, Bulbuls, and Myans. So now we are back at the hotel and thinking about our next adventure......We are exhausted and decide to take a short nap....a nap that lasts all afternoon and night.
Day two is more time on the beach another sunrise, breakfast, the pool and showered, packed, and waiting for our ride to the Ferry. We really only get a very quick glance at the Capitol city of Papeete as everything was closed. There are many people awaiting the Ferry to go to Morrea. There is a hugh Chinese ship parked there that we later learn is a science expedition that is staying over for a few months. We also learn that there is a cruise ship that is berthing there for several months and taking people on short trips of the Islands. (that would have been cool) So we are on the Ferry and heading out to our next Island which is a short 30 mins. away. So far Rose and I have had a great trip...wait there is a Brown Booby sitting on a red buoy with a surfer below it and several long boats coming up fast. That is all for now our first day and a half have been very busy and we are tired but we will have down time on Morrea.