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Ho hum...just another trip to Tahiti. Nothing new here. Move along......LOL!
Again, we had such a great time. It was really fun to share it with my Mom this time around. Our trip started out quite strange. We flew America West instead of South West for our Las Vegas/Los Angeles connection. I've only flown America West a few times. Never been that impressed with them, but they weren't horrible either. But this time we had the weirdest thing I've ever encountered happen on a flight. We boarded the plane. Then they boarded the stand-by passengers. After they had everyone on board they announced they had put too much fuel in and made all the stand-by passengers get off so they could make the weight limit. Not sure why they can't just take some of the fuel back out, but I guess it's easier to just kick some people off the plane. I do understand why they need to meet the weight requirements, but I've just never heard of that happening before. They don't know how much fuel they are putting in when they put it in???? Weird.
Anyway...on to Tahiti. I was a bit bummed out when we boarded the plane. They didn't have footrests on this particular plane. Air Tahiti Nui only has 5 or 6 planes total...each is named after one of the Tahitian islands.....from past trips I know the Bora Bora and the Mangareva have foot rests....and now I know the Moorea (our plane going) and the Rangiroa (our plane on the flight home) don't! It's really a pain not having them...partly 'cause my legs are too short so my feet don't touch the ground, and partly 'cause it's just really comfortable having an adjustable footrest!
Overall the flight was great as usual. The food is actually pretty good for airline food. We get 2 meals. One (lunch) about an hour after takeoff and one (dinner) about an hour before landing.The free drinks are always a bonus. I had champagne again and Paul (naturally) had his share of the free Hinano (Tahitian brand) beer. Each seat has it's own individual video monitor, with many choices. Paul watched movies, Mom played the video games, and I watched the flight progress and worked on my cross stitch for most of the flight.
After landing and collecting our luggage, Paul and Mom went to find our travel rep and I went to the airport bank to exchange our money. I didn't get as good of exchange as I did last year, but not as bad as I got the year before. After getting "lei'ed", we took a little shuttle over to the Air Moorea terminal to catch our flight to Moorea. Not quite sure why they even have a shuttle. The Air Moorea terminal is like a 5 minute walk from the Air Tahiti Nui terminal. It took longer to wait for the shuttle and load and unload from it than it would have taken to just walk!
The flight to Moorea is a real trip. The island of Moorea is only 12 miles from Tahiti. It takes 10 minutes...and that includes taxi time! The little prop plane is a 19 seater....if you call them seats that is! They are basically jump seats. It's a total riot being in one of those planes. I've never flown in anything like that before. Open cockpit. Noisy rattling prop engines. Had to duck you head to get in and out of the plane. Flight was short and painless. I really wish it had been daylight because the flight is supposed to be just beautiful during the day. But...if it had been daylight, we probably would have just taken the ferry like we did last year, 'cause it's lots cheaper.
It was about 9pm when we arrived at our hotel, Club Bali Hai (same place we just bought our timeshare for), we were greeted with the traditional 2 cheek kissy kiss by Olga at the reception desk. Can't believe she remembered us. We had met her last year. She was on maternity leave last year, but she had stopped by the hotel to visit with some of the regular guests who wanted to see the baby. The baby is now 14 months and cute as hell. (we got to see her later in the week). The whole staff at Bali Hai are wonderful. They all remembered us and got hugs and kisses from all. Probably the most friendly staff I have ever met at a hotel anywhere.
I guess because we had 3 people rather than 2 like most groups, they gave us the biggest and best over water bungalow. OMG! It was fantastic! We will probably never be able to get #42 again, because it is the most requested bungalow. It is not only the largest, but also the furthest out of any of the over water bungalows and had huge sliding glass doors that cover 2 walls. The views out those 2 windows when it's daylight and you have the curtains pulled back is absolutely breathtaking. The room has a small kitchenette in it, a rattan and glass table with 4 chairs. A twin (used for a couch), a full bed, and a dresser in the livingroom area. A king-size bed, a dresser, and 2 wicker chairs in the bedroom. There is a sliding partition to divide the bedroom from the living area. When it's open, you can see the incredible views of the bay from bed. The bathroom has a 2 sided closet that opens to both the bathroom and the bedroom. Kinda cool and very convenient. The bathroom also has this killer garden shower. It's a full size tiled walk in shower that has all kinds of tropical plants growing in the second half of the shower area. It's basically open air all along the top part. It's just screened in to keep the bugs at bay. Nothing like taking a shower in a tropical garden over the water listening to the water lap the shoreline. Totally cool!
Next day we just pretty much vegged at the hotel. We made a quick early morning trip to the market for provisions...beer, baguettes, butter, chocolate croissants, cheese, pineapple juice, water. We got caught in a brief rainshower on the way to the market. I've learned to ALWAYS carry our umbrellas with us. Mom thought I was nuts when I told her we were taking them with us to the store cause it looked pretty nice out.
That afternoon I made my mom go in the pool so I could teach her how to snorkel. It took me a couple afternoons before I got the hang of it 2 years ago. Well, it took my Mom all of 30 seconds. Boy did that piss me off! She normally breathes through her mouth (I breathe through my nose), so it was a piece of cake for her to breathe with a snorkel. I was so sure she was going to have major difficulty. I was really ready to be there 2 or 3 hours with her. Just goes to show you CAN teach an old horse new tricks!
That evening we had the crab races at our hotel. OMG, it is the most hysterically funny stupid silly thing imaginable. They put 4 tupa crabs (about 4-5" in size) on this wooden race table and everyone bets on which crab will win.You bet 100 xpf (approx $1 US) on your crab. Everyone yells and shouts and pounds the sides of the track to get the stupid crabs to move in the right direction. Some move, some just sit there, some try (and often succeed) to climb over the top of the track. So when one lands on the ground, everyone screams and scatters until the crab gets picked up and placed back on the track. I bet on #3 in all 3 races, Paul bet on #1, and Mom bet on #2. Naturally #4 won all 3 races! It was too funny!
Next day we went on our Shark Feeding/Ray Feeding/Motu Picnic. It was ALMOST a total blast as it was last year. I had a frightening moment...or minutes...like several minutes to be exact. Once the boat stopped and dropped anchor, Paul and I immediately jumped in as we had done last year. No one else had gotten in yet. The water was MUCH rougher than last year. The swells were making it difficult get in the water from the stairs. So they decided to move the boat a bit and reset the anchor. They told Paul and I to come back on board. Paul made it easily, but I had let go of the rope cause it was pulling me right into the side of the boat. The current was so strong I couldn't swim back to the front of the boat to get back on board. It took all the strength I had to stay where I was. After struggling for 2-3 minutes, not making any progress to the front of the boat, I was getting mildly freaked out. I don't like being in a position where I am not in control of what is happening to me. I wasn't scared I was going to drown or anything. But I knew I could not get out of the situation I was in without help from someone. I asked some of the people onboard to send my husband in after me. I later found out they wouldn't let him. Finally after a couple more minutes, Bruno (our captain) told me to get to the back of the boat and he would pull me up. I did and he pulled me up quite easily.
After they reset the anchor, and I was back on board, it was time for the shark feeding. Everyone got in and Bruno instructed them to hold onto the rope while viewing the shark feeding. I knew my mom wasn't getting in and I wasn't about to get back in the water at that time (partly because I was too embarrassed and still freaked about my ordeal), so only Paul went in. There were tons of sharks this time. Like 25-35 of them!!! Last year, we went on 2 Motu Picnic trips and saw a total of 1 shark. I took a few pictures of Paul and the sharks and then got totally sick to my stomach. Part of it was the wave action because the water so rough, but I think most of it was because my adrenalin level came back down. I had to sit back down in my seat, head hanging overboard and had the dry heaves. I was sure I was just going to puke my insides out. I kinda laughed to myself thinking that it sure would make some attractive shark food. LOL! Once Paul got back on board and saw now sick I was, he got all freaked out thinking they would have to bring the boat ashore so I could take a taxi back to the hotel. But I told him I was fine. I lied. I really felt horrible. But I was pretty sure it would pass once I ate something. I had some bread we had brought to feed the fishies, so I ate a piece of it and drank some water. That helped a little bit. I felt pretty shitty for about another 10-15 minutes and then it seemed to ease up.
When we got to our next stop, the Ray Feeding, I was feeling a bit better. Not great, but certainly good enough to go in and no longer nauseous. I knew my mom would not go in for the shark feeding, but I really thought she'd be okay for the rays. Boy was I wrong! She got to the stairs okay. But it took quit a bit of coaxing to get her in the water. When she finally did, she just freaked out. I have never seen this woman that scared in my entire life. She was utterly terrified. She was clinging around Bruno's neck, practically strangling him for about a minute and then made her way back to the steps. She spent the rest of the time either on the stairs or in the boat. Lots of sharks showed up at the ray feeding site too. Last year 2 swam by very quickly and that was it, I never even saw them. This time, probably 15-20 sharks swimming all around. It was wild! I wasn't freaked out like I was last year with just the one shark. It was really pretty cool being in the water with them. Not scary at all, maybe just a bit of an adrenalin rush.
Next stop was the motu picnic. I was feeling much better by this time and after I ate, I felt totally fine. Even had a few rum punches. The food was great, grilled chicken and fish, a really weird spaghetti salad, yummy rice, and the most delicious pineapple in the world! I had 2nds and 3rds on the pineapple! We snorkeled for a bit after lunch. And then watched the coconut husking/grating demonstration. It's pretty entertaining and at the end we get to eat all the yummy coconut.
On Wednesday we took a 4x4 trip around the island. This is something we did not do last time. I really wanted to investigate the whole island. The 4x4 seemed like the perfect way to do it. I wasn't to keen on renting a car and doing it myself. We had 8 people on our tour. A couple from Germany, a couple from Italy, a retired professor from Ohio, and the 3 of us. It was an interesting mix of people. We went up to Belvedere Point to get an amazing view of the southside of the island. We then went to an ancient Tahitian Marae (temple) and learned some of the history of the Tahitian people. We then went to the agricultural farm to see how the grow pineapples, macadamias, ginger, avocados, pamplemouse (grapefruit), and all kinds of other goodies. We stopped at their little snack stand there and had the most delicious coconut sorbet. It really hit the spot on a hot, sunny, humid day. After we finished touring the agricultural farm they took us to the Fruit Jjuice Factory. We weren't able to tour the factory because they are doing some renovations. But....we did visit their store. They give you samples of all the liquors they make. Our driver called our stop Happy Hour! I'll tell you, some of that stuff is strong enough, and they will give you repeat samples, to get totally schnockered! The coconut crème liquor was to die for. The pineapple coconut liquor was really good too. The ginger liquor (70%) was deadly! OMG! It was good, but way too strong for me! We bought some souvenirs and two 6 bottle sampler packages of their liquors. We also bought 3 more quarts of pineapple juice. We had already gone through 2 quarts. I swear their pineapple juice, and pineapples are simply amazing. It is so much better than the stuff we get here and the stuff I've had in Hawaii. The Tahitian pineapples are smaller and sweeter. After that we took a drive all the way around the island. It is only 39 miles around, so it only takes about an hour with a few photo stops.
That evening (Valentines Day) they had the Tahitian dance show and BBQ dinner (which we received for free in our travel package). The show was great, as it was last year. It is a family that puts on the show, not a professional dance troop. The little 10-12 year old boy that picked me to dance last year has grown considerably in his skill and confidence. He was so shy last year. This year 2 new additions have been made to the show. A little 2 year old boy and a 2 year old girl! OMG! They were so damn cute it wasn't funny! They tried to copy all the moves and dances the others were doing, it was so cute. The little boy pretty much just jumped around a lot. But the girl, OMG! She had some moves! Her little hips would shake and her hands stretched outward.....just adorable. The lei she had on was almost bigger than she was.
I had brought several little boxes of Valentine candy (the little hard candy hearts with messages ) to hand out to the hotel staff for their children. After the show I gave some boxes to the dance group for the kiddies and they gave me the most beautiful flower lei in return. The BBQ dinner afterward was great. Mom and I had shrimp in garlic sauce and Paul had grilled lobster. Not bad for free, huh?
The next day we had a snorkeling trip in the afternoon. It was also free with our travel package. It was a lot of fun. We went out into the lagoon, in the opposite direction of where we went to for shark feeding/ray feeding/motu picnic. The snorkel trip is for 1 1/2 hours. Which is more than enough time to get in some great fishie time. My Mom did great! She just loved it. I think not having to deal with sharks and rays gave her a lot of confidence. Confidence she'd need on the next day....for our second Motu Picnic.
On Friday we took another shark feeding/rayfeeding/motu picnic. The water was MUCH calmer this day. I had no problem going in the water this time to watch the shark feeding. Again, about 25-35 sharks showed up. OMG! They were all over the place. It's pretty funny, cause Bruno tells everyone to hold onto the rope and stay to the left of the reap. The people to the left, the sharks to the right. But nobody told the sharks! LOL! Yes, they only feed them on the right side of the rope, but they are swimming under you around you, right at you. It really is very cool. The sharks are black tip reef sharks, 4-5 feet full size adult. They really are not interested in eating you. They want the chunks of fish being fed to them. No one has even been attacked. Yet.
I stayed in for about 10 minutes and then went back on the boat to see if I could convince my mom to get in for a minute.....just to say she did it. It didn't take too much convincing. I guess she really did get a lot of confidence from snorkeling the day before. She got in. Bruno told his assistant to stay right with her on the rope. She was the closest person to the boat, with her own personal body guard, and only stayed in for a minute or two. But she did do it. I was so proud of her. She was pretty proud of herself too....and was very glad she did it. She said it really was quite an amazing experience to have sharks swimming just a few feet from her. Paul was shocked when he came back to the boat and I told him she had been in.
Next stop was the ray feeding. Again, mom was pretty easy to convince to go in. She did much better this time. Even touched the rays as they swam by. I can't say she was totally comfortable, but she at least did it. She probably stayed in 5-10 minutes. Lots of sharks showed up again. Paul had a moment where his heart raced just a bit. One of the sharks played chicken with him. This shark looked straight at Paul and then swam straight for him and then veered off when he was only inches from his face. He's been in the water tons of times with sharks (when he used to scuba dive), and he said this was the first time he actually had his heart jump a bit. Probably woulda scared the shit outta me if I had been in the water then!
Picnic lunch was good. As usual. Rum punch too! After lunch we went snorkeling. Mom, Paul and I walked to the reef and then got in the water to snorkel and let the current take us back to the picnic site. We were feeding the fish as went and were spread out about 10-15 feet from each other. I put my head up out of the water and heard my mom screaming.... I'm stuck! I'm stuck!! I quickly swam over to her not know what the hell the problem was. I almost laughed when I saw her predicament. But I didn't want to laugh cause I knew she was really frightened. The skirt to her bathing suit (she wears the granny style skirted suits) was wrapped around a coral head. I unstuck her only to have it get stuck again. So I made her tuck her skirt in the leg openings of her suit. That worked fine. But she pretty much headed straight to shore after that. I think she got a bit scared.
We just hung out at the hotel for the last 2 days. On our last night, we were standing in about 12-18 inches of water, about 10 feet from shore, in front of one of the over water bungalows visiting with 2 couples we had met there. Paul and I were standing in the water, the other 4 people were sitting in plastic chairs in the water. Lots of little fishies were swimming by, attracted to the light. And we had fun with 2 little crabs (about the size of a half dollar) Then.....out of the corner of my eye I see this thing swimming out from under the bungalow. I didn't know if it was a sea snake, an eel or what. It was whitish and about 2 feet long....slithering through the water. The others saw it at the same moment I did. A couple of them pulled their feet up onto their chair, but I quite literally WALKED ON WATER! I was onshore so fast it wasn't funny. I wasn't about to stay in the water long enough to figure out what the hell that thing was and what it's intentions were. As it turned out it was an eel and swam away as soon as we all moved. I wouldn't get back in the water though. I walked around to the deck of the bungalow and sat on it with my fee dangling 2 feet ABOVE the water for the rest of our conversation.
On our last day we paid to stay in our room until evening. Check out time was 11am and our flight didn't leave Moorea until 9pm. We just relaxed and packed all day. When we got the airport on Moorea, my mom just about jumped out of her skin. The airports are open air and are right on the coast. So.....naturally there are all these crabs running around the airport. Paul and I were laughing our asses off at her. She had her feet up on the bench because (I suppose) she was afraid a crab would come over and take a bite out of her ankle of something. We kept telling her another one was coming and she'd frantically look around again. We saw two head into the ladies room and we tried really hard to convince her she needed to go to the bathroom..to no avail. OMG, it was so funny. We had a good old time teasing her about the crabs.
Probably the worst part of our trip came on the way home. We had a 4 hour layover at LAX before our flight home to Vegas. That turned into an almost 6 hour layover! I think were still having repercussions from all the cancelled flights and the over booking by Southwest and Jet Blue that weekend. America West was telling us the delay was because it was raining in Las Vegas. Well, I'm not dumb enough to believe rain is going to cause those kinds of problems. Maybe winds, but not rain. We didn't board the plane until an hour late, and then sat on the tarmac at LAX for another hour before we were allowed to take off for Vegas. And then waited almost an hour to get our luggage. Not a happy way to end a great vacation. Needless to say we were pretty grumpy by the time we got home.....after 6pm! I was in no mood to cook, so I sent out for Chinese food!
The weather was amazing on this trip. Our previous 2 trips we experienced quite a bit of rain. But this time, it was practically perfect. We had a quick 5 minute shower once or twice on most days. And a 15-20 minute shower on 2 days. Most of the days we had crystal clear blue skies. I don't think we will ever get weather that good again in February. Now that we have the timeshare, we can go every year and find out how unusual this weather really was. Again, as with our 2 previous trips, we hadn't even left the island yet and Paul is planning our next trip. LOL! I can't wait either! We have definitely discovered our own paradise there.
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