Mo’orea was really good to us, except we learned a bit about the “rainy season” while around at Cook’s Bay. I had a chance to chat with some American tourists who had paid oodles for an over the water bungalow at the Hilton resort just outside the bay, and they had white caps banging against their pilings. Hope they got a discount, as a biz jet aircrew I visited with at the Sofitel resort near Vaiare had paid $750/night for their stilted bungalow. Actually, the boss paid, so can’t complain about that gig. . .
Anyway, we saw a lot of rain and wind funneling around Cook’s Bay, enough so that a flash flood of sorts washed a bunch of mud and debris into the bay. One day it was lovely clear water, the next mud brown with chunks of trees and trash and such washed down the creeks that dump into the bay. Took me about 15 minutes just to clear all the branches and such off our bridle and anchor chain!
We made use of the icky weather to do interior boat projects and we spent a bit of time at a restaurant called Carmeline’s where we enjoyed great food and fast wifi, a cruisers favorite deal. Even Netflix shows would download. Eventually we wanted to check out the anchorages near Vaiare, the village on Mo’orea that has the ferry terminals. Heck, it’s only about 30 minutes by high speed ferry to Papeete.
We found our pals on SV Maple anchored on the South side by the reef and joined them for several days of fun and games. From there we moved up to the North side close to the Sofitel resort near our pals on SV Ari- B. That spot has got to be the best snorkeling we’ve experienced in French Polynesia so far, and the generally flat water allowed long paddles on the SUP. Dinghying into the small marina we met a very tall and friendly fellow named Coco who runs the place as well as a crazy old Englishman. Complete nutter. Coco let me bring our dinghy into the dry storage yard so I could make a glue joint repair, and for his kindness I brought him a couple six packs of Hinano lager. One of the basic tenants of Coco’s faith is to never drink alone, so I was obligated to help him polish a couple beers off one afternoon.
I had also finally admitted defeat in my SUP shark bite repair efforts, and Coco was willing to give it a go so I gave Coco the damaged SUP. Says he has a friend who repairs vinyl dinghies so maybe they’ll be able to sort it out. Glad it’s off the boat. As we purchased a full size Yamaha guitar in Papeete, we were ready to part company with the little Martin Backpacker guitar I bought Isabel for her birthday around 21 years ago, making our clutter reduction efforts quite satisfying. Isabel isn’t a sentimental woman, and $100 seemed more interesting to her than a guitar she doesn’t play. Hope she doesn’t decide to sell me.
We completed our provisioning at the local Champion supermarket, took some walks in the rain with the crew of Maple, fed Alex and Carla a fine meal on board JollyDogs, and realized there was only one block left to check. ‘Lectric bikes! For $45 each for the day we got 2 nice electric mountain bikes delivered to the marina and we made a day of it, circumnavigating the island and timing things just perfectly for ice cream at the Ecole Agriculture and one last lunch at Carmalines. Mo’orea is a beautiful island, and what made it even prettier was when we returned to the anchorage and discovered SV Sea Rose with Brian and Sue, who invited us for drinks and dinner. We camped out in the yard in Rocky Point with those guys and had a grand old time, and that night was another rare affair.
Isabel is determined to have her own ‘lectric bike someday, and I’ve got to admit there’s a lot to like about a machine that’ll let you head out to the back of beyond and still has the energy to get you home. You get to choose the level of help it’ll provide, and the darn battery must be good for at least 100 kilometers of all-around riding.
I wonder if they make a fold-up model?
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