Day3 (March 18, 2019): The Moorea Loop

When we planned our trip to French Polynesia, day one in Moorea was meant to be all about rest. Day two was meant to be about exploration. And day three was meant to be about adventure. Sticking to the plan, we rented a car at our hotel and set out after a hearty breakfast to do the 60km loop around the island. Given the seven hours in time difference between home and here, we were awake very early, but did manage to get a solid seven hours of rest.  Like everything else here, car rentals are insanely expensive, so we secured one only for the day, leaving at 10:30 AM.

The thing that strikes you about Moorea, unlike any other island we have visited, are the jagged peaks, and the sheer variety of the mountains. Part of the jagged nature of them is due to the fact that some were part of volcanic calderas that have partially collapsed.  I apologize in advance if today’s blog entry has too many pictures of mountains. They’re all so amazing to look at, it’s hard to include just a couple of pics!

Most of the sites are located along the northern part of the island. Our hotel is in the northwest. Our first stop was the Belvedere lookout, which affords incredible views of the two main bays on the island: Opanuhu Bay and Cook’s Bay.  From there we took an absolutely brutal 45°-angle road to a place described as a tropical garden, which left us quite puzzled because all it seemed offer was a greenhouse filled with vanilla plants. Oh well, the view was stunning.

Next stop, a juice bottling plant and distillery. It was very interesting to see the facility and enjoyable to taste their products. The late morning obligatory rains then moved in, so we took advantage of this time to have lunch at beachside cafe. From there, we stopped at Tamae Beach, the longest, wisest, and most celebrated beach in all of French Polynesia.  The view from the look out over the beach was absolutely breath-taking: not only did it show the lagoon and the opulent overwater bungalows of the Sophitel, it also provides an amazing view of the island of Tahiti.

The east, south, and west coast of the island are Less time-consuming, as there aren’t really any sights to visit, but the mountain peaks are still quite mesmerizing.

Before concluding our loop, we stopped at a black pearl shop, where a very friendly guy from Paris gave us excellent information about these unique pearls.

By 4 PM, we were back at the hotel, returned the car, did ocean and swimming pool dips, and got ready for the feast on the beach and the cultural show.  And what a feast and what a show it was! At noon, they buried a pig 2 m in the sand on the beach with charcoal, where it sizzled away for the next six hours. The pig was the pièce de résistance of the dinner, but food from all five archipelagos of French Polynesia was featured. The cultural evening featured to musical groups, as well as a dozen male and female performers, demonstrating the history and cultural traditions of this country.

Overall, it was a very rich day. We returned from the evening event quite full and quite exhausted.  But apprehension about tomorrow’s snorkelling adventure with sharks made for a tenuous sleep. More about that tomorrow.

It’s important to understand the shape of Moorea in order to have context for the captions below. Also, take note of the light blue perimeter of the island. That is called the lagoon, and there is a barrier reef at the outer edge of the lagoon that can only be penetrated in a few spots around the island.  At the top of the island, note the two significant base: they are Opanuhu Bay and Cook’s Bay. 

The view of Opanuhu Bay from the Belvedere Look-out.

The view of Cook’s Bay from the Belvedere Look-out.


Opanuhu archeological site, deep in the rainforest.


Cool trees near the center of the island. 


Our extremely tiny Renault Twing had enough pep to get us where we needed to go. Note all the feral chickens – they are everywhere on the island.

A Paul Gaugin CruiseLiner moored in Opanuhu Bay.  Note the barrier reef at the edge of the lagoon. To the right in the photo, you can see one of the dozen openings through the barrier reef, that exist around the island

This is the plant that vanilla comes from.

Fashion trend setters. Actually, hairnets are mandatory to tour the Manutea Tahiti juice plant and distillery.

The production line at the Manutea Juice Plant and Distillery.

The view across Cook’s Bay, as s a heavy rainstorm quickly rolled in. This is rainy season, the storms can appear out of nowhere.

Lunch next to the ocean.

If you need funeral services on the island of Moorea, this is where you go.


The luxurious overwater bungalows of the Sofitel on Tamae Beach.


That’s Tahiti in the background underneath the cloud.

Tamae Beach, the longest, widest, and most celebrated beach in the country.














The pig was buried 2 metres down in the sand and left there to sizzle with charcoal briquettes, for six hours.

For the beach feast, there were dishes from all five archipelagos in the country.

The pig, making his debut - as the main dish. 

Payayas a la creme brûlée. 


The first musical group of the evening.

French Polynesian dancers