Living the Dream” – Day 28 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 171, Saturday, October 15, 2022. I was so excited to open my curtain at 6am and see land after five days at sea. We are in Moorea, French Polynesia till tomorrow night. This is the farthest we have ever been away from our home. We are 5,713 miles from home. French Polynesia is commonly referred to as The Islands of Tahiti. French Polynesia is a collection of 118 islands scattered across an impressive nautical surface area the size of Western Europe. Many of these tiny islands remain uninhabited. They make up a total landmass of only 1,600 square miles. It is a French territory and most people speak French, but is located almost 10,000 miles from France. Moorea means Temple and is an island of Volcanic origin. Less than 20,000 people live on the island. We are situated eleven miles northwest of the island of Tahiti. The circumference of Moorea is 37 miles. This is a tender port and when we got off the tender there were people playing music,
lots of hand-crafted items, many dogs walking around, and lots of people selling excursions. There is no town here. The closest town is two miles away. We hooked up with Alberti Tours for a two-hour 4×4 excursion. We were in the back of a pickup truck with 6 others. The cost was $50.00 each. Four of the others were German so they spoke with each other mostly. The other two were a mother and daughter from Australia. They flew over to Honolulu to do shopping. They told us prices are too expensive in Australia, so they often make the trip to shop in Honolulu. So strange, because I thought prices were high in Hawaii. We traveled along the coast
and then up a very steep curvy road to the Belvidere lookout.
All six people told us to not tip. Americans are the only ones that tip. Australians and Germans do not tip. In fact, last night in the lounge, a woman wagged her finger at me after I ordered a drink and said don’t you dare tip. The view was gorgeous. We were able to walk around and take pictures. Of course, there were chickens everywhere. We stopped at four places where we got out of the truck and even stopped at a roadside homemade jam store. The walkway to the store had pineapple plants.
The driver guide was excellent. I would highly recommend this family-owned business for excursions. We stopped at an old temple.
This tree was very old and hollow, and we got to knock on it. The sound was loud and echoed through the whole area.
Of course, chickens were walking on the temple walls. You can’t get away from these chickens.
pineapple plantation, homemade jelly place for jelly tasting. Strange flavors, but delicious. Then a juice place for alcohol tasting. The island pineapples are small. When ripe they turn orange. They were so sweet. The large pineapples you see in the grocery stores are Hawaiian pineapples.
Tendering back to the ship the music in the tender was the song from the movie “Titanic”. Yikes, were they even thinking about what they were playing.
We then went up in the Northstar. I always thought it would be scary, but it was mellow.
To view the complete year 2 daily diary, click here: https://deestimes.com/living-the-dream-year-2-may-1-2022-april-30-2023/
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
