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| Captain Cook's Bay in the early morning |
This morning we decided to rent a car, just for 8 hours, realizing it would be the best (and most cost effective way) to tour the north shore of the islands, and Moorea’s beautiful and famous bays – Cooks Bay and Oponohu Bay. Our first stop though was to the main grocery store to stock up on some items for breakfasts and lunch, to help control these high resort restaurant expenses. Besides, there’s not a better place to have our breakfasts and lunches than our deck.
The drive was only about a half an hour to Cook’s Bay, which is absolutely stunning. However, after about 15 minutes on our drive, as we turned the corner and reached the north shore – there were clouds. It was still beautiful, but the vibrant colors were missing. So we took a few photos, drove around Opunohu Bay (taking more photos) and ended up at the beach restaurant at Les Tipaniers for a lunch break…. Because those clouds turned into rain. We were hoping it would be a passing shower, but as lunch passed, the rain didn’t. We then decided to return our rental car and pay only the 4 hour rate, and rent it again for 4 hours tomorrow for a second chance at some beautiful skies.
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| First signs of sunshine at Captain Cooks |
But we got the car back too late, and the woman wouldn’t let us turn the car in – we were stuck with the 8 hour rate. But, we worked out something else. We paid just a little more and increased the rental for 24 hours. This would give us another chance today, and even another chance the next morning to get some blue skies on the north shore.
So we went back to our bungalow and had a great snack on our deck, and then went for another great snorkel in our lagoon. Before we knew it, it was getting to be late afternoon and the weather was looking good, so we hit the road for the north shore – hoping for either clear skies or a great sunset – or both.
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| Caught snorkeling through our glass floor |
What we got was better skies for a few more photo opps, but we ended up with a great sunset. We went back to Les Tipaniers and instead of going to the restaurant, there was a pier on the beach there. We went out to the end of that pier and sat there, watching the sky light up in all sorts of sunset colors. And to add to the experience there was some live Polynesian music coming from the restaurant. Oh, and a nice warm breeze blowing as well. Simply perfect.
But perfect never lasts, right. To expect that would be foolish. So when the colors started to fade we decided to hit the road for the 30 minute ride back home, wanting to avoid too much night time driving. But once the sun sets out here, it gets dark pretty quick, and as we started our drive, the rain joined the party. Not strong, but it was a small challenge with the dark, the rain, the headlights (brights) and potholes – but we of course made it home safe.
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| A view from Sunset Pier |
Joanie then put together a great meal which we ate on our deck. It was leftover pasta from the night before and a rotisserie chicken we bought on the side of the road from a local vendor. Dee-licious! Another great end to a great day.
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| Moorean Sunset |
