#88910 - 02/18/11 11:14 AM
Patti's Trip Report Moorea Feb 2011
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Patti.
Expert Advisor
Registered: 03/28/04
Posts: 2460
Loc: Las Vegas, NV
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My 7th trip to FP (Paul's 6th). It's getting hard to find new things to talk about...we've pretty much done it all and seen it all by now. Overall we had a spectacular time. Didn't do any touristy things at all....just lots of relaxing....and meeting up with some friends on Moorea. Had absolutely fabulous weather....probably the best weather we've ever had in February.
Took the ATN Red Eye out of LAX on a Sunday night. Check in was a smooth as can be. Took a total of 20 minutes to get through check-in AND security. Plane was less than 40% full. Lots of room to stretch out all over the place.
Food...not too bad. Main meal...tuna salad with egg and pickle for the appetizer, goat cheese ravioli with tomato sauce for the main course, chocolate pudding for dessert. The ravioli was actually pretty tasty....rest of the meal was okay. ATN now serves wine in small individual bottles just like Air France does. I got a couple bottles and put them in my carry-on rather than drink them on the plane. Paul got his share of Hinano beer. Free beer is always good in his book! Breakfast was a choice of cheese omelet and tater tots, or crepes filled with tapioca pudding and apple sauce, (we both opted for the crepes and they were okay) also a small fruit salad, yogurt, and a croissant. And no...he did NOT have beer with his breakfast. :-)
Flight was exceptionally bumpy for the first 4-5 hours. Nothing really major, no big drops or rises or anything like that, but just seemed much bumpier than normal.
Upon arrival at Faa'a airport we found the new bio-hazard rules are really in your face. They have a little promo about the new rules on the entertainment screen before landing, a leaflet to pick up at passport control, and the bio-hazard inspection desk was quite obvious at the edge of the baggage area. Problem is they don't seem to have an exact list of what is okay and what is not. Almost seems like they are making it up as they go. Maybe they just confiscate whatever it is they want for dinner that night! :-) I was a bit worried because I did have some beef jerky with me. But opted to play dumb and not declare it, and just hoped they wouldn't flag me to be searched. I think I might just skip bringing the beef jerky in the future.
Exchange rate at the airport back was 81.9. Not bad, not good. I've seen it higher...and I have certainly seen it a lot lower!!!
Took a taxi to the ferry docks, paid $1700 xpf. Even in Monday morning traffic, it took less than 20 minutes. Our flight arrived at 5:45 and by 6:45 we were at the ferry docks! A lot of that had to do with the fact the plane was less than 40% full...so going through passport control and collecting luggage was a breeze.
The new ferry/cruise ship building in Papeete is coming along very nicely. Last year they had just broken ground on it. Looks like it is about half completed now. Should be very nice when it's completely finished.
The ferry over to Moorea was quite smooth...not crowded at all. Jacques met us at the ferry dock in Moorea to give us a ride to our hotel and to pick up the packages I was bringing for him. He not only took us to our hotel, but also took us to the market so we could buy so we beer and water.
Club Bali Hai was just as dead as it was last year when we stayed there. Never had more than 5 rooms filled...a couple nights only 2 rooms and most nights were 4 rooms. WOW! That's just beyond low. Everyone I talked to reported the restaurants were also quite empty. Most said they were the only diners at them. The Blue Pineapple is currently closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hopefully things will pick up soon.
CBH is down to just 9 employees. Just a few years ago they had 23. They haven't had to lay anyone off, the older employees are simply retiring and not being replaced. I really miss the old gang. Both Georgina and Olga cut their hair! Both have hair just to their shoulders instead of to their waist like before.
I checked out the new 2 bedroom overwater bungalow they built last year. It turned out really nice. Has 2 bedrooms, a livingroom, kitchen, and bathroom. It's #34 just to the left of the Blue Pineapple. They are also remodeling #40 into a "honeymoon suite".
Naturally the mosquitoes were thrilled to see me. I had 5 bites before I even finished checking in at the front desk at CBH. For what ever reason, that area seems to be a prime feeding zone. I managed to get several more bites during our stay. Either I'd spray and miss a little spot...of course the mosquito's would find that one spot....or I'd forget to spray after a shower and I'd get bit...or even worse...one day I sprayed right after I had shaved my legs...OMG! Bug spray on freshly shaved legs burns like hell!!! I think I'm going to try taking vitamin B-1 next trip and see how that works.
One afternoon Jacques picked us up to have a visit, and a little tour of the island, and lunch. we stopped by Fare Hamara to check it out. WOW! What a great house. If I didn't have the timeshare at CBH, I'd stay at Fare Hamara in a heartbeat! The view of Opunohu Bay from the living room and from the deck is simply amazing! Love the bathroom!...and the kitchen too. Seriously, this is a great property!
Jacques took us up to the fruit juice factory and we sampled their juices....and...their liquors. :-) YUMMY stuff! Bought some Tahiti drink...it's always cheaper up there than in the markets. Drove by Jan Prince's old house...it's nothing but a concrete slab now. Not sure where her new one is. We stopped by Snack Mahana for lunch. The place was BUSY!!! We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table and then over an hour for our lunch. Had some amazing poisson cru for lunch though. YUMMY!
We continued around the island...stopping at Tiki Village and Temae Beach. What a lovely beach Temae is. I had never been over there before. I've seen it from the overlook, but never drove down to it. I think an afternoon at the beach would be a great way to spend the day.
Paul wore a tank top and hadn't thought to put on any sunscreen that afternoon....and between sitting out on the beach area at Snack Mahana, and having his arm out the window while driving around, and stopping at Temae for a while, he got quite a burn on his shoulders.
And just so Paul didn't have to feel so bad about his sunburn, I decided to burn my arm on a frying pan the next day. I had put the pan in the sink and went to reach over to turn on the water and hit the inside of my arm (about 4 inches above my wrist) on the edge of the pan. Can you say OUCH?!!! Got a really bad burn...about a third of an inch wide and about 2 inches long. What's so stupid is I burned the exact same arm, about an inch lower, on a fry pan a couple years ago cooking breakfast at a UCLA tailgate. I'm going to have a lovely set of matching scars up the inside of my arm! Oh well, at least I have good memories of the places I got the scars! :-)
We only saw one little gecko in our room this year. I know there were a couple of them in there because we could hear them chirping at night. But only one came out to visit us and have his picture taken. Yay! We love our geckos! Cute little guy...about 4 inches long. We had a few sting rays that swam by our deck every day...morning, afternoon, and evening. I also saw the cutest little octopus one morning. Naturally I didn't have my camera with me at the time. He was crawling along under the edge of the dock at CBH in about 2 feet of water. Cute little guy...about 8 inches all spread out. Had lots of cute little crabs hanging out on the wall near our bungalow. A few of them posed for pictures.
Overall, we had SPECTACULAR weather. Easily the best weather we've ever had in February. It seemed just a bit cooler than it normally is in February. Seemed quite a bit less humid too. Frequently had a nice light somewhat cool breeze.
Our first day we had sunny skies all day. A light 5 minute shower around 7pm. A bit of heavy rain (again only for about 5 minutes) around 10pm. Next 2 days clear and sunny and not a drop of rain. Following day was clear and sunny and had about 5 minutes of rain a couple times at night. 5th day had about 5 minutes of rain around 11 in the morning and about 20 minutes of rain around noon and off and on clouds/sun all day. Next day, partly cloudy/partly sunny all day, 5 minutes of light shower around noon. Next day (day 8) was really our only semi bad day of weather. Had a bit of rain around 7am. Then rained solid from about 9:15 in the morning to about 11am. Cloudy most of the day and then rained again around 5pm for about 45 minutes. Next day had heavy winds and rain about 7am for about 10 minutes, then mostly sunny the rest of the day. Had some thunder and lightening one evening and again one afternoon a few days later...but otherwise our last 6 days were mostly sunny with some occasional scattered clouds.
Sooo...in total....out of our 15 days...we had 13 near perfect days and we had one day that was mostly cloudy with a few periods of rain (maybe 3 hours total) and one day that had a couple scattered afternoon showers (probably 25 minutes total). Not too bad for the "rainy season", huh?
Because the weather was so nice, the water in Cooks Bay was more clear than I have ever seen it. Sure it wasn't that crystal clear turquoise water found out in the lagoon...but it was much nicer than it usually is in February.... you could actually see different shades of blues in it. We didn't go snorkeling, but I'm quite sure it would have been fairly good water clarity.
Our friend Maluha and her 2.5 year old daughter, Ava-iti, came to visit us one afternoon. We went out to Chez Jon-Pierre (a local Chinese restaurant) for lunch. Ava-iti immediately went out back of the restaurant to look at the lagoon and immediately pointed out where all the rays and sharks were. Just too cute. (actually there weren't any...but that didn't stop her from pointing them out to us) OMG...Ava-iti is just so darn adorable it isn't funny.
I brought her a little gift...a skirt and 2 coordinating tops for it. When I handed her the gift bag, her eyes just lit up and she said in this sweet little French voice..."ooohhh shocolaht". LOL! Hmmm...note to self...don't buy a two and a half year old kid clothes...buy them chocolate! She did like the clothes though...but she kept digging in the bag hoping to maybe find some chocolate. She came over to my seat to thank me for the gift. She bent over slightly and presented the top of her head to me. I'm looking at Maluha asking what the heck is she doing and what am I supposed to do??? She said I was to kiss her on the top of her head. So I did. I have to learn all these little customs. Obviously Ava-iti knows them quite well. :-)
After lunch we headed back to our bungalow to visit for awhile. At our hotel she was all excited about the "la piscine" (swimming pool). "Ohhh..la piscine...la piscine...la piscine"!!! We literally had to drag her past the pool to our bungalow. When we got to our bungalow she looked out at the lagoon and pointed to water "ohhh dolpheene". She certainly does know what should be out there (and no, there were no dolphins out there).
We sat out on the deck to feed the fish. I gave her some bread and showed her how to break off a small piece to feed to the fish. She'd break off a small piece of bread and then accidentally throw the big piece in the water! The fish were confused as heck. After she used up her first hunk of bread, I went up the steps to the bungalow to get her another piece...she followed me to see what I was doing. When she used up that piece of bread, I went up again to get her some more. When she used up that piece, she headed up the steps herself, pulled open the sliding glass door, took the whole bag of bread off the counter and helped her self to another piece. Just so darned cute! And then she had to figure out a way to get back down the steps with the bread in her hand. OMG!!! It was so cute to watch her try to figure it out. You could just see the little wheels in her brain trying to solve the problem. She knew she had to hold the rails to go down the steps and that left her with no way to hold on to the piece of bread. She'd put the piece of bread in her dress and tuck her dress up over the bread to hold it as she went down the steps. After she used up that hunk of bread, she went up to get another piece. This time she tried putting the piece of bread between her thighs to hold it as she went down the steps. Next time she tried holding it between her knees....then under her chin...it was so cute to see her try a different approach each time down the steps. Last time she bent down and put the bread on the top step... then walked down the 4 steps, turned around and walked back up one step, reached up to grab her piece of bread and then backed down the step. Sadly we ran out of bread, so we didn't get to see what else she would try.
Maluha, Patea, and Ava-iti also came to the ferry docks on our last day to say goodbye. Paul and I had bought a Twix (chocolate) candy bar for Ava-iti...that certainly brought a big smile to her face. She wouldn't let go of that candy bar for anything. It was completely melted in her hand by the time we left. Poor Maluha, I'm sure she had quite a mess to clean up when they got home.
Cooks Bay seemed to be Cruise Ship central during our stay...especially the last week. The Silver Sea was there the first week, then the the second week the Paul Gauguin, the Pacific Princess, and the Albatros all back to back to back on 3 consecutive days. It looked like the ship for the UC Berkeley Ocean Studies lab was also there for a couple days.
Paul managed to get bit by a small ant while he was walking around one day. That little sucker clamped his fangs into the top of Paul's foot and just wouldn't let go. It took him several brushes of his hand to knock that little sucker off his foot. Left quite a little sting mark, but it eventually went away. Not sure what kind of ant it was, but it sure as heck liked his foot.
Okay....my totally dumb thing for the trip. It seems I always have some incredibly stupid "Patti moment" and this trip was no different. Towards the end of our trip, one evening I saw several ants in the shower nibbling away on a couple of insect carcasses (looked to maybe be a couple of large mosquito's or flying ants??). There were about 10-15 ants at each little carcass. So rather than just trying to squish that many ants, I pulled out the gigantic can of bug spray in the room and spritzed them. All the ants immediately curled up and died. Being the lazy person that I am, I didn't bother wiping up all the dead ants from the tiles on the shower floor, I figured they'd wash away the next morning when we took showers. Soooo....I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom...while I'm sitting on the toilet I look over at the shower and there are no dead ants there...I only see the white tiles of the shower floor....no black specs at all. So the next morning when we wake up I tell Paul that something must have come and ate all the dead ant carcasses. I figured it was probably a gecko...even though I don't know why a gecko would want to eat an already dead ant...especially one that had been poisoned. So I jokingly told Paul I really feel guilty...just think of the poor gecko...he ate the poisoned ants and it would be my fault the gecko will die. And it would probably die outside and one of the cats would come along and eat it. And then the cat would die of poisoning. So a sea bird would come along eat the cat and the bird would also die and probably drop in the bay...and a poor shark would come along and eat the bird and it would die too. WOW...I'd be responsible for the death of all those animals....just because I was too lazy to wipe up the dead ant carcasses from the shower. Soo....I get up, put in my glasses and go to the bathroom and sit down on the toilet...I look over at the shower and all the ant carcasses are still there. I obviously couldn't see them when I got up in the middle of the night because I didn't have my dang glasses on. DUH!!!! I am just so friggen stupid some times! (blind and stupid that is!)
Jacques came to have lunch with us at the Blue Pineapple one afternoon. It was a nice day so we sat out on the deck in the sun....until some serious thunder and lightening started. Then we moved under cover for the duration of our lunch! It stopped after about 20-30 minutes...and never did rain....but I wasn't about to be sitting out there over the bay and get struck by lightning.
Paul managed to read 18 books on our vacation. I read 5. :-) Thank God for Sony Bookreaders (or Kindles and such). Saves a ton of room not having to pack that many books. One of the books I read was Getting Stoned with Savages By J Marten Troost. Not nearly as funny as his first one, Sex Lives of Cannibals....but it was still pretty good.
Our last morning on Moorea...Feb 14...Valentines Day....I woke up and told Paul Happy Valentines Day! He said as a special treat for me.... for Valentines Day... he was going to....take me home. Gee honey, thanks a lot....love you too! Jacques was a complete sweetheart and took us back to the ferry dock to catch our ferry home late that afternoon. I really didn't want to leave. I could have easily stayed another few weeks.
Our flight home was uneventful. Plane was a bit more full...certainly over 50%...maybe close to 60%. But still room for many to stretch out a bit. Meals on the return flight were okay, but not that great. Main meal was...appetizer...lental and swordfish terrine. I didn't try it cause it really didn't look very appetizing. Main coarse was a choice of fish lasagna with Parmesan cheese sauce and broccoli and carrots (for me)....or lamb with curry sauce, green beans and rice (for Paul). Cheese, bread, and a mango cake thingy for dessert. The lasagna was okay, not great, but edible. The lamb was not bad at all...but it was more of a gravy than a curry sauce. Breakfast was a choice of Crepes with chocolate sauce (for me) and a Chinese-style omelet with bacon, ham and veal sausage (for Paul). Also yogurt, croissant and a mixed fruit dish (with pineapple, cantaloupe, and grapes). The crepes were kinda dry and just too chocolaty. The omelet was okay. Fruit and yogurt was good.
And if one dumb Patti thing wasn't enough....I had another. When I was packing to come home I couldn't find the pair of socks I had on when we were in LA. I knew I had switched to a much heavier pair during the flight over because my feet are always freezing....but couldn't remember what I did to the pair I took off. I figured I must have left them in the seat back pocket on the plane of our flight to Tahiti. My seat was pretty uncomfortable on our return trip. It was like the cushioning in my lower back area was out of alignment or something. I was constantly squirming around to get comfortable. About halfway through the flight I got up to use the restroom. I pulled my jeans down and felt something lumpy in my back pocket. I'm thinking to myself...why the heck did I put my Air Tahiti Nui gift pack (with the headphones, eye mask, etc) in my back pocket?? I reach in my back pocket and pull out my missing socks. That's what I had been uncomfortably sitting on for the previous 3 hours. Why do I seem to make all these amazing discoveries while sitting on the toilet? Hmmm???...wonder what Freud would say about it...
Our flight landed about 35 minutes early. But...the line at passport control was HUGE. It took well over an hour to get through it. Usually the US passports lines at LAX are fairly short and go pretty quickly. Not this time! At least we didn't have to wait for our luggage. It was out and waiting for us long before we ever got to the luggage carousel. Some people in our line only had a 2 hour window for their connection. If our flight had not been 35 minutes early, they would not have been able to make their connecting flight. We had no issues because we had a 3.5 hour window and with the early arrival time, it ended up being a 4 hour window.
Finally got back to the house about 2 in the afternoon. I hate coming home. I want to go back already!
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#88913 - 02/18/11 11:50 AM
Re: Patti's Trip Report Moorea Feb 2011
[Re: Patti.]
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Old Wife
Expert Advisor
Registered: 02/21/03
Posts: 2369
Loc: Burlington, Ontario, Canada
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Wow, great trip report. Thanks for all the Ava-iti stories. Oh, how I envy you getting to see her. And LOL about your Patti moments--too funny!
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#88914 - 02/18/11 12:39 PM
Re: Patti's Trip Report Moorea Feb 2011
[Re: Old Wife]
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spotbeagle
Member
Registered: 09/11/06
Posts: 365
Loc: California
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Fabulous trip report Patti.
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#88915 - 02/18/11 12:41 PM
Re: Patti's Trip Report Moorea Feb 2011
[Re: Old Wife]
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hamara
Expert Advisor
Registered: 01/07/02
Posts: 2319
Loc: Washington/Moorea
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Thanks for the very kind words about Fare Hamara. We are so blessed to have Jacques as our caretaker.
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#88916 - 02/18/11 12:51 PM
Re: Patti's Trip Report Moorea Feb 2011
[Re: hamara]
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Patti.
Expert Advisor
Registered: 03/28/04
Posts: 2460
Loc: Las Vegas, NV
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Yes Bob, Jacques it a complete sweetheart! What a delightful guy he is. And Fare Hamara is beautiful. You did a great job situating it on that hillside at the just perfect angle to take in that view.
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#88917 - 02/18/11 03:53 PM
Re: Patti's Trip Report Moorea Feb 2011
[Re: Patti.]
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Gary & Cath
Expert Advisor
Registered: 04/01/06
Posts: 1284
Loc: Wollongong, Australia
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Love the trip report, Patti, we are so pleased you had great weather. Thanks for the tip about buying the Tahiti drink at the juice factory - good to know for future visits.
My friend also told me about taking vitamin B to prevent mossies. I had never heard of this but we take vit B almost every day, so maybe thats why we don't ever get bit?
_________________________
Is there anything better than a sipping a Tahitian Mai Tai on an Overwater Bungalow in FP?
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#88918 - 02/18/11 04:25 PM
Re: Patti's Trip Report Moorea Feb 2011
[Re: Gary & Cath]
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Poehere
Expert Advisor
Registered: 08/18/07
Posts: 2362
Loc: FP
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Eat fresh garlic on an empty stomach LOL!!
Patti you were not in luck ATN cancelled 2 flights...
_________________________
* with sunshine *
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#88919 - 02/18/11 04:47 PM
Re: Patti's Trip Report Moorea Feb 2011
[Re: Poehere]
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vaitape
Expert Advisor
Registered: 02/09/02
Posts: 1387
Loc: socal
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Thanks for the report Patti! Glad you were able to get away to paradise and that the weather was your friend this time!
Quick question: Did you leave from the gate or were you shuttled to the remote runway on your Sunday night flight from LAX?
Poehere, which ATN flights were canceled?
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#88923 - 02/18/11 05:52 PM
Re: Patti's Trip Report Moorea Feb 2011
[Re: vaitape]
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Poehere
Expert Advisor
Registered: 08/18/07
Posts: 2362
Loc: FP
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TN02 TN08 dep PPT 22h00 and 23h30 for LAX people on the TN02 are flying out Sunday night at 23h59 (59!)lol
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* with sunshine *
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#88925 - 02/18/11 06:13 PM
Re: Patti's Trip Report Moorea Feb 2011
[Re: Poehere]
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vaitape
Expert Advisor
Registered: 02/09/02
Posts: 1387
Loc: socal
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and how many nano seconds? Geesh!
Thanks for the info. A light went on for me and I checked out the website too...had a Patti Moment but am sitting at my desk instead of Patti's Moment location.
Sorry Patti, I just couldn't help myself!).
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