I arrived on the island of Tahiti at
5am which meant I missed out on the fantastic views the decent had to
offer. By the time I made it through customs the sun started to peak
its head out over the mountains and everything came into focus.
Suddenly I was surrounded by lush green scenery. I don’t know why I
would have expected anything else but it was overwhelming none the
less.
I caught the first taxi I could find
and I was off to the port to catch the ferry to Moorea. This was my
first introduction to 'nothing is cheap in French Polynesia'. Around
12$ just to get in the cab and then 1.90 each km. I negotiated a
lower rate before we left but it was still up there. What I can say
is my cabbie was quite polite, a good driver, and dropped my off
right at the ticket office which was a bit out of her way. The first
ferry out did not leave until 7:30am so I had some time to kill. I
decided to explore the surrounding area a bit. Nothing was open but
there was plenty to look at.
The ferry was prompt and left right on
time. The inside resembled a movie theater with the front windows
acting as the screen.
We all watched as the island suddenly
came into view and gradually grew before our eyes. Jurassic Park
comes to mind.
My original plan after arriving was to
rent a scooter and collect my barrings. My
plans quickly changed as I saw that renting a car was not much more
of a financial burden than a scooter. On top of that it had been
raining off and on and I had two bags strapped to my back so the car
was really the only sane choice. The
rental lady even gave me a map resembling a Denny's place mat that had
all of the local attractions highlighted in big fun drawings.
After some light paperwork I was off.
My first stop was the main viewpoint in town. The roads around the island are not too horrible, but
once you start venturing up the mountains they tend to be narrower,
run down, and full of curves and hair pin turns. Resembled Morocco a
bit.
I did not have the pleasure of
attacking this challenge with the aid of a Dacia
Logan but I was armed with a fierce little Fiat that handled
things like a champ.
The views did not disappoint. At the
top of the road was a dead end with a viewing platform where you
could see both of the main bays on the island separated by massive
cliffs. The peaks were unfortunately covered by clouds that plagued
most of my morning.
I found a small somewhat hidden hiking
trail at the back of the road that I decided to follow. There were
some pretty dinosauric looking plants on the hike that kind of
sparked my excitement but also terrified me.
There were multiple splits in the path
but I stuck to the ones that maintained an uphill direction. My
persistence paid off as I was presented with an unobstructed view of
the islands bays.
Feeling satisfied I made my way back to
the parking lot and hopped in the Fiat.
On the way down I stopped at a set of ruins that the rental lady had
circled on my cartoon map. Being a lover of ruins I was pretty
pumped. I headed out on the trail to find some pretty disappointing
kindergarten Lego projects.
It was hard for me to accept this was
one of the attractions the tourism department wanted to highlight.
There had to be more. On the other side of one of the formations I
saw another path. I walked around and spiraled down the rabbit hole
which is the Moorea (rain?) forest. I spent a couple of hours hiking
around searching for something significant but found only mentions of
various plants. The forest was neat and all but I wanted ruins.
After trying multiple paths I was about
to turn around when I noticed some light in the clearing. I followed
it and in turn stumbled into a pineapple plantation.
The photos don’t look like much but
they really don’t do it justice. It was the best surrounding view I
had the entire time I was in Moorea. It was pretty fantastic. Not
knowing if this was private property or not I decided to snap my few
photos, take everything in, and then head back to the car. This
proved to be a little more difficult than I had anticipated.
Everything started to look the same and although it took my
nonexistent boy scout experience to guide me north I finally made it
back to my vehicle. Very hungry I made my way to a snack shack I
noticed when I exited the boat. They only had cheese burgers and
chicken nuggets so I went with the burger. Fully expecting a mustard
filled mayo packed beef bomb I was pleasantly surprised.
The burger featured a fancy pants bun,
lettuce, tomato, cucumber, swiss, and some sort of sweet island sauce
that strangely worked. It was surprisingly delicious and I was elated
with my decision. Having burned enough time in the day it was now
time to check in to the b&b I had booked. Driving around this
island is quite impressive as each turn offers another amazing view
that renders the last photo you took irrelevant.
I found the property and checked in. Sensing nothing was
going on at the place I headed to the beach where I spent the rest
of my day. It was good timing too as the sun decided to finally make
an appearance. Suck it America.
