Sun Moon Stars Girl )-(

Welcome to my little place to vent…

I still have the wedding day story to share, but I’m going to do that in a later post. In honor of our one-monthiversary, I’m going to share some fun stories of the highlights from the days following our wedding and on the honeymoon. I’m also going to say upfront that this is a rather long and extensive post because it encompasses almost two weeks’ worth of stories!

Sunday, August 12 - We woke up and had breakfast with most of the people who had stayed over at the hotel. We were so thankful to be able to say one last goodbye to everyone who was there. Kris and I enjoyed the pool, our “leftovers,” and our strawberries and champagne that came with the room. It was great to not have to pack up and check out mere hours after going to sleep. My parents came by later to drop off pictures Sue Bethea had already gotten developed for us. It was so nice to have something to look at right away and to show everyone when I got back to work.

Monday, August 13 - Packed up and flew back to CA. Enjoyed dinner in CA and un/repacked for the honeymoon.

Tuesday, August 14 - Left CA for Tahiti
Wednesday, August 15 - Arrived in Tahiti. We were going to spend the day in Tahiti before heading over to Moorea, but since it was Assumption Day, everything on both islands was closed. So we headed directly over the the pier once we got into Tahiti and caught the catamaran ferry to Moorea. Once in Moorea, we found our transportation to the hotel and got our first dose of “language confusion” from the driver. He told us that the day before we were leaving, his company would call to let us know what time they would be picking us up to leave the next day. He said there would be a message waiting for us, but the way he said “message” it sounded like “massage” which we would have been more than happy to have the day before we left!
Once we got to the hotel, we couldn’t check in right away, but they had bathrooms at the reception area we could change in and they gave us towels so we could go hang out at the pool until our room was ready. We enjoyed (a very expensive!) lunch at our hotel - because none of the restaurants on the hotel were open that day - and took a much-needed nap by the pool. The pool itself was freezing, but once you were in it was quite refreshing. The funny story of the day: we needed to use the restrooms after lunch, so we looked for the ones near the pool and restaurant. We looked in three rooms (the first two were broom closets!) before we finally found the stalls. Well, the stalls were totally closed off from one another though they were in this room, so we stupidly thought it was a very European unisex bathroom and we both went in. When I came out, Kris was waiting for me outside and shook his head. He pointed at the OTHER restroom, and we noticed there was a sign that had a picture of a head - the ladies’ had a flower-covered towel, while the men’s had a flat head. He told me, “When I came out, there was another woman in there that gave me a weird look.” Gee, I wonder why! LOL
Eventually our room was ready so we were able to unpack and take some pictures. Though we technically had a “Garden” bungalow, it was practically on the beach and we absolutely loved that we could see the beach and water from our porch! After relaxing in the lagoon for a while, we showered in the garden and then went to the hotel’s restaurant to enjoy the first of 5 pre-paid dinners at our hotel. There was a slight problem (which unfortunately recurred the other 4 nights we went!) about whether we had “the meal plan” or not. Luckily it was always resolved quickly. We enjoyed the meal and the Polynesian show.

Thursday, August 16th - Our first “activity” day - we took a guided island tour of Moorea. Our tour guide, Madeline, took us to the Agricultural School, where we tried some very delicious marmalades that they make right there at the school and she gave us a demonstration of the vanilla bean. Next she brought us to the Belvedere Lookout point and also to two Tahitian temples, telling us about the “ecological” uses of all the plants on the island - from bug swatters to toilet paper! Our next stop was one of the shopping areas on the island where we were finally able to exchange some money. I bought my pareo and we got some snacks. I got a 1 Franc coin back which is worth just about 1 penny $US, but for some reason is about four times as large! I wasn’t expecting to get the coin back because we didn’t when we were in Mexico. After this we stopped briefly at the Tiki Village, where Kris bought his “island shirt.” Since we were coming back for the dinner show in a couple days, we looked around, but not for too long. The next part of the trip was basically the whole island tour where Madeline told us about the school situation for the children on the islands, how Moorea was re-settled by the French, how the island was “rediscovered” by Captain Cook looking for the breadfruit tree (weird fruit that tastes like potatoes!), and about the churches being built. Our final tour stop was the Jus de Fruits distillery. This was the best part of the tour! Maddie told us “Go directly to the counter and drink everything that’s put in front of you because this is the only time on this island where you are going to get free alcohol!” We did as we were told, and proceeded to get smashed on the 10-15 shots we were given in the 5 minutes we were there. It was basically a taste test, so you can then purchase your heart’s delight of alcohol. Not a bad idea, because they produce all the alcohol for all of French Polynesia, and it’s much cheaper to but it there than even at the markets ON Moorea. We bought Tahiti Drink, a blended pineapple & coconut liquor, and vanilla cream. So tasty!
Once we got back to the hotel, we called to make reservations at Alfredo’s - “the best restaurant on Moorea,” so they claimed. Then we repeated the previous day by going in the lagoon, showering, and waited for the free shuttle to Alfredo’s with two other couples, one from the US and the other from Italy. Our dinner was excellent - I actually was able to order Osso Buco for the first time in almost 4 years (and because of my recent experiences being unable to order this entree, I had another one lined up that I actually would have preferred ordering!), but it was super expensive! We made the most of it by bringing some liquor with us (had to sneak it in) and by taking the leftovers we couldn’t finish before we split dessert. The wait to get the shuttle back to our hotel was quite long also, and the Italian couple kept complaining about it! We had enough time to chat with both couples, and the other one told us about where they had purchased the wife’s black pearl necklace.

Friday, August 17th - We were able to sleep in even though housekeeping kept waking us up, so finally we just went out on the porch to enjoy some rolls and juice for breakfast. We wanted just one more pillow because the King-sized bed comes with three (which I never really understood - why such an uneven amount of pillows for two people? Or are three people expected to sleep in a king-sized bed?), so Kris tried once again to communicate with the staff that we wanted one more pillow. He pointed to the pillow, held up three fingers, then one more, to say, “hey, we just want one more.” They must have thought we were crazy, because there were seven pillows waiting on the bed after going to see how much rentals of bikes, kayaks, and other things would be. We decided right away that we wanted to rent bikes that day, and the people at the rental area said it would be a great day to take the bikes out because it was overcast, but unfortunately all the bikes were already rented. We asked what the best and least expensive way to get around the island, and they said the bikes, but we could also try hitchhiking! I was a little shocked, as there’s a million signs along the highways in the US that say “Hitchhiking is illegal. Do not pick up hitchhikers,” and things like that. Of course on Moorea, there’s no highway, and it’s an island, so there’s not far you’d have to go. We still wanted to take the bikes first, so while we waited, we enjoyed the beach again. Luckily for us, when we went back to check, there were two bikes available! Unfortunately, they were both “guy” bikes, and a bit too high for me, but we made do with what we had. We had to change clothes to be able to ride the bikes since I was wearing my pareo, and we also had to gather our cash to exchange and our backpacks to be able to bring anything we purchased back.
Riding the bikes on the main road was a little scary. There wasn’t really a bike lane, so we had to ride for the most part on the grass off to the side of the road, and there was a lot of traffic going in the same direction as we were on that section of the island. Our first stop was the Moorea Pearl Beach Resort, where we took a look around. We were so happy we picked the Sofitel when we saw the Pearl. The Pearl has great overwater bungalows, and lovely garden and beach bungalows as well. However, in addition they had a small “regular” hotel that you’d see anywhere, AND some of the garden bungalows were duplex (on my honeymoon I would not want a room with a connecting wall to any other guests - who knows what noises either room might hear!).
Our next stop was in Maharepa, and the shopping area there. We exchanged some money right away - this is where we figured out we should have brought traveler’s cheques because they had a better exchange rate than cash! We had a snack at Carameline’s - I had a tomato & cheese quiche and pain au chocolate, while Kris had an ice cream cone. We looked around the shopping area a bit more, before we started looking in the jewelry shops to possibly purchase a black pearl. The first one we stopped in didn’t have much selection, so we went to the shop that the couple we’d met at dinner the previous night had suggested. The shop had the biggest selection of any place we checked out, but there were two people in there already talking to the owner, who basically ignored us. Needless to saw, we took off. We wanted to find the Hiro Tour company to see what their prices were and what the tours included, and on our way we took a break at Ron Hall’s Island Fashions black pearl shop. I finally found a few beautiful pearls that were less expensive and the color I loved. I finally settled on a blue-ish tinted pearl, which had the best shape of round and was an “A” grade (second only to “Gem” grade), enclosed in a platinum heart. I had brought several silver chains with me, so I wore it to dinner at our hotel later that night. We still hadn’t found the tour office, so we rode our bikes a few more kilometers down the road before giving up and heading back to our hotel. It was raining by then, which felt great because it was so hot, but also made riding the bikes even more sketchy. That evening we enjoyed another dinner at our hotel with another Polynesian show.

Saturday, August 18th - It was pouring when we woke up, so it was quite a lazy day. Kris really wasn’t feeling well, so he got a bike and took it to get some medicine at the pharmacy just past Maharepa, and it was such a lovely surprise when he showed up with two pizzas for our lunch, and he told me all about how he got back. He was offered a ride from a woman at the pizza place, but she had a car that would not have accommodated the bike. So he started on his way back and decided to try to hitch a ride. As soon as he stuck out his thumb, he got a ride from a Tahitian couple on their vacation in Moorea. Luckily they had a truck, so they could take the bike. After he got back, we spent the afternoon reading and cuddling in bed watching TV (and WRC!).
At 5:30 our tour bus came to pick us up for the Tiki Village dinner theater. Since it was still raining, the first part of our evening there was spent in the gift shop which we’d already spent a while in the day of our island tour, but luckily they soon brought us over the the actual theater where they had fruity drinks for us - and yet another pearl shop to look through. The first part of the show was the “coconut demonstration.” They asked for a volunteer, so I made Kris go do it! Then they took us to the pit where most of the food had been buried to cook earlier in the day, and told us about the traditional methods of cooking. Next they brought us around to all little huts where they showed us the fruits of the island, the traditional clothing and wedding accoutrements, an art gallery, and the traditional instruments and music. After this, they brought us to the banquet area, where we helped ourselves to the traditional foods from pineapple to breadfruit, to chicken and sweet potatoes. There was a very strange looking dessert (purple and slimy), but I was quite courageous and tried it - it was very sweet and light! I’m happy I tried it! Finally came the show, but first they had a dance lesson for the women (I opted out because they wanted us to take our shoes off and since it was raining I’d worn my sneakers), and then one for the men (which Kris opted out of because he’d already done the coconut demonstration). The show included lots of music and singing, as well as the dancing, which told the story of a beautiful woman who was the “pearl” of her tribe, and she was rescued and then married to a handsome young man, so we got to see the traditional wedding ceremony and dances. The end of the evening and best part were the fire dances, which I cannot even give justice to. There must have been a few gallons of kerosene that were burned, and we could see why the women didn’t tame down their hair with any hair products, and why the men had absolutely no body hair! We did notice that everyone had grass anklets, wristlets, armlets, etc, which were probably wet down with water to keep them from sustaining 3rd degree burns every night.
When we finally got back to our hotel at nearly midnight, neither one of our keys would open the door! We went back to the registration desk where they gave us a new set of keys. Since it was still raining we asked for a ride back to our room, just in case these new keys did not work, and got this very large man reminiscent of an actor from “Trainspotting.” I swear this guy had no idea where he was going, because he went down the wrong path, nearly turfed the lawn trying to turn around, and then finally back up to our doorway. Kris and I nearly died laughing that night quoting “Trainspotting.” “Tyrone took a rally-driving course!”

Sunday, August 19th - We were so excited it was sunny, when we got up because we had to be ready early for the tour we’d booked. We realized that the office we’d been looking for was actually IN the Bali Hai hotel which we’d passed the day we were out with the bikes. We also realized that we would have gotten a discount if we were able to pay in cash - wish they’d told us that ahead of time! We still had to wait for the rest of our tour group, so we enjoyed coffee and bread at the Blue Pineapple in the Bali Hai.
The first stop of our tour was the shark feeding. Hiro, our tour guide, explained that the fish have been fed at the same time and place every day for years, and have been bred & conditioned to eat there. Not only do they know they are going to get fed (so they’re not going to attack you), but they are also smaller reef sharks that aren’t “man-eaters” anyway. They anchored the boat, and put it out on a line. Then they explained that the sharks would be fed on one side of the line, while we should use the line to hold on and stay on the other side. Everyone got their snorkeling gear on and got in the water. We got in, and I held the line for a while, but I got freaked out so I got back on the boat. My excuse - someone had to take pictures! Well, Kris had become a pro with his snorkeling gear by this point, so he had a great time in the water with the sharks! I was just about try to get back into the water, but Hiro called everyone back into the boat.
We headed around to the second lagoon for the ray feeding. Hiro explained on the way that these rays do not have stingers, and you shouldn’t grab their tails - mostly because you wouldn’t want your tail grabbed! He also told us the only thing to be careful of was the rays’ mouths, because they have enough suction force to open a conch shell - as that is their main food course. The water here was only chest deep and SO warm, I got in right away. I was still too freaked out to actually snorkel with the rays, but I did stay in the water with them. They felt awesome, like they were covered in suede - one of my favorite fabrics!
The rays followed us to the motu - a small island off of the main island - where I got back in the water with them! We had a bit of time before the picnic was ready, so Kris went out and snorkeled some more, while I continued to play with the rays. When lunch was ready, Hiro told us, “We had the shark feeding….then we had the ray feeding…now it’s time for the tourist feeding!” There were lots of drinks, from water and beer, to all sorts of juice, and a feast of corn, rice, pasta, pineapple, chicken, and tuna. Normally I don’t like seafood, but a small piece ended up on my plate, so I decided to try it. The way the tuna was cooked with the chicken, it tasted like chicken, so I actually ate the rest of it. We had some additional time on the motu, so we ventured down the beach almost all the way out to the barrier reef. We enjoyed exploring the lava rocks near the reef, then headed back to the picnic beach where we had another “coconut demonstration.” Our final activity was a sample of the underwater video of our trip from the shark and ray feeding. It was a pretty cool video, but neither one of us was featured at all, and it was $90, putting the cost well above the price of the tour! Kris discussed the pricing and the costs with the videographer on the boat trip back when almost everyone was dropped off at their respective hotels (not us, but we were actually happy the boats didn’t come all day over to our secluded hotel!). Once back at the Bali Hai, we enjoyed swimming in the bay for a bit before our tour car through.
Once back at our hotel, we found the door to our bungalow slightly ajar, and open. We got in and checked around to make sure nothing was missing. When we shut the door, the same thing that happened the night before with the door not unlocking happened again. Of course we called the front desk to let them know not only was our door open, but the keys weren’t working, again! They sent some maintenance people out, who fixed the door and gave us our third set of new keys. We showered and freshened up, then relaxed with our happy hour together on our porch. Dinner at the hotel that night featured a different menu (finally!) of a buffet. The show featured a much younger group, sort of the “up and coming” “Junior Miss Tahiti” - from 8-10 year olds and teenagers. The show was very cute.

Monday, August 20th - After waiting almost an hour for our scooter rental place to show up with our rental, we went to Plan B and called a different company. So around 10 AM, we finally got picked up. The woman, Juju, who was renting the scooter kept asking Kris lots of questions about if he’d ridden a scooter before or how much experience he had, because she was really worried about all the accidents on the island. Kris fabricated the truth a little; he’d ridden mini-bikes before, but not a motorcycle or scooter on his own. She asked if I’d ridden with Kris, and I had to lie a bit too - I haven’t ridden with Kris, but I had ridden with his dad, my friend Ray, and my friend Charlotte. After signing the paperwork, paying for the rental, and getting helmets, Juju gave us a full demonstration with the scooter. She gave us a map of the island, told us where to get gas and what kind (sans plumb, ie, unleaded - it was either that or diesel), she gave us the keys and we were off. We didn’t pay much attention to the map because we’d already been on the circle tour and had been studying maps for the past few days to determine what places we wanted to stop at.
Our first stop was a hike to the waterfall, which took a couple tries to find the right road. The road that turned out to the the right one was the first one we went down, but we didn’t think it was right because it was so rough, but eventually we decided to just travel down it for a few kilometers. We found a bunch of parked cars and an arrow pointing down a trail there was no way you could drive down. After getting the scooter parked and secured, we geared up and headed down the trail. It was not a hike for the meek, and became more of a climb near the end of the approximately 1.5 mile trail. But, for us, it was well worth it. The view was spectacular though the waterfall was not - however, since it had rained just two days before, there was a decent amount of water falling down the rocks. It was so beautiful.
Next we took a long ride, in the opposite direction of most of the traffic on the island, around the bottom of Moorea. It didn’t take us long before we were near the Tiki Village, and where we wanted to stop for lunch. The Royal Chicken rotisserie was more of a chicken van, which was closed in any case. We found La Plantation, one of the places we were thinking of having dinner that night. Luckily they had the menu posted outside, and we quickly determined there was nothing that appealed to us for dinner (mostly seafood and “southern” US style french cooking), but agreed to have lunch there. We both ordered the same lunch special - a chicken salad with artichokes - then continued on our way.
We stopped at a lovely view spot in Oponohu Bay, then stopped again at the distillery, which was another adventure of its own. We took the wrong paved road first, turned around and went down the next road we found which we could see the Jus de Fruits sign from. We knew it wasn’t the right road, but figured we would find the paved road once we made it up the the distillery. We did, and felt like such silly fools because we just needed to go down a bit further to find it! Well, at the distillery, we were tempted to buy WAY more alcohol, but we ended up just getting some Tahiti Drink, more pineapple juice, and some passion fruit juice - which we’d had at the motu picnic.
Once down the correct paved road back to the main road, we found the road to the pineapple plantation, again after a bit of exploration. We realized that the reason none of the tours take it, even though it eventually meets up with the road from the agricultural school to the Belvedere lookout point, is because it is another dirt road! Well, both Kris and I were not looking for the right thing - he was looking for pineapples in trees, while I just wasn’t sure exactly what the plants on the ground looked like. So we just kept driving up this dirt road that just kept getting steeper and more twisty. I’m going to take this opportunity to remind you that we are still on the scooter! So, eventually, we just decided to go back down. Kris decided that we just had to stop at one point, and when we did I looked over and shouted, “Oh my god!” because we were sitting RIGHT next to the fields of pineapple! Kris had no idea that basically the plants look like the tops of a mature pineapple, and that the grow from the ground up.
Continuing on our way around Moorea, we stopped to exchange more money in Maharepa and at a few more restaurants to check out their menus to determine where we wanted to have dinner that evening. We stopped at Le Mahogany, which did not have a menu that we could see, and Te Hono Iti. We quickly determined that would be our choice for the evening, as there were several menu items that made our mouths water at the very thought of them. The time was quickly approaching 5:00 pm, which was the time the scooter rental was due back, so we drove quickly to our last stop at Le Champion - the huge grocery store on Moorea. We picked up a bunch of large water bottles, some sodas, a bunch of snacks, and some breakfast items. Our very last stop was the Shell gas station to refill with sans plumb before bringing the scooter back to Juju.
Back at the hotel we unloaded our groceries and made reservations for dinner. We quickly showered and headed out. Dinner was wonderful - real French onion soup and bread and our entrees`: Kris got the veal stew while I got the beef bougiougnoun. We were so stuffed there was no way we could have gotten any dessert at all, and that made the meal a lot less costly than we’d originally estimated.

Tuesday, August 21 - After 3 days packed chock-full of activities, Kris and I decided to relax. After a leisurely morning with our breakfast snacks on our porch, we headed over the the hotel’s pool to soak up some sun. We managed to get some silverware and cups from the bar and we finally had our leftovers from Alfredo’s for lunch. Kris overheard another guest trying to figure out his bar tab and decided to help him out by saying, “Just drop the last two zeros.” The guy was quite thankful, and when he walked past I told him we had lots of other advice if he wanted. He and his wife perked up at that, so we told them all about the best bank to exchange money at (we’d learned the previous day that one bank wanted a $15 commission on exchanges while another bank only wanted $5!), and to exchange all their money at once if possible. We gave them suggestions for tours and where to eat, siting Te Honu Iti as the ONE place they needed to go. There was another couple that was sort of listening along as well, and they asked us about transportation, so we told them about our fun time on the scooter, renting the bikes, keeping away from taxis, and how we were going to hitchhike if needed. Both couples were really appreciative of our advice and suggestions. We finished the day with our usual happy hour and dinner once again at the hotel - the polynesian buffet and another show.

Wednesday, August 22nd - This was the day we were going to be switching rooms to the overwater bungalow, so we slept in a bit, but basically spent the morning packing all our things. We had to make sure to empty and re-pack the minibar so we wouldn’t be charged for taking anything. This was the first morning that housekeeping did not wake us up or bother us, thankfully, and we used the entire morning. We stopped at the front desk to make sure our bags would be transferred and to see if they could tell us what our new room would be. They said we would have to wait until at least 2pm for the room to be ready.
We decided that we absolutely could not stand one more meal at our hotel, so we decided to take our chances hitchhiking to town. It took a while to get picked up, but we made the most of it by walking down the road (in the direction we needed to go, of course!) past the road the the airport. On that turnoff, there is a Total (yay, I had no idea what the heck Total was before - they sponsor rally cars in the WRC!) gas station with a convenience store (La Boutique) where we stopped and bought another bottle of water since all our groceries were left in our room to be transfered. It wasn’t long after we got out of the shop that a lovely Australian woman pulled over and picked us up. It was a tight fit in her tiny car that was falling apart (she had to literally pick UP the passenger side door to be able to close it), and I had to sit in the back between her five-year-old twin daughters, Mila and Lilakoi. They were adorable, especially with their cute accents that made them sound like adults! She told us she knew how hard it was to get around the island, and went out of her way to bring us to Allo Pizza for our lunch. On our way home, we didn’t have to wait long before we got picked up by three Tahitian teenagers. They didn’t speak english, but knew where the “Sofitel” was, so we hopped in the backseat of their pickup truck. Once they dropped us off they turned around, and we realized they had also gone out of their way to help us.
It was only about 1pm by this point, so we decided it was the day to rent the kayak. Well, it wasn’t quite what I expected (I thought it would be one of the traditional-type catamaran things), but it was a kayak. Kris and I decided to try to get out to the reef, but soon realized neither one of us really had the determination to get out that far. It kept looking like we hadn’t gone anywhere! So we rowed back in, but still had a good time. We still had to wait for our room to be ready, so we sat in the lobby for well over an hour. We were both getting quite ansty when they finally called us over to give us our new keys. The woman was like, “Do you know where it (your new room) is?” so we said we had no idea, and she led us out. We were both excited when she kept going further and further out on the pier, but then she turned to the right, and there we were facing the garden bungalow we’d just been in that morning, instead of a view out to the ocean! We went inside just to check it out, and we kept looking at each other like, “Can you deal with this?” Well, Kris turned around and said out loud, “What the hell is this???” and pointed at the bed. I hadn’t even noticed that they hadn’t even tried to hide the fact that we did not have a king-sized bed, but instead had two twin beds pushed together! I told Kris I knew that they did that a lot of times in Europe, and this being a European Province, that it wasn’t totally unexpected. But it certainly wasn’t what we wanted! Both dissatisfied with the room AND the bed, we stormed back to the registration desk. Note that our bags had not yet bring brought to us either. Kris sweetly talked to this one woman, still mad of course, and got a little confused that a “deluxe” room was better than a “superior” room, but basically the end result was that the hotel was completely booked for the next three nights and there was no way we could switch to A)a room with a better view or B)a room with a REAL king-sized bed! So we swallowed our pride and asked if there was anything else that could be done to compensate us, maybe at least find a new mattress or something, and we got a ride with our luggage back to the room.
Once in the room, the driver (who I swear was our friend “Tyrone” again!) brought all our bags in and showed us around the room - like we hadn’t already been at the hotel for a week! I wish they’d shown us around the first room, because it was all trial and error to find the light switches (the one in the closet was ABOVE your head and INSIDE the closet - if Kris wasn’t tall, I don’t think we would have ever found it!) and figure out how to flush the toilet (but no bidets which I was a little disappointed about!). We also noticed that this room had no less than TWO umbrellas, large golf-sized ones, which would have come in handy the crappy days it rained (luckily I am a Girl Scout and brought my own mini-size folding umbrella with us on our trip), not to mention a “Do Not Disturb” sign which would have come in handy all the mornings housekeeping woke us up! We decided to just make the most of it and unpacked, re-stocked the fridge with OUR water and sodas, and go swimming and snorkeling off our back porch, while the phone kept ringing. First they called asking about the bed, and Kris was ready to make some ridiculous demands with a French accent. He didn’t actually day any of this, but we joked that he should say, “My wife, she is very unhappy! She wants to make the babies, but you see we cannot - because we have two small beds.” And “Well, since you cannot get me another bed, we demand 42 croissants in seven minutes!” to which they might reply, “But sir, we do not have ze croissants!” and Kris would say, “Six minutes, thirty seconds!” It was a hilarious scenario that we will continue to laugh about for years to come. We got them to at least come and make the bed up as one, and bring us a few more pillows. The next phone call was asking about our dinner reservations - could we come earlier? Then they called asking if we were missing any luggage, and I didn’t think so until Kris said, “Oh, yes, WRC Mexico! That’s definitely ours!!!” I couldn’t believe they’d brought our hanging bag of nice clothes to the wrong room!!! Finally able to relax, we each took turns swimming under our glass floor, and Kris tried to get me to go snorkeling. The whole idea sounded so fun, but I just couldn’t do it. I promised him I would try the next day if he didn’t push me (I just kept freaking out and crying because I just wasn’t sure the mask would stay on my face and not let water in), and told him to PLEASE go have fun. Afterwards we enjoyed our new shower which instead of opening to a garden, opened up over the water. We had our happy hour outside on our deck, and dinner for the last time at our hotel’s restaurant.

Thursday, August 23rd - Since we were in the overwater bungalow, we just decided to enjoy it for the whole day. We snacked for breakfast and lunch, and discovered that the fish would swarm over if we sprinkled a little bit of crumbs over our deck railing. Kris went down to snorkel once while I fed them. Since I promised Kris I would at least try snorkeling once, I got myself ready to go in the water. The first step was to fully immerse myself - quite a task since I realize I haven’t put my whole self entirely under water in about 10 years. Once I’d clogged my ears up (a little freaky in itself since I am so prone to ear infections), I got the snorkeling mask. I must have seemed like a huge baby because I was just unconvinced it would be tight enough to keep the water out. I finally put my face in the water far enough to clear up my vision in the mask, and it was definitely worth it! The next step was to try breathing with the snorkeling tube, and I just absolutely couldn’t do it. It made me hyperventilate, too afraid that I was going to suck water in. So I dumped the tube and instead just held my breath while swimming around to check out the various fish, coral, and other natural underwater phenomena, while occasionally coming up to take another breath. I had a good time, and I know I probably could eventually make my way to using the tube AND the flippers, but it was nearly the end of our trip, and the mask was good enough for me.
We took some time to decide where we wanted to have our last dinner on Moorea, and decided to go back to Te Hono Iti, since it was so good the other night, and it is also rated as one of 1000 places to go before you die (a bit morbid, especially for honeymooners, but whatever!). Since we hadn’t had lunch, we were able to enjoy a full meal from soup and bread to salad to entrees and finally their famous dessert of apple pie, which was more like a crepe than a pie. We saw the same couple we’d seen at the pool and made suggestions to a few days earlier, and they were so happy they went. I’m glad we made some good recommendations!

Friday, August 24th - We had to pack our bags for good on our last day, but we enjoyed the last of our juice and breakfast snacks on our deck before checking out at the very last minute. Since our bags would be secured at the hotel until our transport to the airport came at 5pm, we decided to hitchhike one more time to lunch. Apparently word that hitchhiking was easy got around because there were two other sets of people on the road when we went. We stopped one last time for a water and soda at the gas station, and continued walking down the road until a nice, older French man picked us up in his brand new tiny Fiat. Once again, he spoke absolutely no english, but knew exactly where we were going at “Club Bali Hai.” The ride over was fun, he had some very strange American techno mixed with French playing, and three brand-spanking new travel packs of tissues sitting in his dash. They fit so perfectly I was afraid to sneeze! The restaurant at the Bali Hai hotel, the Blue Pineapple, is said to have “the best burgers on Moorea,” and Kris and I certainly agreed. After lunch, it was time to hitchhike back to the hotel, but we had the hardest time finding someone willing to pick us up, or had enough space for two people. We walked a good 3-4 kilometers from Cook’s Bay all the way into Maharepa before we finally found a Tahitian couple willing to even stop. They, once again, did not speak English, but were willing to take us to the Sofitel. The man pointed for us to get in the back, but when we went to open the backdoor of their 4-door pickup truck, he pointed again at the back, but this time at the bed. Needless to say, the ride back was both bumpy and adventurous!
It was still mid-afternoon when we got back to the hotel, so we decided to enjoy the infinity pool one last time. Then we took advantage of the bathrooms in the lobby which were fully equipped with showers and towels! We waited for our ride to the small airport in Moorea, got our boarding passes, and departed to Tahiti. We had dinner at the cafe in the airport where it seemed like EVERYONE was smoking, then waited for almost an hour in the line to get our international departure boarding passes. Once we went through security, there were no windows and again EVERYONE was smoking. Kris and I got so sick waiting to finally board the smoke-free airplane, and when we finally arrived in LAX the next morning, we were actually relieved to breathe the air on the airport runway. It was a long flight.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this extensively long post, but considering it was two weeks’ worth of honeymoon posts, it wasn’t too bad. I’m sorry it took me so long to document everything, but I hope I’ve included enough of our fun stories that anyone who reads about them will feel like we had a good time.