Superbowl sunday...comments re: Moorea a bit late !

Hi everyone……..
Can’t believe that we are in Huahine, French Polynesia…actually part of the Society Islands, today…the days are flying by. (Tomorrow, Bora Bora). Where to begin?
Ahhhhh! Moorhea was almost our favorite island, so far…So pristine in its beauty. The color of the water most most clear tourquoise that I have ever seen…even more beautiful than in Bermuda and THAT is saying something. After seeing the island, complete with ancient religious sites, called Maraes, and AMAZING viewing points, we set sail on a Catamaran to a private island…a MOTU, for the afternoon. All the way, we watched the various wind surfers…SHOWING OFF. Such beautifully tanned and strong people…mostly men, but, alas, one woman…”YOU GO GIRL”. They cut through the water on their board, as if they were a hot knife cutting through butter ! Then, ever so quickly, the wind would take them way above the water, sometimes about 20 feet…and then, they found a way to land back on to the water…just in time to “catch the top of the wave” and to use the force of the wave to pick up even more speed. Really fun to watch. One even showed off enough to “sail” above our catamaran, just for effect…when he saw my long camera lens, he waved and I was fortunate to catch the moment on “film”…as they say. I shall include the pic in the file on Moorea when I am able to upload the pictures from that day.

So, once there…we had a lovely bar-b-q lunch, after which, we had a demonstration of cocoanuts…the proper way to split one (in the mouth of the nut…NOT the ‘eyes’), the draining of the ‘water’ and then the grating of the coconut…after which one squeezes the coconut pulp to produce the MILK. ‘Fabulous’ wouldn’t describe the taste of the fresh cocoanut and the pineapple here, on this island ! It is more fresh and sweet than any I have EVER tasted.
The people are SOOOOO laid back and nice…they feel, and I would agree, that they truly live in Paradise !
I will say that snorkeling was QUITE the experience. Such a strong undercurrent that swimming as hard as I could, with fins, only allowed me to stay EXACTLY stationary. Without fins, it was IMPOSSIBLE to swim…and to stand still, one had to dig ones feet into the sand at an angle…almost into the rocks below, for traction, to stay still enough to peer underneath the water to see the fabulous live coral and fish below. It was wonderful, but too tiresome for me to be there long…stayed only about 40 min before “packing it in” so to speak. The stingrays were very friendly and came to say “hello” on occasion…it was fun to see them again. Not as big as I saw in the Cayman Islands, but big enough.
All too soon…the day came to a close. We were glad to get “home” to our fruit cocktail a shower and time to relax on the balcony as we watched the sun set…and as we pulled away from the harbor…en route to the next port.
The Captain always starts the day with “the thought for the day”.
Today it was…”you cannot leave footprints in the sand by sitting down”…and…
to be sure…Pat and I are NOT doing much sitting.

I hope that This journal finds you well…….warm and enjoying our travels. I will try to be more prompt in journaling and getting pictures up and running, now that I am getting “in the swing”…but time passes quickly here…and sometimes, the best thing to do is to just “be” !!!
Love from us both to each of you……
Nancy