Dinners on Mo'orea

We have two great dinners on Mo'orea, both at our hotel, the Manava Beach Resort and Spa Hotel Moorea.  We consider wandering down the street to try some of the other restaurants, but our first night's dinner is so good that we return the next night also.  

We begin our evening with martinis in the bar, listening to  the local band.

Band

View of  the bungalows

In the dining room, we start with shrimp bisque soup and spring rolls, followed by octopus and shrimp skewers.

Soup, spring rolls

Octopus

Shrimp skewers

The second night, we start again with the band in the bar, then dine on shrimp ravioli and spring rolls, followed by octopus, mahi mahi in banana leaf, and shrimp skewers (some repetition of dishes we really enjoyed the previous night).

Walk from our room to the restaurant

Looking over at the pool and restaurant

The band

Starters

Octopus

Shrimp

Mahi mahi

We truly enjoy the meals and wish we could stay longer and dine more!

Another Day on Mo'orea

We wake up at our hotel in Mo'orea and decide to take advantage of the water sports, borrowing paddleboards to explore the area.

Paddleboarding

In the beautiful waters

Paddling around the hotel makes us hungry and we walk next door to the Moorea Maitai for lunch:  grilled mahi mahi and frites, tuna fish bruschetta, and vegetable bruschetta. 

Lunch spot

Mahi Mahi

Bruschetta

After lunch, we drive to Belvedere Lookout, overlooking the Opunohu Valley and both Cook's and Opunohu Bays.  At about 3,000 feet (914 meters) above sea level, the lookout directly faces the water and Mount Rotui, a towering volcanic peak that separates the two bays.  It starts to rain hard as we get to the top of the lookout, we take a few pictures and head back down.

Views from Belvedere Lookout

Hikes from the lookout

We spot the Star Breeze cruising by on its next trip

Returning to the hotel, we do a little snorkeling, enjoying the beautiful, colorful fish by our bungalow.

Fish by our room

As the day comes to a close, another spectacular sunset delights us as we think about dinner.

Sunset

The next day, it is time to return home and we drive over to Vaiare to catch the ferry back to Papeete, Tahiti for our flight to the US.

Ferry terminal

Our [fast] ferry

It's been a spectacular two weeks, with the cruise around the archipelagos and the hotel stays in Papeete and on Mo'orea.  Wow!

Returning to Mo'orea

We disembark from the Star Breeze in Papeete, Tahiti after our two-week cruise around three of the five archipelagos in French Polynesia and walk two blocks to the ferry terminal to catch a ferry back to Mo'orea for a few days.

Arriving in Papeete

Around the harbor

Inter-island ferry

While we wait for our ferry, we watch other ferries load up with everything that might be needed on their destination islands, including, food, building material, and landscape supplies, 

Loading up

Heading out

Soon, our ferry departs and we sit back for the short ride across the channel to Vaiare, Mo'orea.

Looking back at Papeete and forward to Mo'orea

We rent a car at the ferry terminal in Vaiare and drive over to the Manava Moorea, near Cook's Bay, where we were anchored the day previously on our cruise.

Driving around Mo'orea

Welcome to our island

Hotel lobby

Overwater bungalows

Our bungalow

Around the hotel

After settling in, we wander down the street looking for lunch and stop at the Moorea Beach Café (Veuve Cliquot Bar), where we sit on the water and enjoy shrimp pizza and prosciutto pizza.

Mo'orea Beach Café

Pizza, pizza

At the end of the day, we watch the sun set over our bungalow and enjoy the beauty, serenity, and peace of this wonderful spot.

Night falls

Another day in paradise!