The Honeymoon: Worth the 'weight' in water!

Honeymooners in Paradise
Places we stayed: MOOREA PEARL RESORT Oct 20-23, 2010













LA TAHAA RESORT Oct 23-27, 2010 October 20, 2010 -













Heidi and I got to the Moorea Pearl Resort about 9am but they didn’t have our bungalow ready until 1pm. So we had 4 hours to explore the tiny town were in. We found a little local market where we could buy semi-cool water for 100 francs instead of 600 francs for smaller bottles at the resort. This helped us keep from going broke just trying to stay hydrated LOL.


























We were thrilled as the concierge walked us to our bungalow as we found it was at the very end, facing towards the ocean - the very best location there. It was seriously amazing!












Our place was positioned just above a reef filled with hundreds of beautiful tropical fish, and the reef dropped off to deep water right at the edge of the deck. So I awoke at 5:30 every morning, climbed up on the deck-rail, and dove in to the clear deep blue. Heidi even made a few jumps... pictures to prove it ;) We were in heaven :)













For our first activity we chose the 4x4 off-road tour (which was mostly ‘on-road’). It was pretty cool as a true local guy carried us high into the remains of an ancient volcano, showing us temples, tropical flower farms, and taught us the history of the Tahitian islands.










































The following day we took a 2-hour JetSki tour that was killer! We felt like we were in some travel commercial as we sped and splashed along the crystal clear turquoise water. Our tour guide took us into the coves and explained some of the same history we had learned on our other tour, but the coolest thing ever was just ahead of us... and we had no idea.







Our next stop was a popular attraction as there were several tours of people there walking and swimming around with stingrays and reef sharks! Yup... Heidi and I got to swim with about a dozen sharks. They swam within 1-2 feet of us multiple times and it was one of the coolest things either of us had experienced.
Sharks!!! ~Stingrays~















Then it was off to the private island resort of La Tahaa. W took a flight back to the main island, then a smaller flight to the island of Raiatea, where we were greeted by a young Tahitian man who loaded us up on the private shuttle boat and drove us around the two small sister islands to the resort. It was a beautiful ride along the coast, with waves to our left and cute little beach homes, schools and churches to our right. As we rounded the second island, our tiny little resort island appeared ahead. We pulled up to the dock to be greeted by several people from the resort who donned us with fresh leis, took our bags and led us to the very 'open' lobby. We were just blown away by the beauty of this dream-like place! Our personal guide took us on a quick tour of our island on the way to our bungalow. It was a much different environment than our previous location. It was so quiet, so serene... a perfectly groomed tropical paradise. Our bungalow was again over the water, which was like a 3 foot deep pool of bright crystal blue water surrounding us on every side. Our bungalow was absolutely wonderful! The layout, the materials, the comfortable bed, and the huge window overlooking the breath-taking water and Bora Bora island in the distance were nothing short of perfection.

La Tahaa was an entirely different experience. This resort is truly a honeymooner's retreat from the commercialized world we live in. There were no stores, or anywhere else to go on the island aside from the restaurant, pool, gym, and spa. Much more authentic to their Polynesian culture, all of the resort employees would greet us (la Orana) and thank us (maururu) in Tahitian. A perfect place to simply, eat, pray & LOVE! The first two days our activities included walking across the shallow water to the tiny islands across from us, relaxing in the pool, snorkeling in the reef garden, and kayaking all over. Some of our favorite kayak trips came between 5am and 7am as the water was like glass. I believe it is one of the most peaceful things one can experience. We also learned how tiny the island we were on truly was, as we set out to paddle around it - we found ourselves on the other side in about 25 minutes!

The third day we decided to venture out and take a smaller shuttle boat across to the actual island of La Tahaa, where we would rent a scooter and spend the afternoon taking our own private tour around the island. We stopped at a little convenient store to get water and try the 3-foot long bread loaves that everyone seemed to be carrying around the island. The long, soft, baguette-like food turned out to be one of our favorite things to eat in Tahiti :) We followed behind a funky little green school bus for miles, as they stopped to drop of the cute little Tahitian kids - who ran to their homes laughing and smiling terrifically. Our hearts were filled with joy as we were greeted by the cutest kids smiling and waving at us as we rode around their tiny, humble and beautiful island. On the other side of the island we came across a small sign that read 'Sophie's Boutique' - left here. After following the road for a while, we veered down a little grass driveway that lead to one of the coolest things we had ever seen. Sophie lived in the cutest little house, in one of the best locations on the planet I'm sure! Her place had open shutters all along the front of her house and tiny shop, which faced her own private little bay (Heidi wanted to move in!). The property, with its large tropical trees and bright green tropical grass, adorned with beautiful flowers was absolutely breath-taking! The little French woman did not speak much English, and was very friendly as she let us browse her collection of local art, t-shirts, and Tahitian Vanilla. I wish we would have taken more pictures there!

That evening would be our final night in this paradise, so we set out on our own little sunset tour on a kayak. We were blessed with calm, glass-like water as we paddled and paddled towards the sun and the waves. The scattered clouds made for a lovely sunset, and we relaxed there for a while and just reflected on our 8-day journey in paradise, the beauty that constantly surrounds us, and ever-growing love we have for each other. We will miss this place, but the feelings and memories will never leave us :)

La Tahaa Resort!
Sneak Peak