Mark and I left our isolated, pretty anchoring spot near the
reefs NW off Opunohu Bay to move deep into the bay. Here, in the deeper and
darker water, we were surrounded by the impressive scenery ashore and we had
easier access to some hikes in the Moorea's interior.
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| Irie anchored in Opunohu Bay |
The Belvedere is one of the highlights for tourists visiting
this popular and beautiful island. A road gently slopes towards and impressive
viewpoint, where people gather to take pictures of the surroundings. A bench is
strategically placed in the shade; it should be reserved for the ones huffing
it up by foot.
:-) Mark
and I started out walking on the sunny road, but once we reached the marae
(archeological site), we picked up a trail leading to the Belvedere. We could
chose: road, sun, traffic - fumes, noise and being “pushed” to the side – or
path, shade and mosquitoes. We picked the second option, applied bug repellent,
and had a nice walk up.
From the Belvedere, two trails start in different
directions, branching off to more points along the way. None of these trails
have signs (they want tourists to hire a guide), so you take a bit of a risk
not knowing where you will end up. We started west, thinking we would reach
another bench and then somehow end up back down in Opunohu valley. We found the
bench with a nice view, but after completing somewhat of a circular route, ended
up back at the Belvedere.
Huh? Looking
for an alternative way to descend, we backtracked the trail we had arrived on
and took a split, away from the main route. It was a lovely hike through the
forests, with an unexpected and impressive open view once we reached a
pineapple plantation in the valley. Since the trail seemed to have vanished, we
followed the dirt access road which ended up on the “Route de Ananas”. Not
knowing where to pick up another track to the bay from there, we were “forced”
to walk back on the steaming hot asphalt road back to the dinghy. We have more
exploring to do in regards to trailheads!
Two days later, we set out again from Opunohu Bay. This
time, we managed to hitchhike half way up to the Belvedere. A short climb
brought us back to the marae, from where we followed a trail marked “trois pins”
(one of the few signs around!). Shady and well-maintained, these paths are
great! As long as you – kind of – know where you are going. After an hour of
climbing, we reached the viewpoint of the “three pines” (yes, there are
actually three pine trees and a shady log to sit on), from where we beheld the
two northern bays, some of the reefs and a few impressive peaks. The idea was
to follow a “ridge trail” down to Cook’s Bay, where we hoped to arrive an hour
later, do some grocery shopping (there are no stores nor baguettes at the head
of Opunohu Bay), and order a sandwich for lunch…
We could see a steep trail leading down on the other side of
“trois pins”, but according to our Moorea map in Lonely Planet, the path we
were looking for, went the other way; a split from the trail we arrived on. So,
we headed in that direction, and started hiking, up and down, along the
mountain range. Before long, Cook’s Bay was a body of water in the distance,
only getting smaller with every step we took. Not willing to believe that we
hooked up with a well-kept, but non-existing trail according to all the maps,
we kept on walking, our feet slanted on the narrow side of the mountains.
The path would have to bend back and down
soon, for sure! Nope… More and more it started to dawn on us that we were
headed for the pass overlooking Vaiare, the top of a mountain we had climbed up
and over
a few weeks ago. It was located on the east side of Moorea. At least
we knew how to get back to Cook’s Bay from there!
A couple of hours later – hungry and thirsty (we weren’t
prepared for a day hike) – we reached the Vaiare viewpoint. This time,
unobscured by rain and mist, we could see the surrounding peaks and Vaiare Bay.
Who would have thought we’d ever make it back up here? A very steep descend
followed, while we were holding on to tree trunks and roots. The last part of
the walk was easy and flat, but the rain had returned!
Luckily, the little snack bar in Pao Pao (at the head of Cook’s
Bay) still had sandwiches for a late lunch and while waiting for the grocery
store to reopen (long lunch breaks in French Polynesia), a surprise visit from
our friends Lili and Steven on SV Liward caught us off guard. They had taken
the ferry over from Tahiti for their anniversary, rented a scooter, and had
been trying to find us for hours. Since they couldn’t see our dinghy on Irie,
they figured we would be “somewhere” on the island! And, they were right…
Soaked in sweat, we were sitting on the curb of a local grocery store, while
our purple umbrella drying in the meager rays of sun had drawn their attention!
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| Mount Rotui and Opunohu Bay from the Belvedere |
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| Opunohu Bay with Irie at the head of the bay |
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| On the Belvedere, with Mount Rotui and Cook's Bay behind us |
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| Fun trail heading west from the Belvedere |
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| Big trees with interesting hollow sounding trunks |
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| My favorite mountain top - Mou'a Roa |
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| Moorea is locally called "ile d' ananas" ("pineapple island") |
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| Pineapple field surrounded by peaks |
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| Half of the roads and trails are not on maps... |
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| Mount Rotui, looking very different from the bay |
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| Surroundings of Opunohu Bay |
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| Opunohu Bay at sunset - we cannot get enough of the view here! |
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| Some of the trees in the forests are huge! |
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| And once in a while, you stumble across the ruins of a marae |
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| Mount Rotui and Cook's Bay (our destination) seen from the "trois pins" viewpoint |
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| Pineapple plantation |
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| 180 degree view from "trois pins" |
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| The other 180 degree view from "trois pins" |
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| Vaiare, its bay and Tahiti in the distance, seen from Vaiare pass |
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| One of the views we missed last time we climbed to this point |
Mark and I – and probably most cruisers – prefer Moorea to
Tahiti, so we tried to leave the “big island” as soon as possible, once our
guests Griet and Wim arrived from Belgium. The wind predictions were favorable
(about 15 knots from the east), but, as usual, none of that materialized.
Instead of the funky west winds from last time, we didn’t have enough wind to
keep the sails full this time, so we had to motor sail most of the 25 miles to
the Opunohu Bay area in Moorea. All of our eyes were focused on the horizon is
search of whales, but none were to be spotted.
As we were driving in between the channel markers of Opunohu
Bay, we counted seven masts in our (small) anchorage of choice, so we steered
towards the alternative and bigger anchoring area near the beach. I saw
something in the water approaching us: “Whale!” Fifty feet forward of our bow,
a big humpback whale surfaced, followed by her calf. They were leaving the
channel, into the ocean. Dumbfounded and thrilled – a combination between awe
(wow, amazing!) and ouch (wow, don’t hit us!) – we grabbed our cameras, but the
pair dove down and didn’t pop up again until they reached safer waters, out of
camera reach.
The following days, Irie sat in the clear waters of the two
reef anchorages and the darker, brackish water of Opunohu Bay. We took our
visitors up to Magical Mountain for the amazing view over the surrounding
reefs, buzzed amongst a pod of dolphins with our dinghy, hiked through the
forests and into the hills to reach a couple of viewpoints, and swam with reef
sharks and stingrays. While we took care of some boat errands and daily life
chores, Griet and Wim donned their snorkel gear and explored the underwater
world. Our last day in Moorea was filled with boat preparations (cleaning of
the hull, hauling Mark up the mast, securing a whole bunch of things,
separating the outboard from the dinghy, etc…) for the overnight trip to
Huahine, our next destination.
