Day Seven - May 23, 2009

Moorea, Opunohu Bay -- We had planned to go back to the Hilton, where we had stayed prior to the cruise for snorkeling. But where we tendered was pretty far from the resort and we didn’t have a lot of time on the island to waste driving around. Our Polynesian hostess, Cynthia, suggested that we go to the beach at a hotel called Les Tipaniers instead. We took a free shuttle there from the dock which was very convenient. While the beach there wasn’t much to speak of, the snorkeling was nice. The water was very shallow and there was a lot to see. I saw massive sea anemones, which was great because I had never seen them before while snorkeling. But I did not find Nemo.

Moorea snorkeling- Sea anemone

We made it to cover just in time for a downpour and had lunch at the hotel. Once the rain stopped we made our way to Tahia Collins Pearl Shop where we were able to pick up a free shuttle back to the tender. The highlight of the day was what the rain brought with it -- a beautiful rainbow. Just as we made our way back to the ship, the rainbow was directly in front of it -- a great way to end our last full day on the ship! 

View of rainbow and Moorea from ship

This night we had to pack up for our departure the next morning.  It was sad knowing we had to leave the ship, but at least we had a few more days in paradise. We were flying out to the Tuamotus the next day to see something a bit different.

One of the highlights of the cruise for me was all the great people we met on board. We really enjoyed getting to know the other passengers and crew members and hearing about all their travel adventures. We even swapped emails with a few passengers and plan to share our pictures from the trip.