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Published: November 13th 2018
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Dateline: November 10, 11 and 12, 2018, Intercontinental Hotel, Moorea
Dolphins, Turtles and Easy Days
Bonjour…Well dinner at the hotel last night was wonderful. The food was very French and delicious. However, since this is an island and…since this is an upscale resort, everything is very pricy. Add to that portions that are too large for us to finish…we decided to take the advice of the newlyweds going for liquor at the airport, and walk 10 minutes to a tiny grocery store. It is hot and humid and an uphill walk to the store but t has everything we need for some lunches and dinners. The woman who runs the store speaks French and English. She is so gracious and helped us with our shopping. With a French baguette in hand and some salami, cheese, crackers etc. we are set. We hike back to the hotel.
This is an amazing hotel as it has a dolphin recovery center as well as a sea turtle rescue center all on the grounds of the hotel. The hotel has lagoons connected to the open bays behind the coral reef surrounding the island. Lots of “over the water bungalows” on the lagoons
and oceanfront. There are two infinity swimming pools, two restaurants outdoors under palm thatch. We decide to eat breakfast and dinner from our “grocery store trip” and have lunch at the pool bar.
Rachael a young woman from Moorea works at the Turtle Rescue Center. She gives us a lecture on how they find the turtles (fishermen turn them in when they find them injured), what their injuries are (blind, shot by a speargun, just sick, lost a fin, etc.) and what they do (try to help them and eventually release those that can fend for themselves) They have been able to return over 244 turtles to their natural environment over the past 14 years, and have 5 in residence they hope can be returned to the wild.
We walked down to the dolphin recovery center which has a full-time veterinarian, trainers and separate pools for healthy, sick and recovering dolphins. During our stay we saw 3 dolphins perform and they are truly impressive mammals…. Two are in their 20’s originally from Hawaii and one from the United States is in her 40’s. Dolphins, what can we say. Beautiful, strong, smart, amazing creatures of the sea. They don’t
have dolphin shows here but you can have encounters with the dolphins and everyone comes to watch. We watched several people pay the fees to swim with the dolphins. It is so fun to watch the happiness and excitement of the guests “diving with the dolphins” and the acrobatics of the dolphins.
Cope took a 10-minute look at the gym and picked up a fresh apple... then we left ?. There is a lot of walking on the grounds which is good. When we got here on Saturday and on Sunday, there were a lot of children. Jean talked to some little girl swimmer and found they were from Tahiti. Now during the week-days no children. Maybe they come from neighboring islands for a week-end getaway?
Since we are in French Polynesia, the multitude of languages among the guests was not surprising, but most were American and French, as best we can tell.
We spent leisure time reading, laying by the pool and beach, and watching those on the beach paddle boarding, kayaking, jet skiing, sailing, snorkeling and swimming. Lots of sports activity, as well as various tours being available for those who want to explore the
island. We just loved being peaceful, reading, napping, swimming and enjoying the beautiful South Pacific with its soft warm breezes and water.
And…..feeding the chickens. Jean loves chickens so we were treated to watching the chickens eat bread and cracker crumbs from our picnics on the patio outside our room. Fun!
Hard to believe but this trip is almost over. We check out at noon today, the 13
th and go back to Papeete. We will overnight and catch an Air France flight direct to Los Angeles tomorrow. 8 hours and only 2 time zones, pretty easy. Looking forward to being home but will sure miss the easygoing and friendly South Pacific Islanders
. Au revoir
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