Moorea with cousins

Lea and I learn to surf in Tahiti

Moorea means Lizard yellow. Mo'o is Lizard and Rea is yellow.

Behind we see Mont Rotui. Juice Mountain.

Alma and the horse

Landbruksdalen. In the valley, they grow pineapples, mangoes, bananas and research agriculture.

In the valley it is not allowed to hunt animals other than chickens and roosters. Those that are wild can be eaten.

Lea and I underwater

Lea and I are playing chess

Puffer fish that likes mango stones

Life underwater

Life underwater

Cone snails, very nice but they are poisonous and should not be touched.

Life underwater

The boat is completely ours

Neighbors

Lea and I are learning how to steer the sailboat. It was fun!

We were visited by the family and spent time with them on Moorea. Moorea is one of the islands in the Iles de la Sociéte and the closest island to Tahiti. It takes 2 hours to sail from Tahiti if you have a tailwind. We spent 3 hours and anchored in Baie d'Opunohu which means "the belly of a stone fish". Capt. Cook arrived there with his boats in 1779. Moorea is home to 18,000 people, but it also has many different species of fish. We got to know a Puffer fish that hung around our boat because the children threw a mango stone into the sea. It is not a good idea to throw food that floats on the reef, because it often washes ashore. We swam past reef sharks every now and then, but they quickly disappear as soon as they hear splashing sounds. We were also lucky to see whales, dolphins and turtles. The skates were magical, every time we snorkeled we could see them. We saw several skate species such as Sting ray, Spotted Eagle ray and Leopard sting ray. The difference between them is: the sting ray is mostly on the bottom and the others fly in the water. The difference between the other rays is that the leopard sting ray has spots while the Eagle ray has no spots. Only I (KL) have seen a Fafapiti in Tahiti with the diving school, it is a manta ray. They are bigger. A Sting ray can sting you if it feels threatened. That is what happened to Crocodille hunter Steve from Australia. It is important to remember that you should not touch anything underwater. At least not the corals and do not pick up snail shells because some snails are poisonous. We enjoy life underwater from a distance.

We spent 5 hours walking to Belvedere du Opunohu, here we could see both bays on Moorea. Baie de Cooks and Baie d'Opunohu. It is common to drive up there, but then you miss the land crabs, horses, chickens and roosters. We also saw old ruins, which were used as a bow arena for Polynesians. In the same valley they had a pineapple plantation and much of it is used to make juice and jam on the island.

It was fun to have our cousins Alma and Lea visit. We swam and snorkeled every day. We explored and played with them every day. Lea and I were allowed to steer the boat while the sails were up all the way to Tahiti.