Tuesday, September 9

Today was the first real day that we decided to do some activities associated with the resort. Breakfast as usual and then we went up to the activities desk to book some things. First on our list was a whale and dolphin excursion with Dr. Michael Poole. He was a student at UC-Berkley that was doing graduate work on whales and dolphins and liked it so much on Moorea that he eventually stayed. Now he has 6 month internships for student at the school to do the same. How cool would that be? We also booked and ATV tour with Dammon. It was a 2.5 hr tour with stops at a lot of popular spots along the way.

Now back out to the pool where we decided to take a 2-man kayak out. We figured we’d venture out from the resort to the outlying, natural coral reefs that were protecting the lagoon from the waves crashing upon them. Some of the coral heads were so big that as we paddled overtop of them and you could feel the bottom of the boat scraping across. At one point, we almost got stuck on one but there were just enough waves to keep us moving. We paddled around more enjoying the different colors and sizes of the coral along with the fish we could see from in the kayak. Before getting too tired, we headed back to the resort for some more snorkeling around our hut and the coral reef there.

Tonight was dinner and a dance show at the Tiki Village Theatre. Here is where they show you how the ancient Tahitian people lived, worked, and functioned as village. It was pretty interesting to see how every person played a part in the village. The Tahitian people lived entirely off the land and sea not wasting anything; from giant leaves used as plates to the underside of bark used to make cotton-like blankets and clothes. Nothing was thrown away. After an incredible dinner, the Tahitian people put on an amazing dance show complete with vaibrant costumes and fire tossing! I was quite impressive! The show was amazing and MUCH better than the one at the hotel the other night!

Time to go and we wanted to hit the gift shop prior to leaving and picked up 2 hand-crafted photo albums that were made right there in the village. After some confusion about how the restaurant was going to get all the patrons home (since transportation was included), they eventually piled Katherine and I in a cab with 4 other people from a neighboring resort and we were on our way. There was a return bus that had left approximately 10 minutes before we left and en-route to our hotel we passed that bus! I don’t believe our cab driver was adhering to the 60km speed limit! I’m not kidding when I say this but…I was scared! I mean really SCARED! It was raining, our driver was probably doing 80km, we just passed the bus on a road that barely fits 2 vehicles, and we barely missed taking out a dog that had strayed onto the road.
Prior to realizing a female Mario Andretti was behind the wheel, I asked Katherine to put on a seatbelt. I, too, strapped myself in for what I figured was going to my last trip ANYWHERE on this earth, gave a prayer to the big man upstairs, and just hoped we made it back to the Pearl Resort. All I could think of was our van being wrapped around a coconut tree on the winding curves in the road due to the drizzly rain. I don’t think I actually sighed any bit of relief until Ms. Andretti came racing up the resort drive doing Mach 1 and leaving an 80ft skid mark!! Even the other passengers in the cab were sighing relief when we stopped but they too didn’t sigh until after the driver got out. So…it was only me that was scared for my life. When I got out, I asked Katherine if I should drop to my knees and kiss the ground in front of everyone else! Enough excitement that driver has scared me to bed!