Friday, May 18, 2012

Tahiti Part 3 - Moorea

Tuesday morning Misa was still getting over her cold so Katka and I let her sleep in while we took a tour of the north end of the island.  We visited two high lookouts, two bays, a juice factory and pineapple distillery, a pineapple plantation, an ancient temple, and numerous other sights.  It is hard to describe how beautiful it is here, you will just have to see the pictures, but even those do not do it justice. After the tour we walked into town for our first meal outside of the hotel, and returned for homeschool the rest of the afternoon.  In the evening Katka wasn't hungry so Misa and I went to dinner by ourselves and then to feed the fish.  It was the most amazing night on the water.  There was a lot of action, and we saw lots of jellyfish, a seahorse, and numerous different little worm-sized creatures swimming around.  The most interesting thing was watching the big fish hunt the little fish.  It seems like the lights in the water attract plankton, so there is always a huge school of small fish, around 6 inches, hanging around the lights.  The big fish, 1.5-2 feet long, swim below them, waiting for one to wander off a little bit by itself.  When it does they chase it, and if they catch it they eat it whole.  One time we saw a little fish try to escape by jumping out of the water, but the big fish jumped after it and caught it in mid-air.  The little fish often did escape by jumping, sometimes at least 3 feet above the water.  We were so amazed and having such a great time that we were there for two hours before we even thought about what time it was.  It was by far the best night of the trip to Tahiti so far. Wednesday we rented a car and drove around the island.  We rented an iPod touch with a GPS guide of the island that alerted you whenever you were near something to see or a place to stop for a photo.  Then you could play a short entry about the sight and see a picture so you knew what to look for.  It took about three hours to go around the island, half the time driving and half seeing sights.  We stopped at a few of the places we had seen the day before so Misa could see them too.  When we got back I dropped Katka and Misa in town for lunch and went to fill up the car so we could return it full of gas.  On the way back to the hotel I stopped for a cheeseburger at a roadside stand.  We all met back in our room fed and happy.  We went for an afternoon swim in the pool.  While we were at the pool two guys that were spear-fishing caught a large octopus.  Its head was about the size of a softball, and its arms over a foot long.  From the tip of one arm to the tip of the opposite arm it was about three feet.  I am not sure it was legal, but they looked like they live here, and they just bagged it up and took off.  After swimming Misa did some homeschool, we ordered room service for supper, and then we went to a traditional Tahitian village for a music and dance show.  It was pretty impressive, particularly the guys that did the fire portion of the show, twirling large batons around them with fire on both ends.  They could twirl them so fast that it just made a circle of fire and you couldn't see the ends of the baton. Thursday was my birthday, so I got to choose what we did.  I chose sea kayaking and snorkeling.  It was beautiful.  We took a bunch of  videos, I hope they turn out nicely.  After lunch we went for a swim in the pool.  After our swim we went back to the room for showers.  While I showered Katka and Misa went into town to look at a dress Misa had her eye on.  When they got back they had a cake for my birthday.  It was a beautiful French cheesecake, all decorated fancy with a big 47 on top and a single candle.  I was really surprised; Misa didn't really have her eye on a dress, it was just a decoy to go to town for my cake.  After they sang Happy Birthday we had cake and coffee, a perfect birthday party. After supper we went back out to feed the fish.  Again, it was amazing - but this time because there was a five foot reef shark swimming around where we were snorkeling today.  We also saw lion fish, and some shiny silver fish like a silver dollar with a foot long greenish tentacle growing out of the top.  It looks exactly like a piece of seaweed, which is probably great camouflage.  On the way back to the room there was a huge crab walking on the sidewalk.  When we went to get a picture it froze and let us walk up close.  We easily could have grabbed it, but you have to feed the crabs here coconut for a week or two before you can eat them, so we let it go.