Sailing and Snorkelling in Moorea

7^thOctober 2019

We sailed into Moorea at 6.30am, through an entrance in the reef to reveal a very mountainous and very green coastline. It is a generous opening in the fringing reef, so no real challenge for our ship. Eventually we drop anchor in d’Opunohu Bay, and tenders are lowered into the water. The skies are overcast, and it is a bit cooler than we expected, but yesterday started out the same way and by midday we had bright sunshine.

Entering the bay

There is no town ashore in the bay we have anchored, but there is a substantial tender wharf where we will be transported to for todays’ tours. The tender transfer will take around 20 minutes each way.

Our tour today is a sail to a nearby bay on a catamaran, followed by some snorkeling on the reef.

After the usual wait for a tender ride ashore, we were loaded onto our catamaran by around 8.30 am, and not long afterwards, were on our way. It was not a huge catamaran (the brochure says 43 ft), and it is set up for tourism. There are around 30 of us on board and a crew of 3.

Tender wharf with our catamaran waiting for us

All aboard and ready to go

To our great surprise, not far from the wharf, we raise a mainsail (with a reef in it), and later about half of the genoa is rolled out. The wind is gusty as it funnels down the valleys along the shore and gets up to 20 knots in a couple of places. Nevertheless we had a reasonable sail, (often with a bit of motor assistance), before we reached our first destination, Cooks Bay. It is not the bay that Captain Cook landed in, but is called Cooks Bay anyway.

On the way there we have to sail past the Ruby Princess giving a great photo opportunity. 

Arriving at Cooks Bay we see a beautiful yacht anchored there called “Ethereal”. It would be hard to find something more comfortable for long range cruising, however you would need a few Lotto wins to be able to afford her.

Yacht Etherial in Cooks Bay

Crew member explains the history of Cooks Bay

There are small settlements, a fruit juice factory and tourist accommodation along the shore

Mike getting ready to take charge

We did have sails up

Cooks Bay has a significant settlement including what appears to be Moorea’s main manufacturing plant, a fruit juice factory. Samples are on board for us to sample. 

Besides tourism, the island has significant pineapple plantations and grows coffee. The fruit juice factory makes and packages juices from locally grown fruit including papaya, pineapple, starfruit, ginger, grapefruit and coconut. They also make fruit brandies and liqueurs. Rum punch is on board for sampling, but it is a bit early in the day for some of us.

With a comprehensive tour of Cooks Bay completed, we sail back past our embarkation point to do some snorkeling on the reef that fringes the island. 

A generous 45 minutes is allowed for snorkeling, and the boat is very well set up for easy access getting on and off via a stairway that can be lowered between the hulls at the bow. There is not much coral, a nice sandy bottom which is great for anchoring, and quite a lot of colourful but small fish. The Great Barrier Reef is in much better condition. There is a lot of weed floating on the surface which makes snorkeling a bit less pleasant. Nevertheless, the water temperature is very pleasant and we enjoy the swim.

A few snorkelling shots below.

The floating weed was a bit annoying

On the way back to our wharf, we are treated to a Tahitian Dance by the female member of the crew, whilst enjoying some refreshments. The crew are so friendly and helpful and we had a great morning getting in both a sail and a swim whilst taking in some stunning coastal scenery. The boat was a bit worse for wear, but did the job. Just as it was in Tahiti, they are so pleased to see some tourists as they have been doing it hard for some years.

It is so different to Tahiti and makes us wish we were visiting a few more of the islands here, but alas, we are off to American Samoa tonight.

The weather this afternoon had deteriorated significantly with dark skies and some rain. It was quite overcast as we weighed anchor, rotated the ship 180 degrees and headed out through the gap in the reef.

Poor weather is moving in 

The last tender bringing remaining passengers on board

The gap between the reef that we will depart through