Saying goodbye to Moorea, French Polynesia and hello to the Wind Spirit

Wednesday, February 5 and Thursday, February 6

Wednesday we spent the day relaxing and enjoying the hotel property on our last day in Moorea. It was quite grey with rain off and on but it was warm and incredibly relaxing sitting on our porch with the spectacular view before us. We read and blogged and I tried to figure out how to use my Go Pro.

We had a room service breakfast (because we refused to pay the $45 breakfast buffet price) and then during a break in the rain, we put on our snorkel gear and went for a snorkel in the lagoon in front of our hotel. It’s a beautiful white sand beach which is gradual and the warm is so warm it’s so inviting. There is a coral bed not far off the beach, and we explored it until the rain chased us out of the water. There were lots of fish and interesting coral to explore and nice to have the leisure time to do so.

By then it was time for lunch. Yes, food plays a dominant role in our days. After a salad at the bar cafe, we cleaned up and spent the afternoon starting to get packed for our departure on Thursday morning.

We decided to go off-site for dinner again on Wednesday evening, and asked the concierge to book us for pick up and dinner at the Moorea Beach Cafe. Only a 10 minute drive, it was a bright and cheerful place, that wasn’t full but we were a little early. It was right on the beach so the views were lovely especially because we arrived just as the sun was setting. It was a little weird because they had a partnership with Veuve Cliequot, so their branded stuff was all over the restaurant. We didn’t have champagne but did celebrate our last evening on Moorea with one of the specialty drinks of the house. I had a nice Greek salad with chicken that I couldn’t possibly finish. No room left for dessert.

After a great sleep, we awoke to prepare to head back to Tahiti to board our home for the next 15 days, the Wind Spirit. The transfer was seamless, and the ferry terminal was right next door to the cruise ship terminal so we just had to walk through one parking lot to the next.

We only had a short wait until our embarkation, and in the meantime they had us fill out a health survey to say we hadn’t been in China in the last 30 days or caring for or near anyone with the latest coronavirus. And they took our temperature as no one with a temperature over 100.4 would be allowed on the ship. Thankfully we passed. Given the situation with a couple of other cruise ships in quarantine, we were more than happy to have this added security step.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. We checked in, left our luggage on the dock to be delivered to our cabin, and followed the plethera of crew members to the ship’s lounge where the registration process was handled. We gave up our passports for their safe keeping, got our room key, found out about the packages available to save money on alcohol. Needless to say to anyone who knows me, that wasn’t something that made sense for me. Then we were shown our way to our cabin, on Deck 1. It’s really very lovely, and seems later than I thought it would. There is adequate storage and after living out of a suitcase for most of our trips, it was so nice to put our things away and throw our suitcases under the bed. The washroom is very well laid out and doesn’t feel cramped at all. Lunch was still being served on the top deck so we found our way to the Veranda, which is the restaurant for breakfast and lunch poking our heads into various amenities along the way. We participated in the muster drill and found out where to meet and how to put on our life jackets, etc. Fingers crossed the training won’t be needed.

The ship was set to sail at 4 pm but surprisingly, we got held up by air traffic control! Why, air traffic control, you ask? Well, the run way is at sea level and ends at the entrance to the harbour. So we were a little late leaving. They do a “signature” sail off which got kind of dampened by the torrential downpour that came right at the time it was happening. Nonetheless, the music was blaring and the sails were unfurled and away we went, under power primarily. The ship has 4 masts, whose sails are set mechanically, but I’m not sure how much they contribute to the propulsion. She’s beautiful in any case.

Next it was on to a talk in the lounge, where most of the action takes place, about the excursions for the next 2 ports, picking up our snorkel gear, and then back to the lounge for a talk on the port we will be visiting tomorrow, Bora Bora. And they also reviewed all the facilities and processes on the ship. And before we knew it, dinner was being served in the dining room. It’s a very small ship, with only 148 passengers and it’s open seating and you can indicate if you’d like to be at a table for 2, 4 or more and you can dine at whatever time you like during the dining room’s open hours. We joined a table with two couples, one from the States, (Virginia I think) and a cute more mature couple from Calgary whose spouses had each passed away and she told me they were now an “item”. They were lovely company and dinner was absolutely fabulous. I’m going to be waddling off the ship in Fiji. There is a gym, and I poked my head in the door, and that’s as far as I’ve gotten.

It had been a long day so ended up being an early night. Fingers crossed that the gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) rocking of the ship will put and keep us asleep.