Moorea rocks

MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Fri 6 Jul 2012 01:26
 
16:44.1S 151:02.1W
Huahine, Society Islands
 
Time to leave Tahiti..........it was costing a fortune. I couldn't keep Joanne out of the tatt shops and me out of the deli counter of Carrefour. So with the boat restocked with far too many nice but naughty goodies and an empty wallet, we headed off to Moorea, the sister island to Tahiti.
 
 
Cooks Bay, Moorea. Named after Capt'n Cook, who actually never visited!)
          
How do we do it. We manage to arrive in the sleepiest of locations just as something bazaar is happening. The Miss Moorea competition was just about to begin in the nearby hotel complex. 'Whoopee flippin' doo', I hear you say. And in normal circumstances, we would definitely agree. But this event was supported by a couple of credible bands. One was famous in French Polynesia for being an off-the-wall French rock band called 'Tika Hiri'. This band was made of a bunch of notorious 'bad boys' playing heavy rock using lead & base guitars and an electric cello......this was definitely not to be missed. Only one problem.....we didn't have a ticket and I was sure as hell not going to buy one. So we crashed it. We dressed in our best rock concert outfits i.e. the skankiest clothes we could find amongst our skanky collection, jumped in the dink, tied it to the adjoining jetty and as bold as brass, walked straight to the bar as if we belonged there. It has been more than a few years since we gate crashed a party and that made the listening to funky music, while supping local beer in a swanky hotel, even better.
 
 
Rock lives in Moorea                                                           Back to school on Monday
 
Around in the next bay the 'Puddle Ducks' were arriving for one of their get-togethers. The 'Puddle Jumpers' or 'Puddle Ducks', as we like to call them, are a bunch of like minded cruisers, mostly out of the west coast of the US plus a smattering Europeans. They were flocking together for Polynesian fun and games on the beach. We were there just to watch but couldn't help joining in. We even won a coconut............'Whoopee flippin' doo' does apply in this case.
 
  
run Forest.... run                                   Vicki going bananas                            not coconut-shy
 
It was a good opportunity to see old cruising friends including Vicki & Roger (S/Y El Vagabond). We promised each other we would meet in Tahiti when we saw them last in Chile and heaven knows where we will see them again......probably New Zealand. We are also very fortunate to have met a lovely couple of locals, Joe & Claude. We hope to see them again somewhere down-the-road, perhaps back in England, if we can persuade Joe to leave this lovely island of Moorea.
 
We on the other hand, have already left. We are in Huahine which beyond doubt, is the prettiest island we have visited todate.
 
 
Swanky hotel complex                                                        Sunset view from our cockpit in Huahine
 
As lovely as this place is, we have to get a wriggle-on. We want to be in Bora Bora for 'Bastille Day' and to gate crash a few Polynesian 'Heiva' festivities.