Day 5 - Tuesday 9th January 2024

Today was a moving day; it was time for me to leave Tahiti, and move onto the neighbouring island of Moorea.

I had fun packing as I had additional stuff to go into my bag; the winter wear that was needed to depart the UK probably (hopefully) won't be required for the rest of the trip, but a pair of jeans and a hoodie take up more space than a pair of shorts. Still, everything went in after a couple of attempts. I can see that I'm going to have to do something a bit smarter when I get to New Zealand and Australia.

Anyway, away from the hotel by taxi at 10.30, and I arrived at the ferry terminal in plenty of time for the 11.30 ferry over to Moorea. A 40 minute journey over, and as we entered the Moorea lagoon the heavens opened. We disembarked in the torrential downpour, and after I'd reclaimed my baggage and sheltered for a while, it let up a bit and I was able to get a taxi to my home for the next 5 nights; the Hotel Kaveka.

I was able to check in as soon as I arrived, but there are issues. With this being the low season, the restaurant is closed for lunch and dinner; apparently there are only two rooms occupied at the moment, and it does feel very quiet as a result.

The location couldn't be much better; it's on Cooks Bay with some stunning views of the mountains across the bay. There is a kind of pier at the hotel with a good dropoff at the edge of the reef, so I may have to get the mask and snorkel out and explore that tomorrow.

The clouds coming over one of the mountains did look great, so I tried a timelapse; it worked well apart from the fact that I hadn't set the tripod up correctly, so the horizon wasn't level .... I'll have to try again.

Not much was going on, and the bugs were out in force, so I retired to the room. As the light started to fade, the heavens opened, so I waited that out before attempting to find some food. One problem here; it's a dark road with minimal lighting and no pavements, and I only have dark t-shirts. There is a pizza place about a quarter mile away, but trying to get there and back would feel like too much of a risk as I'd be next to invisible to drivers. On top of this, everything at the hotel is locked up with the shutters down at reception, so I don't have the opportunity to ask what my options are. Thankfully I have some oat bars, so I've not gone totally without.

The nearest supermarket is a 25 minute walk away, and I did venture out this afternoon for some water, but they didn't really have anything suitable there for room with no catering facilities.

It would have been nice to have been advised of the situation here before coming so that I could have looked at the options. Still, my thoughts may be clouded by the inclement weather and the fact that there is no non-breakfast catering was a total surprise; I'll have to see whether tomorrow brings a more positive outlook.

On a positive note, for the Jetski/ATV combo that I've booked for Thursday they are able to pick me up at the hotel, so that's all sorted.