Story Index:

Eclipse!!
08/29/2017

Summer Weekend in the Colorado Rockies
07/19/2016

Kim's Day In The Sun
02/28/2015

Tracing Roots
01/15/2015

Whitney Completes Her Master's Degree
01/10/2015

Day Trip to Moorea
11/01/2012

Stopover in Tahiti
10/30/2012

Exploring New Zealand's Northland
10/27/2012

Waiheke Island
10/24/2012

2012 Triathlon World Championships
10/23/2012

Travails with Tom-Tom
10/21/2012

Off to New Zealand!
10/18/2012

Cycling on the Oregon Coast
07/24/2012

Partial Solar Eclipse, May 20
05/23/2012

"Tour of California" Bike Race comes through town!
05/15/2012

Wildflower Triathlon a family affair
05/07/2012

Truth in Packaging?
04/01/2012

Nik Graduates from Cal Poly
12/10/2011

Cal Poly's Open House Weekend
04/17/2011

The 2010 US Census is here
03/16/2010

Cultural Musings...
09/18/2009

2009 Triathlon World Championships
09/12/2009

Sightseeing around the Gold Coast
09/09/2009

South Bank: Brisbane's Fine Arts center
09/05/2009

Brisbane, Australia
09/04/2009

Catching up . . .
08/31/2009

Summa Cum Laude, Baby!
06/15/2008

Kim completes her first Half-Ironman
06/10/2008

Kim Visits Home for Wildflower Triathlon
05/16/2008

The Last Supper
02/16/2008

Farewell, Dad
01/15/2008

Whitney Plays Final Soccer Game
12/10/2007

Watch the Women's World Cup!
09/12/2007

Kim Blazes Chicago Triathlon
08/27/2007

Nik Bicycles Pacific Coast
08/15/2007

Whitney Begins Final Season
08/13/2007

More Triathlons for Kim
06/15/2006

Corvallis gets snow!
03/09/2006

Pac-10 Conference Player of the Week
01/15/2006

Whitney's new cat
09/26/2005

Kim in Chicago Triathlon
08/31/2005

Rare family get-together
08/23/2005

Empty Nest
08/11/2005

Whitney Signs National Letter-of-Intent
02/08/2004

ODP cancels European tour
04/11/2003

Whitney renamed to Regional Team
08/07/2002

Kim graduates from Willamette
06/17/2002

Whitney Stars in High School Soccer
03/07/2002

Nik graduates from UTI
01/07/2002

2001 - A Year for Remembrance
12/30/2001

Whitney selected to the 2001 State ODP pool for U-15 Girls
03/22/2001

Kim returns from Europe
02/02/2001

2000: A Year for Traveling
12/15/2000

Kim Travels Europe
11/24/2000

Whitney selected to the US Far Western Regional ODP Pool!
07/14/2000

Congratulations to Nik, Ygnacio Valley High Graduating Class of 2000!
06/30/2000
Day Trip to Moorea

It's best to get away from the main cities--and other travelers we met mentioned nearby Moorea and Bora Bora are very different. Moorea is just a 30-minute ferry ride away, so we made a day trip of it.


Aboard the ferry, approaching the narrow opening in the reef surrounding Moorea.


Fortunately for us there is a nice public beach a few miles north of Moorea's ferry terminal. On both islands many of the good beaches belong to big hotels and access to them is restricted.

The beaches are quite different from the kind I'm used to. Having grown up in Hawaii and California, I'm partial to soft, fluffy beaches with lots of waves for boogie boarding and body surfing. Tahiti and Moorea are surrounded by offshore coral reefs which protect the beaches, so with very little wave action to grind sand particles or stir things up, the beaches settle into flat, hard-packed expanses of coarse sand and pulverized shells.


One of only two public beaches on Moorea.


The lagoons between the beach and the reef are like bathtubs, devoid of waves and with shallow water that gets quite warm--even too warm--during the day. In places the reef is a half-mile or more offshore, yet the lagoon doesn't seem to get more than about 10 or 15 feet deep.


Overlooking the thatched huts of the Sofitel Resort on Moorea. You can clearly see the coral reef separating the deep blue ocean and the shallow, aqua lagoon.



Posted by Dan 11/01/2012, revised 11/11/2012 by Dan
FreeStyle Journal 19.03.21
©2003-2011 by Dan Goodell

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