Snow day! By which I mean, complete-absence-of-snow day – but this is the term coined by one of our long-travelling friends whenever she took a day just to relax and unwind.
(For those in warmer climates, a ‘snow day’ in Canada refers to those blissfully relaxed days when everything is cancelled due to a weather event. What a revelation to discover we could just impose them ourselves whenever the impulse struck.)
One of the lessons learned during our Antarctica to Zimbabwe trip was to slow the pace and leave ourselves time and space to catch up. We hadn’t done that when we initially planned this trip – we had planned to go horseback riding today and maybe ziplining. But after the breakneck pace of the three travel days it took to reach Moorea, we realized something had to give. Thankfully the kids agreed, and we cancelled horseback riding.
Of all the tours we’ve booked, this appears to be the one to cancel – Moorea and Tahiti have both been hit by early rains, which meant that the bugs are much worse than they normally would at this time of year. While we would have liked to have seen more of the interior, we did not want to endure a tour that was both muggy and buggy.
There are still times when I’m worried that we’re missing too much, but I remind myself that cruise-based holidays are often a form of ‘sampler trip’. That applies here too – five nights in Moorea is scarcely enough to scratch the surface. We could easily spend a month or two here without feeling bored.
In fact, there’s little I’ve been looking forward to more than the chance to sit down on the porch with a hot cup of coffee as I watch ‘Ōpūnohu Bay slowly come to life.
Alas, the bay was not destined to have my full and undivided attention this morning because there was still the matter of rebooking our heavily-rescheduled LATAM flight – so I booted up Microsoft Teams, accessed Skype and placed the call into LATAM’s customer support, where I was immediately and crushingly disappointed.
You see, LATAM only allows you to rebook a flight into the same fare class. So – if you want to switch from a Premium Economy fare to an Economy-only flight – then you are completely and utterly out of luck. Well, unless you’re prepared to cancel your ticket and rebook. There’s just the small issue of fares having doubled since we first booked. (And no, you can’t just cancel one segment – you have to cancel the entire ticket.)
After a pair of immensely frustrating calls with LATAM, I eventually threw up my hands and rebooked the ticket as a pair of one-ways for the actual time slots we wanted at twice the price. Then I fired off a nasty-gram to LATAM HQ. We’ll see if it gets us anywhere. But let this be a lesson for all of us – book LATAM’s Premium Economy at your peril, and remember that you’re better off booking two one-ways than a return ticket.
I still had a few minutes left for a coffee, at least. Though it left a bitter taste.
But such is travel, so we eventually moved on to the ‘activity’ of the day – shopping for pearl jewellery.
Moorea is famous for the wide range of coloured pearls, particularly black pearls. We thought this would prove to be a lasting souvenir from our visit, and give the chance to step the kids through the process of comparison shopping.
There wasn’t a tremendous amount of parking available, so I dropped the family off at the shopping plaza and found a parking spot along a nearby back road. We then proceeded to visit three pearl shops in short order – Pearls & More, SAB, and Pearl Romance.
Pearl Romance was already one of our top choices, as it is both the highest rated on TripAdvisor and we received a special discount for staying at Beach Villa Cook.
My son eventually settled on this simple pearl on a woven bracelet:
My daughter opted for this beautiful pearl turtle pendant:
And my wife settled on this truly stunning dual pearl bracelet:
There was some paperwork to fill out, but we should be able to claim back the VAT if we get the receipt processed at the time of departure.
Off to Caramel’In for some post-shopping refreshment…
…And so the kids could practice their French. They did an excellent job ordering their black forest gateaux:
While my wife had a guava slushy:
And I enjoyed a cappucino (not pictured).
There was a payphone next door, so we had our son lift the handset so he could hear a dial tone for the first time. Surprise – it still worked!
With that done, we returned home for a spell to consider our options for the rest of the day. Perhaps head to a local beach?
Wait, what’s that on the horizon – ah, looks like the Celebrity Edge is in port today:
Which may mean the beaches will be busier than usual. Right? Just kidding. The truth is, we’re looking for an excuse to take it easy today.
So rather than head to the beach, my daughter and I opted to snorkel the reef directly in front of our vacation rental. I took another video:
And she took some pictures:
A big thank-you to our daughter for her exceptional photos!
Our snorkel only lasted about twenty minutes, but that was perfect. We were pleasantly surprised to discover how healthy the local reef seems.
Speaking of vacation rentals, this isn’t a bad time to provide a mid-stay review. Overall I’d say that Beach Villa Cook has worked out well, and we’ve gotten good value from our stay here. The location is excellent – you’re right on the beach, and it’s a quick drive to just about everything. We particularly appreciate the washer and dryer, the ability to rent their car, and the well-stocked kitchen.
In terms of limitations, we were surprised that we had to pay for a mid-stay clean – particularly as ants in this part of the world can easily infest a kitchen. (Though the cleaner did an excellent job, and she was very reasonably priced at US$15 per hour.) Otherwise, there are no-see-ums and sand fleas, and the square European pillows take some adjustment.
But overall, the price point at roughly 800 Euro per night is pretty good for a three bedroom, two bath oceanfront villa – that’s roughly what you’d pay for a single overwater bungalow.
Dinner! I made another round of spaghetti bolognese – this one even better than the last one – served with a side of apples, as we had been unable to secure mixed greens.
Some more yacht-spotting:
And one more peek at the Edge:
Then it was time for bed. Big day tomorrow, as we’re hoping to go snorkeling… with humpback whales!