Morning Dip & Sip

Nothing like a morning dip in the warm lagoon after waking up first thing this morning. Water is so clear and a wonderful temperature.



 After her swim, Karen took a bath in our claw foot tub with a glass of champagne.

Yesterday we posted the view from the bed looking out on the deck and water. Below is the view out the other window.


Next stop - breakfast here at the Hilton. The views and breeze are fantastic although the lighting did not work well so you can't make out the lagoon thru the window - but it is beautiful.


Today we rented a nice little 2-passenger mini-Jeep powered by a VW motor. We took the picture right before we removed the canvas top and continued our drive around the entire island of Moorea - a whopping 45 miles!


BTW - Moorea is a very tropical surrounded by rain forests.



Hiking in the rain forest on a nice sunny day.



Mountain views and the lagoons below with high clouds in the distance.

 

Beautiful Christian Church as we drove around the island.
 
We skipped lunch as we had a huge, all inclusive breakfast.  Instead, we stopped at the local ice cream shop - Lollipop Ice Cream and enjoyed a couple scoops.

 
Before finishing our 4-hr tour, we stopped at Albert's Tours and Pearl Shop.  Why you may ask? 
 
We received a coupon from AAA for a black pearl necklace so in we went.  Karen did get the necklace as advertised, but she eyed a black pearl ring she really liked. The price was beyond what she wanted to spend, so she offered them 1/2 the price quoted. They came down a little, but not 1/2. So the bargaining continued as she looked at other items (BTW - Karen did all the bargaining). No sale so off we went getting into our little red Jeep. Bill has always said, make them an offer and if they say no, be willing to leave. If they really want a sale...the owner's daughter came out of the store and met us at the Jeep as we were about to leave. She made Karen another offer, but that was still $150 more than Karen wanted to pay. Karen said yes of she'd knock off another $100 - and she said ok, you have a deal. Bill congratulated her and said her father would be very proud of her - and so was Bill. 
 
 
And did we mention, the black pearl ring even has a couple diamonds (see Bill in the reflection).
 
 
Back at our bungalow, time for a champagne toast on her purchase before jumping into the lagoon.
 
To finish our stay in Moorea, we had dinner and a Pina Colada on the patio here at the Hilton Moorea Resort & Spa. It was tasty.
 

 
Good night Moorea. 
 
 
 
 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Unplanned side trip.

Image
Last night we decided to do a 'unplanned side trip', so we studied our AAA France guide book. After some research, we called Hertz and reserved a car. After breakfast it was a short 15-min walk to the agency and in no time, off we went exploring in our little rental. Our near new Fiat 500 for the day. Karen read about this medieval Chàteau about 15-miles from Colmar along the Alsace Wine Route. The drive up to the castle (it's at 2, 500-ft) was very nice through grape vine covered hillsides leading into the forest. As we got close to the castle, there were cars parked along the narrow road for miles. Bill decided we'd go all the way up and see if we might be able to park closer - after all, some peps might be leaving. He was right, and we only had a short walk. Approaching the Castle The Chàteau de Haut Koenigsbourg turns out to be a much-visited castle, looming above the woodlands and countryside below. In fact, it is one of France's most widely v...
Read more

Get you own dessert Paul!

Image
We woke up to clouds this morning with 25 mi/hr. wind and a temperature of 46 degrees. Because of the wind, the temperature gauge says it feels like 27…burr! Considering it was near 70 yesterday, this was a dramatic change. But that didn’t stop the Greens or Kellys. But, because of the challenges the Talanians had yesterday, they decided to sleep in and enjoy their morning onboard the Viking Sigrun. Our bus left at 9am for the tulip farm which took us approx. 45-minutes to reach. Although we had a few sprinkles along the way, it had stopped by the time we reached the tulip farm. The farmers wife had set up tables and chairs inside their large covered green house and tractor storage area where they served us coffee, tea, and sweets while she gave us a presentation about the farm. She also had a store with several items for sale. Karen was the only one tempted, so she bought a watercolor reproduction of tulips. The owners wife also had some beautiful murals so we took our pictu...
Read more

Discombobulated Day

Image
Late yesterday afternoon (Monday) our Cruise Director got the news that we wouldn’t be able to dock at our planned port, Nijmegan. Our captain got permission to dock there for a short time – long enough to disembark the people who were planning on doing the excursions there. We then sailed away downriver to Emmerich, Germany. We were given many choices as to what we could do about excursions. Our group decided to forgo the excursions in Nijmegan and stay and enjoy the ship as we sailed to Emmerich. We relaxed onboard and when we docked, we had a nice lunch onboard and then decided to stroll around town. Adjacent to our port just a few steps away was St. Martini church and these two interesting statues – a gondolier and an old man watching the river flow by.   It would have been nice in Emmerich except all the stores and restaurants were closed and we were never able to find out why. We enjoyed the walk and beautiful architecture of St. Aldegundis Kirche, who was a Catholic Sa...
Read more