The Island of Moorea, Tahiti 

We only have one day on this island.     Unfortunately they do not have a ship port so we took tenders into town.   It is very windy, so this was quite an adventure.    One big step with 2 crew members holding onto me  (and everyone else) and you are on the tender.    There were 2 buses for this excursion.     We were fortunate to get on the second one, only a few of us on board and we had an incredible guide.     (he brought his very well mannered 9 year old son with him as there is no school – normally the children are in school 6 days a week).

This is a beautiful place, although it has a small population.      Someone asked him about crime and his response was that everyone knew everyone so you wouldn’t dare.     The island is mostly Protestant from the missionaries.      They are slowly bringing back their language and heritage that these missionaries banned.       They are under the French flag, which is the big political divide on Moorea.    The last election is the first where the party that won wants out from under the French rule.     We learned that the people are pretty evenly divided on this subject.    

Their ancestral dialect is now offered in the schools.    There are 2 colleges here, one run by the French and the other by Berkeley in California.     The exclusive studies are related to ocean studies.

Two of our good friends stayed in one of these over the water bungalows a few years ago.     What an experience that must have been.