Moorea- If you don’t have a formal tour pre-booked.

Make no mkstake- Moorea is the star of this show. Whatever you do there, plan to start early and end late. This is a tender port. You will Tender into the area called Pape’toai. This is on the other side of the island from where the ferry lands coming from Papeete, so make sure any tours pick you up at the correct spot.

I’ll write about three excursions I have completed while on Moorea. Last year I did a snorkel trip with Alex Lagoon and a photography excursion run by HAL.

This year I stayed at the Sofitel hotel but also grabbed a $50 tour from Alberts directly from the dock. I do recommend an organized tour here, but they sell out fast. In event you land on Moorea with nothing to do, it’s nice to know you can take a tour to swim with sharks and have Motu beach day quite easily.

Prices ranged from $50-75. Almost all tours you will pick up at the Moorea tender will take you to swim with black tip reef sharks and stingrays. From there, you will head to one of many motus for a beach day. Some motus have a bar and restroom. Some offer native entertainment, singing, and dancing. All this can be discussed with your tour operator once you get on island.

This year I opted for a tour from Alberts. The tour from Captain Taina (Info above) is just as popular. Alberta is a very well known and reliable transport company. I used them to transport me from the Sofitel hotel to the tenders previously, so I was comfortable. Last year we were almost stranded by a taxi driver who never returned to pick us up so be cautious. More on that debacle when I write up my Alex lagoon tours review.

When you take one of the tours from the tender dock, you will not be alone. The boats hold a lot of people and you all go to the same place. For this reason, I do recommend a private snorkeling excursion if you can get one. However, this is a very nice option for a last-minute tour when you didn’t have any plans and want to save a few bucks.

There are about a half dozen tour operators offering a day on the water (which I recommend). There are a few tours operating scenic drives around the island but you should be first off the tenders to be able to secure one of these as they are limited. The water tours are basically unlimited since they go back and forth all Day.

You can also book Albert’s tour in advance. It’s a little bit weird because those who booked in advance end up on the exact same boat as those who booked last minute like me. If you book in advance, the cost is $80 and includes a bbq lunch. If you book last minute the cost is $50 and includes rum punch, fruit punch and water. You can buy the lunch for an additional $10.

You will first stop at a sandbar where you can swim and snorkel with both black tip reef sharks and stingrays. It’s very safe, so no worries about jumping in the water with them.

I will be inserting GoPro footage here once I get off the ship and get to faster Internet.

This was a band that greeted us on the Motu. They did the typical cracking a coconut and how to tie a sarong too. There was a beach bbq with chicken, rice, and fresh poke. Of course rum punch flowed freely.

The abandoned intercontinental on Moorea

The best videos I have of the day are on my GoPro but the ship internet isn’t able to download to my phone. I’ll get that updates once I get to a better internet connection.