Author: amyewhitelivecom

Here are a couple of pictures I pulled off the internet that show the resort from above so you can get a better feel for the layout.  There was a long wooden walkway from the beach out to the OWB\’s.  Our OWB was the 6th from the very top right end.   You can kind of make out a larger circular hut in the middle about 6 huts from the beach.  That was the Crepe Restaurant — it was only open for dinner.

And here is an even higher view of the Hilton.  There is a bay on either side of the Hilton and you can see the reef that circles the island.  That reef keeps the current to a minimum so the water is super clear.

I woke up around 6 am so I went out to see the sunrise.

I was sitting out on the deck so I wouldn\’t wake the guys when I saw this guy fly by in the water.

I ran in and woke up Don because we might have a thing for Spotted Eagle Rays.  It\’s a sign of good things to come.

He stayed near our OWB for about 10 minutes feeding and circling, feeding and circling.  It was quite a beautiful sight.

A morning look towards the main hotel.

The hotel has kayaks and StandUpPaddleboards (SUPs) that are free to use.  Quinn was quite a natural on the SUP.   Quinn quoted his TKD master \”if you\’re good at taekwondo then you are good at everything\”.

Don had a little bit of a harder time staying upright but he got the hang of it.  Me, I photographed.

They said it was pretty exhausting to stand and paddle so they took some seated breaks.

A look at our OWB from the water.

There is a planted Coral Garden under the bungalow under the glass window in the floor.   It looks like there are many generations of fish on this coral head.

Quinn coming under the \”bridge\”.

It looks like he\’s catching a wave. 

We broke our family rule of never feeding wildlife!  We broke this rule over and over in Moorea.

One upstairs and one downstairs.

 Saturday was a busy day for us.  We decided to book a Discover Scuba dive with Quinn.  We booked it early in the week in case we wanted to go again.  Quinn with his instructor Phillipe.

I love the fish photobomb!

I was there too!

We were happy to have another dive in the books, but the scuba was just not very interesting so that was our only scuba of the week. 

A 7 second timelapse of the sunset.  None of the sunsets were very dramatic but I guarantee there are many more sunset photos to come. 

On Saturday night the Hilton does their Polynesian Night (Luau).  The food was really, really god but the actual performance was awkward and not so great.

Until they started the fire show on the beach.  This was one of Quinn\’s highlights.

We got back to our room and looked out to see all the stars and the Milky Way!  Unfortunately I did not bring a tripod so this was my best attempt at capturing it.

And Quinn has officially claimed that Moorea is better than St. John.  Don described it best by saying it\’s the best of St. John and Hawaii.  We were definitely falling in love with this little pacific island.

We were looking for a new adventure for our vacation this year.  Something relaxing but a different culture and experience.  A friend told me about her trip to Bora Bora and Moorea and that it was an 8 hour direct flight from LAX.  After a little research, it seemed just right. 

It\’s an overnight flight leaving LAX around midnight and arriving in Tahiti at 5 am. 

We were lucky to score a row with 4 seats for the three of us so Quinn was able to stretch out between us.  We all got a decent sleep.  We arrived in the dark.    It was very reminiscent of flying in to St. Thomas. 

We were able to breeze through customs, grab our luggage, catch a taxi to the ferry terminal and were on a 6:05 am ferry headed to Moorea.  It was about a 30 minute ferry ride at sunset with a full moon. 

That\’s the island we are headed for. 

It was a bit windy. 

Once on Moorea we caught a taxi to our hotel and arrived around 7 am.  The hotel puts a small continental breakfast for all the early arrivals and provides for towels and things to get us started. 

A dip in the pool 

We had a swim in the pool and a swim in the ocean and then chilled in the shade. 

There is glass on top of the coffee table that sits on top of a glass window so you can see below.   And of course Quinn\’s green blankie came with him. 

A look out to our upper deck that had 2 lounge chairs and a table and 2 chairs.  We had a great view towards the mountains and harbor. 

The hotel brought us a welcome gift of a small bottle of champagne and some macaroons. 

Every day I was down on that lower deck around 5 pm to check out the sunset. 

It wasn\’t super dramatic but a peaceful descent. 

There are several lights under the bungalow so you could even look in the water at night. 

The room had a king size bed and a couch that converted into a bed.  It was a good size for our family of 3.  We crashed hard and slept really well. 

This is going to be a good week!

Summer just started and we are having fun!

Quinn took a week of ID Tech Camp at CLU and he loved it so much that he asked me to sign him up for another week.  He will take that week in August with his buddy Elias.

This week of camp he built his own laptop PiTop computer and learned how to code it.  And he got to bring his new computer home.

His laptop connected to a robot.   The goal was to make the eyes light up.

After camp on Friday we went to Sub Zero to get some nitrogen frozen ice cream and Quinn also got some Dragon\’s Breath

These two cuties having fun!

He said \”well, there goes my Saturday night plans\”.  This kid is so funny!!

We were invited to a birthday beach party for one of Quinn\’s friends.  The lifeguard told us that it was the first day in weeks where the beach wasn\’t socked in with June Gloom.

There were about 15 boys out there pushing their limits in the ocean and they were in the ocean 95% of the day.

A lifeguard was standing on the beach most of the day keeping their eyes on this crew.  They called them in a couple of times to talk to them about the rip tide and telling them how far they could go out. 

Luke, the birthday boy asked for a beach day with his friends and donuts!  What a spectacular day.