Stingray Cuddling

Te’Mae Beach

We wake up, hop into our bathing suits and head to Temae Beach. This beach has no facilities and is located beside one the overwater bungalows of the Sofitel Hotel. There is hardly anyone here this time of the morning.

The beach is a mix of white sand and crushed coral (which is hard to walk on in bare feet).

It doesn’t take long for me to be in the water and snorkeling. The variety of fish here is great.

A lady snorkeling with me has a bucket of dead fish to attract the fish. Besides fish, a number of rays also come. So exciting.

In my excitement, I accidentally scrape my thigh on coral. Oh oh…I”ll get antibiotic cream on that once we get back to our Airbnb. Years ago I developed a bad infection from a scrape with coral in Hawaii. Thank goodness for my travel medical kit.

As I start going into shore, so does the lady…and she is followed by a ray. We are both sitting in the water at the edge of the shore and the ray is swimming between us. John, her husband and her nieces join us. The ray deliberately brushes against us and ends up letting us pet him/her. So very cool.

It turns out that the family is from Germany and we end up chatting for quite awhile.

Pineapple Route

We head back to our Airbnb for breakfast then out to the Pineapple Route. It turns out that the car rental companies do not allow their cars on this unpaved, rutted route so we park the car and walk part of the route and explore some of the pineapple fields.

Snack Mahana

Our next stop is Snack Mahana for lunch. By the name, you wouldn’t expect much but everyone says this is the place to go for local food.

OMG. Some of the best fish I have ever tasted . So fresh. And I can see the guy breaking open the coconuts to make the coconut sauce for the meal.

And if the food isn’t enough of a draw, the location right on the water is beautiful. We are fortunate enough to grab a corner table at the water’s edge just as some ladies are leaving. Looking over the edge we can see all kinds of fish including a striped type of fish, convict tang, triggerfish, small sharks, a trumpet fish and even a stingray…all from my dining chair. They all congregate when I “accidently” drop fries into the water. I am in ecstacy.

Tiahura Beach

We continue on to check out Tiahura Beach. It’s a beautiful but narrow white sand beach set on park land. We see some fish but closer to shore the snorkeling isn’t that great.

Les Tipaniers Beach

Next stop is Les Tipaniers Beach. We don’t go swimming, we just check it out for tomorrow. It’s a pretty beach and you can rent kayaks and paddleboards. They are not cheap but it’s not like we are in Moorea every day.

On the way back we check out a small black sand beach in Opunohu Bay.

Evening Under the Stars

We are still stuffed from lunch (portion sizes are huge here) so we grab some light snacks and once back at the Airbnb pour a glass of wine, sit on our deck and watch the sunset. Later in the night we put out a towel and lie down looking up at the amazing display of stars.