It took less than two hours for the cruise ship to sail from Pape’ete to Mo’orea, accomplished as we slept. Here’s a view of Mo’orea as we approached on the morning of October 12:

We dropped anchor in Opunohu Bay and were ferried ashore to the village of Papetoai. Cooks Bay is the next bay to the east, home to Pao Pao, the largest settlement on the island. Most cruise ships anchor in Cooks Bay.

Because our ship was only going to be anchored at Mo’orea for ten hours, we decided to book a tour through the cruise line to ensure we made it back onboard in time.

We were met at the dock in Papetoai by our guide for the “Mo’orea by 4WD” tour. The tour was not what we expected, the 4-Wheel-Drive part being, shall we say, a bit of an exaggeration.

Our first stop was a tropical garden and snack bar at the top of a hill overlooking Opunohu Bay, our ship in the background:

It was interesting to see the more lucrative and popular crops, vanilla beans (top left, below) and Soursop (top right). The Soursop is eaten raw and has a rather odd taste, reminiscent of pineapple, and a strange, slimy texture. Kind of like a fruit-oyster.

Our next stops were at a river to see freshwater eels (bottom left, above) and a pineapple plantation (bottom right). You can see the pineapple fields behind Dale and our guide in the photos, above and below.

After the pineapple plantation, we just drove around on some dirt roads in the hills before being dropped off at a jewelry store specializing in black pearls and apparently associated with the tour company.

Dale and I opted to walk across the road to the beach, rather than join the rest of the group in the pearl shop. We waded out into the water. It was delightful, somewhere are 80° F, just like Miami.

And thus ended the tour. Back on board, we admired this beautiful anchorage from our balcony:

If I visit French Polynesia again, I’ll skip Tahiti and spend my time on Mo’orea. Tahiti, the commercial center and capital of the islands, is more congested and urbanized. In retrospect, we should have rented a car in Mo’orea or spent our time there underwater.

There’s no question that Mo’orea is the more scenic of the two islands, which is undoubtedly why the 1984 movie, The Bounty, starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, was mostly filmed in Opunohu Bay.

Here’s a photo of the bay as we pulled anchor:

And again as we left the bay while the sun slowly sank below the horizon:

I can see why Fletcher Christian decided to stay.