Our experiences on Rarotonga and Moorea

When we were looking for a place to get married we searched usenet and
it was pretty helpful, so I thought I'd add our experience to the
collection for others.

We had already been to Rarotonga once before and loved it, so we
decided to get married there. For the honeymoon we wanted to try
something new and since neither of us had been to Tahiti, we chose
Moorea.

We stayed on the south end of Rarotonga, which in our opinion has the
best snorkeling. This does put it the farthest away from town, but as
since we both live to be in the water, we felt that a 15 minute car or
public bus ride was worth it.

Next we needed a place to stay and someone to help us setup a wedding
on the island! We found both in Takitumu Villas in the village of
Titikaveka. Our wedding coordinator from Takitumu was the sweetest
woman named Rongo.

When we decided on an island wedding we were both nervous that it
would wind up feeling like a show put on for tourists. We wanted
something simple, yet special in a beautiful setting. Boy did we get
it!

We found the perfect little patch of beach by the villas. Rongo, who
we'd become quite attached to, played authentic string music with her
brother while our celebrant (the head mistress of the local school)
performed the ceremony. The photographer then took some beautiful
pictures on the beach and grounds of the villas.

For us, it was just...perfect. The lead up to the day was relaxing and
both families had the chance to enjoy each other's company and reflect
on the experience. The snorkeling off the south end was very good. The
best is about 3 or 4 houses down across from Fruits of Rarotonga. We
saw a good variety of fish here and an octopus (which was a first for
me).

After that it was off to Moorea.

Just to get it out of the way, Moorea is expensive! Not just a little
expensive, very expensive. For something special like a honeymoon, I
think it's worth it. We probably could have done it a little cheaper,
but not by much.

Take the ferry to get there. It's only a 30 minute ride and it's
cheaper. Plus you can watch French versions of bad US sitcoms from the
mid 90's.

We stayed at the Sheraton in an over water bungalow, which I had some
ecological reservations about, but we did it anyway. Judging by the
amazing state of the coral we found nearby, I don't think it's had a
huge impact. That said I'm not a biologist and I'd hate to see the
island any more developed.

The over waters are niiiice. We spent much of the trip out on the
little decks that each room has leading down to the water. The insides
were nicely done including a little window in the floor looking down
to the lagoon below so you could watch the needle fish swim around.

While many people didn't seem to care, there wasn't much snorkeling
near shore. It's mostly just sand and a few sparse coral heads.
However, out a few hundred yards is some of the thickest coral I've
ever come across. Gorgeous stuff. After 6 days we had a pretty good
route down that never disappointed. We almost always saw large
stingrays and on three occasions reef sharks! Don't let that scare
you, they weren't interested in snorklers even after I cut my finger
playing with a floating coconut!

The only really touristy thing we did was go to one of the ray
feedings. It's kind of a circus but entertaining, if only to watch the
reactions of the people. We did see an anemone and some clownfish in
that area which was really cool! We actually went back just for the
clownfish when our first pictures didn't turn out. We made sure to
fake an "ooh they're soooo soft" for our ray handlers the second time
around.

On the way to the ray feedings you pass by the Beachcomber. From the
boat it didn't look like the snorkeling would be as good. It seemed
quite a bit deeper and sandier. Apparently they have some sort of
dolphin show. We only saw Sofitel from a lookout point on the road, so
I don't know much about it. The beach there is supposed to be pretty
good, but I wonder how good the fish would be.

I didn't find the food at the Sheraton be all that great for the price
although I had a duck dish that was pretty good. The $18.50 cheese
burger I had wasn't anything to write home about (other than the
price). The Te Honu Iti restaurant was pretty good as was the Le
Bateaux (yes, on a boat).

My wife (first time I've written that!) thought the spa was pretty
nice. The people were nice, although in my opinion, nobody beats the
people of Raro when it comes to kindness.

So there you go. Something of a ramble, but perhaps someone will find
it useful. Our page for the trip can be found he

http://homepage.mac.com/olive

Thanks for your trip report, sounds like you had a GREAT time!

--
_Deirdre http://deirdre.net
"Dogs may have kept us company on the hunt, but it was the cats who
insisted we invent houses and discover fire." -- Khiem Tran