Noordam in Moorea

Bahia d’ Opunoha or Opunohu Bay is where cruise ships often anchor when visiting Moorea in the Society Islands of French Polynesia. Passengers tender to a pier near the small remote town of Papetoai. There isn’t much near the pier so a tour or taxi is required to leave the area. Some ships may still Anchor near Cooks Bay and tender to a dock there. That used to be the main port, but now most ships go to Opunohu Bay, which is where Holland America Noordam went on our cruise across the Pacific Ocean. There is not much public transportation on the island.

inside the U of the tender pier

The tenders dock on one long side of the outside of a U-shaped pier. Excursion boats dock inside of the U part. The outside of the short end and the other long side are up against land. At our visit next to the tender dock there were 2 areas with local crafts for sale, a restroom, and locals near where people exit the tender offering last-minute water-based tours. More locals farther back near the taxi stand offered land-based last-minute tours.

last minute water tours at the pier

The internet said there may be rentals of scooters and bicycles near the tender dock as well as shuttles to beaches or a pearl factory. I did not see any of those things, but since I went straight from the tender to a snorkel boat on the other side of the dock when we got there, and then from the snorkel boat into a very long line for the tender when we got back I barely looked around the port area so there could have easily been things there that I did not see.

craft booth at the pier

There are ferries between Moorea and Tahiti, but there is not a ferry dock near the Opunohu Bay cruise port on Moorea. (There are ferries near the cruise dock in Papeete, Tahiti). Moorea is a volcanic island just under 52 square miles in the Windward Islands group. The highest point of the island is Mont Tohive’a at 3960 ft (1207m). Money is the pacific franc, which is tied into the euro with the exchange rate always set at 1 euro per 119.33 F. American dollars (but not coins) are generally accepted, but not necessarily at a favorable exchange rate. Most places will take credit cards.

map of Moorea

The island is the remains of half a volcano with 8 peaks and two symmetrical translucent bays, Cook’s (Paopao) and Opunohu. The name means yellow lizard in Tahitian. From overhead the island appears roughly as the shape of a heart and is one of the top honeymoon destinations near Tahiti. Popular activities in the lagoons include snorkeling, diving, feeding rays, and jet skiing. Whale watching tours and swimming with dolphins in a natural reserve at the island’s dolphin center are popular activities. Other activities include helmet diving, sky diving, hiking, or a visit to Tikiparq zipline and obstacle course or the island’s Tiki Village for a traditional feast and Polynesian dance show. Many of those activities were not offered through the ship or at the port so people would have to book them through outside sources and make sure they had transportation to get there and back. When booking through outside sources it’s necessary to insure you have enough time to meet your transport, get to the destination, do the activity, and return to the ship within the time the ship is in port. Outside bookings often want people to take the first tender to shore, but that first tender doesn’t have room for everyone and people on ship’s excursions may have priority on the tender over those who don’t.

land tours at the tender pier

There’s not much to see or do at the port itself so if you want to see anything besides the few craft booths there booking something is the way to go whether that is through the ship, through an outside source, or with the locals offering last minute tours at the port.

excursion boats in Moorea

Cruise ship excursions offered at this port from our ship were a Motu beach picnic with ray feeding, a photography expedition tour of the island, dolphin watching, a catamaran sail and snorkel, a bus tour around the island with a stop at a panoramic lookout, a 4-wheel drive tour to the interior of the island, and a snorkel safari.

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