Day 6

Today I got my own moped.

I was a little nervous. Daren was a little more nervous and the rental guy was down right scared. I had to do several laps around the hotel parking lot until we were all comfortable enough to put me out on the road. There is one main road that runs all the way around Moorea ( which by the way means Yellow Lizard). So as long as you stay on that road you won't get lost, and stay on it we did.

The island is freaking amazing! It is so picturesque and beautiful I can't find the words to do it justice. I feel like I am on a giant movie set because everything seems way to perfect to be real. This is also the day my digital camera died. So all pictures from here on out were taken on a high tech blue disposable camera.

The island takes a good hour to ride around without any stops. It took us a solid two hours stopping at a snack shack to buy a coke, getting ice cream cones at a local shopping center and perusing several black peal stores.

For lunch we returned to Colo d'isle, the place of the pizza eating bet at dinner the night before. We split a pizza this time. My half was pizza margarita and Daren's half was "Spanish" claiming it came with pepperoni, onions, and capers. What it was really topped with were lots and lots of green peppers! The menu also boasted some sort of vegetable that they translated as "plugs" and for the life of me I have no idea what that is. HA!

After lunch we hopped back on our red mopeds with black seats. This resulted in a scalded inner thigh for me and some scaled unmentionables for my husband. Once we both stopped yelping like surprised puppies we headed to the gas station and to the black pearl shop.

I had been doing really well and was pretty comfortable with my starts and stops on my moped by this time. We even ran into the rental guy at the gas station and assured him that we were both doing great. Then three minutes later we pull into the parking lot of Moorea Black Pearls and I hop off. I hop off without turning the darn thing off and without taking my hands off of the gas! It was a comical and chaotic few moments. Daren especially liked it when while running along side of my speeding moped I hollered back at him "I got it! I got it!" Which was followed by him laughing out loud and saying "Oh you do?!"

It was such a fun way to experience the island and get to see how the islanders really live. I would also like to point out that Daren Benson has the bravest wife on the island. Of all of the couples out renting and riding mopeds we were the only ones with two. I, Sarah Benson, am brave.

Day 5

Not a cloud in the sky.
An early morning swim in the lagoon before 8:00am.

A quick workout in the hotel gym.

Two half cooked omelette's for breakfast.

And a spot in a lounge chair on the beach.

For dinner we went to Coco d'isle, a sand floored local favorite. Daren had a very tasty dish of tuna, curry and banana served in a coconut with rice. I had a fantastic pizza margarita and for $31.00 I ate the last piece in one bite.

Many of the places on the island Will arrange transportation to and from their business since taxi's are ridiculously expensive. On the way to the restaurant we took a regular shuttle cab. On the way back the Chef drove us in his van because their weren't any cabs in sight! Daren and I say in two white plastic chairs of this entirely empty white work van facing the sliding door that was secured open by a bungee! HA! It was pretty funny and we made it back safely.

Day 4- WE SWAM WITH SHARKS

WE SWAM WITH SHARKS! WE SWAM WITH FREAKING SHARKS!

This morning the sun came bursting into our room around 5:30 or 6:00. It was beautiful and I got to see my one and only Tahitian sunrise. I curled in and headed back to sleep because I knew I needed my rest. Today we we're going on the Lagoon Tours.

We grabbed a quick breakfast and I poured most of the pot of coffee onto the table, by accident, and we ran to meet out Albert Tours bus. It took us to hotel Bali Hai, yes that Bali Hai from the movie South Pacific. We boarded our boat with 43 other people and a tour guide named Siki who spoke French, English, Spanish and enough Japanese to talk to those couples as well.

We were the last couple on the boat ( totally my fault) so we ended up sitting in the back row on opposite sides of the aisle. Daren sat next to a very quite Japanese couple who were well covered in hats and sunscreen. I sat next to two classic America couples. The men here huge and arrogant and took up at least twice the space. Their jokes were bad and nonstop with fake accents and they spoke to the locals like they were deaf and stupid. Needless to say I was not a huge fan. Daren actually reached across the aisle and asked the biggest one to scoot over since he was sitting on all of my stuff and taking up so much of the bench I was falling off. HA!

Then the boat stopped ending my internal monologue of irritation. The anchor was dropped and Siki stood up and lowered the stairs into the water. They strung a long rope out and to us to jump in and hang on so that the current wouldn't sweep us away.

Daren was the first one in ( so brave) and I was the third ( so scared). One look under the water with my snorkel mask and it was official. We were swimming with sharks! Lots of sharks! I was so scared I almost turned back to the boat but Daren coached me along and when I was close enough grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. I held onto his hand for dear life! As if a rope and Daren's hand could save me from an irritated shark.

They were black tipped reef sharks and they ranged in size from about 4 ft to 7 ft. Our guides baited then with huge steaks and they swam all around us. There were 45 sharks sharing the water with us today. It was so awesome and scary! That was Daren's favorite part of the day.

We all climbed back into the boat and headed to our next stop. When the boat stopped and the anchor was dropped we could still see several sharks in the water, but of course we are all such pros we weren't event scared. Again, Daren was one of the first off of the boat and into the swarm of sting rays! When is was my turn to get off of the boat there were bunches ( 3 or 4) of rays swimming right under the stairs. I asked them to please move along and finally stepped out of the boat and promptly swam the opposite directions of the sting rays.

There was lots of shrieking and laughing and me holding onto Daren for dear life again. The tour guides would hold food in the mouth of the rays and bring them right up on you. Literally on you. The rays flap their wings like they are flying and they will glide up onto you and flap your shoulders. They feel like rubber and are incredibly docile.

Once everyone calmed down it was incredible. The rays were my favorite part of the day. At one point I headed back to the boat to take some pictures and I was swarmed by rays from all directions. I was laughing and screaming and as I pulled my feet up underneath me I looked down and a shark swam right under my feet! I felt like some kind of tour hero. Man alive it was cool!

The tour then took us to another small island, a motu, for a fresh Mahi Mahi bbq, Tahitian rum, snorkeling and a coconut husking demonstration. The island is very rural and rustic. It was the first picnic we've ever been to where there are chickens, kittens, a dog named Tsunami, and sting rays playing all around. It was a very cool and unique experience.

Day 3- To Moorea!

We went on our first married run today. We ran around the property of our hotel until Daren spotted a gofer like thing and had to squelch the urge to scream like a girl and Sarah figured it was time for room service to shop up anyway. It was fun, easy and very humid.

We packed up our first room and headed downtown to take what they explained to us as the catamaran that will take us to Moorea. The boat is really a lot like the express ferry in Seattle. Daren and I grabbed a sandwich at the nearby snack shack place. I mumbled a bit of my newly learned french and the woman behind the counter winked at me.

We sat outside on the top deck and laughed at the fact that we chose to honeymoon in French Polynesia without either one of us speaking a real word of french!

The ferry ride was about 30 minutes and we were here! Again our arrival was trumpeted by a torrential south pacific downpour. And again, I loved it.

Our hotel, The Intercontinental Beachcomber, was about a 15 minute van ride on Albert tours. We pulled up and were instantly impressed. Hanging in the lobby was a huge white sea shell chandelier that is surprisingly stunning. The porter took us to bungalow 503. Wow! It is literally breathtaking. Our balcony is out over the gin clear water and nestled into a stunning and lush alcove with 9 other bungalows. As I head into the room to check tings out Daren headed out onto the deck. He's not out there 3 minutes and he starts shouting for me. There is a baby octopus swimming past our deck!! It was searching inside rocks and coral and changing colors then to our left a dolphin jumped. Magical.

Our hotel has Dolphins Cove where you can pay to swim with them and they do all sorts of adorable tricks. Ahh...the puppies of the sea. We watched them show off for a group of schoolkids for a good half and hour and then walked over to the Sea Turtle Rehab facility on site. We hung out with Alec Baldwin, the sea turtle ( I named him that because the though of turtles in drug and alcohol rehab is really funny!) and then walked back to our dream Tahitian bungalow for a swim in the lagoon and a drink on the deck.

It should also be noted that I finally played by first game of scrabble tonight. The score was " Mr. D" 142 and " Champ" 102. Daren chose the scrabble name of my maiden name because our honeymoon arrangements are under both of our last names but everyone in Tahiti calls us Mr and Mrs D! Its hysterical.

A little way through our game the mountains behind us light up in a vibrant pink, We grabbed our wine and took off chasing the sunset. When we got to the other side of the bungalows the sky was like nothing we've ever seen. It was stunning, brilliant, shades of pink and orange. The pictures are amazing but are only a small taste of how wonderful and intense the experience was.

It is incredible here. So amazing that I was actually brought to tears ( not the sobbing kind just the one glistening tear kind) by the sheer beauty of Gods creations here in Moorea.

We also met Lil Nubbin today. The one footed bird that hangs out with us on our deck.

For dinner we took a taxi to a placed called Le Mayflower. The restaurant was an adorable throw back to days gone by. It kind of reminded me of the movie Casablanca with that type of old school romance. We ate decent food, shared a bottled of wine and dessert. I thought I ordered vanilla ice cream but its turned out to be vanilla creme brulee. What a pleasant surprise!

Day 2- Papeete

Papaeete is the capital of Tahiti and where we were determined to do more than sit on the beach and tan. So after a breakfast of fried eggs, bread and strange fruits we laid out and tanned. HA!

By lunchtime we were ready for adventure so we headed out, sweating all the way. Its been overcast and oh so humid so far. We ran to La Truck, which is their version of the city bus. Its a pick up cab with two long benches in the back boxed in with ply wood to keep it safe. :) It is red and cost 250 french Polynesian franks.

It was a 15 minute ride to the Marche and the center of downtown. In true America style, we found a big flashy pizza joint for lunch where we ate pizza and sampled the great local beer, Hanano. Over to our left was a group of loud and laughing Australians ( Daren says they were British and that will forever be up to debate). On stop at the currency exchange machine, a machine that is a lot like an ATM. You put in your money and out comes theirs. Then it was an ice cream cone and to the Marche.

The Marche is a big open air market where everything from fruit and fish to woven baskets and hats are sold. Daren's comment about the place was " I think I just found out where a lot of my Christmas presents came from."

Back to the hotel on La Truck and a few more hours at the infinity pool then to dinner at the hotels over water restaurant. I wore my yellow Jimmy Choo's that Daren gave me as part of my wedding present.

Tahiti Travel Journal- Day 1

While we all wait for more wedding pictures to go with the countless stories of our wedding here are the stories and memories from our Tahitian Honeymoon.

Day One

4:30 AM wake up call
5:00 AM ride to the airport
3 hour flight to LA
8 1/2 hour flight to Papeete, the capital of Tahiti

I was so tired from the wedding that I slept all the way to LA and half of the way to Tahiti. Daren read "The Tahitian Book" the entire way ( which made him a near expert on all things Tahitian :) )

We landed in our first south pacific rain storm. The rain here is warm and refreshing. Not at all like our cold and dreary rain.

We took a shuttle to our first hotel, the Intercontinental Tahiti. Our room was beautiful! Wood floors, wood everything with a bed with white linens sitting angled in the corner. The sliding glass doors with white curtains opened up onto a small grassy knoll that lead straight to the crystal clear infinity pool with white sand.

There was lightning flashing out over the ocean as we sat on our porch and toasted to our first 24 hours married and the first night of our Tahitian Honeymoon.

My Wedding

Wow.

My Wedding.

My real life wedding actually happened.

I went on a dream honeymoon.

A honeymoon in French Polynesia for 1o full days.

A honeymoon in Tahiti with my brand new amazing husband.

This is surreal.

Its beautiful and amazing and I'm still not sure it really happened.

Right now I sit in OUR home.

My dream wedding to the man I've been waiting for really really happened.

My wedding in my words.
Emotional.

Big.

Fun.
Spiritual.

Fun.

Like magic.

Musical.

A living dream.

Beyond my wildest dreams.

Simply amazing.

Right now in OUR home I can still hardly believe it. Granted I am fresh off of a 19 hour international travel day beginning at 5 o'clock Tahiti time last night.

I am married.

I am married to Daren.
Finally.