Arrival in French Polynesia: First Stop Moorea!

Our overnight flight to Tahiti was better than we expected.  It was a huge plane and we were surprised to have such great service including food, (free) wine, movies, and Mike's favorite, video games!! We arrived on the main island, Tahiti, in the city of Papeete at around 4:30 am on Monday morning.  We immediately boarded a small plane and headed to Moorea.

Our flight to Moorea only took 7 minutes!  We had great view of the beautiful jagged rocky island as we were landing.  Moorea was so beautiful!

Our beachside bungalow

View from the front!

This is where I spent my free time!

On our 2nd day, we rented a "bugster" and traveled all around the island.

We went to the scenic Belvedere Lookout point, with a great view of both bays with the mountain jutting out between them!

We stopped at a agricultural center, Lychee Agricol, where we were able to get fresh pineapple juice and sorbet! Yummy!

We spent the rest of the day driving around the island, and pearl shopping.  We got my beautiful black pearl that afternoon!  

At our resort, there was a Dolphin Center, and our Beach Bungalow had a great view of the dolphins swimming and jumping.  

Honeymoon!

On the way to our last dinner in Moorea...showing off my new black pearl necklace!

The Mayflower, our favorite restaurant on Moorea!

NEXT STOP: Bora Bora

Honeymoon Part One: Santa Barbara, CA

On April 17th, Mike and I took off for a two week adventure...our very much awaited honeymoon.  We had a blast, and took over 300 pictures.  I will try to post just a few of the best pics to give you a glimpse of the fun we had.  

Our vacation started out with a flight from Detroit to LA.  We rented a convertible (mike's idea of course) and headed up Highway 1 to Santa Barbara.  On the way up we stopped in Ventura for lunch at a local brewery and our first of many local California beers.  After checking into the hotel, our first stop was the beach!

When we arrived we rented a "deuce coupe" to bike along the Santa Barbara coast...so much fun!  We almost drove off the trail a few times, but it was hilarious!  We also had a great time exploring the shopping (maybe me more than mike) in downtown SB. 

Dinner our first night in SB

A beautiful look out point on the way to wine tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley. 

Bridlewood, the 2nd of the 3 vineyards we visited on my birthday.  

CHEERS!

More beautiful Bridlewood Estate Winery.

We went to three beautiful vineyards, Roblar, Bridlewood and Buttonwood....with Bridlewood being our favorite. 

Celebrating my 28th Birthday at "Seagrass," an amazing Santa Barbara restaurant.

The next day we had a fabulous sushi lunch, and headed back down highway 1 to LA to leave for Tahiti.  Our flight didn't leave until 11:30 pm sunday night, so we took our time exploring as we traveled back to LA....all in all a wonderful way to start our belated honeymoon!

UP NEXT:  Arrival in French Polynesia,  Moorea