The Love Shack, Baybee

The Love Shack is a little old place
where we can get together
Love Shack bay-bee! Love Shack baby!
Love Shack, that's where it's at!
Huggin' and a kissin', dancin' and a lovin',
wearin' next to nothing
Cause it's hot as an oven

- B-52's

It was an 8-hour overnight flight from LAX to Papeete (pah-pey-eat-tay), Tahiti so we were pretty exhausted by the time we made it through the slow and sweaty customs line-up. Thank goodness for the two hot meals they served us on the flight. (Yes, I did say TWO HOT MEALS. And they were served with silverware, albeit plastic, just like in the olden days!) Our travel agent must’ve wanted to get us used to the concept of “island time” early on when he decided to have us cool our heels in Papeete airport for 3 hours before we jumped on our connecting flight to Moorea. We used the time to get lei’d (always wanted to say that) and make our first acquaintances with the tropical island heat and several friendly and hungry mosquitoes.



Within minutes of clambering into the tail end seats of an outbound Air Moorea plane, we were treated to breathtaking views of the island of Moorea and the band of aqua blue lagoons that surrounds her.



The plane bounced to a stop, we hopped out, met the fellow who was sent to bring us to the hotel, grabbed up our bags, and hit the road.

You know how travel brochures make everything look so unbelievably fantastic, and then when you get there the reality is something else entirely? Well, the same was true for the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort and Spa. Only this time the reality was EVEN BETTER. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the diesel fumes or early sunstroke but wow, what a place! From the balcony of hotel lobby we could see the blue lagoon, the overwater bungalows, and a handful of requisite coconut palms swaying lazily in the breeze. A smattering of well-oiled guests lay stretched out on lounges under palm palapas on the white sand beach while others splashed about or snorkelled in the crystal clear waters just of shore. Paradise found!



And it didn’t end there. We stepped into our overwater bungalow, with its charming thatched roof to find a luxury hotel suite.



Off the back were two decks – an upper deck complete with loungers facing toward the sunset, and a lower deck with a fresh water shower situated handily just in front of steps leading down to the lagoon.



At high tide, it’s only about 4 feet deep.











Even still, it is full of coral heads teeming with all sorts of colourful coral, tropical fish, and graceful sting rays.



Within minutes, we’d dumped our luggage, slipped into our suits, grabbed up our snorkelling gear, and found a palapa on the beach. Although there are plenty of shells, coral, and lots of fish here, the Crown of Thorns starfish has already left a legacy of dead coral. Next to global warming, these creatures are the greatest threat to coral reefs. It’s odd that the local habitat preservation people haven’t put a bounty on the invasive starfish. We saw several. It won’t take them long to completely destroy this beautiful lagoon.






We finished off the day at the crepe and bar palapa located at the junction of the overwater bungalow walkways. The sun had set promptly at 6:15, so it was dark by the time we sat down.



Within minutes, we noticed several dark shapes gliding lazily through the lit waters below the bungalow gangways. Sharks! Some at least 5 feet long! Apparently the local black-tipped reef sharks have a nightly habit of coming in from wherever they spend the day to mooch for handouts below the crepe bar! The sharks are supposedly harmless but we both felt a little uneasy about snorkelling in those same waters just hours before (and in the days after!) seeing them.

Here is the panoramic view from our bungalow, taken just after sunrise the morning after our arrival.





Seriously, this place should be on everyone's bucket list!