Bucket List Item ✅

Close your eyes, picture French Polynesia, and what do you see?? Most people think of white sand pictures, crystal clear blue water, and overwater bungalows. Admittedly, staying in an overwater bungalow was never a huge goal of mine, BUT, when we decided to travel all the way to Moorea, I figured this was as good a time as any to splurge.

I researched, reading review after review of the best place to stay on Moorea. Let me say, no resort here is cheap. So, the price difference between resorts if really negligible once you are spending this much money on a hotel room, and I wanted to stay at the BEST one. I ended up choosing the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort & Spa, and could not have been happier. The Sofitel is similar in price and accommodation, but is very close to the ferry, and I was happy to be a little further away, personally. We moved out of our king bungalow, and into a King Panoramic Overwater Bungalow for 2 nights!!! There was a long dock built over the water, and the panoramic bungalows are located near the end so the view isn’t obscured by other bungalows. Our balcony area was also west facing, so we had an epic sunset view each night!

We spent our last two days in Moorea just hanging out at our incredible bungalow. We lounged on our deck, ate the rest of our snacks, enjoyed our free mini bar drinks, and swam and snorkeled all over the lagoon. The beauty of Moorea is not only the stunning waters, but that the island is surrounded by a shallow reef system everywhere. I’m sure that there is beauty to be had in the deeper waters past the reef, but honestly, I never felt that I was missing anything when we snorkeled here. In the Hilton’s lagoon, you swim and snorkel all throughout and around the overwater bungalows. There were so many species of fish within even just a few feet of our bungalow. We saw triggerfish, butterflyfish, a puffer fish, wrasse, flat fish, damselfish, rainbow parrotfish, starfish, and many more! There were also parts of the coral that were colorful, and I saw quite a bit of purple coral, which was a nice change from the brown coral that we are unfortunately accustomed to seeing when we have snorkeled in different places. This was some of the absolute best snorkeling we have done in a long time, probably right up there with the snorkeling we did in Fiji way back when.

Of course, we also took the time to watch the sunset each night from our dock. I never get tired of watching a beautiful sunset.

We also had a small light underneath of the bungalow that we could turn on at night, and watch the fish swimming through the glass in the floor of our bungalow. Chris may have fallen asleep watching for sharks one night. . . .

We went for a nice dinner at a French restaurant on our last night in Moorea. Rudy’s offers a free shuttle ride to a from the restaurant, and we split the best beef/steak of the trip at this restaurant. It was a pretty small spot, but had great reviews online, and as far as Moorea food goes, it was pretty good. Apparently they are most known for their stuffed parrotfish, which several people in the restaurant with us were enjoying that night.

After spending the last day at the resort, soaking up the last of the Moorea sunshine, it was time to head back home. What a beautiful gift that we were able to spend a week reconnecting and just enjoying each other, traveling, and the beauty of our world.

See you later, Moorea.

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