There's no place like... TAHITI!

Wow, it's hard to believe our honeymoon was already more than two months ago.
It was really fantastic, and we thought we'd share it with you...

We spent an amazing week in Moorea, Tahiti (August 6th-August 15th). It truly is the most beautiful place we've ever seen - lush mountains, crystal-clear water and beautiful beaches. We stayed at the Moorea Pearl Resort and Spa, where we had our own overwater bungalow. (Is it time to go back yet?)

We left L.A. on Monday the 6th and flew to the main island of Tahiti.

Here's a picture of us at the airport...
"Just Married" (notice the shirt)... and off on our honeymoon!

all that luggage...

Ready for takeoff!

We're here! One last look at our plane as we walk into the airport...

Once the plane landed and we went through customs, we took a van to the ferry dock
and took a catamaran ferry to the island of Moorea (the ride was just a bit windy!)

Welcome drinks at the hotel!

Our first meal in paradise... (all the food was French style - after all,
it is French Polynesia - they had great french fries, but we didn't have any french toast...)

our incredible overwater bungalow

Check out our room! It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but under the
coffee table is a glass panel that overlooks the coral in the water... so cool!

Lauren's pajama bottoms :)

Lauren's favorite dessert! Roasted papayas with caramelized bananas. yum

On our third day there, we took a safari tour all over the island. We got to see
the beautiful bays and drive inland to the lush jungles. We took the tour in an
open back pickup truck so we could stand up and take pictures while on the go.
Visiting the pineapple farm... (who knew pineapples grow in the ground?)

Fresh fruit cut by our tour guide!

yum!

Brian the Explorer

In the jungle, the mighty jungle... You wouldn't believe how many mosquitos
were in there (we totally forgot to use the mosquito spray we brought!)

kissy


Overlooking beautiful Cook's Bay...

We stopped for fresh fruit gelato!

Back at the hotel, we went kayaking...

Check out how blue the water is. (That's our resort in the background!)



Snorkeling (gotta love that underwater camera)

Check out this breathtaking view from our balcony!

Brian fetched this coconut out of the ocean and tried to break it open...
then it smelled so awful we threw it back!

Lauren's "Mrs. West" bikini...

A self portrait by Brian...

nerds :) (If it's a little hard to read, our sandals say "Just Married" on the bottom.)

A shot in front of the resort...

The boardwalk path to the bungalows...

We thought it would be really fun to go swimming with the dolphins, so we made plans to go to one of the other hotels on the island and do just that. After learning a little bit about the dolphins, we got to go in the water with them, touch them, watch them swim underwater and do flips in the air, and even give them a kiss (see below)! It was a really unique, amazing experience.

Lauren's new boyfriend ;-)

Back at the hotel... now this is paradise!
(our infinity pool that overlooked the ocean with a small strip of sand between)

so happy :)

We spent some time in the sun... can you tell?

Lauren relaxing out by the pool... (It's a little hard to see in this picture, but those are dark storm clouds out in the distance--but it was beautiful and sunny right over our hotel! In fact, we had really great weather the whole time we were there... it was warm but not too hot and not too humid, and it only rained for one afternoon the whole week.)

relaxing...

And now for our most unique experience while in Moorea... we did an underwater helmet walk!
It was really cool--they gave us weighted helmets that were connected to oxygen tanks
back on a boat, so when we went down into the water we could walk on the surface of the ocean!
We started out in 8' deep water and went into ~15' deep water. The fish swam right up to us
and the sting rays even brushed up on us (we were told they're very safe and friendly - they felt very slimy). It's hard to even describe the experience... if you ever make it out to Moorea, give it a try!

They brought down a special underwater digital camera (and videocamera) for these great pics.

There's the sting ray swimming by us...

With the Polynesian dancers after the show back at our resort...

newlyweds :)


By the end of the week, we were a little burned... but there's no way we were going to stay inside!


For the last night of the trip, we upgraded to a "premium" room that overlooked the
deeper part of the ocean. We celebrated by jumping off our balcony. Here's Lauren's jump...

And Brian's canon-ball!


finally! :)

6am sunrise over Moorea


so sad to leave paradise...

...but what an AMAZING honeymoon!!! Here's one last shot of us on the plane for the trip home...


We hope you enjoyed sharing our honeymoon memories with us. Truly a trip to remember forever!