Our Day in Moorea: A Motu, an Abandoned Resort & One Very Lucky Turtle Sighting
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Time to read 3 min
Moorea was the second port of our April 2026 transpacific cruise, after spending the previous day in Papeete.
And from the moment we arrived, it wasn't particularly difficult to see why people rave about it.
Mountains rise dramatically behind impossibly blue water, the coastline is covered in lush greenery and even the tender ride from the ship gives you some pretty spectacular views.
But Moorea being a tender port also played a big part in how I planned our day.
Why We Chose a Carnival Shore Excursion
We don't book cruise-line shore excursions very often.
Travelling as a family of three means the cost adds up quickly, and I'm generally quite happy organising our days independently where it's practical.
Moorea was one of the exceptions.
Because there's no cruise terminal large enough for the ship to dock alongside, passengers are transported ashore on smaller tender boats. On busy port days, that can mean waiting for your turn to leave the ship.
Booking our excursion through Carnival meant we had priority tendering associated with the tour, so we didn't have to worry about trying to get ourselves ashore in time to meet an independent operator.
It also gave me the extra reassurance that comes with a cruise-line excursion: if the tour was delayed returning, the ship knew exactly where we were.
For this particular port, I decided the convenience was worth paying a little extra for.
Our First Look at Moorea
We met the shore excursions team bright and early before making our way down to the tender.
The ride across wasn't particularly long, but it was certainly scenic.
Once ashore, we boarded a smaller boat that would eventually take us out to our Motu for the day.
But our guides weren't in any hurry to get us straight there.
Instead, we had a short tour of the surrounding lagoon while they told us about Moorea, pointed out places along the coastline and entertained us with island songs along the way.
It was a pretty good commute.
The Abandoned InterContinental and Moorea's Dolphins
One of the more unusual sights along the way was the former InterContinental Moorea Resort.
The resort closed in 2020 and, viewed from the water, much of the sprawling property appeared abandoned. Empty overwater bungalows and resort buildings were still clearly visible.
It's an odd sight amongst such beautiful surroundings.
The former resort was also home to the Moorea Dolphin Center.
When we visited in April 2026, two bottlenose dolphins, Hina and Kuokoa, remained at the site. The Dolphin Center had ended its public presentations and interactive programs at the end of 2025, with the site transitioning to a marine sanctuary managed by the non-profit Moana Ora.
Sadly, since our visit, Hina died on 5 August 2026 at the age of 48. Kuokoa, who is 32, is now the sanctuary's remaining dolphin and continues to be cared for by the Moana Ora team. The organisation no longer offers swimming or direct public interaction with the dolphin, instead focusing on his care along with marine conservation, research and education.
It added a slightly unexpected side to our otherwise very tropical island excursion.
A Few Hours on the Motu
From there we continued to the Motu, which looked pretty much exactly how you'd hope a tiny French Polynesian island would look.
Clear blue water, palms, sand and plenty of places to swim.
We spent the next few hours swimming and snorkelling, watched a local cooking demonstration and enjoyed an island-style BBQ lunch.
There wasn't any great need to do much else.
After several days of cruising and sightseeing, spending a few hours swimming in ridiculously clear water was perfectly fine by us.
One Last Stop on the Way Back
Our guides had one more place they wanted to show us before returning to the port.
They took us through an area where green sea turtles are often spotted.
Obviously, wildlife doesn't operate according to shore excursion schedules, so there were no guarantees.
But we got lucky.
We spotted a green turtle in the water, which was a pretty special way to finish the afternoon.
Our guides also joked about how tasty turtles were, explaining that historically they had been eaten locally. With green turtles now protected in French Polynesia, however, hunting them is prohibited.
The kids were probably considerably happier seeing one swimming beside the boat than appearing on a lunch menu. 😂
Back to the Ship
We arrived back at the port fairly late in the day, but still had enough time for a quick look through the market stalls before joining the tender back to the ship.
By that point we'd been out for most of the day, swum, snorkelled, eaten, explored the lagoon and spent plenty of time in the sun.
A shower and some time doing very little back onboard sounded wonderful.
Moorea turned out to be one of those ports where I was very happy we'd booked through Carnival.
Could we have organised something independently? Absolutely.
But for a tender port, having priority getting ashore and knowing the ship was aware of our excursion took away two things I otherwise would have been thinking about all day.
Sometimes paying a little more for convenience is worth it.
The Motu, ridiculously blue water and unexpected turtle certainly didn't hurt either.
