Moorea Shopping

It seems that there is a black pearl shop every 5 meters on Moorea…:-) We checked the prices in the area of Hotel Hibiscus and it turned out that Herman Pearl was the one that offered the most interesting discounts. The shop assistant kindly explained to us a few things about how the pearls are made and how long it takes to grow them. We also learned that the owner is a Belgian like us and that he spends most of the year on his motu in the Tuamotu islands. A dream life, but also very lonely…

What to buy: All kinds of jewels ornated with black pearls

The Curios are those little souvenir shops that you can find everywhere on the island and selling everything from the wooden objects to the pareu and monoi oil.
This one on the picture, Terani curios, is at the same time the starting point for the Lagoonarium and mainly sells black pearls for a cheaper price than the jewellery shops.

You can get drinks, chips and food at the market. It has many things you'd expect to see in France.
Liquor is also solid in supermarkets but is still ridiculously pricey.

What to buy: Croissants, chips, cheese, drinks

What to pay: You will save alot of $ by getting some things at the supermarket.

This is not the typical hard sell pearl store.

Their sales staff is far superior to all the other pearl shops we visited during our cruise on the Paul Gauguin. Everything done with regard to this purchase was perfect, even the valued-added tax was refunded weeks sooner than we expected.

What to buy: Multi-colored Tahitian pearl necklace.

For insurance purposes, we had a well regarded Gemologist appraise the necklace we purcahsed at Ron Hall's and he independently researched the market value for this unique piece based on what he described as an excellent continuity of mostly perfect pearls (none were less than an A quality).

He supported a value in excess of our cost, stating that it would be not be possible to replace the necklace in the United States for what we paid in Tahiti.

What to pay: US$5,000 to US$25,000 for the best quality multi-colored Tahitian pearl necklace.

What to buy: These colourful Batiks are sold all over the island. They are very colourful and look great blowing in the breeze.

As with all things Polynesian, never pay the first price you are told, always haggle hard!

This picture shows a Batik on the right that has a Paul Gauguin design on. He is a famous artist who lived in Polynesia for 4 years from 1897 to 1901 and painted a lot of 'Polynesian' art.

What to buy: If you have seen Pirates of the Caribbean, you may have thought that the curse of the Black Pearl was just a name right? No, in Moorea (and other parts of French Polynesia), some of the pearls are actually blackish in appearance.

As all things are in extremely expensive in Moorea, you could end up re-mortgage your house to buy one (well OK, that is a bit of an exaggeration, especially if you buy a poor quality one), but almost everything in Moorea is seriously expensive. People expect you to haggle, so try your luck in several places to see what price you can get.

As Moorea is so expensive, it may be advisable to buy the pearl unmounted, and get it mounted when you get home. I didn't actually buy one, but they are pretty to look at!

What to pay: Probably down to your skill at haggling...

Woody's is easy to miss. He's got a small workshop just off the main road with a small sign " Woody Sculptures" and "loose black pearls...." This kind of gives you a sense of the island in general...makes Hawaii's "hang loose" look a lot like NYC "Up Tight."

Anyway...we caught Woody just as he returned from his pearl "farm" and helped to sort and classify some of his "catch." Good thing as it turned out to be some of "our catch" as well.

What to buy: Well....he does have some very nice wood sculptures, but his black pearl prices are pretty good too. Not as much overhead as the "big places."

What to pay: If you have to ask, you can't afford them....

You'll probably want to wear a hat while on Moorea and spending time in the sun, as the sun can be really strong and dangerous if you don't watch out. They make these great hats made from local plants like the one you can see in the picture, and they cost only about $10.