Overwater Bungalow at the Hilton, Moorea. French Polynesia - 2026

A Wandering Doc
9 hours ago
3 min read

You know you are someplace special when Jimmy Buffet writes a song about the place you are staying. The inspiration for “One Particular Harbor” originated from time Buffet spent at property owned by his friend Hugh Kelley. The property overlooked Cooks Bay and Opunohu Bay. The Hilton is perched on the point of land connecting both Baya and truly is a place worthy of a song (and album title) if there ever was one .

Arrival photos

Getting a ride to the best bungalow on the property-

OMG- the view!!

Video of arrival

Firsr thing we did was crack open Champaign- it became the theme of the trip.

Around the resort

The first night we had a magnificent lightening storm and the bungalow was actually swaying in the wind.

The Hole in the Floor

Each bungalow comes with a glass viewing area in the living room. There is a light to turn on at night to activate your very own Aquarium. We saw big sharks, a school of baby sharks, a ray, tons of fish and a goldfish that escaped from the resort pond.

Some our entertainment

Inside of Bungalows

When we added a second day, we had to change rooms. This is bungalow number 83. Slightly cheaper than the first room we had because you can see other bungalows. Our first unit was the very end of the pier with total privacy. What this bungalow lacked in privacy it made up for in fish viewing!

Didn’t use the claw tub for anything but storing Champaign in ice bucket

The resort offered complementary kayaks and paddle boards along with snorkeling gear if you didn’t bring your own (psst… bring your own)

I had some friends at the resort who offered us their Champaign. We ended up polishing off 6 bottles in four days to celebrate our good fortune. Nothing like waking up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise and popping a cork.

Eating at the resort

Eating at the resort is not cheap, but nothing is cheap in paradise. We did manage to eat for four days without breaking the bank. For example, a club sandwich was $26 and a personal pizza was $23. Plenty big enough for both dinner and lunch the next day.

There was also a restaurant right on the pier that featured savory and sweet crêpes. Sitting outside in the evening was all about the show underneath, this restaurant was all about the shark and various fish swimming by.

Restaurant has entertainment in the sea

Breakfast buffet and Saturday night dinner buffet with Tahitian show.

Our first two nights stay did not include breakfast because I did not book directly with the Hilton (I used chase points). Once we figured out our ship was not leaving Papeete we immediately booked an additional night direct thru Hilton, which did include breakfast. The breakfast buffet was nice, but to be perfectly honest it wasn’t worth $50 they were charging.

On Wednesday and Saturday evenings, there is a buffet and Tahitian Dance show. The cost of the buffet was $120 so we elected not to eat. You can watch the show from the bar area, although they are definitely the cheap seats.

Live music for both buffets

We had bungalow 87 for the first nights and moved to 83 for the nights we added