Opunohu Bay
Mo'orea, French Polynesia
More dramatic even than Cooks Bay, Opunohu Bay is virtually undeveloped. A proposal to build a major Japanese-financed Sheraton resort with 18 hole golf course here was defeated by local opinion a few years ago. The third major movie version of Mutiny on the Bounty (starring Mel Gibson) was filmed here.

Mount Rotui rises precipitously from the east shore of the bay -- even with a 17mm lens held vertically I could not get its top in the picture. The Gump Research Station is directly behind, on Cook's Bay, and every year a few intrepid students from Berkeley ascend the knife-edge ridgeline to the summit, 2950 feet above this point.

 
 

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