South Pacific 2002: 6 - Tahaa, Bora Bora, Moorea, Tahiti

South Pacific 6 - Taha'a, Bora Bora, Moorea, Tahiti Monday, October 28, 2002 We arrived in the lagoon of Taha'a closer to on time than normal, only about 20 minutes after our scheduled arrival of 7 AM. French Polynesian immigration, however, were able to make good use of the additional time to hold up our departure from the ship up until 10 AM. Having become accustomed to the fact that when it comes to arrival, it seems nothing runs on time, we didn't bother getting up early this morning.

When I got out on deck, the ship was in a picture postcard lagoon, surrounded by a reef with one entrance. The same barrier reef also surrounds the larger island of Raiatea.

We were ferried to one of the small islands, called motus, which are part of the reef by local boats. The island was all white sand, covered with palm trees, and would only require 5-10 minutes to walk around it. The water temperature was perfect - nice and warm - but shallow out to the inner edge of the reef. In some spots it got to waist deep for swimming. The sand bottom was covered with thousands of sea slugs, or sea cucumbers, varying from a few inches to a foot and a half in length. We spent quite awhile in the water enjoying our first beach swim of the trip - long enough for me to get a sun burn.

The island is a private one, owned or leased by the cruise ship line. The company also own a smaller cruise ship which sails around these islands, and sometimes goes from Tahiti to the Marquises Islands. It stops here for a BBQ on it's weekly trips.

Food and a full bar had been transported to the island and were in readiness for us. There were hot and cold buffets plus a wide selection of BBQ items. All drinks from the bar were complimentary, and so naturally cold beer was a must. All in all, it was a very well done event in an amazingly beautiful setting. Due to our late departure from the ship, our sailing time was advanced from the scheduled 1 PM until 2:30 PM.

We didn't explore the main island, where the main industry is vanilla plantations. There are 4,470 people living tranquil lives here now. Historically the island was known for it's fire walking ceremonies, but they rarely occur now.

We arrived in the beautiful lagoon surrounding Bora Bora at about 5:30, and headed ashore to take a local bus to the famous Bloody Mary's restaurant. It is an interesting place, with sand floors and wooden tables. The washrooms have little waterfalls down the rocks in place of sinks. The food was good, and of course we tried out the bloody Mary drinks. The tenders ran to the ship until 1 AM for the partiers, but we headed back at about 10:30 PM.

The following morning we took the first tender ashore where Nick had arranged for a rental car. Bitsy and Karin were also along, so we had the same group as on Rarotonga. Marilynn and I had acquired a couple of bottles of wine for the trip, and we set off to drive around the island. It truly is very beautiful, with the towering Mt. Otemanu in the center of the island. We found good beaches for swimming, and had lunch and cold beer at a little café across from the beach. They made the biggest submarine sandwiches that I have ever seen, and the locally brewed Hinano beer is very good.

Captain Cook was the first westerner to sight Bora Bora in 1769. The London Missionary Society arrived in 1820 and kept the island out of French hands until 1888 when they annexed it. It had the only international airport for French Polynesia until the airport was competed on Tahiti in 1961. The island has less people, with a population of 4,225, and is less commercialized than I had expected. The many shades of blue in the lagoon create a beautiful effect.

Wednesday, October 30, 2002 We were scheduled to arrive in the lagoon on the island of Moorea at 7 AM, and were early for the first time. The first tender was ready to go at 7:15 AM. We had arranged to meet Nick on the first tender in, as once again he had arranged a rental car. As the ship had never been on time before, I'd ordered breakfast for between 7 and 7:30, so as we charged out the door to catch the tender we met breakfast being delivered and had to send it back.

Bitsy and Karin missed the first tender, but by the time they arrived on the second one the paperwork had all been done for the rental car and we were ready to go. We first drove up to the Belvedere lookout part way up one of Moorea's mountains. It offered a spectacular view of the lagoon and one of the bays. We then drove the rest of the way around the island, stopping at a waterside café along the way.

We had noticed what looked like elongated newspaper or mail boxes at many of the homes on the island. On enquiry we learned that these were for French bread. The system is something like subscribing to the newspaper - the recipients pay periodically and the long loaves are delivered into these boxes daily.

We were all in agreement that this is the most beautiful island we had seen, even though it has only a few good swimming beaches. The interior is filled with high, jagged mountains and volcanic spires giving the impression of shark's teeth when viewed from some angles. In spite of Tahiti being only 9 miles away its population is relatively small at 9,000 residents, some of whom commute to work in Papeete by ferry. We were sad to have to return to the dock for the last tender back to the ship at 11:30 AM. Rental cars here are very expensive - we paid $US 140 for the car for this morning.

The sea was fairly rough, and it was very windy when we sailed across the Sea of the Moon to Papeete on the main island of Tahiti. This is a bustling city where everyone seems in a big hurry - very different than any of the other islands we have seen. There are around 160,000 people living on Tahiti, and the thousands of cars were backed up in traffic jams all over the place. Prices throughout French Polynesia have been exorbitant, but Tahiti seemed the most expensive.

We had a complimentary tour laid on for us by the travel agency through which we had purchased our tickets. It included a visit to the museum, which was quite good, and to an ancient temple where costumed Polynesians gave an air of authenticity to the site. The missionaries definitely screwed up the proper attire for the dancers, in that they all had bikini type tops on. The only place topless girls were in evidence were on the many available postcards and magazines. The good old days are long gone! The ceremony and dancing at the temple was otherwise traditional, although it received a distinctly modern touch when one of the dancers took a cell phone out of her palm frond skirt and took a call during the performance!

We ended the tour at the Intercontinental Hotel, which has made up for the lack of beach by creating enormous swimming pools with sand beaches and bottoms. It is a spectacular setting, and was perfect to have drinks and watch the sun go down. One can enjoy the facilities as a guest here for a modest $US 600 per night.

When we returned to the ship, a large Tahitian dance group were performing on the pool deck. This group is reputed to be the best on the island. That evening, while still tied up to the docks, a monstrous buffet dinner was laid out by the swimming pool, featuring whole sucking pigs and whole roast lambs, along with a large selection of BBQ items. It was very well done. When we sailed at 8 PM and rounded the breakwater into the open seas, the proceedings where brought to an abrupt halt by high winds that soon had salad, napkins and tablecloths flying. The crew were also flying, trying to get everything put away before it all went overboard.

We now have two days at sea before our arrival at Pitcairn Island, where a number of us are very anxious to go ashore. It is difficult to land here, as the seas are usually rough and the odds are that the captain will not permit us to go ashore. Local regulations require that the islanders' long boats be used for transport to the landing site, and apparently if it is at all rough boarding the long boats is a real trick.

Last night, being Halloween, we were invited to a party in Karin and Bitsy's suite. It turns out they have one of the biggest and most expensive suites on the ship. The top ten ranking officers on board were there, so I took a moment to tell the captain about Ted Cookson who is very anxious to get ashore on Pitcairn, as it will be the 300th country he will have visited, according to the Traveler's Century Club list. He said he'd do what he could! Tomorrow we will know.