If anyone had told me five years ago that I would be back in Tahiti three times and Moorea and Bora Bora twice in the next five years, I would have thought they were crazy.  Those were exotic places of the South Sea Islands in movies and legend.  No one I knew ever went to places like those and they were not even in my imagination as places I would ever visit.  But here we are again in what has become one of our favorite parts of the world. Because of the long flight, I knew I would never get to Australia and New Zealand which I had wanted to visit, but we had never entertained the notion of crossing the Pacific on a cruise ship and actually visiting these wonderful and beautiful islands! Yet here we are again.

The first and largest of our ports in French Polynesia was Tahiti.  I can’t think of friends at home who have visited Tahiti even once but compared to others on the ship, we have only been there three times.  The first two times, 2009 and 2012, we did shore excursions and saw different parts of Tahiti.  The first time we got deep into the interior on a four by four vehicle and saw things one wouldn’t otherwise see on the road.  Knowing we were going to visit Tahiti again in 2013, we had thought that we would skip a shore excursion there in 2012, but our friend Pam was traveling with us and it was her first time in Tahiti so we decided to do a shore excursion with her. It had been a nice round the island tour where we had seen a black sand beach, had a pleasant snack in a restaurant associated with the Gauguin museum, toured a lovely garden nearby, admired a large and powerful waterfall on the island, and watched a blowhole near the largest city in all of French Polynesia, Papeete.

So this was the year that we decided to be on our own in Papeete and not do an excursion.  But this year, we were there on a Sunday and in French Polynesia, nearly all businesses are closed on Sundays.  That included the large market, just a short walk from the pier in Papeete.  And we had heard there was a good chance it might rain in Tahiti this year as the outer reaches of Cyclone Gary might impact us.  When we arrived in Papeete, the clouds were low with a small patch of blue and there was a warm tropical rain. (No complaints as I had seen Sunday’s weather conditions in Chicago was to be ice!  I will take rain in Tahiti in January, thank you!)

To our surprise however, the sun and blue skies broke through and predominated over the clouds, so we went out in the hot (85°) humid weather and walked along the attractive Papeete waterfront, past several parks to our left and boats in the harbor to our right.  We had seen there was a Protestant Church near the shore in that general direction so decided to see if it was within reasonable walking distance.  Barb had found a welcoming church in Pago Pago, American Samoa last year where she had heard some beautiful Polynesian singing and it occurred to us that we might find the same here.  We arrived at the church about 9 AM and services we found started at 10.  Windows were wide open (that was apparently their air conditioning) and some were already arriving.  Not sure if we should enter as we were adorned in tee shirts, we figured we’d give it a try and would sit toward the rear of the large sanctuary.  We sat there for awhile watching parishioners arriving, most in their Sunday finest.  Women all wore dresses and every single one was wearing a colorful large straw hat with lots of flowers decorating them. Men were either wearing more informal tropical shirts or white shirts, ties, and jackets.  Were we ever underdressed, or what?  A lady came and told us in French (which Barb interpreted and I picked up some of it) that the choir was going to practicing soon right where we were sitting and that maybe we would like to go to the balcony where would have a better view of the whole service.  We went up there, found a seat but also found that the heat was absolutely oppressive as there were no windows and no air circulation.   We would have passed out from the heat after a couple hours, so we left and sat in a park across the busy street and listened to some of the music through the open windows.   We also watched and saw absolutely no one dressed as informally as we were.  After awhile, even the heat in the shade got to us and we returned to the ship, only to find that there was a staff drill going on and all of the elevators were out of service.  As hot and sticky as we were, we had to climb eight flights to our air conditioned room.

Later in the afternoon, a local folkloric show called “O Tahiti E” took place in the Queen’s Lounge for a packed and appreciative house.  The young men and women danced and chanted to the melodic Polynesian music, providing a wonderful show before we sailed about dinner time to the nearby port in Moorea.

When we opened the drapes on Monday morning, there it was!  Moorea!!!  Those that know me will know how good it was when I say that for me, Moorea is the South Pacific version of Geirangerfjord in the Norwegian fjords or the Island of Santorni in Greece.  These are the best of the best.  We were introduced to Moorea on our 2009 South Pacific cruise when we took a short cruise along Moorea’s coastline to a beautiful motu (small island) where we saw some gentle stingrays and had a wonderful island lunch.  At that time we weren’t on Moorea at all except to transfer from the tender to the boat that took us to the motu.  But Moorea is the site of the enchanting view of the “Bali Hai” mountain made famous in the 1950s version of the musical South Pacific. 

Like in Tahiti which lies only about 8 miles from Moorea, we were told to expect a good chance of rain in Moorea since cyclones had been blowing through the region.  We awakened to clouds that obscured Bali Hai but also blue sky and clear conditions at sea level and nearly to the top of the mountains.  We tendered a short smooth distance to the small Moorean town of Papetoa in the Opunohu Bay where we boarded several 4 x 4 vehicles.  Moorea is shaped like  a “W” with two fairly long bays, Opunohu Bay and Cook’s Bay that represent the spaces between the lines that make up the letter “W”. 

This time we wanted to go inland and the best way to see real beauty is to get off the road and go where only the 4 x 4 vehicles can go.  We got in our vehicle designed for 8 adults, four facing the other four and met our tour guide, Ron.  He provided an overview of what we would see and for the most part the place names won’t mean much to the readers of this blog.  The tour took us up narrow, rough roads (using the word “roads” very loosely).  It took us to a place where we had a steep but brief walk up to a magnificent viewpoint from “Magic Mountain” of the spectacular bay with its blue waters and reefs visible below.  We made a short visit to the Agricultural School of Moorea where we tasted several of their famous jams made with the abundant tropical fruits of the island.  We made another brief stop at an historical site known as Marae Titiroa where humans were sometimes sacrificed to the gods (fortunately practice ended about 150 years ago because they preferred to sacrifice strangers from other villages unless there was a particular naughty native that deserved to be sacrificed)!    We saw some huge old trees under which graves and markers were placed.  The ride took us over streams that covered the road, which reminded Barb and me of our 4 x 4 that got stuck on rocks near Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii in 2009.  We went up Belvedere Mountain to the lookout that showed us both Opunohu and Cook’s Bays for even more spectacular views.  Then it was on to Moorea Fruit Juice Factory where some exotic liquors made from tropical fruits were sampled and made available for purchase.  Finally we made a stop along the shores of Opunoho Bay for some sea level pictures of the palms, boats, and of course our home away from home, the ms Amsterdam.  Opunohu  Bay was the site of some of the filming of the 1984 Mel Gibson movie, The Bounty, which told the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty.

Since the French Polynesian islands were mainly created from ancient volcanoes, the islands are mountainous which adds dramatically to the beauty of the area.  Barb and I have commented several times about the lady on the Grand Pacific Voyage in 2009 who wondered why we had to stop at all these South Pacific islands.  “They’re just like Florida,” she whined.  We had never noticed the mountains of Florida when we have visited there!  Needless to say, we loved Moorea as much this time and with a different perspective than in 2009.  Like Tahiti the previous day, it was hot and extremely humid, but we must not complain because we are avoiding late January in the northern part of the US!  And one year ago on the same day, January 28, we were visiting the cold, windy Falkland Islands and were bundled in sweatshirts and winter coats!  And for the second time in two days, we escaped predicted rains.  Hurray!  We hoped for the same luck in Bora Bora and our three island, three day visit to French Polynesia. 

Our final day, Tuesday, in French Polynesia was spent on the island of Bora Bora, anchored at Vaitape, the largest city and main port.  Having done shore excursions on each of the two days we visited here in 2009, we chose not to do one this time.  Rather, we took the short tender ride to Vaitape and browsed a few stores. Stores hadn’t been open on Sunday in Papeete and we had a busy shore excursion in Moorea, so this was the first opportunity to go into some of the French Polynesian shops.   Like last time, everything was very expensive.  The cheapest of tee shirts went for about $30 (but still better than my most expensive tee shirt ever, at $37,  purchased at Bloody Mary’s Restaurant in 2009).  Simple fridge magnets were typically over $10.  Other prices were similarly high and few people purchased anything.  We wondered how locals could afford such high prices, particularly on what must have been limited incomes.  (In Moorea, a lady wanted to purchase a glass of Coke and had to pay either the equivalent of under $1 using French Polynesian Francs or $4 US.  Needless to say, she didn’t get her Coke!)

After browsing for awhile and looking for a post card to send to a child whose grandparents had given Barb some money to purchase and send post cards from throughout the world, she returned to the ship. By the way, this blog is in lieu post cards.  Post cards can easily run over $3 or $4 per card including postage.  Here in French Polynesia, one post card not including postage, would cost just over $1 US.  Furthermore they seem to take a disproportionately long time to get home.  We have heard people tell us that some have taken 8 to 9 MONTHS to reach their destinations.  I continued to walk to the outskirts of town, passing a doctor’s and dentist’s office which shared the same building but had separate outside waiting rooms, a school during passing time with kids running like crazy after they heard to bell indicating they were late (there are some constants everywhere in the world apparently), a couple of supermarkets, a veterinary clinic, several black pearl shops, as well as the basic services one would need anywhere.  But I observed no McDonalds anywhere in French Polynesia.

We know Bora Bora, a site of a major World War II allied military base, is stunningly beautiful.  We were at anchor surrounded by tiny islands filled with palm trees right up to the shore, volcanic mountains, and some of the bluest, calmest waters one would hope to see.  As we remembered, French Polynesia is a place one could easily almost hope to get lost and then decide to stay to escape the problems of the world.  The laid back life style and friendly French Polynesians could easily win those of us in countries with the fast pace of modern life.  And while it can be pretty humid, as it was during our visit, I doubt anyone here even owns a snow shovel!

Internet continues to be sporadic and slow and with some cable networks unavailable in this area.   Some are already speculating as to whether live Super Bowl coverage will be possible.  And now we look forward to our final South Pacific visit to the Cook Islands in a few days.

CT