"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #23 Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia January 22, 2018 Monday Chance of rain & 86 degrees Part #1 Of 4 80 Pictures

French Polynesia is an Overseas Territory of France, consisting of 120 islands scattered over five archipelagos. Namely, the Marquesas, Tuamotus, Society Islands, Australes, and Gambiers. They encompass 1.7 million square miles in the massive South Pacific Ocean, which is larger than all of Europe. As of 2012, 270,000 people lived in French Polynesia.

In general, you can expect typical warm and balmy tropical weather, as these islands and atolls experience 2500 hours of sun a year. We are visiting in the hot season, which is rainier – December through April. The dry season is July through October, but the best time to visit is April through June, and October through December, when the temperatures are fair and pleasant.

Tahiti is the largest island of French Polynesia, with Papeete as the capital. It is the center of Tahitian and French Polynesian public and private governmental offices. It is the commercial, industrial, and financial capital as well. Outside the downtown area, you can find a myriad of recreational activities. This island has the most off-road 4x4 road systems, interior hiking trails, waterfalls, and high peaks. There are lagoons for water sports along with the contrasting nightlife in the bars in Papeete.

They offered 9 tours through shore excursions today. Five of them were island touring, running from 2 ½ hours to 7 hours for $100 to $210. The other four were water-related such as a catamaran ride, snorkeling, or one or two tank scuba dives. These ran from 2 hours to 3 ½ hours for $150 to $210.

We have taken most all of these tours over the years, so once again, we set off on our usual walk. We found that nothing stays the same forever. The entire pier side artisan complex, along with the information shop had been leveled to the ground. All that was left was a mountain of concrete debris. What a surprise. Speaking with a security guard, he mentioned that a new post office will be built on this property. Not sure if this is correct, but it made sense to us.

The usual dancers and Tahitian drummers greeted us at the bottom of the gangway this morning. There was even a louder native group for the ship docked across from us…..the Silver Whisper, which holds 429 lucky passengers. This is one of many vessels owned by Silverseas. This ship was launched in 2001 and is 28,258 gross tons, a baby next to us. We sailed with friends on her sister ship, the Shadow, a few years ago, and we can tell you it is a very excellent experience. The rooms are very large with the nicest bathrooms we have ever seen. They are close to all-inclusive, with enough shipboard credit to buy tours with $$$ left over. An interesting bit of info about this particular ship is that in 2003, Vladimir Putin chartered it to host a 3 day celebration of St. Petersburg’s 300^th anniversary.

Tied up next to the Whisper, was a private yacht with a helicopter on the aft deck. The name on it was VAVA from Georgetown. Quite impressive.

Another new addition to the pier area, were two open-air train-like vehicles. We believe they offered a round trip sweep through the city for $10 per person. Perhaps they stopped at the major hotels. They were filling up with passengers rapidly, and was wonderful for those folks who could not walk far in this heat and humidity.

We left the ship around 10am and headed for the fabric shop one of us loves. Never have a problem finding some blouse material. Then we continued on to the Marche Municipale, their extensive market with everything Tahitian from produce, fresh fish, handicrafts, and souvenirs. Much has been modernized there such as the fish tables. Now they have glass- covered ice cases with everything fly-proof. We looked for the vendors that had been selling shell necklaces at the pier artisan shop, but none were to be seen. And since we cannot buy any fresh flowers anymore in French Polynesia, we did not spend much time here.

We headed towards the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, taking photos of the interior. Then wandered over to Place Tarahoi, Papeete’s governmental center. There is a garden walk there, where we came upon some kids playing soccer in the field. Native plants line the trail, which leads to ponds with ducks, fish, and usually giant eels. Today the kids had scared the geese away, and the huge eels were nowhere in sight. We think that they have been removed.

Across the busy street, we entered Bougainville Park, and strolled past the creeks to the monument and dueling cannons. Thinking the vendors with the shell jewelry would be set up here, they were not. Not even in the government complex. The next exhibition show in there will be the Austral collection – baskets, hats, and jewelry woven with native flax. That begins January 29^th.

Making our way back to the ship, we checked out shops that carried the Hinano t-shirts. There was one nice air-conditioned shop that was dedicated to everything Hinano. But they would not sell anything without a 5000XPF minimum, about $50 US. They took only credit cards or francs. The dollar was not accepted there. So we left.

Up the main street, which is also under major renovations, we went to a shop where we know they take credit cards. Found the perfect t-shirt, and the vendor was happy to take the credit card…..no minimum limit.

We ran into Shiv, the head housekeeper. He did confirm that since even before the Asia/Pacific grand voyage, there had been a problem with ants in particular. Probably brought on accidently with fresh-cut flowers, they had begun colonies everywhere. On past cruises here, we have noticed that some tiny ants hitched a ride to our room. They would hide inside the computer, and come out at night. It was creepy, we admit. Once we get to Auckland, this flower ban may be lifted.

Unloading our stuff and re-hydrating back onboard, we headed back for lunch. Did we mention the heat and humidity was a killer today? Keeping our fingers crossed that our favorite pizzeria was opened on Mondays, we were happy to find the place about full of customers. Judging by hearing only French spoken, we realized that this restaurant is well-known to the locals. We got our “pizza” fix today and also our dessert fix. We shared a banana split, a mountain of sliced fruit, ice cream, whipped cream and slivered almonds…..all covered with a chocolate drizzle. Once again, we believe they super-sized it, knowing we were sharing. A local lady, sitting next to us, giggled when she saw the dessert, and said please enjoy. Turns out she was a tour guide, who escorted a group for HAL today. She wished us a most wonderful continuation of our world voyage.

Walking back to the ship, we took the walkway across the road into the park that lines the harbor. In one large section, they have created a natural aquarium filled with local fish. Now, they have included a stand with waterproof booklets with all of the fish captured here, so they can easily be identified.

Eventually, this entire downtown area will be like new. The interior of the city has become to look a bit seedy, but by the next time we come here, we’ll find a lot of changes for sure.

The rest of the afternoon was spent cooling off in our room, putting pictures in files. Trying to get a head start on the reports as well. By 6:30pm, we went up to deck nine to find tonight’s sunset was going to be stunning. A bit drizzly, a rain shower had passed over by the time we went outside. The outline of Moorea was visible from the harbor, coming out of the clouds that normally hide it from view. We will be floating over there early tomorrow morning.

On our way out of the gate the second time this afternoon, some vendors handed us flyers for Moorea’s tours tomorrow. One of the fellows told us that we would indeed be in Opunohu Bay, not Cook’s Bay. We have not dropped anchor in Cook’s Bay in a long time, if ever, with HAL. Smaller ships will go there, but not us. Truthfully, we prefer Opunohu, because it is closer to the hotel we like to visit. So by the time we wake up, we will know exactly where we are.

Dinner found all but two there. Not too much exciting was on the menu, but we always find things we can put together. One of us tried the moussaka, which was OK, but seasoned a bit much. Steaming hot too. The Hawaiian kalbi boneless ribs were the better choice. After enjoying that banana split today, jello made do tonight. And the sliced strawberries were back on top.

There was a local group entertaining the folks in the show lounge tonight. One time only, Mana, The Spirit of Tahiti, sang and danced. They dazzled us with their talents and costumes, although we are certain we saw this performance many times. Or something similar.

Plan on sleeping really good tonight. Oh yes…here’s the latest TP update. As promised, all of the inferior rolls of TP had been removed from the cabins, and the good stuff back in its place. Now we wonder how many passengers actually did complain about that? Lots, we bet. There is a first time for everything.

Bill & Mary Ann

Papeete harbor