The Zuiderdam overnighted in Uturoa, Raiatea which usually happens in other major cities such as Auckland, Sydney, Singapore, or Hong Kong for instance. We think this extra day was added to replace the missed port of Bora Bora. Thanks to research done by fellow readers, we now know that the government decided to further limit the size of the ships arriving in the lagoon of Bora Bora beginning at the start of this year. We are far from a mega-ship, but still have too many passengers to satisfy their new rules. Hate to think that we will never visit that island ever again unless we go there on a smaller ship, which HAL does not own anymore. Bet that puts a big dent in their tourism industry.
Our day began early with a knock on our door at 7:30am. Who could that possibly be that early? Turned out it was a delivery of flowers from a very favorite officer onboard that we have known for years. By the way, it was a birthday for one of us, although I like to keep it under wraps. Pretty hard on this ship. We celebrated at breakfast with mimosas, but then we do that most every day.
The weather was much better today since the rain stayed away. It did eventually reach 92 degrees with a slight breeze and high humidity. Ready for another walk about, we turned left and hiked the road out of the town. On our first visit here years ago, we read that there was a resort up this way and a possible restaurant to get lunch. Well, the further out of town we got, the more dogs began to appear, protecting their territory. By the time we reached the resort, we discovered it had been damaged by a hurricane and was completely closed. We came upon the same property today, and nothing had changed, except there was a taller metal fence around the whole area. The good thing was that most of the dogs were behind gated driveways.
Time to head back to town, we took our time while enjoying the breeze in between homes. All of their rock walls blocked what breeze there was. The closer to noon it got, the hotter it got. We did want to see what the town had to offer, so we went into their department store where the Hinano t-shirts were sold among other things. Something we forgot was that everyone and their brother had visited this store yesterday, and the most popular sizes were about gone off of the shelves. We did find one new design and bought it. The grocery stores were quite busy with local shoppers, so we did not go inside. We did head for the two story Marketplace, and took photos of the locally grown produce. On the second level is their jewelry collection, clothing, and artwork. The only way up there is by stairs, and since we did not need to buy anything, we skipped the climb.
Time for beer and lunch, we headed back to the La Raie Gate restaurant right across from the ship. About half of the guests were locals, and the other half from the ship like us. We did a repeat of yesterday and had beers, pizza, and one dessert. Smoking is allowed here, but we had the outside seats, and the wind was blowing the right way to avoid the smoke.
Back in the coolness of our room, we discovered a covered tray had arrived with a single chocolate cupcake frosted with whipped cream and sprinkled with colored coconut flakes. On the rectangular plate were the words Happy Birthday. A card was placed next to the tray with birthday wishes from Captain Friso. And here we thought they had forgotten my birthday.
All aboard was 3:30pm, and we were in place on our veranda to watch the sailing out of the harbor. The Captain took the ship through the lagoon that is shared with neighboring Taha'a, an island much smaller than Raiatea. Going very slowly, he blew the ship's horn many times, but we do not know why. Perhaps there were small boats in our way. Located on the port side of the ship, we did not get the view of the island as we left. But one of us had seen it while sailing in yesterday. Truthfully, the light was better early yesterday morning for pictures. We did have the sun and the heat until the Captain turned the ship to exit through the largest gap in the reef. Now we are heading towards Tonga, and will arrive in four days. We will also cross the International Dateline on Friday. So Saturday will not exist for us.
One of our favorite entrees was on the menu tonight…….spaghetti with Bolognaise sauce. Marlin was the fish plate, and although we had all ordered desserts, a small mousse cake arrived for the birthday girl. Many waiters gathered to sing the special song, which was much appreciated. Short and sweet. Yes, it had been a very nice day in paradise.
Bill & Mary Ann
