Monday, April 30th, 2012: Papeete - Tahiti, French Polynesia
Bob: What an evocative name "Tahiti" is! The majestic central mountain range rising right up from the sea is almost 5,000 feet high and often has clouds around the top. We had shillyshallied around with what to do in Tahiti until the ship's tours were booked out, so we decided to just have a relaxed day walking around the capital of French Polynesia, Papeete. Fortunately, serendipity struck as we walked off the pier and were entreated by a couple of the ship's passengers to make up the 7th and 8th persons in a locally-based tour to the big waterfall. The price was $ 35 USD apiece, which was very reasonable and we happened to have that much cash in our pockets for shopping, so we just gave the nice young lady our $70 and hopped into the mini-van. The van had, miracle or miracles, working air-conditioning, and although it was cloudy that morning, it was already hot enough that we actually needed the A/C during the drive out to the waterfall. |
Monika: We both stood at the railing when we were sailing into the harbor of Papeete, the largest city on Tahiti. Now we were truly in "Bali Hai" land. The small freighter anchoring across from us was actually called "Bali Hai". Across the waters we could see the island of Moorea, that we were going to visit tomorrow. We did not book a tour, so we just walked down the gangplank to the pier where several groups of local musicians were playing. I especially enjoyed one all male group clad in native costume. We had planned to walk into town, but serendipity struck. A couple from the ship came to us, asking whether we wanted to see the large waterfall. They needed 2 more people for a local van-based tour. The price of $35 sounded good, so we gladly agreed. |
Bob: In the parking lot at the base of the mountain we met at least 5 huge tour buses carrying all the other folks from the Sea Princess who had booked the official ship's tours. The trail up to the waterfall was stony and slippery, especially as it commenced to rain while we were clambering to the base of the falls. The falls themselves were, even in the pouring rain, magnificent. They appeared as high as Angel Hair Falls in Yosemite National Park in the U.S., but with a LOT more water plunging down the sheer black face of the cliff. Spectacular! I tried to keep the camera out of the spray, but that proved impossible to do, and when the skies opened up and poured on us as we walked back to our minibus, both the camera and I became soaked. |
Monika: We drove along the ocean to the falls, and enjoyed getting to see more of Tahiti than we had planned. The falls itself were visible from far away and truly spectacular. Of course, all the Princess tour buses were there too. We had to walk along a small stream, and then, there they were, enormous. Getting close to them, meant you would be getting wet, it was slippery, so I stayed afar, while Bob went close to get some great close-up pictures. Unfortunately, at this moment it started to pour - after all we were in the RAIN forest. It really came down in buckets. We had someone take a last "We were here" picture, but then tried to shield the camera, as we walked back to the bus. |
Bob: We persevered, however, and on our return stopped at a "blow hole" where the ocean waves crash against the shore on the shore side of the road, and then puff a big bunch of water vapor out a hole or vent on the other side of the road. That was curious and fun, but not nearly in the same league as the waterfall. |
Monika: There were two more stops on this little tour. The first one was a blow hole next to a black sand beach. The interesting thing was, that besides the normal spray at the ocean side, there also was a spray of water vapor coming out of a hole in the street. Interesting! At the beach, Bob found a coconut, but after some thought, decided to leave it for the next tourist coming by. |
Bob: Our final stop was Venus Point, where the peripatetic Captain Cook had stopped to observed the transit of the planet Venus in the late 1700s. Nowadays Point Venus has a memorial to Cook, a rather tall and pretty lighthouse, and an array of outrigger canoes gracing the shoreline of the little bay. As it was a cloudy, rainy day the canoes were all moored or on the beach with pieces of corrugated metal roofing keeping the rain out of them, but they were picturesque nonetheless. |
Monika: The last stop was at Venus Point, where, according to legend, Captain Cook observed the transit of the planet Venus. Now there was an old lighthouse and an interesting beach with outrigger canoes moored next to it. |
Bob: After returning to the ship and having a quick lunch, we found out that Monika's camera had succumbed to all that water, so we took the underwater camera as our backup and returned to shore to walk around Papeete. First we walked the beachfront boardwalk, which gave great views out over the harbor but also had a lot of rotted boards covered by plywood so I had to watch my step! Curling back into the city proper, we worked our way along to the central marketplace and went in to inspect the merchandise. The lower floor of the market featured mostly fish and fresh fruits and vegetables plus some vendors of tourist knickknacks. The upper floor was given over to tourist-oriented stores ranging from jewelry and clothing stores to more knickknack and souvenir shops. We picked up carved wooden turtle with inlaid mother-of-pearl on his shell. I was very tempted to also pick up reproduction war clubs, stone axes, carved canoe paddles, and things like that, but the practical limitations of our luggage space finally convinced me not to do so. Pity. |
Monika: Well, this impromptu excursion took the whole morning, so back at the ship, we went to the buffet for lunch, before going back out for the tour of the city. We walked around the harbor, where we saw some interesting reproductions of the old catemarans the Polynesians used in settling other islands. We kept walking along the waterfront to a little park and beyond that a beach with hundreds of outrigger canoes. I can't imagine how anyone could find their own. We returned through the city and stepped into the central marketplace. It was a fascinating mixture of tourist's knickknacks in the second floor stores, and fruit and vegetables down below. These places always enchant me. Bob kept walking ahead, while I was taking a picture, and one of the local guys tried to pick me up. Luckily Bob came back to my rescue. |
Bob: Returning to the ship for a bit of a rest and dinner, we walked out once again that evening just to see the waterfront at night. The bars and discotheques along the waterfront were, of course, busy, as were the French restaurants, but what intrigued me the most were the "food vans" parked right beside a public park. It seemed like everyone in town was having dinner al fresco around maybe 10-12 different food trucks, mostly offering Chinese cuisine, curiously enough. But kids were playing with toys in the little plaza there and everyone was having a gay old time, which created a welcoming ambiance. The view from the boardwalk of the ship illuminated at night was also rather unique, so I took a few snapshots of that before we returned to the ship for the night. |
Monika: Evening came with a beautiful sunset. Because the trip to Moorea was very short, we would stay docked in Papeete till three in the morning. So after dinner we went back out into the city. In a big parking lot next to the ship and a public park were rows of food vendors parked. Families came for a nice evening meal while the kids played in the park. It really was fascinating. But the best sight was our ship from across the harbor all decked out with all its lights reflecting in the water. A very beautiful sight indeed. |
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