From the port chat from eve before:-Atoll 37 kms long ….tendering is a 6 minute ride 8-4:30..29 C…scattered showers, 40% chance, 77% humidity

There will be a faster movement getting there…16 knots…500 km ENE direction

837 population…tap water again is not drinkable. Bug spray, sun protection, don’t waste time looking for wifi. There is a LeTruck, no taxi, no official bike rental….maybe at hotel. (We found bike and ebike rental in port but e-bikes were gone before we got ashore)

It’s beach atoll.  PK9 Beach, there is a diving Spot if you want to be bait for sharks. “Le sables roses”…pink sand beach, snorkel beach to the south. Drinks on shaded spot at Arenaki (?) bar. Local market open 7-12 & open again at 3.

November 11th is a National holiday here.

Fakarama….apparently means “beautiful, bringing the best reactions from you”.  Daniel said…”that’s what the French said when they saw the Brits tried to come ashore”…lol.  He is so funny, so quick!

At 11am on the 11th of November, on board the Zaandam, Remembrance Day was observed. It was a very nice service.

It’s amazing that we are anchored inside the lagoon….so large an area that you can barely see the little “motus” around the outside.  And as I said, it was a rough ride going and coming.

Just took the tender.  It was very choppy. Because of winds and waves going in wrong direction, we have to leave the ship by the aft port tender dock.  We walked along the road (cement for the most part) to beaches that ran along the inside of the lagoon.  Outside or other side from when we landed, is exposed to the ocean and so is harsh. There is no swimming.  At one point there was a local guy in the water feeding sharks….a nurse shark….brought it right onto the shore.  I missed it but some people were quite freaked out by it.

Did you know that there is only 13 letters in the Polynesian language unlike English that has 26. That is why so many of their words have double and triple vowels.

The population of Papeete is 27,000 but 60-80,000 extra people come in every day to work….270,000 total on island.  Sunday mornings the traffic is normal but in afternoon the city is “dead”.

Gas is about US$1.50/litre.  Only one synagogue and no mosques in Tahiti.  Biggest high school with 3000 Students. Hospital. The AC for the hospital (and other facilities) take temperatures from ocean which is at 10 C…..save millions every year (probably using heat pumps).  Polynesians because they are French citizens, can serve in both French navy and army.  Every November 1st, families go to cemetery to clean it up and put lots of flowers on the graves.

Recycle containers at a round-about were made in the shape of sea animals.  Cute!

Pointe Venus is our first stop, is the only lighthouse on Tahiti. R.L. Stevensen’s father designed it. 

In 1767, British explorer Samuel WALLIS was the first European to visit Tahiti, followed by French navigator Louis Antoine de BOUGAINVILLE in 1768 and British explorer James COOK in 1769. 

Mangos and avocados are in season.  Avocado can be as big as one kilo.  There are lots of plumeria aka frangipani of all different colours.

Mutiny of Bounty wth Marlon Brandon was filmed here…other film on the Bounty was done on Mo’orea.

Poinciania, AKA flame or flamboyant tree are the red Christmas flowered trees. There are also yellow ones but you don’t see many.

Highest mountain on Tahiti was shrouded in clouds so cannot see it.  

“Bad kids that didn’t pay attention in school”….get 6 mo to 2 years ……..with military training.

No reef on this side of island …waves come in from ocean…used to train for surfing.  Lots of black sand beaches.

Green church built in 1914 at the place for leprosy colony

Papa’ana’ana is name of place that if you turn onto road to interior of island. You need a 4 wheel drive vehicle. It is a dangerous area.  There are waterfalls, river,  hydro power plant that provide 40% electrical needs of the island. Last year a child and  mother who was 8 months pregnant, were washed away by river …never to be found.  Deep valleys.

Tunnels, very windy road….only 40 “RAPPEL” in places.

Most properties are well taken care of but then you see places where other have lots of derelict cars

At Point Guinness (?)…in 1768, Bougainville anchored on the reef but lost 6 in 9 days. When he left he took a local man Ahuturo to France….the first Tahitian to travel the world. Ahuturo died in 1771 in Madagascar, from smallpox.  Anchor and plaque at side of road near bridge at Hitiaa

 Lots of full little rivers.  Not many grocery or other stores on this side.

“Wedding cakes” built into hillsides to prevent mudslides.

Our guide used to jump into river as her mother screamed not to. Now she won’t take her grandchildren to the river cuz they may do the same as she did.

Cemeteries are different than graveyards. Graveyards are burial places “in” churchyard.  

Each tree produces 60-80 coconuts per year. They are used mostly to make coconut oil.  Metal ring around the trunks are to prevent the rats (besides crabs that we heard about before) from climbing the trees and getting the fragile baby coconuts.

Drove through 2nd city of Faa’a …..after Papeete…. We are now on west coast. Cyclone season is from Nov to Apr so sailboats come into the bay for protection.

“Hotel” for bad boys(prison)….longterm…for drug dealers…. big problem with meth, etc.  

Gauguin museum closed ……don’t know when and will reopen..near Botanical Garden.

Noni juice good for BP, cancer …immune system, arthrytis pain relieve

In 1865 English farmer brought 1000 Chinese in to work cotton fields but went bankrupt cuz too far to seek to world markets. 

Several places where you can get spring water otherwise have to buy. 

Stopped at a fern garden.  Along the way saw a yellow poincenia.

Beaches are public but again it’s access that is the problem so the govt has mad several parks with showers and washrooms, big parking lot…white sand.  Several hotels here as well closed during Covid and have been unable reopen.  Everywhere you look there are cellphone palm tree towers.

At the Marina they have built shelves for boat storage because there is not enough room for all of the boats.

3000 students attend the French Polynesian University. 

 Fa’aa international airport is only international airport in French Polynesian but the first airport was on Bora Bora, built by Americans.

Cruise-ship terminal is due to open Nov 22/24

8am until 4:40pm following day 

Only ship in town.  29C…84, light rain….45% chance, 77% humidity, following day 35% rain, 75% humidity.

27,000 population of Papeete…same time zone as rest of country

Use bugs spray.  Wifi is available in visitor information centre ….turn left and then right.

Western shore, Place Vai’ete, is a park in the port. There are food trucks.

No tender  in Papeete but there is a dock.

Punapauia….beach…bus #5…le bus not leTruck …$1.30 for ride.  Taxis are metered..  there is tourist train (really is a bus)just outside port…..1 hour tourist route. ( never saw it)

Highlights….not as gritty as Suva…..but it’s a city!  Market is open on Saturday 5:30-1 pm , go Inland by one block.  Cheapest place to buy pearls downstairs.  Sundays it’s open 4:30- 8:30am

Tavitas bachuterie red sign …bubble tea …is above.  Turn right on left side of street is Robert Wan is high end jewelry.  

Notre Dame is yellow church.  Presidential palace.  

Not a beach city.  Plaza avia…beach.  Plage Mahana for snorkelling.

Local show at 7 and 9 on board.  Evening under the stars in the back deck.

Intercontinental Resort has live music.  Turtle rescue centre.  1 hour tour…must reserve….costs 1500francs for tour; 9:30-10:30  …get pass.  Taxi 10 minutes.

Ferry back to Mo’orea?  Some people stay over in Mo’orea the eve we leave and then another night cuz we overnight in Papeete, returning before the ship sails on the third day.

I didn’t do much the first day, just went into the market and had dinner on the aft pool deck watching the sun go down. Every other evening dinner held on. The aft pool deck when the ship overnighted in port, it poured rain. Not this night!

 

Port talk the night before:-In port from7-4:30, bugs spray needed and sun protection. Partly cloudy, 15% chance of rain, 74% humidity and temperature around 28C. 17,000 population, drive on the right. It is tender port….15-20 minute ride in…in Opunohu Bay. There is a craft market, food stands at pier…..not much else. Too long walk to get anywhere.  Public bus only 5/day, taxis are expensive.  Scooters for rent nearby (Coco rider.com). Mo’orea is like Bora Bora but better.  More hotels here than other Polynesian islands ….lots of beaches. Ring road…60 kms around. Timae Beach near airport on east side.  Eco museum…aquarium, golf course in timae., zip line (3600 francs)..tiki park, hikes…3 Coconut Tree Pass, Mt Mou’aputa…extremely difficult , plus another….take 6-9 hours to complete, horseback riding.

Excursion Highlights of Mo’orea is a counterclockwise circle island tour.

In 1700s Christians came to Mo’orea. The octagon church in the port was the first Christian church. Locals had worshipped three gods previously.  When they decided to have no more wine in ceremonies at the octagon church, the locals built their own church elsewhere.  There are lots of churches on the island.

Mo’orea became a protectorate in 1842.   Mo’orea mean Yellow lizard 

The reef is only 1-2 metre deep. Intercontinental hotel closed since Covid.  We passed where you park your car then catch boat to private island to lunch and feed the rays, sharks and turtles.

Some very nice hotels.  Houses on beach for rent 100/month

Club med closed …sold part to country for park and beach.  Beach is free to public now.

There are 10 kinds of mango grown here. 

Discotheque on Saturdays. 15 dollar for men, nothing for women.

Flower over right ear means looking, left is married, both is married but looking for more, 2 on right gay….so said the guide.

Aluminum bands on the coconut trees are to prevent red crab from climbing the tree to attack fragile young coconuts.

Green leaves for weaving….. walls, roofs and handbags toys like rays

On the left side are free elevated homes provided for poor.    

Mo’orea electric wires, etc are all underground so no overhead lines.

Only French, after 5 years can own property or if you are Tahitian or ……if you build hotel or other business that employee many people. 

Ferry to Tahiti for school is free for student or regular workers get better rate.  It starts at 6 am and is a 45 minute ride.

Surfing very dangerous cuz there is only 60 cms to coral

Lots of Protestant churches but only one Jehovah’s.

School is free but it costs 50$ for lunch/month ….5 days a week.

60 “Rappel” means remember the max speed is 60 kmh.

70 of 110 islands of French Polynesia have mountains. The rest are flat.

Everyon used to have large familys of 8-18 but now only have 2-3.

Very nice roads..all are paved.

It is now coming into summer…humid and very hot.

One hospital with 2 doctors and heli pad.  Pharmacy with one private doctor too.

Beaches are public but problem is to get access to them.

In 1897, the Chinese here brought to work.

Everyone gets 35 day paid holiday for men and 35 for women with up to 5 children plus 2 more day per baby 

They pay 50% tax on Chinese cars but 30% if bought from France. 

60% population is mixed race.

Costco Travel is cheaper  …$250-350/night on land or $800/night on ones over water at Sofitel….OMG it’s breathtaking.  Sofitel ,Hilton and another are owned by a Chinese man than owns the major grocery store, the hardware store, etc, etc.….  He sold one of the hotels to Chinese outfit but they went bankrupt. He then bought it back for a song. There are  2-5 flights per day out of Mo’orea .

Pineapple distillery is now owned by Coca Cola. When owned by govt only made juice but they have too many pineapples produced so make jam, juice, alcohol, etc. we had 7-8 tastes of different alcohol contents from 8%- 30%

Solar panels are becoming popular.  Our guide paid $16,000 for 12 solar panels on his roof. 

This island’s mountains are like no others. The Canadian Rockies are something else but not like the ruggedness of these.

This was a reminder to look up “tompi fish” or also called “skippy” cuz they skip atop the water.  A  girl had her leg impaled by one while on a floaty….in Tonga.  My search could not find it.

6400 population.  There are 2 two islands joined by a short bridge.

There are only 2 hotels here now. In 1998 a cyclone hit destroying most of the 13 (?) hotels at the time 

The first part of our excursion was to go snorkelling but first stop we had to see the humpback whales that were hanging out in the bay.  I had also seen them from the ship.  They didn’t seem to be bothered at all by the presence of the ship.  We saw 3….2 adults and a baby that was having a whale of a time.  Apparently there have been up to 7 hanging out here, way past the time that they should be on the move.  They usually are here between August and October.

The snorkelling was so incredible….a school of like 100 black…. what look like angel fish with long snouts, all kinds of butterfly fish and so many others and then……I spotted a triggerfish. I became a bit panicked and quickly moved to another location. Oh my did it ever rain today….after being told to expect only 5% chance of rain. It doesn’t really matter if you get wet when you are snorkelling but at one point the rain that was pelting me was “prickly”.

Archaeological site Temple of Huahine. There are 241 temples on Island …for each family.

Fish traps….No fishing licence required & no limitations on number of fish caught at fish trap…rock weirs.  Fresh water to left, ocean to right .  I think I heard that this trap has been in existence since 1898.  Blue crab, lots of good eating fish.

We then stopped at a very little creek that had the “blue-eyed eels”. These guys are huge….2 metres long.  Our guide and a few others went into the creek to feet them …..tuna or mackerel.  Their eyes are weird!  One of my not-very-good pictures shows one with mouth open and what looks like teeth.

Then off to a viewpoint…gorgeous!

From port lecture the night before:-‘Ferry ride between Raiatea and Bora Bora is only a 45 minute ride so you can imagine that we are barely moving

27 C… hotter than today…75% humidity. 10,000 pop

Time zone….GMT -10, There are 17,000 pearls for each wifi router…lol!

Tendering from inside reef, 10 minutes.….Vaitape name of town.

Options:-Island Le Truck, private shuttle buses…USD5, taxis everything is expensive.  Most nice beaches are private….get day pass. Matira beach is only one at not cost. Swim with stingrays……6kms, Coral garden…5 minute walk.  Naval museum…40 models. Art galleries….sell what they have on display.Hiking….Mt Otemanu…619 metres(2400 ft) plus several others

Albert’s is Kaenoa’s family’s Pearl shop. Bloody Mary’s is closed for renovations……maybe! Floating bungalows….off the island on east coast. Take small boat….you can see them from the shore.

During the night we were rudely awakened by emergency alarm…..6 short and one long blast …..at the ungodly time of 2:56 am.  Apparently if was for an electrically fire in the ceiling of a stateroom half way down the hall from us.  And then we were jolted again, 4 times by announcements.  Two other rooms next to the one with the fire, were also vacated.  When I went out on the balcony I did not see flames but did smell smoke.  Try to get back to sleep after that……tough!

My tour Lagoon boat ride and snorkelling.

Mt. Otemanu was only just climbed for the first time, 3 years ago. The lagoon is a caldera …is 100 feet deep.

Cabins above water is Bloody Mary’s…is closed for renovations

Reef is just 2 feet deep. It filters the waters coming into the lagoon and oxygenated the water. The turquoise colour is made the white sand (from coral) …with sun and the clarity. Dark is very deep drop off.  Parrot fish provide 100 tons of poop, providing some of white colouring. Reef grows 20 mm per year. Coral grows close to surface for photosynthesis. A Motu is a flat island and is part of the reef ….waves break coral that float in to make motus.

We saw Eagle rays…..black, have tail but no stinger. Manta rays are lighter in colour and mottled.

As a bit of a correction regarding the creation of Pearls…..the colour of the pearls as I said before can be determined by the colour of the rim of the shell. It is the membrane that is trimmed off and chopped into small pieces and implanted along with the nucleus, not a chip. Also the nucleus’ are made from the nacre of the freshwater oyster from the Mississippi River.

77% humidity, 27 C (82 F), 45% chance of rain in form of thunderstorms.

Somehow I lost what I had written for the 5th so will be going on memory.  We travelled by vehicle for 20-25 minutes and then a 5 minute boat ride out to a little hut out in the lagoon to the Anaipu Pearl Farm.  We noticed upon coming into port, that the homes were almost sitting in the water.  Our guide told us that although they do have tides, that the low to high is maximum 40 centimetres.  That explains why they can away with being so close….and of course with such reef, they wouldn’t get much wave action.

Of the people there, the woman that spoke pretty good English (French is the official language of all of the islands), explained what the process they used for creating these black pearls.  One of the others, a Polynesian fellow was the “surgeon”.  He would cut the membrane away to get to the gonad. He would pierce the gonad and insert a small nucleus that they purchase from Mississippi, as well as a chip of the clam shell that they wish colour of the Pearl to be.  Each day the surgeon will do about 300 processes. In 2 years they reopen the gonad to find the Pearl.  They then put another  nucleus of the same size of the Pearl removed, into that same gonad.  In another year they remove another larger Pearl and repeat the process.  Eventually they will have farmed 4 pearls from each mollusk (they look like clams or scallops).  

After hearing all about the farming of pearls, we were treated to snorkelling just off the hut. The coral was really plentiful and so were the fish…..none of which were aggressive this time. It was amazing. Sorry but no underwater photos 🙁.

On the return from the Pearl farm, we stopped briefly to see a vanilla farm. The natural pollinators cannot pry into the vanilla bean so they have to be hand pollinated by humans. It can only be done in the first couple hours of the day doing about 300 in that period.

We had so few miles to go from Raiatea to Bora Bora ( we can see it from where we were), the ship could not stay beyond about 5:30. I am not sure but suspect that they have to be able to see exactly where the ship is going. There is only a small break/passage in the coral reef. The ship must have going at less than 5 knots….so slow! It look about an hour to get through to that spot.

Again, today all you’re going to get is a little education….lol!  First off through will be a chat with Daniel on what to expect on the islands of French Polynesia.  We have seven day stops with only one sea day amongst them all.  

Port lecture on French Polynesia. Land of the Black Pearl.

The legend of Oro & the Black Pearl….look it up.

Pearls have been noted in history since 4200BC.  It was not til the 1700s did they start marketing them. 100 million pearls exported from FP. since 1985. Argonite gives base colour then calcium carbonate…..nacre for sheen.

There are 120 island and 75 atolls of which are inhabited.  Most in Tahiti.  5 different groups…..Marqueses, Society Islands, the Austral Islands, the Gambier Islands, and the Tuamotu Archipelago. Bora bora was originally a separate country. French is only official language 

Now pearls are mostly farmed organically. How to massage an oyster….lol! Choosing a Pearl:-Colour,….peacock, blue or green. The sizes range 9-14 mm. Rating value depends on the purity of the surface. Brilliance. & Shape.. (irregular are baroque).

Uturoa…on Raiatea

There is hiking, boat trip, kayak on river, Pearl farm

Bora Bora(1st born of the gods)

Rent a car, Bora bora beach

Huahine, is 2 islands

Beaches, blue-eyed eeels….2 metres in lengths, Le truck…very bumpy

Mo’orea

More spectacularly ….beach in ne side …..rest are private

Tahiti….Papeete

Gaugin museum, Pearl museum

Fakarava

Beach…UNESCO biosphere 

Marine mammals & Sea Turtles of French Polynesia….by Isabelle Groc

16 species cetaceans….spinner dolphin, rough toothed dolphin,common bottle nosed dolphin, melon headed whales 

Marquesas the land of men…world heritage street…June 2024…”sea of dolphins”

Humpbacks is first mother/calf pair in July 2019. They are the only baleen whales species to come here to mate.

Spinner dolphins are here year round …160 spinners….up to 7 times in the air. Use shallows to rest.   

Orcas  in Marquesas after humpbacks, 

Bottle nosed in Tuamotu

A bottle-nosed mother dolphin with a youngster of her own, adopted a one month old melon-headed whale and cared for it for 3 years.  The melon-headed acquired the behaviour of bottle-nosed dolphins.

Turtles..

Green sea turtles(from eating algae)   Nesting in Tetiaroa Atoll…..protected site. and hawksbill turtles….can tell by shape of the head…pointy

Approx 1000 nesting females annually.  Travel over 300 kms…can live up to 100years…can lay 1000 eggs over that period. Take 50-80 days to hatch.  Takes 30 min to hour to dig a nest.  50- 80 cms deep. Sometimes baby turtles get stuck in nest(3000).  Researchers when investigating the nests after they leave, rescue them. Yellow eggs happens if exposed to too much humidity. They can nest up to 7 times per season.  If the temperatures is too high it can produce way more females …as does plastics.

Some of those that are rescued are put in Baby Box…..taken to Intercontinental Hotel in Tahiti to Sea Turtle Clinic.  Most are released if they can survive ….some cannot like the blind one whose eyes were speared in both eyes. They like to be massaged. They recognize their feeders. 50% of hatchlings are released after ….up to 12months.

Over 800 sea turtles identified in French Polynesia.

What’s in store in Rarotonga

“Smaller the port, the better the visit”.

8 am-4:30 pm….emergency number is 999, 76 % humidity, 25C

13,007 population in the Cook Islands with most living here.

Bug spray (never saw a one)…wifi is not common.  A lot of businesses are not open on Sundays…..we will be there on Sunday.

Single bus journey round island is 5NZ or all day 10 NZ….only clockwise  on Sundays 10am-12pm and 2-4pm…50 minutes.  (They actually had 3 buses running because our ship was in.  One bus driver was called out from church….not sure of the other one that was not scheduled).

CookIslands.com to find out about the bus, CIT taxis are legit but negotiate price before getting in.

Beaches:-Black rock…for rock scrambling, Nikao beach…anticlockwise closest white sand….Nikurora beach, Tikioki beach, Muri beach….tourist beach….with restaurant, turquoise building, Maire Nui beach, Tiara (sp)museum… open Sunday, Paraotane Palace…. Was run by tribal chiefs.

Independent traders “may” be open for trinkets, etc.

From the ship, the island looks ruggedly beautiful.  We were not really sure if the tenders would be venturing with passengers cuz it was a little choppy on the seas.

This island as was the other, was clean with recycle bins available.  

Someone saw a turtle while snorkelling, others saw very large fish in the lagoon at Mure Beach where again we went to a Pacific Resort, and someone mentioned being accosted by the same type of fish that was attacking us yesterday.

First I will say that we are very fortunate to be able to go ashore.  I have heard that there is only a 1 in 10 chance that we would be able to go ashore.  Winds, tides and the fact that most of this island (it is really almost an atoll) is mostly surrounded by a “fringed reef.  It is made up of  a series of islets called “motu” coming together in the shape of a fishhook.  We will be tendered through a channel that was cut through the reef, by the Americans during WW 2.  Recently it has been dredged further by the locals making it possible for frigates to come in.  Otherwise nothing could get through to shore.  As it is, only one tender at a time can get through with no 2 passing each other in it.  It is so narrow that the coral is probably off the sides only 8-10 feet.  Check out the Google map picture.  Beyond the reef, the ocean is so deep that the ship  cannot anchor.  It is too deep!!!  And so we drifted.

What to do on this island that you cannot book a ships tour on???  Friends Mary and Lindsay took a boat tour of the lagoon with snorkelling and a stop at “One Foot Island”, so some people could get a stamp in their passport.  I would have liked to see the lagoon but…… Judy, Greg and us two, took a local taxi ($20NZ but US$ 20 if you only have US cash…hmmmm, not fair.  But if you have a Visa card, they charge you in NZD).  They aren’t  really taxis but everyone that owns a car when a ship shows up, put their cars up for hire.  We were taken to Pacific Resort.  Oh My….absolutely beautiful!  I wouldn’t mind coming back here.  We swam in the warm tropical water, snorkelled, had drinks and lunch at the hotel restaurant bar and then went back into the sea for more water activities.  What a wonderful relaxing day!

The snorkelling wasn’t the absolute best but pretty damned fine with coral and a fair number of fishies….one variety of fish, which I would say was quite spectacular, bit all three of the others but when it came to me, kept advancing on me probably saying get out of MySpace.  I would keep putting my had up when it was coming towards me, it would then back away but would continue to come at me.  It finally gave up and went away.  It was maybe 8 inches+/- so not really a threat…..funny though. I later looked up the name of it. It was a Picasso Triggerfish….very aggressive. Apparently we were not the only people that had been attacked by them.

It was a spectacularly wonderful day.