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French Polynesia (Cruising aboard the Tahitian Princess) |
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French Polynesia is a
little bit of paradise on earth. The 118 islands were formed from
volcanoes around 20 million years ago. In 1944, the islands were declared
an official territory of France but in recent years, the local government
has been moving toward autonomy. The most famous group of these island is called the Society Islands and that is where Tahiti and the more popular tourist destinations are located. They are just south of the equator and have the tropical climate desired by sun seekers. Papeete (Pa-pay-ay-tay) is the capital city and is
located on the island of Tahiti. This is where the visitor will most The pareo is a large piece of cloth that the islanders use as clothing. With some ingenuity and a little instruction, you can take the colorful cloth and tie it to look exactly like a sun dress--actually many different kinds of sun dresses. Most of the pareos are made of rayon material. I have had one for almost 10 years now and it has washed beautifully with little or no ironing and has maintained its brilliant colors through much use. Overnight in Papeete Our stay in FP started at the
Intercontinental
resort in Papeete. We spent one night there before traveling on to
We arrived a little after seven in the evening (1 a.m. EDT). After settling into our rooms, we opted to sit poolside for a view of the Polynesian dance troupe that performed for the open air restaurant crowd. It was a terrific introduction to our island experience. If you choose to stay at the Intercontinental,
there is plenty to do. Sticker shock awaited us for breakfast, however. There was a beautiful buffet but it was about $32 USD for the hot buffet and $28 USD for the cold. An ala carte menu listed a few items such as pancakes and eggs that you could order separately but by the time you added a few things together, you were almost up to the buffet price. On to Moorea
Our precruise package was for three nights in
an over-the-water bungalow at the
Sheraton Moorea Lagoon Resort. Our prearranged transportation picked
us up and took us to the Moorea ferry. Unfortunately the only hitch was in
having to handle our own bags (packed for a 12 night cruise). There was no
opportunity to store them until returning
Once at the Sheraton however, we relaxed in perfect accommodations. We enjoyed the window in the floor that allowed us to view the colorful fish below our bungalow. The bed was wonderful and the bathroom a delight with a claw-foot tub and large shower. Unlike our first experience in a thatched roof bungalow, we did not wake to little bits of thatch on the bed in the morning. We took full advantage of the snorkeling right out our back door and relaxed on the lounge chairs provided on our deck. Our view of the sunset was blocked by other bungalows but we walked to a common deck area at the end of the boardwalk and watched a glorious sunset every eveninig. Again, prices in the restaurants were on the high end but the food was delicious. For lunch we found that it was better to split an order and there was more than enough food for two. Saturday night was a seafood buffet with a folk culture group featuring the local children. The buffet featured mussels, shrimp, local fish, chicken, and grilled lobster for around $50/person. (Breakfast was included with our package.) On Sunday we rented a small van (there were 6 of us) and drove around the island. There are several maraes (temple ruins) on the island but nothing is marked well to locate them easily. There are some wonderful overlooks--especially the Toatea Lookout (near the Sofitel la Ora) which has wonderful beach views and a view of Tahiti. The highlight of the tour was a trip up to
the Belvedere lookout in the middle of the island. It has a spectacular
view of both bays. There is also a waterfall nearby but we were told that
there wasn't much to see of it because of a rain
An interesting note: There are lots of free range chickens on the island. They are the ecological (and cheap) way to combat a centipede problem. They must work well. We didn't see any. While the local restaurants were small, they served excellent cuisine. Our first dinner out was at Le Boardwalk. We dined on delicious seafood, veal, and duck. The desserts were huge. The second dinner out was at Te Honu Iti.
They picked us up from the hotel and we were greeted by Chef Roger Bob and I did one dive with the Top Dive operation that took reservations at our hotel. The diving in the area is quite different from the Caribbean. There are mostly hard corals--some very colorful--but you don't have the gentleness of the soft corals. There were lots of fish, including a dozen black tipped sharks that circled us the whole time. Of course I believe that was due to the tail end of a tuna that the dive master carried with him, squeezing it every so often to get the fish into a feeding frenzy. It was very irritating when you wanted to observe a fish to have it suddenly shoot off to sample the goodies. Aside from the fact that I detest the feeding of fish on a dive, it was interesting. Embarkation Day
Our return trip on the ferry to Papeete was a
bit more awkward. This time in addition to having to handle our own bags,
the driver didn't stay with our bags to be sure they were loaded onto the
ferry. We watched with bated breath from the boat until all the luggage
was finally lifted and brought on
For lunch, we joined disembarking passengers who were allowed to stay aboard until as late as 9:30 p.m. when the last flights home were booked. After lunch, we walked up to the market and purchased tropical flower arrangements for our rooms as well as a hat for my mother-in-law. At four the next morning, I awoke to the slight shudder of the ship's engines pulling us away from the dock. We were on our way back to Moorea, our first port of call. (Click here for more about the Tahitian Princess.) Revisiting Moorea On our day in Moorea, I chose to stay on board ship and do laundry. Bob and his mother opted to go ashore (by tender) and found a cab driver willing to take them and another couple on a tour of the island for $20/person. They stopped at the pineapple distillery (which had been closed on Sunday) and sampled several wines then the driver took them to the Intercontinental Resort on Moorea to see the dolphins. They returned to the Belvedere lookout and once again enjoyed the beautiful view. Meanwhile, I enjoyed the pool and a good book without the crowd. Pearl Farming on Raiatea
In the afternoon, a group of children came aboard and did a wonderful presentation of folk loric dances. The youngest was 3 1/2 and could shake her hips with the best of them.
This is a car? Bora Bora found us driving around in a circle. (It is an island.) We rented a . . .a. . .for lack of a better description, a dune buggy with a lawn mower engine and drove around the island. The whole trip only took about 4 hours with lots of stops for pictures. The vistas on Bora Bora I find beautiful. We sought the WWII guns that were listed on our map but all we found, after a long hot trek up one steep incline was a cement platform--another great view though. We stopped at Bloody Mary's restaurant and bar. What a unique place! The floors are all sand--check your shoes at the door. The real fascination was with the sinks in the restrooms however. Tourists at the bar passed along the suggestion to check it out and I did, camera in hand. The water pour down a rock waterfall when you pulled on a wooden ring next to it. At Sea and Christmas Island
We spent five days at sea with a five hour
break at
Christmas Island (Kiribati). This is truly in the middle of nowhere.
The islanders had set
It was interesting but unless you were one of the first to land and get a $10 tour of the island you didn't get to see much. We wondered if it glowed in the dark since it had once been the site for nuclear testing in the 1950s. Unfortunately we pulled away before the sun set. ©Karen Robbins All text and photos on this page are copyrighted in my name. Please obtain permission for use. 08/24/2010
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Tips and Suggestions and General Observations:
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likely arrive first. It is a bustling little city with lots of opportunity
for tourists to spend their dollars. If you arrive by ship or are
embarking here, be sure to take a few minutes to walk straight up the
street across from the dock and visit the public market. You will find
a huge warehouse where individuals have booths that feature all
sorts of food items, souvenirs, flowers, straw hats, and clothing
including the popular pareo (pa-ray-o). 
Moorea (mor-ay-a).
The hotel is fabulous. Well appointed rooms featuring a shower, a tub, two
sinks, and a funky square toilet. The beds were canopied at the headboard
and featured the new trend in duvets and linens. 
Snorkeling in the lagoon (they feed the fish at 9
a.m.), a swimming pool with a swim-up bar, and a variety of water
sports. The grounds are beautiful and we enjoyed exploring as the sun rose. 
to board the ship and there were
certainly no extra hands to help load them into the bin which was then
loaded by forklift onto the ferry for the trip across--some bags
precariously perched on top of the pile.
deficit.
when we
arrived. The restaurant sits right on Cook's Bay and the deck overlooks a
shallow area where the stingrays come in to feed. While we waited dinner,
we were also entertained by a visiting shark. Again, the food was
wonderful followed by lovely desserts. We had to chuckle at the subtle
hint (picture of book) that tips were welcome--written in English, not French. We were
unaware that the tip could not be added to the check at the end and had to
dig for our CFPs leaving us little to tip the driver on the way back.
(Tour books will tell you that tipping is not necessary but obviously they
need to recheck their information.)
board. The transportation to the
embarkation point was a half minute ride at best from ferry dock to cruise
dock but this time at least someone handled the luggage.
While our family went to visit Tahaa and the
pearl farm there, Bob and I had the unique opportunity to take an
excursion to a pearl farm on Raiatea (Rye-a-tay-a) and snorkel among the
large oysters suspended on ropes busily producing the desired black pearl.
This was an excellent excursion in that the proprietor, Phillipe, gave us
a detailed account of how the oysters are prepared and seeded to produce
the desired color of pearl. It is quite an operation literally for the
oyster. One oyster is sacrificed when the shell is discovered to have the
sought after color of mother of pearl. Then a part of that oyster is put
into the oyster that will produce the pearl. I believe it's tucked into
the reproductive area but I could be wrong on that. (I should have taken
notes.) The oyster is then seeded with a round "pearl" made of shells from
clams from the Mississippi River (I kid you not!). Still it's not a
certainty that the color or perfect shape will happen. As Phillipe put it,
it's all a numbers game--seed enough oysters you'll get a couple of almost
perfect pearls. 
up a marketplace near the tender dock. (Note:
tenders were only half full because the area was so shallow, they had to
load everyone in the front of the boats to avoid the prop hitting bottom.)
Decorated shells, necklaces, and all sorts of homemade souvenirs were
available for one or two American dollars. The preschool kids entertained
as a way of asking for donations and another older group dressed in island
costume sang as well. As we were about to head back to the ship (about 30
minutes after we arrived--it was the hottest place we'd been) a pickup
truck unloaded what I thought at first were the pipes from a pipe organ.
They turned out to be just a bunch of different sized metal pipes lashed
together that the band pounded on to make some truly nice music. I was
duly impressed but too hot to last past one song.