Tahiti

Sunday 29th September.  (Day 7)

WOW.  What a day.  We went on a snorkel trip.

Got down to the tender and look who was there to see us off his ship.   The Captain.






But then we got into our tender - and guess who our driver was....the captain.  He was very funny - giving his noon announcement about the weather etc.  

We had booked a tour with 'Snorkel Bora Bora' and surprise surprise, they were there waiting for us. 

Bora Bora is an island surrounded by a lagoon, with an outer reef surrounding the whole lot. The colour of the water is truly unbelievable.  It looks like someone was doing a painting and ran out of one blue so picked up another blue and continued. Then another.  The blues are amazing and the changes so distinctive. 

The boat we went in was lovely.  What you would expect in one of the most expensive resort island there is.

This HAS NOT been colour enhanced!!!!!

First stop was a place called "the Aquarium". Not sure why????? hahah  Water was about five to eight metres deep and full of life. 

"If an eel jumps out and bites you on the snout, it's a-moray!"


See ALL the fish.


After the Aquarium we headed off further around the lagoon. This stop was to snorkel with Manta-rays!!!  They are massive.  Around 3 metres across. And so wonderful to watch. They just glided around not caring about us. There was about six of them. this was in about 20 metres so the visibility was not as good.




 The next stop was 'the Coral Garden'. Also great. The coral was nothing special but we had such fun. Think the octopus had fun!











These rooms are $15,000 per night!!!!!!!! Yes, thousand!


Always Cocktail o'clock.

After the dive we went back to the ship, showered and had lunch. It was then back to Bora Bora.

The shops were just like all the others in the Pacific, except they were hideously expensive. There were a lot of lovely pearl shops though. Tahiti specialises in Black Pearls. The Pearls grow in black lipped oysters (thus the name Black Pearls) and are bluish, greenish or darkish. Lovely.

We then jumped into a shuttle bus and went for a drive round the island. A few of the performers were in our bus and sang and played the Ukelailie the whole way. Was fantastic.

We went to Bloody Mary's, a bar made famous in the musical South Pacific.

Back to the ship was next.

So we came back and had a Bloody Mary.

Jamie Packer was in town.  This is his ship 'Arctic'. Didn't see him though.

Awesome day.

Monday 30th September (Day 8)


Today was a driving day. 

We got off the ship to be greeted by the usual touristy stuff – live music, markets etc.  Was good,  we then walked the 15 minutes up the road to collect our booked Hertz car.  But the depot had moved. Lucky Avis was next door and had a car. 



We got a car and headed off around the island. Tahiti is a circle island (with an extra bit hanging off) and only one road. “Keep the ocean on your left and the mountain on your right”.  Easy!

First stop was at ‘Le trou du Souffleur” a blow hole with a difference. The waves crashed into the rocks. Forcing water up a tunnel running under the road.  A small hole (about 500mm square) on the other side of the road would give a great roar and puff out mist. Very cool.  Of course I declared that it was an ‘oracle’ and stuffed my head near the hole and asked it questions. I was told by more than one person to “be careful, it could be dangerous, I could get hurt, I could get wet” (It was pouring). But all was 
good. I got some answers.  

It was then off to ‘Les 3 Cascades’. A series of waterfalls, with an awesome Bamboo Grove and great plant life.





Next stop was the Black Sand beaches and the Paul Gauguin museum, but it was closed for renovations.





‘Grotte du Maraa’ followed, a series of grottos (cave like depressions in the rock) with amazing ferns.




 We stopped at a supermarket / hardware store and saw the biggest poo-per scoopers ever.  How big were these dogs?



Then back to drop off the car and a look through the markets.

Back to the ship for a shower and a Nanna Nap.  It is SOOOOO hot here.

There are a few lovely pleasure craft in the harbour next to us. Jolly nice.


Another great day!


Tuesday 1st October

Moreea, Tahiti.

So woke up today to another stunning group of islands.  Tendered over (thanks Juan Diego for the priority tendering) and were met by all the cool tourist things.


Todays adventure was a boat trip out to swim with sting rays and black tipped reef sharks.  Had a fun trip out to the lagoon then mega fun.


Not an ugly area! And so much fun.




And of course I patted them.


Another huge moray.


All the sand here is crushed coral - 80% is fish poo.  Has been eaten. The other 20% is broken up in storms.


THEN, on my seventh cruise - I finally made it into a spa!!!!!!


Now a snooze.

Sarah – you would be so proud of how much pineapple I have eaten.  I forgot how good it is. And yes you were correct. Pineapple is delicious.


On the beach at the sting ray feed, I helped to devour a HUGE bowl of it.

Ten minutes later I remembered why I don’t like pineapple. 

Ten hours later I am still remembering why I don’t like eating pineapple.  My tongue is still burning.


Tonight we went to the Murder Mystery dinner – like a How to host a murder dinner but with actors.  It was fun! I cannot say much about it though - some of the people reading this will probably be doing this night soon.




Haven't had any 'Food Porn' for a while.


Another lovely day.  Now it is farewell to Tahiti and off for 4 days sailing to New Zealand.


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