Tuesday-Wednesday, July 13-14 - Leaving Tahiti, Arriving Home

We had put our suitcases outside our cabins last night and this morning they were gone.  We're docked back at Papeete and can see all sorts of activity down below us:  forklifts carrying crates of drinks and food to the hold, a large fuel supply line being assembled to pump diesel into the ship and an enormous pile of luggage under a large tent.

We met Ann and Hilary for breakfast, then returned to our cabin for a last check as we can't use our cabins after 9:30 this morning.  We girls left the ship and walked into downtown Papeete for last minute shopping and bought some scarves and beads and visited the very clean and interesting market selling everything from fish to clothes.  We got back on board and joined the others for lunch at La Veranda.  Curry, Eric and Lydia had already left the ship as they are going back to Le Meridien Hotel for the day, but the rest of us were treated to sumptuous lunch:   a whole roast suckling pig, soups, salads, fish and more!

We are all color-coded.  Alice, Kent, Arnie and Anita are "pink" meaning they are going on a tour before being deposited at the Radisson for the afternoon, whereas Hilary, Ann, Bob and I are "brown" as we are going straight to the hotel to relax.  We gathered in the Grand Salon and the "browns" were the last to leave the ship.  We submitted our key cards at the gangplank and found our luggage on the dock and boarded the bus.  Very sad to leave our life of luxury!

The bus took us to the Radisson and we checked in...once again Bob and I got a suite; two floors, two balconies!  I put on my bathing suit and had a swim and sun with Hilary and Ann, returned for repacking and a shower - very nice!

At 5 all eight of us had a light supper overlooking the ocean and then took the bus back to the airport.  The line was very long but we got through check-in and security (shoes on!) without much trouble and then those of us who had bought Tahitian black pearls had to stand for 40 minutes until an official finally appeared to stamp our VAT forms so we don't have to pay the 14% tax on jewelry.  By that time it was almost 9:30 and we boarded our Air Tahiti Nui jet.

After a drink and yet another dinner we fell asleep in our rather cramped seats.   Nevertheless, I awoke at 7 AM, had breakfast and landed in clear LA weather!  We were the only plane landing at Bradley International Terminal and whisked through Immigration, waited a while for bags, kissed everyone goodbye.  Bob and I got into our rented car and arrived home in Santa Barbara at 1 PM.  We were greeted by my sister, Jenny, and niece, Caitlin, drove down to Cottage Hospital, checked my mother out, took her home, picked up Madeline at the Cat House Hotel and returned home for dinner and bed!

Monday, July 12 - Exploring Moorea

We could see the beautiful jungle-covered mountains of Moorea from our room this morning. We wandered up to La Palette on deck 8 and had a lovely continental breakfast of pastries made in the kitchen we had seen yesterday! The disembarkation instructions are rather elaborate: we have to leave our suitcases outside our cabin tonight and leave the ship at 12:40PM tomorrow on a bus back to the Radisson where the cruise has booked a day room for us to use until our flight at 10PM. As there are so many cubbyholes in our room and bathroom, we have to really canvas the entire room to make sure we have everything!


We were scheduled for a tour of the bridge at 10 AM this morning, but got a call that it was canceled. I tried to call Hilary to see if she wanted to take the tender to shore, but couldn’t find her, so Bob and I grabbed the next tender to the pier of the tiny town of Papetoai and walked a couple of miles along the pleasant main road , saw some lovely Fairy Turns, and returned to the pier. The Paul Gauguin had set up a table with cold juice and water, flowers, chairs and shade for us to rest until the next tender arrived…they think of everything!

We returned to our room and ordered up salads and steak sandwiches on baguettes from room service and at 12:45 boarded the tender again for the “Legacy Tour of Moorea”. We met Hilary, Ann, Kent and Alice on the pier as they had come ashore to shop. We set off on the bus tour lead by Frank Murphy who splits his time between being assistant director of the UC Richard Gump South Pacific Research Station and running a touring business. We drove to the station where he explained the work being done there, including that of UCSB’s Russ Schmidt and Sally Holbrook. The research station that I helped them ship from Seattle to Moorea was up the hill. We then drove to the house and gardens of Mari Kellum. Her parents moved here in the 20s, bought some lovely land on the bay where Captain Cool landed in 1777 and raised their family. She still lives in their house and showed us indigenous artifacts and plants. We concluded the tour with a drive up a steep slope to Belvedere Lookout from which we could see Cook’s and Opunohu Bays.

We returned to the ship on one of the last tenders, cleaned up, started to pack and then went up to the pool for the Captain’s Farewell and snagged a couple of Pina Coladas while Les Gauguines (the cute Polynesian girls who sing, teach native crafts, etc.) danced and we sailed away from Moorea towards Papeete.

Sunday, July 11 - Eclipse Day!

Clouds at dawn! We went up to Deck 8 and 9 at6:45 AM and the area around the pool and up on the sundeck were already full of eclipsos with elaborate cameras with filters set up on tripods.

We grabbed some coffee and bagels at Le Grill and joined them. The sundeck bar was serving Coronas, appropriately enough which tasted pretty good on this tropical tension-filled morning!

The clouds gathered over the sun and then dissolved. First contact (the first bite out of the sun by the moon) occurred at 7:18. Lydia and her friend, Malia, managed to shinny up the front edge of the bridge for a great view. We all stood around, watching with our eclipse filters, the sun slowly disappear behind the moon; it gradually got cooler and the light changed. A beautiful rainbow appeared to the south of us. The captain and Jay Anderson, the meteorologist, worked on steering the ship to a hole in the clouds. At 8:30 totality started to a general cheer, but then the cloud-cover blocked our view, but suddenly it cleared and we all got good views of the great black hole in the sky with a beautiful corona showing all around it! We had almost four minutes to observe it, but, of course, it passed in a flash! All of a sudden, the second diamond ring effect appeared and the sun flashed out from behind the sun! The ship broke out champagne and we all cheered!

Most of us met at 10 for a re-cap of the eclipse and people’s different impressions. Famished, Bob, Hilary, Ann and I went down to La Veranda for a delicious French style Tex-Mex buffet! We sat outside overlooking the stern of the ship; now we’re running with the wind, it is much less windy on deck and more pleasant.

The four of us got together again at four for a tour of the galley which the others had already seen. The jolly Aussie Executive Chef took us into one of the galleys showing us the huge dish washers, Then we saw the cooking and plating areas and we met the baker who produces all the breads and rolls eaten on board! There is a pastry chef who construct the myriad of fancy Danishes, and tarts and cakes. Just amazing!

We dashed back to our cabin to get dressed up for the Eclipse Cocktail Party and reassembled in the Grand Salon for Pina Coladas and trays of goodies. Jan Anderson and his wife gave us a slide show of eclipse pictures that various passengers had given them and they showed three of mine - human interest pics including one of Lydia and her friend, Malia, up on the bridge wall. Others had beautiful eclipse photos showing the corona and phases of the eclipse.



At seven we sat down to the Polynesian dinner at the L’Etoile restaurant and feasted on lobster tail and mahi mahi with banana sauce, chocolate baby cakes and passion fruit cheese cake! Now we know how the food is prepared, we are even more impressed with the variety and quality!!



Ann , Hilary and I tried the slot machines in the tiny casino which ate up our dollar bills in seconds and didn’t provide much entertainment! We went up on Deck 9 to look at the stars but didn’t have our personal astronomer along so couldn’t identify anything, although it was beautiful! We went to bed just as we could see the lights of Moorea approaching in the distance.

Saturday, July 10 - At Sea

A day at sea! We sailed past Moorea in the morning on 8-10 foot seas. Bob and I had breakfast at la Veranda: eggs Benedict for me and a large minute steak and potatoes for RRZ.

Afterwards we went up to Deck 8 and joined Arnie & Anita reading and lounging on the deck. I had planned on swimming but the pool was empty as water would have sloshed out due to the rough seas. Ann went to an astronomy lecture and then joined Hilary and me for lunch at Le Grill - today German day, so we had bratwurst, sauerkraut and cole slaw with dill seed in a pretty strong, but warm, wind. We watched Tahiti pass slowly by.



Hilary went with me to the gym and helped me figure out the treadmill and biking machines so I can feel a bit better about eating so much! Then I took an hour nap after which Bob showed me that we had arrived at the edge of the path of totality- about 15 miles south of Tahiti Iti and 130 miles wide- so we should actually see the eclipse tomorrow!

The daily ship’s newsletter, which I finally started to read (it lists daily chess, bridge, book clubs, classes in Polynesian arts and crafts, piano players, etc), listed a lecture on the history and migration of the peoples of Polynesia by an Australian anthropologist, Mark Eddowes, at 4 pm, so I dashed into the shower and changed into evening clothes, and ran up to the Grand Salon for a really interesting talk on the latest DNA and linguistics evidence on the origin and migrations of the peoples of the south Pacific.

I wandered back up to Deck 8 and La Palette bar where I got a Campari and soda and joined Arnie & Anita and Hil & Ann for a drink before heading down to Deck 6 and La Boutique shop where champagne was offered and a black pearl pendant drawing was taking place at 6:30. Well, Hilary almost won as the cabin next to hers was drawn, but…

At seven the six of us from La Palette had a delicious dinner at L’Etoile: shrimp and cucumber roll. Indian soup, fresh pea soup. Sechwan chicken, lamb chops, lemon sorbet and banana boats! We all went to be early in order to be up bright and early for the big day! The first contact (when the moon cuts into the sun) occurs at 7:18 AM so we have to be up on deck with all 300 other passengers and jockeying for position! Very exciting!

Friday, July 9 - Exploring Bora Bora

We awoke to see the high, green, spiky peaks of Bora Bora! Bob and I went up the Le Grill on Deck 8 and had the buffet of fresh fruit, muesli, and an omelet for Bob…first mis-step of the entire trip…the ingredients he requested were not correct! But great view and good coffee anyway.

Our glass-bottomed boat trip wasn’t scheduled until 1 PM so we had the morning free. I was tempted to take the tender to shore and from there on Le Truck to a beautiful beach as Arnie and Anita did, but we decided to walk around town with Kent & Alice. The town of Vaitape is a small somewhat messy beach town with colorful canoes hauled up on the shore and small bungalows surrounded by lush vegetation, all with the magnificent backdrop of Bora Bora’s famous mountains! We stopped at a Robert Wan shop, the famous black pearl outlet, and a charming sales lady persuaded me to buy a cluster of pearls on a leather cord. The shop even had a room divider made of long ropes of pearls! We returned to the tender wharf and met Curry, Eric and Lydia returning from a snorkeling expedition where they saw lemon sharks and swam with rays! The kids’ program is really amazing, fun and educational - we’re tempted to sign on as chaperones!

We returned to the ship and ordered room service as time was short. Within five minutes we had another large tray with tuna salad on a baguette, chicken matzo ball soup and a great salad delivered to our rooms!



We joined everyone for a tender ride back to the dock and transferred onto a small open boat with a canopy overhead. There was a bench around the sides that we sat on, facing the middle in which were large open-topped boxes with glass bottoms that we could lean on and look down into the water. The water was pretty cloudy as it’s been very windy lately, but when we got to shallower water over a coral reef we began to see beautifully-colored coral and schools of wonderful fish of every color and shape! Our guide handed out laminated fish guides so we could try to identify some of the species, but it was better to just gaze at the beautiful sight!

After an hour we returned to shore and I showed Ann and Hilary the pearl store and Hil found a lovely necklace also.

I found Bob back on ship and we went up to Deck 8 to see if we could find a Wi-Fi hot spot. We didn’t’ have success at that but did find Afternoon Tea, complete with scones and very good éclairs. We could have hung around for hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, but knew we’d ruin ourselves for dinner, so left to clean up for the evening.



Curry, Eric and Lydia were scheduled to take a boat to another of the ship’s private motus for star gazing, but the water was too rough, so the crew promised to turn off all the lights up on

Deck 9, and they had an early supper to take advantage of that. The rest of us returned to La Veranda restaurant and had an excellent dinner: crab cakes with poached egg, microtome tuna capaccio, broiled shrimp on whipped sweet potato, ice creams, strawberries and bottomless glasses of wine!



The boat gave a lurch about 10 PM and I went up on deck to see the lights of Bora Bora fading away as we set off south and east towards the center line for Sunday’s eclipse!

Thursday, July 8 - Exploring Taha'a

The Society Islands are all surrounded by lagoons bordered by barrier reefs, creating the ribbon of turquoise and white that you can see from the shore. The islands of Raiatea and Taha’a are very close together and have a common barrier reef, so when our ship set sail at daybreak this morning, she crossed the narrow channel between the islands and circumnavigated Taha’a staying within the lagoon. On the north side of Taha’a the ship anchored off the tiny town of Patio.

Our Taha’a tour is leaving at 8:30 AM so we ordered room service for breakfast and on the dot of seven we got a knock on the door and the waiter came in bearing a huge tray with coffee, croissants, scrambled eggs and juice. Just great!

We assembled by the piano bar on Deck 5 for check-in and then shuffled down to Deck 3 to board a small bouncy tender for shore. We arrived at the town of Patio and were greeted by some locals playing ukeleles and singing Tahitian songs. These people turned out to be our drivers and we all loaded onto Land Rovers with open tops. Hilary, Ann, Kent and Alice joined Bob and me and we took off down the coast. We were totally windblown and disheveled, but it was fun. We stopped at a vanilla farm and saw the vanilla orchid vines growing up stakes surrounded by coconut shell compost, and a table piled high with wonderfully smelling beans!  We bought a glass tube of ten vanilla beans for ten dollars.

We continued on to a black pearl farm. Black pearls are usually pewter colored with tones of green, blue and yellow, and are called “black” as they are grown in Black-lipped Oysters. The farmers open the shell of the oyster and plant a piece of shell from a thick shelled mussel from the Mississippi river. It takes about 18 months for the pearl to develop and then it is removed and another piece of shell is implanted. An oyster can produce four pearl before it is too old and then it is eaten!

We were given papaya, coconut and delicious bananas to eat and then returned to the port and the ship.

While we were touring, the ship was setting up a picnic lunch on its own private motu, an island in the barrier reef. We put on our suits and went back to Deck 3 and got on the tender once again and took a very wet ride to a beautiful island, surrounded with crystal clear water and full of coconut palms. We got there at the end of lunch service but managed to get hotdogs, salads and two very large coconuts with the tops hacked off and filled with pina coladas! We tried to find the others but we were being buffeted by trade winds and just settled down on two chaises with a wonderful view of the ship and Taha’a. We walked around the motu and finally ran into Hilary, Ann and Arnie. Hil and I swam, without our snorkels but saw wonderful corals and large black sea urchins.

The water temperature was 84 degrees! We took the tender back to the ship, cleaned up and went up to the pool bar for Tequila Sunrises, listened to a very good rock band and watched as the ship set sail for Bora Bora.

Wednesday, July 7 - Exploring Raiatea

Up at seven, still under way. We found the breakfast room, Restaurant La Veranda, and sat with two other retired community college teachers from So. Cal. Afterwards we bumped into Hilary and Ann and set off to find restaurant reservation for tonight...group of eleven! Both reserveable places were all booked, so we reserved the next two nights and settled on L‘Etoile, which doesn’t take reservations, for 7:30 tonight.



Then Hil and I went to pick up our snorkel equipment. We went down to Deck 3 at the stern of the ship where two young French men were fitting people of all shapes and sizes to fins and masks in a rather sweltering un-ventilated hold, but were very charming nevertheless! We finally emerged with net bag of equipment which we hope to use soon!

While we were down in the bottom of the ship, and most of the other passengers were at a lecture on coral, Bob smartly went up on deck as we approached the island of Raiatea and watched as we maneuvered in to the wharf and tied up. Out of our cabin window we could see this lovely island with its small port and a population one tenth that of Tahiti. Out to sea we could see a white line of crashing surf on the atoll and the turquoise waters inside.



We had a tour scheduled for 12:45 so we walked up to Le Grill on Deck 8 and from the buffet got a duck salad, celery root remolade and a ratatouille soup and a mint meringue! We sat outside and were buffeted by the refreshing trade winds

At 12:45 we assembled in the conference center and after roll call were directed to a bus on the dock for our tour of the island. Arnie and Anita were taken by 4-wheel drive to Faaroa River for an outrigger canoe ride and jeep tour, whereas we had a tamer trip. Our guide was a San Diego surfer girl who had visited the island and fallen in love with life here and with a local dude, so she provided interesting commentary on the local culture from a foreigner’s point of view.
The bus took us around the southern coast, stopping at a couple of cultural points of interest: rocky structures and wooden carvings assembled by the indigenous peoples. We saw amazingly brilliant turquoise waters, palm-covered motus and finally stopped at a small house where the owners served us coconut and other fruits on large green leaves - the local disposable paper plate! We returned to the ship at five and met up with Curry, Eric and Lydia who had had an adventurous day 4-wheel driving on Tahaa, an island only 20 minutes away by boat and our destination for tomorrow.

I went to the pool bar for a rum and coke and then went down to the internet café on Deck 5 to sent my blog. Showered and changed and Bob and I met the others at Restaurant L’Etoile where Hilary had snagged a table for eleven. We had an amazing meal of oysters, moon fish with an amazing sauce, beef, gnocchi, local coconut sorbet intermezzo, crepes for dessert!