I recently returned from a two month journey through the South Pacific. At the suggestion of my travel agent, I created this journal so that others could enjoy the experience with me. I have tried to describe, in as much detail as I could recall, all of the amazing day-by-day sights and experiences that I enjoyed on this trip. So come along and enjoy it for yourself!
Just in case you're not familiar with blogs, they're always bottom-up, i.e. the most recent entry is at the top. So to follow along from the beginning, you have to start all the way at the bottom. There's an archive list on the right side which can be expanded to show all posts. Just click on the side-facing arrows to expand the tree. Once the entire list is displayed, click on the earliest date and you'll get just that entry. Then, when you finish reading that one, click the link for "newer post" after the comment area and the next entry will be displayed. If you stop part-way through, you can click on any archive entry to start again at that point.
If you would like to leave a comment or ask a question, please do! I will try to respond with any additional information that I have or can find.
One last thing: you can click on any picture to get a larger view. And, just in case you want more, I have some additional photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/nbhousch.
Happy reading!
11/25/08 Back to Reality
Well, I was back. I had traveled a total of 27,794 miles by air and sea. That’s more than the distance around the world. And I was finally right back where I started.
I slept great that first night. There’s just something about sleeping in your own bed. Of course, there was no chocolate on the pillow and nobody delivered coffee and danish to my room in the morning. Oh well, back to the real world. I had to run some errands, the most important being to pick up my little girl from the kennel. But she wouldn’t be ready until about noon since I always have her bathed before she comes home. So I had a little time to get started on other things.
I began with the laundry. I had dumped everything in the clothes basket when I emptied the bags so there was a major pile of stuff to be washed. I figured that I could get at least one load done before I had to go out. Once that was started, I got on-line and downloaded credit card and bank statements, cleared checks, etc. I had saved my credit card receipts and, even though they were from all over the place and in several different currencies, everything balanced to the credit card statement without a problem. That was a relief since I have no idea how I would have resolved a problem with a merchant in Fiji or New Zealand. I downloaded and verified all checking account transactions to make sure that the bills were paid while I was gone. No problems there! I went back to the basement and threw the clothes in the dryer.
After a quick shower, I headed out to run a couple more errands before going to the kennel. First I had to make a “real” trip to the grocery store. The donuts wouldn’t last forever! Since I live by myself, I don’t buy a whole lot of food at any one time. It just goes bad before I can get around to eating it. So the grocery shopping didn’t take very long. I stopped at Costco for a few things, including some chicken strips and pig ears for Sarah. She loves those things and I buy them in large quantities. Then came the post office. They had been holding my mail for two months and I wasn’t prepared for what was coming. I gave the clerk my name and driver’s license and she disappeared for probably five minutes. She returned with one of those big plastic bins like they use in business mailrooms, about three-quarters filled with mail. It must have weighed twenty pounds and it was all mine! She told me to just take the whole bin, so I hauled it away. Of course, most of it was junk….
I dropped everything off at home, put the groceries away and went to get my baby. The kennel charges were pretty high, of course, but not bad for the length of time she had been there. And the people there love Sarah! They take great care of her, even though she doesn’t really understand it. As expected, she went a little nuts when they brought her out to the lobby. But she didn’t pay so much attention to me as to the front door. She kept jumping up on the door and pawing at the knob, saying “Let me out of here!”. So I did….
Dogs are funny. Sarah had been home for no more than an hour before she was right back into her routine. She chased a squirrel, played with her football, had a chicken strip and was asleep on the bed in less than an hour. It was as if I had never been gone. I was really worried about leaving her for so long but I’m now convinced that dogs don’t perceive time in the same way that we do. I guess that explains why she is always so excited when I come home, whether I’m gone all day or just a few minutes. In the future, I won’t worry quite so much when I leave her.
Well, I guess that’s just about the end of my story. I had planned and anticipated this trip for almost a year and it was worth every bit of it. Creating this journal has brought it all back, allowing me the opportunity to re-live all the experiences once again. What started as a favor for my travel agent has turned out to be a lot of fun for me and I hope that you enjoyed following along. Perhaps you’ll be writing your own trip journal before long!
Just one piece of advice: don’t put it off too long! If you have a “trip of a lifetime” in mind, go for it! I kept saying “one of these days” for a long time before I finally pulled the trigger. I wish I had done it sooner. You never know what might happen tomorrow!
So what’s next for me? I’m really not sure. I have two cruises booked for September, back-to-back trips from Seattle. The first is a week trip back to Alaska, my fourth cruise there. Then I’ll stay on the ship and cruise the west coast of the U.S. and Mexico, transit the Panama Canal and visit a few Caribbean islands before docking in Fort Lauderdale. It’s not exactly a “trip of a lifetime” for me but I’ve never been through the canal, so it will be interesting. But I’m looking at another cruise in July that may qualify as one of those “lifetime” things. It’s a thirty-five night round-trip from Boston with a fabulous itinerary, places that I would never visit on my own, including Newfoundland, Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands, among others. I haven’t booked it yet but it’s just a matter of time. There’s a lot more world to see!
Bon Voyage…..
2/1/09 Update: Well, I said that it was just a matter of time before I booked the "Voyage of the Vikings". Turned out to be a short time! I booked it a couple of days ago so I will be leaving Boston on July 25th aboard Holland America's Maasdam. I'm really looking forward to this itinerary since I've never visited any of these ports. I see another blog in my future!
I slept great that first night. There’s just something about sleeping in your own bed. Of course, there was no chocolate on the pillow and nobody delivered coffee and danish to my room in the morning. Oh well, back to the real world. I had to run some errands, the most important being to pick up my little girl from the kennel. But she wouldn’t be ready until about noon since I always have her bathed before she comes home. So I had a little time to get started on other things.
I began with the laundry. I had dumped everything in the clothes basket when I emptied the bags so there was a major pile of stuff to be washed. I figured that I could get at least one load done before I had to go out. Once that was started, I got on-line and downloaded credit card and bank statements, cleared checks, etc. I had saved my credit card receipts and, even though they were from all over the place and in several different currencies, everything balanced to the credit card statement without a problem. That was a relief since I have no idea how I would have resolved a problem with a merchant in Fiji or New Zealand. I downloaded and verified all checking account transactions to make sure that the bills were paid while I was gone. No problems there! I went back to the basement and threw the clothes in the dryer.
After a quick shower, I headed out to run a couple more errands before going to the kennel. First I had to make a “real” trip to the grocery store. The donuts wouldn’t last forever! Since I live by myself, I don’t buy a whole lot of food at any one time. It just goes bad before I can get around to eating it. So the grocery shopping didn’t take very long. I stopped at Costco for a few things, including some chicken strips and pig ears for Sarah. She loves those things and I buy them in large quantities. Then came the post office. They had been holding my mail for two months and I wasn’t prepared for what was coming. I gave the clerk my name and driver’s license and she disappeared for probably five minutes. She returned with one of those big plastic bins like they use in business mailrooms, about three-quarters filled with mail. It must have weighed twenty pounds and it was all mine! She told me to just take the whole bin, so I hauled it away. Of course, most of it was junk….
I dropped everything off at home, put the groceries away and went to get my baby. The kennel charges were pretty high, of course, but not bad for the length of time she had been there. And the people there love Sarah! They take great care of her, even though she doesn’t really understand it. As expected, she went a little nuts when they brought her out to the lobby. But she didn’t pay so much attention to me as to the front door. She kept jumping up on the door and pawing at the knob, saying “Let me out of here!”. So I did….
Dogs are funny. Sarah had been home for no more than an hour before she was right back into her routine. She chased a squirrel, played with her football, had a chicken strip and was asleep on the bed in less than an hour. It was as if I had never been gone. I was really worried about leaving her for so long but I’m now convinced that dogs don’t perceive time in the same way that we do. I guess that explains why she is always so excited when I come home, whether I’m gone all day or just a few minutes. In the future, I won’t worry quite so much when I leave her.Well, I guess that’s just about the end of my story. I had planned and anticipated this trip for almost a year and it was worth every bit of it. Creating this journal has brought it all back, allowing me the opportunity to re-live all the experiences once again. What started as a favor for my travel agent has turned out to be a lot of fun for me and I hope that you enjoyed following along. Perhaps you’ll be writing your own trip journal before long!
Just one piece of advice: don’t put it off too long! If you have a “trip of a lifetime” in mind, go for it! I kept saying “one of these days” for a long time before I finally pulled the trigger. I wish I had done it sooner. You never know what might happen tomorrow!
So what’s next for me? I’m really not sure. I have two cruises booked for September, back-to-back trips from Seattle. The first is a week trip back to Alaska, my fourth cruise there. Then I’ll stay on the ship and cruise the west coast of the U.S. and Mexico, transit the Panama Canal and visit a few Caribbean islands before docking in Fort Lauderdale. It’s not exactly a “trip of a lifetime” for me but I’ve never been through the canal, so it will be interesting. But I’m looking at another cruise in July that may qualify as one of those “lifetime” things. It’s a thirty-five night round-trip from Boston with a fabulous itinerary, places that I would never visit on my own, including Newfoundland, Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands, among others. I haven’t booked it yet but it’s just a matter of time. There’s a lot more world to see!
Bon Voyage…..
2/1/09 Update: Well, I said that it was just a matter of time before I booked the "Voyage of the Vikings". Turned out to be a short time! I booked it a couple of days ago so I will be leaving Boston on July 25th aboard Holland America's Maasdam. I'm really looking forward to this itinerary since I've never visited any of these ports. I see another blog in my future!
11/24/08 Los Angeles to Richmond
This was it, the last day. Tonight I would be sleeping in my own bed, watching my own TV, in my own home. I had been looking forward to this day for several weeks. Now it was up to Delta!
I left a wake-up call for 4:15 am but was already up before it came. I was taking the shuttle to the airport at 5:00 am to catch a 7:15 am flight to Atlanta. A couple of hours layover and I would be back in Richmond by 6:00 pm. The shuttle was right on time and we were at LAX in maybe a half-hour. A few minutes at check-in and I had my boarding pass. Again, nothing to do but wait until flight time. I got some coffee (wow, what a surprise) and walked outside to smoke a cigarette. I went through the security checkpoint, found the gate and waited for the flight to be announced. Everything was right on time, a good thing about flying first thing in the morning. We boarded, buckled up and left on schedule. I was on my way home!
There’s really nothing much to say about the flights home. They were smooth, on time and totally uneventful. I’m still amazed that they can keep you on a plane for four hours and only serve peanuts, crackers and cookies. Welcome to the modern age of flying, I guess. But it didn’t really matter. I could grab something in Atlanta during my layover. Instead, I went into a bar where smoking was allowed and ordered a beer. That’s a healthy lunch, isn’t it?
The flight to Richmond left right on time and we landed just before six. It’s funny how you get this happy little feeling when you know you’re home. I just felt sort of warm and fuzzy all over. Laurie met me in the terminal, the first familiar face in two months! I gave her a big hug and she fussed about how long it took me to make it off the plane. Everything is back to normal, just like I never left! We got the luggage and caught the shuttle to the parking lot. Now all I had to do was survive the ride home. Not so fast. First we had to find Laurie’s car! She couldn’t remember where she had parked the thing. And it’s a big lot. The driver was pretty nice about it and drove up and down the rows, several times, until we finally spotted it.
Laurie’s going to hate me for telling that story but I don’t care. It’s my blog and I can say anything I want. On the way home, I stopped at the grocery store for just a couple of minutes. I had absolutely nothing to eat in my house. Everything was tossed before I left. I got some bread, milk, eggs and two bags of donuts. Breakfast of champions – coffee and donuts! That would hold me for a day or so.
Five minutes later, I was home. I honestly can’t tell you just how good that felt, even though it was a bit cold in the house. I had cut the heat back before I left also. But in a couple of days, it would be Thanksgiving and soon after that, Christmas. It was getting to be winter and the heat came back up. I had also turned off the ice maker so back on it came. Boot up the pc, make a pot of coffee. Lots of little things to do!
Laurie stayed and chatted for maybe an hour or more, then she had to get home. Tomorrow was a work day for both of us. She had a job. I had a life to put back together!
I left a wake-up call for 4:15 am but was already up before it came. I was taking the shuttle to the airport at 5:00 am to catch a 7:15 am flight to Atlanta. A couple of hours layover and I would be back in Richmond by 6:00 pm. The shuttle was right on time and we were at LAX in maybe a half-hour. A few minutes at check-in and I had my boarding pass. Again, nothing to do but wait until flight time. I got some coffee (wow, what a surprise) and walked outside to smoke a cigarette. I went through the security checkpoint, found the gate and waited for the flight to be announced. Everything was right on time, a good thing about flying first thing in the morning. We boarded, buckled up and left on schedule. I was on my way home!
There’s really nothing much to say about the flights home. They were smooth, on time and totally uneventful. I’m still amazed that they can keep you on a plane for four hours and only serve peanuts, crackers and cookies. Welcome to the modern age of flying, I guess. But it didn’t really matter. I could grab something in Atlanta during my layover. Instead, I went into a bar where smoking was allowed and ordered a beer. That’s a healthy lunch, isn’t it?
The flight to Richmond left right on time and we landed just before six. It’s funny how you get this happy little feeling when you know you’re home. I just felt sort of warm and fuzzy all over. Laurie met me in the terminal, the first familiar face in two months! I gave her a big hug and she fussed about how long it took me to make it off the plane. Everything is back to normal, just like I never left! We got the luggage and caught the shuttle to the parking lot. Now all I had to do was survive the ride home. Not so fast. First we had to find Laurie’s car! She couldn’t remember where she had parked the thing. And it’s a big lot. The driver was pretty nice about it and drove up and down the rows, several times, until we finally spotted it.
Laurie’s going to hate me for telling that story but I don’t care. It’s my blog and I can say anything I want. On the way home, I stopped at the grocery store for just a couple of minutes. I had absolutely nothing to eat in my house. Everything was tossed before I left. I got some bread, milk, eggs and two bags of donuts. Breakfast of champions – coffee and donuts! That would hold me for a day or so.
Five minutes later, I was home. I honestly can’t tell you just how good that felt, even though it was a bit cold in the house. I had cut the heat back before I left also. But in a couple of days, it would be Thanksgiving and soon after that, Christmas. It was getting to be winter and the heat came back up. I had also turned off the ice maker so back on it came. Boot up the pc, make a pot of coffee. Lots of little things to do!
Laurie stayed and chatted for maybe an hour or more, then she had to get home. Tomorrow was a work day for both of us. She had a job. I had a life to put back together!
11/23/08 Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
I hate long flights! I’ve always hated long flights! It might be different if I could sleep on the plane but I have never been able to do that. I look around and everybody else is sleeping like a baby. I really want to hurt those people….
After nine hours of staring at the flight progress map on the screen in the seatback (which moves very slowly), we’re back in the U.S.A. It’s a strange sensation just to realize that you’re back in your home country. I was gone for a long time and now I’m back. It feels good!
The good feeling lasted just a few minutes, long enough to reach Customs and Immigration. Since I had been gone for so long and visited so many different places, would I be more closely scrutinized than the others? I had never been gone this long and didn’t know quite what to expect. I didn’t have any contraband and was well under my customs allowance. But, at this point, I just didn’t need any hassle. I decided to just be the “happy tourist”, home from a wonderful vacation and glad to be back. Which is exactly what I was….
I waited my turn and handed my forms to the Immigration guy. He looked everything over, then remarked on how long I had been gone and the number of countries I had visited. Oh crap! This isn’t starting off too well. He sent me along without any further comments so maybe it would be okay. While I was in line for Customs however, I was watching several of my new friends from the cruise. They had been sent to the TSA screeners for whatever reason and were opening all their bags for inspection. Very detailed inspection! I was hoping I wasn’t their next victim. Fortunately, the Customs guy must have been having a good day or maybe I just look honest. I was directed to the line heading out the door and I didn’t waste any time getting there.
After exiting the terminal, I paused long enough for my first cigarette in twelve hours, then caught the shuttle to the LAX Hilton. It was a little after ten and I was exhausted but also hungry. After checking in, I dropped the bags in my room and headed for the coffee shop. After a large coffee and a pastry, I was feeling much better about my last twenty-four hours. Now to make a couple of phone calls and get some sleep!
I called a couple of friends, verified my arrival time with the person who would be picking me up at the airport and just gave everybody the Reader’s Digest version of my trip. Once that was done, the “Do Not Disturb” tag went on the door knob and I jumped into bed. No problem sleeping this time! The rest of the day and evening was spent doing absolutely nothing. I ordered room service for dinner (hamburger and fries, naturally), which cost thirty-three bucks with all the fees and taxes, watched a little television and went to bed early. I was taking a very early shuttle in the morning….
After nine hours of staring at the flight progress map on the screen in the seatback (which moves very slowly), we’re back in the U.S.A. It’s a strange sensation just to realize that you’re back in your home country. I was gone for a long time and now I’m back. It feels good!
The good feeling lasted just a few minutes, long enough to reach Customs and Immigration. Since I had been gone for so long and visited so many different places, would I be more closely scrutinized than the others? I had never been gone this long and didn’t know quite what to expect. I didn’t have any contraband and was well under my customs allowance. But, at this point, I just didn’t need any hassle. I decided to just be the “happy tourist”, home from a wonderful vacation and glad to be back. Which is exactly what I was….
I waited my turn and handed my forms to the Immigration guy. He looked everything over, then remarked on how long I had been gone and the number of countries I had visited. Oh crap! This isn’t starting off too well. He sent me along without any further comments so maybe it would be okay. While I was in line for Customs however, I was watching several of my new friends from the cruise. They had been sent to the TSA screeners for whatever reason and were opening all their bags for inspection. Very detailed inspection! I was hoping I wasn’t their next victim. Fortunately, the Customs guy must have been having a good day or maybe I just look honest. I was directed to the line heading out the door and I didn’t waste any time getting there.
After exiting the terminal, I paused long enough for my first cigarette in twelve hours, then caught the shuttle to the LAX Hilton. It was a little after ten and I was exhausted but also hungry. After checking in, I dropped the bags in my room and headed for the coffee shop. After a large coffee and a pastry, I was feeling much better about my last twenty-four hours. Now to make a couple of phone calls and get some sleep!
I called a couple of friends, verified my arrival time with the person who would be picking me up at the airport and just gave everybody the Reader’s Digest version of my trip. Once that was done, the “Do Not Disturb” tag went on the door knob and I jumped into bed. No problem sleeping this time! The rest of the day and evening was spent doing absolutely nothing. I ordered room service for dinner (hamburger and fries, naturally), which cost thirty-three bucks with all the fees and taxes, watched a little television and went to bed early. I was taking a very early shuttle in the morning….
11/22/08 Papeete, Tahiti, Society Islands
Last night, we left Moorea around 5:00 pm and sailed the twelve or so miles back to Papeete. I was on the top deck having a bloody mary. The sun was starting to set as we approached Tahiti so I went to the cabin to get my camera. I always try to get sunset pictures! Sometimes they’re great, sometimes not so much. This sunset, on the very last night, was the most beautiful of the entire two-month trip. 
Possibly one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen. As usual, the sun was setting behind Moorea (duh!) but this time was more spectacular than normal. It was almost as if the sky was on fire! I realize that sounds a little bizarre but it’s the only way I can describe it. And not just the sunset; the cloud formations were amazing as well. I just counted and I have twenty-nine pictures of the sunset and clouds last night. It was a wonderful ending to the cruise.The rest of the trip won’t be so wonderful. Now I have to get back to Virginia!
We docked at about seven last night. Some passengers disembarked immediately and headed for the airport to catch flights home. I hadn’t realized that leaving early was an option but probably wouldn’t have done anything differently even if I had known. In the beginning, I was too enthused to have thought about leaving earlier than absolutely necessary. By the end, I was ready to go! We stayed on the ship for one final night, essentially using it as a floating hotel. Luggage had to be placed outside the room before going to bed so I packed for the last time, making sure to leave one clean shirt, one sweater and a jacket at the top of the suitcase. This morning, we were allowed to remain on board until around noon, since we had purchased a transfer package. All others had to be off the ship by nine, as I recall. One last lunch then we began the disembarkation process. Transfer packages included a “day room” at the Radisson Hotel in addition to transfers to the hotel and airport. A tour was included for those who wanted it. I was definitely not in that group; I had seen enough of Papeete. I was taken directly to the hotel and given my room. It wasn’t as nice as the Intercontinental but I really didn’t care. It was better than sitting at the airport for twelve hours! I wandered around a little bit but mostly just relaxed in the room. It was going to be a long day and night.
We were picked up at around 6:30 pm for the trip to the airport. I had a 10:00 pm flight to Los Angeles, where I was spending one night before continuing home to Richmond. It was just too much to do in a single day. We arrived at the airport, claimed our luggage and got in the line for check-in. Along with a few hundred others! There are two flights, leaving an hour and a half apart. So there were probably six hundred people checking in at about the same time. The line looped back and forth maybe seven or eight times, with Tahitian immigration agents checking passports just before reaching the ticket counter. Although there was some grumbling, people kept a pretty good sense of humor about the entire process. We had several hours and, after all, what could you do about it? Although slow, the line moved pretty steadily and eventually I had my boarding pass. Nothing to do now but wait.
There were several more souvenir shops outside the terminal building. Gotta get those last few dollars before the tourists get away! There was the obligatory black pearl jewelry shop, duty free liquor shop and several tee shirt, caps, knick-knack places. I had bought all the souvenirs I needed so I just window-shopped for a little bit before sitting down for one last cigarette. Then I went through security and into the terminal. Eventually, the flight was called and we made the same long walk to the plane that I had made two weeks earlier. We boarded, settled in for the nine-hour flight and soon were on the way to Los Angeles, one step closer to home.
11/20/08 thru 11/21/08 Moorea, Society Islands
Last night, just as we were leaving Taha’a after a great day on the beach, a beautiful rainbow appeared over the water. Hopefully, it was a sign of good things to come. The islands, with the exception of Rangiroa, had gotten progressively better as the trip went along. As I said, Bora Bora was “stunning”, Motu Mahana was “perfect” and now we’re on the way to Moorea, described by many as the “most beautiful island in the world”. At this point, it has some hard acts to follow. But I had spent five days staring at Moorea from the Intercontinental and was really anxious to see it from a little closer perspective.
Again we arrived very early in the morning and I was on deck before sunrise. The sail-in to Moorea is the most dramatic of all, in my opinion, probably due to the many jagged mountain peaks. Bora Bora has two, Moorea has a bunch, including the famous “Bali Hai” from the movie “South Pacific”. We were going to be here for two days so I would get the chance to see them from both land and sea. We sailed into Cook’s Bay, where we would be anchored for the duration of our stay. Moorea is roughly heart-shaped with Mount Rotui in the center, Cook’s Bay on the east and Opunohu Bay on the west. Both bays are gorgeous and the lagoon rivals the one at Bora Bora. I’m beginning to think that Moorea wins the title of “most beautiful island”.
Prior to leaving home, I had submitted requests for two shore excursions, one for each day. However, when I got to my cabin and looked at the tickets, I found that Regent had rescheduled my requested excursions so that they were now scheduled against each other on the same day. I had to make a choice and I chose to search for spinner dolphins, a very acrobatic dolphin which I had never before seen. As I’ve said, I’m an animal lover. But that meant that I
had nothing scheduled for our first day in Moorea. Even though I had done lots of island drives, nothing else looked particularly appealing. It’s supposed to be a beautiful island so I booked the tour. It turned out to be your standard drive, except that the beauty of Moorea made it special. The jagged peaks are so pronounced that you can’t help but be impressed by them. We made several stops on the drive to the 
Belvedere Overlook but the views from the top were the real treat. We had a panoramic view of both Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay, split by Mount Rotui. We could see the ship anchored in Cook’s Bay. Not as spectacular as in Bora Bora but gorgeous nevertheless. There wasn’t anything remarkable about the rest of the drive other than the fantastic views of the mountains. It wasn’t my best excursion but not too bad for a last-minute substitute. I went back to the ship, looking forward to my dolphin experience tomorrow.I awoke the next morning, the last full day of the cruise. Tonight we would sail back to Papeete, spend one last
night on the ship and disembark the following day. So I was down to my last excursion, the spinner dolphins. Let’s make it a good one! We were scheduled to leave very early on our search for the dolphins, somewhere in the neighborhood of 8:00 am, as I remember. This was not just a sightseeing trip. Our guide has conducted a research project here for years so this is both science and tourism. I’m sure that he tolerates the tourists in order to help fund the research, not because he really enjoys conducting tours. But I didn’t care, I wanted to see some dolphins!
I have to admit to a major screw-up here. I’m a little more nimble than a lot of cruise passengers and I always try to be one of the first to board any means of transportation. That way, I can choose the best available seat. I was first at the boat, which had a center aisle with rows of two-person seats on either side. Naturally, I chose the first row outside seat. That way, I would have unobstructed views both front and side. Clever me! What I failed to notice, and probably wouldn’t have considered anyway, was that the bow and floor of the boat were painted bright white. There was a canopy which protected
from direct overhead sun but, early in the morning, that did absolutely nothing to protect from the reflected rays off that white paint. I was wearing a hat with a bill which also did nothing. As the morning wore on, I could feel my face getting cooked. The boat was packed so I couldn’t change seats. By the end of the trip, I was miserable. I was blistered by the next day and used cocoa butter cream for probably a week or so. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any real harm done but I think that I’ll pay more attention to the little details in the future.
Back to the dolphins. We were told that dolphins were found about ninety percent of the time but there were no guarantees. For a couple of hours, we were concerned that this trip would fall into the ten percent category. No dolphins made my burning face even harder to take. We tried most of the usual hangouts with no luck and the guide started to mention that ten percent thing. We had traveled about halfway around the island when we saw them. There were some happy people right about then, especially me! It wasn’t too exciting at first. We saw a few fins and tails but not much else. Then suddenly they started putting on a show, jumping out of the water, spinning like a 
corkscrew, flipping head over tail, fishtailing like a marlin on a hook. It was wonderful. I had the camera aimed in their general direction, hoping to catch one when it jumped. The problem was that you had no idea where that would be. My tactic was just to point and snap, hoping the dolphin would be somewhere in the frame. And it worked several times. I got five or six decent pictures, although most were a little blurry. I think I needed a much faster lens to really get crisp shots. I was happy with what I got. I think I did better than most of the others.Because it had taken so long to find them, we couldn’t stay with the dolphins for very long. We had a long ride back to the dock. It seemed even longer to me as I held my cap over my face most of the way back. I did get some good pictures of the island’s mountain profile from the water. It’s much more dramatic from a distance and over water. We finally reached the dock and I ducked under a palm to wait for the next tender. It couldn’t get there fast enough. Back to the cabin for some cream! Hard to believe that I’ve spent two months in the sun and I was going to get sun poisoning on the last day. To use Phil Mickelson’s words, I am such an idiot!
We sail for Papeete at five!
11/19/08 Taha’a and Motu Mahana, Society Islands
Five days ago, we were docked in Uturoa, on the island of Raiatea. Today, we’re two miles north of Uturoa, anchored off the island of Taha’a. These two islands are encircled by the same coral reef and share a common lagoon. So we were here, we left, made a big loop and came back. Seems like it would have been easier to
see both while we were here on the first trip but I don’t make the decisions. Anyway, here we are again! There are no shore excursions for Taha’a that interest me, only a visit to a pearl farm. So I have no plans for the day. We are having a cook-out on Motu Mahana, Regent’s private island in the lagoon. Tenders will be running between the ship and the motu all day so there’s no particular rush to go ashore.
I piddled around the ship most of the morning, considering whether I even wanted to bother tendering to the motu. I finally decided that I would never be here again so why not take a look. Plus, I had to eat somewhere! So, sometime late in the morning, I jumped onto a tender. My best decision of the day! This is the prettiest little island you can imagine. It’s just a tiny little place but it’s an idyllic setting. The water is crystal
clear, the sand is a soft white powder, it’s covered with palms and flowering plants and you get free food and drinks. It’s perfect! If it weren’t for those other couple of hundred people, I’d feel like Gilligan. Regent has done a great job of preparing and maintaining this island for its guests. It’s immaculately clean, there are an abundance of lounges and hammocks, canoes and kayaks are available, there are thatched huts serving as restaurant and bar, even the restrooms are in a thatched hut! What’s not to like?
We were met at the dock by the Gauguines, playing Polynesian music and singing. They’re always a terrific welcoming committee. I immediately spotted some folks I knew, who invited me to join them. But first, I had to get something cool to drink. I walked over to the bar and said “Give me something in a coconut”. They did! I have no idea what it was but I’m
absolutely certain that it contained rum and fruit juices, at a minimum. The problem was that the damned thing weighed at least six or seven pounds. I’ve never had a drink that I couldn’t carry around before but this one required that you sit. So I joined the others for a while. I didn’t ask for more coconut drinks after that; glasses were just fine.
The food was also excellent. A lot of it was probably prepared on the ship but there were a lot of grilled items as well, including hamburgers and hot dogs, so I didn’t go hungry. After lunch, I relaxed on a lounge next to the lagoon, watching the people kayaking and snorkeling. You know, if I live long enough and take another tropical vacation, I just might try some of this stuff. At what age can the dog not learn new tricks? It looks like fun when other people do it. I mean, how hard can snorkeling be anyway? You put on a vest, which keeps you afloat, so you can’t drown! Maybe some day….I hung around on the island for several hours. It really was relaxing but the sun was getting brutal. Staying in the
shade didn’t help and there was no air conditioning anywhere. I reluctantly decided to take the tender back to the ship. While I was waiting on the dock, I noticed some chunks of coral lying on the ocean bottom. I took a picture just to show how clear this water actually was. I thought you might want to see it.This had been a very good day. Tonight we leave for Moorea, the last stop before I finally head home.
11/18/08 Bora Bora, Society Islands (Day 2)
I had two separate but similar excursions planned for our second day in Bora Bora. Both were short, two hours or so, and both were glass-bottom boat excursions. The difference was in what we were looking for: sharks and stingrays on the first, tropical reef inhabitants on the second.
The first excursion was scheduled for 9:00 am. I took the tender to Vaitape and was directed to where the boat was docked. There were probably eight or ten passengers on the boat, along with the captain and a mate. We left the dock and slowly made our way across the lagoon. It’s pretty amazing how clearly you can see through a thick glass panel straight to the bottom of the water. Of course, the water itself probably had a lot to do with it! Might not work on a lake in Virginia. We slowly cruised over the coral heads, which seemed just inches away from the bottom of the boat but were actually much deeper than they appeared. After a short time, we stopped and the mate began chumming the water. Almost
immediately, black-tipped reef sharks started swimming up to the boat, probably a half-dozen or more. They would grab the food, go under the water, then circle back for more. They were supposed to be harmless but swimming wasn’t allowed. No problem at all! Nobody seemed particularly interested in getting into the water with them. But they were fun to watch. I had never been this close to sharks in the wild, and probably never will be again, so I was enjoying the show. After fifteen or twenty minutes, we went looking for stingrays.
We didn’t have to look long. I guess that there is a resident population of rays here so they always know where to find them. Unlike the shark encounter, swimming with the stingrays is strongly encouraged. I had actually done this once before on a cruise to Grand Cayman Island. As I’ve mentioned several times, I almost never go in the water but this is one of the rare exceptions. The experience is just too cool to pass up. Stingrays are very gentle, non-aggressive creatures who are simply interested in being fed. What happened to Steve Irwin was a fluke, possibly caused in part by his own over-confidence. But I guess I’m getting out of my area of expertise. Since I had
done this before, I lagged behind to take some pictures while the others were playing with the rays. Then I hopped in for a few minutes. The water was no more than three feet deep, around waist-high, and there must have been at least a dozen or more stingrays. After I got back on the boat, I could see an occasional shark swimming around the outside of the group. I was glad I hadn’t seen that earlier. But they’re harmless, right? After swimming with the stingrays for maybe thirty minutes, we re-boarded the boat for the cruise back to the dock. It had been a short tour but a lot of fun.
After returning to the ship for some lunch and relaxation, I was ready for my afternoon excursion on the same glass-bottom boat. We again tendered to shore, boarded the boat and slowly crossed the lagoon, this time in a different direction. I guess we were heading for a different section of the reef. Before long we were seeing a bunch of tropical fish, starfish, urchins, sea cucumbers, etc. It seemed that most of the fish were butterflies or parrot fish but there were many others that I recognized from my days of having marine aquariums. Somehow they look different here than they did in my living room!
We floated over the reef, with the mate occasionally diving down to retrieve a starfish or an urchin for us to
examine. Then he put on snorkel gear, grabbed a bag of food and jumped into the water. It was as if someone had rung the dinner bell. Actually, I guess someone did! Fish were everywhere at once. He backed away and they followed. He went under the boat and they followed. It was just a big massive ball of fish. As soon as he stopped feeding, they all went back to business as usual. The tourists loved it!
After the feeding, we cruised back to the dock. The tender was pulling out just as we arrived so I wandered back over to the craft hut. This time I bought a few souvenirs for the folks back home, those poor people who couldn’t be in Bora Bora with me. By the time I was finished, the tender was just about ready to leave again. I hopped aboard and went back to the ship for the second and last time today.
We sail for Taha’a this afternoon…..
The first excursion was scheduled for 9:00 am. I took the tender to Vaitape and was directed to where the boat was docked. There were probably eight or ten passengers on the boat, along with the captain and a mate. We left the dock and slowly made our way across the lagoon. It’s pretty amazing how clearly you can see through a thick glass panel straight to the bottom of the water. Of course, the water itself probably had a lot to do with it! Might not work on a lake in Virginia. We slowly cruised over the coral heads, which seemed just inches away from the bottom of the boat but were actually much deeper than they appeared. After a short time, we stopped and the mate began chumming the water. Almost
immediately, black-tipped reef sharks started swimming up to the boat, probably a half-dozen or more. They would grab the food, go under the water, then circle back for more. They were supposed to be harmless but swimming wasn’t allowed. No problem at all! Nobody seemed particularly interested in getting into the water with them. But they were fun to watch. I had never been this close to sharks in the wild, and probably never will be again, so I was enjoying the show. After fifteen or twenty minutes, we went looking for stingrays.
We didn’t have to look long. I guess that there is a resident population of rays here so they always know where to find them. Unlike the shark encounter, swimming with the stingrays is strongly encouraged. I had actually done this once before on a cruise to Grand Cayman Island. As I’ve mentioned several times, I almost never go in the water but this is one of the rare exceptions. The experience is just too cool to pass up. Stingrays are very gentle, non-aggressive creatures who are simply interested in being fed. What happened to Steve Irwin was a fluke, possibly caused in part by his own over-confidence. But I guess I’m getting out of my area of expertise. Since I had
done this before, I lagged behind to take some pictures while the others were playing with the rays. Then I hopped in for a few minutes. The water was no more than three feet deep, around waist-high, and there must have been at least a dozen or more stingrays. After I got back on the boat, I could see an occasional shark swimming around the outside of the group. I was glad I hadn’t seen that earlier. But they’re harmless, right? After swimming with the stingrays for maybe thirty minutes, we re-boarded the boat for the cruise back to the dock. It had been a short tour but a lot of fun.
After returning to the ship for some lunch and relaxation, I was ready for my afternoon excursion on the same glass-bottom boat. We again tendered to shore, boarded the boat and slowly crossed the lagoon, this time in a different direction. I guess we were heading for a different section of the reef. Before long we were seeing a bunch of tropical fish, starfish, urchins, sea cucumbers, etc. It seemed that most of the fish were butterflies or parrot fish but there were many others that I recognized from my days of having marine aquariums. Somehow they look different here than they did in my living room!We floated over the reef, with the mate occasionally diving down to retrieve a starfish or an urchin for us to
examine. Then he put on snorkel gear, grabbed a bag of food and jumped into the water. It was as if someone had rung the dinner bell. Actually, I guess someone did! Fish were everywhere at once. He backed away and they followed. He went under the boat and they followed. It was just a big massive ball of fish. As soon as he stopped feeding, they all went back to business as usual. The tourists loved it!After the feeding, we cruised back to the dock. The tender was pulling out just as we arrived so I wandered back over to the craft hut. This time I bought a few souvenirs for the folks back home, those poor people who couldn’t be in Bora Bora with me. By the time I was finished, the tender was just about ready to leave again. I hopped aboard and went back to the ship for the second and last time today.
We sail for Taha’a this afternoon…..
11/17/08 Bora Bora, Society Islands (Day 1)
Bora Bora is stunning! That’s the only description that comes to mind. I’ve read that James Michener thought that Bora Bora was the most beautiful island in the world, even though he modeled the mythical Bali Hai after Moorea (or so the story goes). Sailing into the harbor, the island certainly makes a dramatic first impression. We arrived early and I was on deck before sunrise. I had been told by several people not to miss the sail-in and I decided to heed their advice. This would be my only chance to see what they were so excited about and I didn’t plan to miss it.I was impressed with Bora Bora long before we actually approached the harbor. It has a very distinctive profile,
dominated by Mount Otemanu and Mount Pahia, two volcanic peaks that rise from the center of the island. The top of Mount Pahia is actually twin-peaked and shaped somewhat like a saddle, very unusual and striking. We sailed through the protective coral reef and into the most incredible blue lagoon you can possibly imagine. The backdrop of the mountains behind the multi-colored blues gave it an almost surreal quality. Later in the day, I would discover just how many shades of blue there were surrounding Bora Bora. We eased our way across the lagoon and anchored just offshore from Vaitape, the island’s main village. We would be here for two days and I had three excursions scheduled, one this morning and two tomorrow.
Today’s excursion is another off-road four-wheel drive safari. I have no idea why I keep doing these except that the scenery is usually fantastic. Today would turn out to be no different. I took the tender to Vaitape and was met by our driver, who said to call him “George”. Unlike with “Joe”, we asked “George” to give us his real name, which turned out to be “Rapa”. We called him by his given name for the rest of the trip. We started out on paved road around the shoreline of the lagoon but that didn’t last for long. After just a mile
or two, we turned onto a dirt road and headed straight up a mountain. There were two vehicles traveling together, by the way. That has no significance to the story but it just occurred to me for some reason. Climbing this mountain wasn’t scary at all compared with the ones in New Zealand. It was steep and rough but there were no drop-offs on the sides of the road. We were heading 
for the gun emplacements overlooking the harbor entrance. During World War II, the United States had a supply base on Bora Bora and installed guns to protect the harbor from a possible Japanese invasion. I believe there were a total of fourteen but I’m not certain. Obviously, they had to be positioned high above the harbor so getting there was not easy. But what a view! We were looking straight down on the harbor with the Paul Gauguin and the Tahitian Princess anchored side by side. It was a gorgeous, postcard-type picture.We stayed there for a little bit and started back down the mountain. Going down may be scarier than going up,
since you can actually see just how steep it is, if that makes any sense. Anyway, we got back to the paved road and continued around the island. Our next off-road portion took us to another one of those souvenir stops, this one perched on the side of a mountain. The main products here were hand-painted pareos, beautiful but totally worthless to me. But again, we were served fresh fruit! My personal favorite was the pineapple. It’s amazing how sweet fresh-cut pineapple tastes. They also served mango, guava and several other fruits that I just can’t remember. I must be getting senile! No comments, please. My favorite moment came when we ran out of one of the fruits and the guy walked out into his backyard and simply picked some more. Maybe folks in California or Florida can do that but somehow it seems cooler when it happens in Bora Bora. We looked around for a bit, some people actually purchased some things and we headed back down the mountain again. These roads up the mountains are always one-way, in case you haven’t guessed.
Back on the paved road, we headed for what Rapa said was the most beautiful spot on the island. It was not fun getting there but it was sure worth the ride. We were at an overlook above the most incredible multi-hued blue lagoon I can imagine. There were so many shades of blue that it was impossible to count them all. And there were dozens of little motus jutting from the water. It was one of the prettiest views of the entire two-month trip. Like I
said a couple of times, I had seen enough coastlines to last a lifetime but this was special! We all took turns having our pictures taken with this view as a backdrop then just stood for a while admiring the view. We made one more stop at another overlook later in the day. Ordinarily, it would have been impressive but it just couldn’t quite measure up to this one.That was the last off-road trip. The rest of the excursion was spent driving on
paved road. By the time we returned to the dock, we had driven completely around the island. Rapa pointed out the sights as we went along but we didn’t make any more stops. We did pull off the road for just a minute at Bloody Mary’s, world-famous restaurant and bar. They have a reputation for being “touristy”, with a wall of all the celebrities who have eaten there etc, but the food is supposed to be excellent. Maybe I should have come back for dinner but I didn’t do it. Instead, we arrived at the dock and I looked around town for a while, browsed through the local craft market and caught the tender back to the ship for a nice, relaxing nap. Getting up before the sun is tiring….11/15/08 thru 11/16/08 Rangiroa, Tuamotu Islands
This post will also be brief, for reasons which will become clear in just a minute. Rangiroa is one of the largest atolls in the South Pacific, with a lagoon so large that it’s hard to see from one side to the other. According to Dictionary.com, an atoll is defined as “a ring-shaped coral reef or a string of closely spaced small coral islands, enclosing or nearly enclosing a shallow lagoon”. So, there ‘ya go! Very little land, whole lot of water. Not my kind of place.We arrived around noon and made our way through the passage into the
lagoon. Rangiroa is famous for scuba diving sites but not much else. There are two tiny villages on the atoll, next to the two main passages through the coral reef. If you’re a diver, this is a great stop. Supposedly, there are manta rays, barracuda, several species of shark and tons of other marine life, including dolphins and sea turtles. If you’re not a diver, you’re bored silly, trying to figure out what to do with yourself for two days! As you may have guessed, there are no non-water-related shore excursions available here.I stayed on the ship for the full two days. See, I told you this would be brief!
11/14/08 Raiatea, Society Islands
Raiatea was our second stop after leaving Papeete. Quite honestly, all these islands are starting to run together and I’m just about out of different things to say about them. I also had booked another island drive shore excursion which would most likely mimic all the island drives that had preceded it. So this post will likely be brief!
We docked, actually docked, in Uturoa around mid-morning. It would be the only port with a dock during the entire cruise. Everywhere else would require tenders. I went ashore for my tour and was met by our guide, a young woman named Summer, from San Diego! I came all this way to be shown around Raiatea by a woman from San Diego. She actually had come here on vacation some years ago, met an islander, fell in love, came back, got married and now has several kids. And she guides tours! Small world….
This turned out to be your standard sightseeing tour with nothing remarkable to report. Our first stop was along the side of the road for some pretty views looking out over the water. Then to yet another marae (those things are everywhere) where we got the standard lecture about the sacred nature of the site. In other words, we were not supposed to walk around on the stones. After leaving the marae, we drove quite a while with no stops, just sightseeing from the bus. But I did enjoy the next stop, at the home of an island family, for
fresh fruits and a brief look around. As usual, the primary purpose of the visit was selling souvenirs and the house was full of shell necklaces, wood carvings, pareos, etc. I didn’t buy anything but the fruits and juices were a welcome treat. That’s something I loved about all the islands I visited on this trip. It’s amazing just how much better fruit tastes when it’s fresh off the tree or bush or vine. And this was served the island way, using a banana leaf as a plate. It’s surprising how sturdy a banana leaf actually is. You just hold them in your palm and they form a natural bowl. Kinda neat!
After leaving the home, we headed up over the mountains. We had traveled along the coast on the way out but were going to go back through the crater of the volcano. We climbed the mountain and, when we reached the top, stopped for a view over the crater valley. It was gorgeous, lush, green, scenic and exactly like a hundred other valleys I had seen during the past couple of months. I took a couple of obligatory pictures, just to prove I had been there, and re-boarded the bus. Can you tell that I’m ready to go home?
We drove through the valley for a while and stopped at what was described
as a botanical garden. I believe it was actually an area where lots of plants, trees and flowers grew naturally in abundance. We started down a muddy path, steeply downhill, with lots of rocks and roots. This was certainly not a maintained garden of any kind, although there was lots of pretty foliage. We walked a long way down the path and it occurred to me that we were going to have to walk back up from wherever we stopped. Since I had seen all this 
before, I decided to make a leisurely walk back on my own. So I left the group and went back up the hill. That turned out to be the best move I made all day. I was standing at the road, next to the bus, when the skies opened up with the most intense tropical downpour I’ve ever seen. It was the type of storm they always show on “Survivor” episodes. The wind was blowing the rain sideways when the others started straggling up the path a few at a time. They were literally soaked to the skin. I was so proud of me…..
By the time we got back to town, the rain had stopped. There were quite a few shops very close to the dock so I looked around for a few minutes. I didn’t see anything that I couldn’t live without so I made my way back onto the ship. I was ready to move on to the next island!
We docked, actually docked, in Uturoa around mid-morning. It would be the only port with a dock during the entire cruise. Everywhere else would require tenders. I went ashore for my tour and was met by our guide, a young woman named Summer, from San Diego! I came all this way to be shown around Raiatea by a woman from San Diego. She actually had come here on vacation some years ago, met an islander, fell in love, came back, got married and now has several kids. And she guides tours! Small world….
This turned out to be your standard sightseeing tour with nothing remarkable to report. Our first stop was along the side of the road for some pretty views looking out over the water. Then to yet another marae (those things are everywhere) where we got the standard lecture about the sacred nature of the site. In other words, we were not supposed to walk around on the stones. After leaving the marae, we drove quite a while with no stops, just sightseeing from the bus. But I did enjoy the next stop, at the home of an island family, for
fresh fruits and a brief look around. As usual, the primary purpose of the visit was selling souvenirs and the house was full of shell necklaces, wood carvings, pareos, etc. I didn’t buy anything but the fruits and juices were a welcome treat. That’s something I loved about all the islands I visited on this trip. It’s amazing just how much better fruit tastes when it’s fresh off the tree or bush or vine. And this was served the island way, using a banana leaf as a plate. It’s surprising how sturdy a banana leaf actually is. You just hold them in your palm and they form a natural bowl. Kinda neat!
After leaving the home, we headed up over the mountains. We had traveled along the coast on the way out but were going to go back through the crater of the volcano. We climbed the mountain and, when we reached the top, stopped for a view over the crater valley. It was gorgeous, lush, green, scenic and exactly like a hundred other valleys I had seen during the past couple of months. I took a couple of obligatory pictures, just to prove I had been there, and re-boarded the bus. Can you tell that I’m ready to go home?We drove through the valley for a while and stopped at what was described
as a botanical garden. I believe it was actually an area where lots of plants, trees and flowers grew naturally in abundance. We started down a muddy path, steeply downhill, with lots of rocks and roots. This was certainly not a maintained garden of any kind, although there was lots of pretty foliage. We walked a long way down the path and it occurred to me that we were going to have to walk back up from wherever we stopped. Since I had seen all this 
before, I decided to make a leisurely walk back on my own. So I left the group and went back up the hill. That turned out to be the best move I made all day. I was standing at the road, next to the bus, when the skies opened up with the most intense tropical downpour I’ve ever seen. It was the type of storm they always show on “Survivor” episodes. The wind was blowing the rain sideways when the others started straggling up the path a few at a time. They were literally soaked to the skin. I was so proud of me…..By the time we got back to town, the rain had stopped. There were quite a few shops very close to the dock so I looked around for a few minutes. I didn’t see anything that I couldn’t live without so I made my way back onto the ship. I was ready to move on to the next island!
11/13/08 Huahine, Society Islands
We left Papeete at 2:00 am and, after a pretty choppy ride, arrived at Huahine in the morning. I was scheduled for a Jeep Safari in the afternoon. We were anchored in Maroe Bay, I think, but some of the details on this part of the trip aren’t as sharp as they were on the first cruise. Like I’ve said, I was tired and distracted. We took the tender ashore and were met by our guide, who told us to call him “Joe”. I never did find out his real name but I know it wasn’t “Joe”. There were six of us in the back of the jeep, sitting on side-facing seats,
with open sides and a canvas canopy top. We loaded up and headed down the road. It was a little bumpy but the seats were padded. Huahine consists of two separate islands, Huahine Nui and Huahine Iti, joined by a bridge and circled by a large coral reef. Like all of the islands, there is one road that essentially circles the islands winding along the coastline for about twenty miles. Almost immediately after leaving the dock, we crossed the bridge and had a good view of the ship anchored in the bay, so we 
stopped for photos. We were off again in just a few minutes. One of the first things I noticed was the foliage. Just as with every island throughout this trip, there was a wide variety of trees, shrubs, fruits, flowers, ferns, etc. There were bananas, papaya, mangos, breadfruit, pineapple, etc. Then there was noni, which I hadn’t seen until we got here. It only grows in the French Polynesian islands and is reputed to have almost mystical properties, including curing cancer. It is taken in liquid form but smells so bad that I couldn’t imagine anyone actually using it. Bottom line: there’s a lot of vegetation here!After a little more driving, we pulled off the road more or less in the middle of nowhere. We all hopped out and
crossed the road to the bank of a creek. Joe announced that this was the home of the fresh-water blue-eyed eels! Apparently, these eels are sacred to some of the residents. Joe must not have belonged to that particular sect since he was talking about feeding them some “sacred” mackerel from the “sacred” can bought at the “sacred” supermarket. Not a lot of reverence here! These eels are big, probably four to five feet long. They’re also very fat, likely from being fed all that “sacred” mackerel. I couldn’t actually see their eye color from the bank so I’ll just take Joe’s word for it.
A little farther along, we stopped to observe some unusual rock formations in the water. These were like walls, constructed in a long arrow shape, with a deeper pool at the pointed end. Joe explained that they were fish traps, designed so that the fish swim through the rocks and get trapped in the deeper water when the tide goes out. I guess it’s the same concept used in constructing crab traps. They were designed centuries ago, maybe millennia ago, so I guess those old Polynesians were pretty sharp! They’re still used today. We drove a little more, then took a detour over to the beach. It was another beautiful stretch of coastline but, quite honestly, I’ve seen so many coastlines that I’m not so easily impressed anymore. Still, I always enjoy the view!
The next stop was a vanilla farm. On the way there, we stopped several times to see various things: a coconut drying operation, mounds and trellises for growing yams, kapok used for pillows and floatation devices, etc. It was interesting but a little more detail than I really wanted. The vanilla story was fascinating although I really can’t remember all the steps in the process. What I do remember is that it takes years from planting to harvest and is a very labor-intensive process, sometimes including hand-pollination. Tahitian vanilla is very expensive and now I can understand why. 
We made one more stop at a marae on the way back to the dock. I’ve seen maraes on virtually every island we’ve visited so this one didn’t hold much fascination for me. The scenery in the area was pretty, however, so I took a few pictures while we were stopped. Then we made our way back to the dock and the ship. It had been an interesting tour, although a little long, and a good overview of Huahine.
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