Polynesian Adventure - The End

March 23, Saturday - Cloudy with scattered rain today here in Portland, as I write this last blog post.

Flashing back to March 21, Thursday, Day 22, the last day of our Polynesian Adventure.  Weather was sunny and hot (i.e., the usual).

EP, ET and PT drove into Papeete to do a suggested walking tour of the city.  The others remained at the hotel, enjoying the pool.  Because of some earlier problems with the A/C in SS, BS, CP and LS's room, the resort provided a room for the day - (or extended our checkout time until late afternoon).  Thanks to SS and BS for putting up with the faulty A/C and for getting this last day perk.

Our drive to Papeete was easy but finding a place to park was more challenging.  After a little driving around near the walk's starting point, I pulled into the first available parking garage.  It seemed as if it might work like garages we have here (i.e., take a ticket, park the car, go out, come back and scan the ticket to determine the fee and then pay with a credit card).  Well, it didn't work quite like that - more later.

The walk was interesting and we saw a variety of things.  We covered about 3.6 miles.

An example of building wall art.

Ditto.

One of several churches.

City Hall, note the lack of barriers, etc.

Just of the quayside at the marina.  What we surmise is a structure for growing coral.  There were several of these underwater racks.

A monument to the first Polynesians.

A memorial to U.S. atomic bomb testing in Polynesia.

A great and rather large carving.

Papeete waterfront with ferry to Moorea

Container ship.

Nice totem.

An unusual amount of activity for local dogs - chewing on the same stick.

The Presidential House and some other Government buildings, from the street.

Portico to the President's Quarters, and inside courtyard.

The Legislature Building - closed to the public this day, but otherwise open to the public.

Commemorative wall.

We walked back to the garage, where after scanning our ticket we found that we owed 400 XPF (Polynesian Francs).  But, the machine only took coins (no bigger than 500 XPF), no bills and certainly no credit cards.  I went to a food truck (the only nearby place) to get change for the one local currency bill I had - a 10,000 XPF bill.  I returned to the food truck a second time to get coins for one of the 1,000 XPF bills I had initially obtained.  By this time, we now owed 500 XPF for the parking fee.  I had four 100 XPF coins, one 50 XPF, and several smaller coins (20 and 10 XPFs).  But wait, the machine did not take coins smaller than 50 XPF.  Luckily, ET had a 100 XPF coin, so we successfully paid and got a receipt that would allow us to exit the garage, the next trial.  We had to drive up a narrow, tightly winding ramp, twice, (i.e. up two floors) in order to then exit down a steep, but straight ramp.  Fortunately, we made it out of the garage, and back to the resort with no scratches on the van.  

We found the others in the new "day use" room, and killed time -- EP and PT went to the pool, then showered; others read; LS napped.  We also ate most of our leftover groceries and take-away foods from previous dinners.

By 3:00 pm we had checked out of the resort, loaded the van and were off to the airport.  It was an easy drive back since we knew where we were going.  The van return was quick.  We checked in, turned over our luggage to the airlines, passed through passport control and security (my entire carry-on pack was unpacked and visually searched) and retreated to the business class lounge.  There, we enjoyed drinks, snacks and the A/C before boarding the plane.  There was a mechanical issue with the cabin intercom, which required repair and paperwork (the flight attendant told me that a mistake was made on the first bit of paperwork which had to be redone a second time; she also said everything had to go back to Atlanta for approval, etc.).  About 2 hours later than scheduled we took off.  

We landed in LA only about an hour later than the scheduled time, but we all had loads of layover time.  We had to reclaim luggage, pass through customs, re-check the luggage, walk to a different terminal, go through security again, and finally go to the lounge.  SS, BS, and LS left first for SFO, CA after spending 2 hours in the lounge; CP left shortly after that bound for Boston, MA;  EP, ET, and PT's flight to Portland was delayed over an hour (late arrival of inbound plane), so we three had extra time in the lounge.  Our two-hour flight home was uneventful, and we walked into our house around 6 pm, the next day (March 22).

Everything here was fine, Sophie (our cat) was happy to see us, and we had a quick dinner and crashed.  Everyone else in our group made it home and all is well.  Our adventure has ended.  

Thanks to everyone who has followed along on our adventure and I hope you found the photos and the accompanying text of some interest.  Many thanks go to EP for her editing and additional color commentary.  She has gone to bed so all typos in this last post are mine alone.

Bye until next time.....

Polynesian Adventure, Day 21

March 20, Wednesday -- Sunny and clear all day.  Clouds over the high country and over the island of Moorea, but hot where we are on the coasts.

The morning was spent driving south along the west coast to the isthmus between the larger part of Tahiti (Tahiti Nui) and the connected, smaller circle of land known as Tahiti Iti.  Just after leaving the resort we stopped at a great little bakery for breakfast treats and coffee.  Since there were no tables at the bakery, we drove a little bit farther to a beachside park with picnic tables.  School children here had a swimming class before being bussed to school -- not bad for a curriculum.  

We drove on and stopped just before the isthmus to tour a pretty water garden -- Vaipahi Springs Garden - where we saw a variety of plants and trees.

Dotleaf Water Lily.

Unknown flower but quite showy.

The small waterfall at the garden.

Beehive Ginger plant.

Ditto.

Papyrus Sedge.

Sacred Lotus Plant.

Sacred Lotus blossom.

Anthuriums.

Lobster Claw Heliconia.

We drove on across the isthmus to the end of the road on the west side of Tahiti Iti.  The road ends partway along the coast at a surfing venue (where the Paris Olympics surfing competition will be held in August; some amount of construction was underway).  At the turn-around point, we asked about the closest beach and were directed back about halfway to the isthmus.  We parked just off the road and waded/swam from the ten foot wide beach just adjacent to the road.  SS, BS and LS snorkeled while the rest of us waded and sat on the beach.  There were a variety of small fish in the shallow water.  The fish in the photograph below (unknown) has a curious habit of sticking its nose into the sand, ingesting a quantity of sand, and then expelling the sand out the gills.  This behavior is observable and I tried to capture it in a photo, but the sun was too bright and my sunglasses precluded me from being able to snap the picture at the precise moment.

We drove back to the resort, which took quite awhile because of slow, congested traffic.  The afternoon was spent at the pool.

Just before dinner we had a "memorial" photo taken, with us dressed in white.

PT, ET, EP, CP, LS, BS, & SS.

Our last dinner was at Blue Bananas, which was a surprising find.  Google did not show great reviews for it, but we all agreed that the dinner was very fine.  EP's tuna curry was great; my wahoo (a fish) in butter sauce was likewise good; and the others three pizzas were much appreciated.

LS, with SS, reading at the dinner table.  LS has been a fine traveler and has put up with us at the dinner table well.

The Blue Bananas sign.

And so our last full day on Tahiti has come to an end.  Everyone is packing and getting prepped to depart for the airport tomorrow by mid-afternoon.  The resort is allowing us a late checkout by giving us a single room in which to shower, change clothes and store luggage.  LS will also be able to have something of a nap before leaving for the airport.  This extra perk was due to the fact BS and SS's first room had a malfunctioning air conditioner, which was unable to be corrected with many visits by the maintenance crews.  Two days ago, they, along with CP, got switched to a room next to us.

Polynesian Adventure, Day 20

 March 19, Tuesday - weather was the usual-- no rain, hot with plenty of sunshine.

I was thinking of writing that I am getting tired of writing the blog and I have taken all the scenery photos possible, so I started photographing "manhole covers," which should be called "maintenance hole covers."  This journey was begun as EP, ET and PT walked from the resort to the marina, which was 1.3 miles back toward Papeete on the main (i.e., only) road that circles the island.  Once arriving at the marina, sights became a bit more interesting.  We saw a lot of moderate sized boats and a few "super yachts."  After strolling the docks, we stopped into Yellowfin (dockside restaurant in front of the super yachts) for delicious smoothies and raisin twirl pastries.  We returned to the resort by the same route and spent the afternoon cooling down.

Update on the resort - there are very lush plantings on the sides of the walkways, including an artificial stream with live fish.

The stream is adjacent to the stone curb in this photo, with cabbage-like plants.

The wall art on the side of the main highway coming out of a tunnel, which functions as a bypass of cross street round-abouts.

Ditto.

Coconut people as sculptures in the round-about above the tunnels

Storm drain.

Telephone, I think.

Electrical Power.

???.

???.

A Beneteau monohull sailboat, like we have been on with J&RS, L&DO, VR, and T&BM.

A typical catamaran.

Super yachts for rent (ZeXplorer and No Comment).  Only $150,000 per week, for 12 passengers; crew included.  Do they also cook and feed you?

An all black, two masted sailboat - the Nirvana.

And, next door, the Christopher, from Georgetown.

'Elevenies' with smoothies at the Yellowfin Restaurant.

After walking back (total mileage 3.6 miles), we spent the afternoon at the pool, dodging the direct sunshine by shifting lounge chairs and umbrellas around.  Happy Vernal Equinox!

For dinner, the gang went back to the Yellowfin Restaurant and enjoyed an alfresco supper next to the super yacht dock.

Photo by ET of the restaurant entrance and a great palm tree.

Photo by ET - closeup of the palm.

Photo by ET - SS and LS after dinner and back at the resort.

Polynesian Adventure, Day 19

March 18, Monday - Sunny and clear, a touch cooler maybe, but it may the result of spending time in the pool and sitting in the shade with a breeze.

Today in the morning was spent on a driving excursion from the hotel, back to Papeete, and around the northwest coast going clockwise.  We made three stops - at the Arahoho Blowhole, the Faarumai Waterfalls (one of three called the Viamahuta), and Point Venus.

But first here are some record photos of our hotel, the Te Moana Tahiti Resort:

The lobby.

Front Entrance.

Statue in the lobby -- larger than life size.

EP on the walkway from rooms to lobby.

Our two-room suite is on the top floor with the double wide balcony.

The "rotunda" in the middle of the guest room buildings.

The pool and lounge area.

The bar, partially bordering the 'infinity' pool.

A motu with seating in the shade and a second bar.

A lagoon.

The bar.  

 I just found out that the resort has a fitness room.  Might need to try it out tomorrow.

We passed along some breaks in the reef where surfing is on display, specifically at Papeeno.  The waves were bigger and closer to shore than other areas protected by the reef.

The Arahoho Blowhole, not a lot of water, more like a mist, but something of a loud boom.

Up close look at blowhole.

Waves crashing into the rocks and seawall.

A picturesque wave or "curl."

ET at the waterfall.

We went right to the nearby waterfall;  the "20 mn" trail to the other waterfalls was closed.

The entire main falls.

Group shot.

A massive tree fern fiddlehead.

Photo by ET - for perspective.

An outrigger canoe for fishing - called a pirogue. 

At Venus Point, (1) the site of Captain Cook's observatory where he attempted (and failed) to track the passing of Venus in 1769, (2) where the first missionaries arrived, (3) where the only lighthouse on Tahiti is sited, and (4) where the HMS Bounty landed.  A co-author of the Mutiny on the Bounty (James Norman Hall) had a home nearby.  The monument is commemorative of the Bounty.

The Lighthouse at Venus Point.

Our lunch spot.

A surprisingly good tasting drink, called Mix.  Made with oranges, apples and carrots.

We returned to the resort and spent the afternoon in or near the pool.  Dinner was leftovers from previous night's dining and a few additions.