Thursday, March 7: Awoke early today to cloudy skies on a gently rocking ship, cruising from Tahiti to the island of Huahine.
Yesterday, March 6, was a "transition" day, with the end of the first phase of the trip and the start of the second. Briefly, we left the villa on Moorea, ferried back to Tahiti, and boarded the Paul Gauguin cruise ship. There was lots of sitting and waiting involved, with the longest spell at the villa for checkout, (we were up very early), a little hang time while catching the ferry, and some idling before embarking.
When we reached Tahiti, we took a scouting detour to the Te Moana Tahiti Hotel where we will stay for a few days after the cruise (phase 3). It's a 3-4 story hotel on the water with a great pool/bar/lounging area where we treated ourselves to lunch. Then we drove back to the marina, deposited women, Logan and luggage (just as a rain storm started). Brent & I drove back to the airport, turned in the rental car, and got a shuttle ride to the marina (about a 45-minute process). Note: After Moorea, which has a low population and relatively small houses, Papeete seems huge - 4 and 5-story apartment buildings marching up the hills, much more traffic, and commerce. It is still green and lush.
The check-in for the Paul Gauguin was efficient - obviously the crew has done this many times - the luggage was collected under a big tent and tagged to staterooms, passports were used to verify reservations, everyone was ushered into the Grand Salon (given champagne) and seated. We were then taken in order to the front of the salon to a receptionist, photographed, "registered" a credit card (pre authorization for any shipboard expenses), and received our access cards. Meanwhile, the luggage was transferred by the crew to our staterooms. And thus the cruising began.
So far the Paul Gauguin exceeds expectations - the facilities are in great condition, our rooms are comfortable and beautifully fitted with lots of storage, lights, and amenities. The shower seems to be hot and abundant. We explored the ship, took part in a mandatory lifeboat drill (the "muster") which was mostly attendance taking and lecture, and then went for dinner on the 8th deck Grill. The food was marvelous - fresh fish and steak, perfectly prepared, and excellent desserts. The staff are warm and hospitable, and welcoming to Logan. As sample of the service, Betsy took a shower before the 6 pm muster and when we returned to our cabin after dinner, the towels had been changed and the bed turned down (with chocolate tidbits on the pillow, naturally).
The only thing not meeting expectations is the weather - the rainy season make have hit - the sky this morning is cloud-covered from horizon to horizon. It may not be raining right now and the sea is flat, but those features could change quickly.
Before I go on, I thought I would answer a couple of questions received in the comments: 1) the fish identification while snorkeling was based on experiences from other trips and from plastic cards of "common pacific reef" fishes; 2) to access the earlier posts, look to the right of the main text to the Archive (which is like an "index"), is shows Years, and Months, click on sideways pointing arrows to open up the entries under each month (i.e., click March 2024 to see most of the entries for this adventure).
On with the adventure, but first, our breakfast arrived (we pre-ordered it last night) so I will pick this up later...We have the island of Huahine outside our window!
4:00 pm same day: We completed the first of 3 excursions we have scheduled. ET, CP, EP and PT met up at 8:30 for the tender ride over to the small island of Huahine, to a village named Maro'e. We joined another couple (American) for the English-language version of a tour of several cultural sites, then a boat trip to a Pearl farm and pottery gift shop, then snorkeling at the "Coral Garden." We took a jeep ride to a "belvedere," overlooking the bay, waded in a fast-flowing stream to watch blue-eyed eels being fed, viewed an ancient stone temple platform (each family traditionally had its own temple and graveyard), and a stone fishing trap. Then we took a second boat out onto the water, circling back from the northeast side of the large island, under the bridge that connects the two islands (Hauhine-Nui and Hauhine-Iti), past the Paul Gauguin, to the snorkeling spot on the southwest point of the large island. The number of reef fish was again impressive. We were taken back to the tender dock and then had a quick ride back to the ship.
I was glad to see an acacia tree, which appears so often in Spelling Bee—and I usually can’t remember it! Cg
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