Monday, 6 February 2017
At Sea — South Pacific Ocean … En Route to Bora Bora
Stats @ Ship’s Time 10:00p (TAHT) … UTC 8:00a (7 February)
Temp: 82.4F (28C)
Position: 17.16.71S / 149.56.06W
All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries,
he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries
him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.
~ Samuel Johnson ~
Tahiti — an island that has essentially given its name to all of French Polynesia — greeted us with tears today. It started raining as the ship was on approach … and it continued to rain on and off throughout our call in Papeete. Lucky for us, we had no specific plans so the impact on our day was minimal.
Mui, wearing his ‘invisible straw skirt’, poses with a few of the dancers.
Tahiti is part of the Windward Group of the Society Islands. Formed by volcanic activity, it consists of two islands — Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti. These two islands are described in legends as a great fish that swam away from the sacred waters of Havai’i. The island is the economic, cultural, and political center of French Polynesia. This is reflected in the ambiance of Papeete, which we found to be a populous, bustling city of commerce.
We were up early as usual, planning to get off the ship to book a snorkeling tour at the pier to Moorea, a neighboring island a short ferry ride away. Forget about snorkeling there, the island was hidden behind a thick veil of low-lying clouds most of the day. So, we shifted our plans. After a leisurely breakfast under the protective overhang at the Terrace Café, we wandered off the ship to stroll around town. The rain was a drizzle by this time, giving us hope that the weather might be improving.
Our first stop was the Marché de Papeete, the largest market in the city — just a short walk from North Finger Pier I where Insignia was docked. We’ve visited lots of markets in our travels — not to shop, but to sightsee. Usually they are bustling with activity — locals shopping for fruits and vegetables, meats and fish, and anything else you can think of … tourists picking up souvenir items. This market was surprisingly quiet. It wasn’t that people weren’t around — they were out on the streets, but they just weren’t shopping.
When we ran into Sonia and Boris killing time at the market before their 4x4 jeep tour of the island, we decided to see about joining the tour. We even got some local currency out of the ATM to pay for it. But then it started to rain again — a rather heavy downpour — so we changed our minds. Goıng back to explorıng the city, we figured we’d hop in a cab to a nearby resort in the afternoon — if the weather cleared.
The map we picked up from the visitor center at the port gate showed something called the Tahiti Pearl Market. Thinking it might be the Musée de la Perle [Pearl Museum], we headed there next. It wasn’t the museum, but a pearl jewelry store … with a lovely selection of pre-set and loose pearls. Yup, we did some damage to the wallet here. When we walked out of the shop with our my purchases it was raining quite hard again. So we decided to return to the ship for lunch. Pulling out our Frogg Togg ponchos, we put them on and managed to get back to Insignia without getting soaked.
After a leisurely lunch, we donned our ponchos again and went back out to explore the city. It was still raining, but our ponchos kept us dry. Our meandering walk took us to the Cathedrale de Papeete Notre-Dame de l’Immaculee Conception. But before reaching the church, we detoured into the Vaima Shopping Center to check our some murals I had glimpsed from the road. In fact, the colorful public art we found as we wandered around turned out to be the highlight of today’s port of call.
We returned to the ship by way of a shoreline promenade where I photographed an interesting memorial dedicated to the nuclear testing done in the region between 1966-1996. The sign said that France detonated 193 atomic bombs on Moruroa and Fangataufa Atolls during that 30-year period, and went on to explain …
… The land and people of French Polynesia’s five archipelagos — symbolized by these five stones placed on a traditional paepae faced significant upheaval, as the nuclear tests were imposed on them.
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Bikini, Enewetak, Montebello, Emu Field, Maralinga, Malden, Kiritimati, Johnston, Moruroa, Fangataufa — the many locations around the Pacific chosen as nuclear test sites by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. The thousands of former test-site workers and the peoples of the Pacific live with the memory of these weapons, which today still continue to affect their health and environment. …
We were back on the ship by 3:30p — a little wilted from the heat and humidity, but satisfied that we had done the best we could under the wet circumstances we found in Papeete. A shower did much to revive us, and we were more than ready to head to the Insignia Lounge at 5:00p for a special Polynesian show featuring “the music, the costumes, and the traditions of Tahiti.” As wonderful as the show in Nuku Hiva was, this was so much better … perhaps because the music was more reminiscent of the lilting sounds we associate with Polynesia. And the dancers were absolutely fantastic … the standing ovation they received was well deserved.
Our departure from Papeete was delayed 45 minutes due to bunkering of fuel — a necessity for ocean travel dont’cha know ;-) No matter … Captain B said it would not affect our arrival for tomorrow’s last stop in French Polynesia. There is a special event for the RTWers that we plan to attend.
Click here to see some of the images from today's visit to Papeete.
© 2015-2017 — All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.
Loved seeing the dancers, and the art. Sorry about the rain, but I guess that is part of the tropics, as well as the heat and humidity. I suppose if you spent two weeks in French Polynesia, it would be awful if it rained the entire time, but I'll bet it wouldn't. Still dreaming of course....
ReplyDeleteMui looks way to happy!
ReplyDelete