On The Road Again: Day 22 - Papeete, French Polynesia

Had to meet our excursion group at 7:45, so we were up early and down to the International Cafe by 7:00 for a breakfast sandwich and coffee. Once off the ship we joined hundreds of other passengers boarding tour busses and heading for various parts of Tahiti. Our tour took us on a drive along the east coast and then back to Papeete.

We started with a stop at the James Norman Hall museum. Ever heard of him? Neither had we. Born in Colfax, Iowa, it turns out he was a pretty interesting guy. During WWI he fought for the British, French and Americans. As an American he couldn't join the British army, so he claimed he was Canadian. Later he went to France and was one of the 38 founding members of the Escadrille Lafayette. Finally he joined the American Army Air Corps. Landing in Tahiti he began writing adventure stories, many set in the South Pacific. His son was in the Hollywood movie business winning three Oscars, including one for Butch Cassidy And The Sun Dance Kid.

Next stop was Point Venus, which has a black sand beach considered to be the most popular on the island. I don't know about popular, but I have learned a few things about sand. Black sand comes from black volcanic rock broken down by years and years and years of pounding waves. In the South Pacific some of the white sand beaches come from fish eating coral and pooping out white sand. I know what you are thinking, but it needed to be said. Anyway, Point Venus is so named as it was where explorer James Cook brought his astronomer to track the transit of Venus across the sun.

The Blow Hole didn't live up to it's reputation, blowing out a lot of air but no water. The noise was pretty impressive as were the waves crashing nearby.

The view from One Tree Hill of Matavai Bay was pretty impressive. This is the bay where the Marlon Brando version of Mutiny On The Bounty was filmed and from there we could see our favorite island Moorea 13 miles away. It is said that at one time One Tree Hill had one tree. Not now though. The hill is a sea of green.

A Monument of Captain Bligh and Tomb of Pomare V gave us a chance to leave the bus for a little walk about.

Once in town I was amazed at how our driver could maneuver the bus in all the traffic. Our last stop gave us a walk through of the parliament building and nearby grounds, where the last Tahitian Queen bathed in a large pool now filled with koi.

After the bus dropped us off we went back aboard ship for a short rest stop and then it was back to town for lunch and shopping. Papeete is easily the biggest town since Honolulu and begins right at the pier, so both objectives were nearby. But first we grabbed a sidewalk table at Le Retro for a pair of Hinano beers. Later when checking restaurants we found menu options were in French and prices seemed a little on the high side. Like 25 bucks for a salad. Since we couldn't find any English friendly menus shopping moved up the to do list.

After a little back and forth Barb eventually settled on a black pearl necklace. I know black pearls wasn't supposed to happen, but once Barb saw "the" necklace, that was it. Actually the pearl thing is pretty interesting. Native divers harvest small oysters, hanging them in nets while they grow. Later Japanese specialists carefully insert the core to start the pearl and two to four years later voilà a pearl.

Unfortunately it was time to leave South Pacific and board the ship for our journey back to LA. We will always remember the beautiful Islands and plan to return .

We were back aboard and having lunch about 2:00. At about 5:00 the ship pulled away from the pier headed generally Northwest toward Los Angeles. Yup it's over except for the eight sea days ahead, which will be our time to really relax before getting back to everyday life.