Last port before home

Saturday 22nd
Another hour back, so we woke "early" as we approached Papeete. Last night the Captain determined that we'd be late, so moved everything forward an hour - however we were well on our way to our berth by 7.00 as originally intended. The long and the short is that we had breakfast on our deck well ahead of time. 

We are berthed adjacent to the M5, apparently the largest sloop in the world - it is owned by an American billionaire and clearly just the crew are on board. The boat is huge and even boasts a seaplane aft.

We'd planned a day tour with Heather & Mark and once ashore made our way to the Avis office. Mark is our official driver and we hired a little 2 door Renault for our adventure.  Before we set off we went to the markets and got some bananas and mangos. The poor guy at the stall had no idea of US$s. 

We went clockwise around the island and Mark's driving was superb - a lefthand drive manual is a bit of a challenge. Our only minor hiccup was getting out of Papeete city - but we got to see sights we'd otherwise have missed. And to be fair to our guide, the various maps we had were all very good schematically, but useless for actually showing the streets.

Sadly it started to rain, so we only saw 1 of the 3 waterfalls from as distance (there were heaps of Princess tour buses there) as it was unpleasantly wet at that time. Onwards we went and just before midday we reached Tarevao at the bottom of the main island, where the little island joins. As we headed along we found a small cafe, so pulled in. We ended up with the most magnificent baguettes filled with salad, bacon & eggs (subway style) and tiny espresso coffees!  Turns out that this was also very popular with the locals, including the local gendarmerie!!

We went on to the end of the road on the little island and found a small beach to have our picnic - which we just finished when the showers returned. Back onto the main island and around the corner heading up the west coast and the weather, road and the standard of housing and beaches improved dramatically.

We motored along and came across the Paul Gauguin Restaurant (the house and museum were a kilometre away and are closed!), so we called in for a coffee and .... lemon meringue pie.  No, they were out of pie, so made do with the coffee, which was more expensive than the coffee & baguettes we bought at lunchtime. However, the ambience was magnificent and they had open fish ponds with lots of tropical fish.

As we approached the outskirts of Papeete, Mark decided to drive up a hill up to where all the modern expensive houses were. The only trouble was that the poor little car was not really made for such a climb. However Mark was our man and he got it up!! (What's that funny smell? asks Heather).   At least the brakes worked OK on the downward journey.

Onward to the city and the next stop was the petrol station to fill up before returning the car. One slight problem was that they wouldn't accept a credit card as our fill was less than 2,000pfs but they would take USD thankfully (otherwise we might have met up with our gendarmes again).  The conversion rates on the island do not bear thinking about, but after all it is only money!!

A quick wander back to the ship and reflection on a great day. We certainly have seen pretty well all of Tahiti and of course the weather by now is absolutely perfect!  The crew of M5 have been on the turps all day by the look of it and as the evening progressed their music got louder and they had a great time playing up to an audience on the upper decks.  It was pleasantly quiet as we sailed out, the lights of Papeete looked magnificent. 

Sunday 23rd
A little cloudy as we arrive at Bora Bora, but this didn't last. A tender port (the last one), so we met Heather & Mark about 8.45 and were ashore by 9.15. We were not in a hurry today as we had planned to walk to Bloody Mary's, about 4 miles away.

It was an epic, but enjoyable walk and took just over 1 1/4 hours. The sun shone with the temperature around 30 degrees and thankfully there was a breeze most of the way.  Funnily, after quite some time, Vivian was in need of a rest etc. so we stopped while the others went ahead.  Once refreshed, we took off with gusto, only to find that our destination was just 200 metres up the road ☺ 

When we got to Bloody Mary's, there were numerous buses with Princess & other private tours, so it was a bit chaotic getting a drink before we continued on to the beach ("just 10 minutes " said Mark). 20 minutes later we could certainly see the beaches and suddenly Heather darted across the road to a cafe to check out the menu.  Great move!

This little cafe (once again mainly supported by locals) was right on the beach with magnificent white sand and clear water. A lovely woman was running the place and she spoke perfect English despite my attempts at poor French. A good & reasonably priced (but probably not healthy) lunch.

Vivian & Heather and Mark had a swim, as did Mark 2, who arrived with Christine later. After all that excitement we were pleased to hail a shuttle bus on it's way back to the ship. The bus came complete with family (including the dog).  Heather & Mark however completed the return trip by foot, so win the prize for "most walkers".

We had a spectacular sail away through the reef and into the setting sun. Even a whale was playing very close to the ship - well we hope it was playing and not stranded.  We thoroughly enjoyed our balcony on a balmy evening, staying out there until it got completely dark and we had to go to dinner.

Monday 24th
The last hour back on our clocks, so we woke *very* early and had a relaxing time before breakfast. Otherwise it was a pretty normal sea day. The weather has been very pleasant, with temperature still in the early 30s.

Tonight we had an extended group dinner of 14 friends in the pizzeria. This was a great night, even though the Captains Circle deck party was scheduled just beforehand. It is disappointing that Princess do not see fit to entertain their guests in a more genteel manner as once again some (say) 1,200 passengers all trying to swill in the allotted 45 minutes is not a sight which will appear in their publicity brochures! 

Having said that, we did not bother to attend (but the others reported back!), as we had to organise the seating arrangements, which staff seemed to have forgotten about. We were pretty well the only people in the restaurant, so the staff didn't mind that we overstayed a little beyond closing time - much!!  Everyone enjoyed the gathering and just to clarify, we were 12 Kiwi's & Christine and Mark 2 (bravely the Australian contingent).

Tuesday 25th
Horrors, the days are running away on us.  Another sea day broken by yet another " lifejacket drill" which meant no Mah Jong and a rush for coffee once the drill was over. Partly cloudy but warm day. A swell is coming from behind us, so we have a bit of a roll - Captain explained that a following swell is not really controlled by the "flippers" (stabilisers) as there is less water passing over them to be effective.  Now there is the physics lesson for the day ☺☺.

Vivian & Danny came top at bridge today, well done. They only have 2 more bridge days to play so hopefully will continue to do well. I've been updating the blog before my memory fades completely.

Wednesday 26Thursday
Pago Pago is our last port of call before home and we arrived just after dawn. As with most of our Pacific ports, early morning is misty/rainy but by the time we got off the ship about 9.00 it was pretty clear and got hotter and hotter as the day progressed. Once again we were trekking with Heather & Mark, although not the epic of Bora Bora!

We saw all we needed to see and adjourned to Sadie's Hotel on the waterfront for coffee & toast at 10.30!  They don't do things like scones, muffins or cakes!  Mark & I left the girls to go swimming and we climbed up to the lookout. That was quite a climb but well worth it. We also got to find out the history of the former cable car which ran across the harbour and the disaster that occurred with a US Air force (I think) plane collided with the wires and crashed into the hotel below (now Sadie's) with much loss of life.

As always the walk down was much easier and on getting back to the hotel found Vivian & Heather in the sea. We each had to pay $5 for a day pass to use the beach etc. even though we were patronising the hotel. Shock horror, I had my first swim in some 2 years!  Yes, you read it here. It probably won't be repeated and I am sure that any photos Vivian may have taken will be destroyed!!

So eventually we got (re)dressed and found a table under a fale. The place was crowded and the staff we pleasant to the extreme, but totally overwhelmed. Our waiter took our order, eventually came back with drinks and then returned some 10 minutes later to retake our order, because he had lost his bit of paper.  We had a great lunch and Christine & Mark 2 came and joined us later, as they'd already eaten (but no swim).

Sadly I am writing this as we sail away from American Samoa. Our course will now tend far more southerly than westerly and I fear that the days of T shirt and shorts are numbered - possibly 1. The Captain has prepared us with his longer range forecast on our way to NZ and really when you think of it, over the 95 odd days we've travelled, we have had some great weather so mustn't grumble.