French Polynesia, 12th to 14th March

This time we only had to endure two days at sea before we reached Tahiti and docked right in the middle of the capital town, Papeete. It was great to see "civilisation" again, although we were less enthusiastic about the traffic. As befits French Polynesia, it is very........well, French. We could have been somewhere in the South of France. We went on a great off-road tour, not that we really left the road! The jeep needed 4WD just to manoeuvre the potholes. Here we are with the bay in the background.





It was an overcast day, although the sun did appear later, accompanied by swarms (literally) of mosquitoes. Well protected by Boots pungent but effective deterrent, I was smugly untouched. It is a volcanic island and we went into the caldera of the volcano and it is quite spectacular. There were also lots of waterfalls to see. We later went into town and Mike had his favourite meal, steak tartare. As we anticipated, a welcome break from ship food. C'etait bon.

Next day and a completely diffrent experience. We went to Moorea, an island 12km ftom Papaeete where we had a snorkel trip. First we went to see Sting Rays which are very tame and used to humans and it was amazing. Then our guide fed the reef sharks and Mike got to try out his new underwater camera, with excellent results.





However, it was fairly disappointing as we then went on, supposedly to snorkel on the reef but as we were in a lagoon we had to wade quite a distance to get to the coral. The current was quite strong and as we weren't allowed to have fins, I found it difficult.

Next day - whew, three days ashore in a row! And if it's Saturday, it must be Bora Bora. This was the least interesting of the three. The island is only 17 miles in circumference and they managed to drag the tour out for 3 hours. It is also in a lagoon but the colours of the sea were the most dramatic sight. It was an American base during the war and was the inspiration for the book and film "South Pacific" (which was apparently shot in Hawaii). Nonetheless, some enterprising soul set up "Bloody Mary's Bar and Restaurant", all palm roofs, famous signatures and the ubiquitous t-shirt shop.

So a busy few days. But guess what? We head for Rarotonga and does the weather not decide it's time to make yours truly ill again? I was in bed by 5pm, wishing I could go home. Struggled up at 6am, showere and going out of the door when the announcement comes that as the swells are 2m high, the sea is very rough and they are expecting thunderstorms, Sunday is cancelled. Back to bed....

Monday was much the same but thankfully today we have sunshine although we still have the rockin' & rollin'. That means we have 5 days at sea (groan.....) We have an interesting day ahead tomorrow, or should I say we won't have a day tomottow as tomorrow we cross the Date Line and lose a day. Even Captain Kirkman can't quite work that one out. So tomorrow when you are having Wednesday, we will already be Thursday. Hmm, time for a lie down in a darkened room to ponder that one. Bye for now, mes amis xx