Monday, January 27th—Our 24th
Cruise Day—Tahiti
We left
Pitcairn Island about noon on January 24th and cruised west for the rest of that day plus
two more full days before our next port of call the following day on January 27th—Tahiti!
Tahiti is
part of the Society Islands which in turn are part of French Polynesia. French
Polynesia also includes the island groups of Moorea, Bora Bora, and New
Caledonia—all places we would visit on this trip. The currency is the French
Pacific Franc abbreviated as “XPF” with 90 XPF’s equaling 1 U.S. dollar. Pat
referred to XPF’s as “Wintergreen’s”—since the abbreviation reminded her of the
character “Ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen” in the novel “Catch 22.”
The main
languages spoken on Tahiti are French and Tahitian, with very few Tahitians
speaking good English. Tahiti consists of two “lobes” of land which were formed
from two volcanos. The larger of the two is referred to as “Tahiti nui” (Large
Tahiti) and the smaller one “Tahiti iti” (Small Tahiti). The two lobes are connected at a narrow neck,
and due to the volcanic origin, the interior is very steep and relatively
inaccessible. There are roads into the interior—which is said to be
absolutely beautiful—but they require a 4-wheel drive vehicle and a very bumpy
ride. So 95% of the roads and population of Tahiti are along the coast. Tahiti nui has a “ring road” along the coast
as its main road, and along that road are many wonderful sights. Tahiti iti has
coastal roads along its north and south coasts, but they are not connected
since the eastern coast on Tahiti iti is private land and inaccessible to the
public.
We visited
Tahiti during our 2012 World Cruise, so this was a return visit for us. During
our 2012 visit we first went out on a catamaran where Bill did some snorkeling,
and then we found a wonderful taxi driver—Mike—who could speak English. Mike took us around the northwest, north, and
northeast part of Tahiti nui, showing us many sights along the way—including
Point Venus (where Captain Cook landed and observed the transit of the planet Venus
across the sun in 1767), the Araaoaho Blowhole, and the Three Waterfalls of Fa’auruma’i.
Mike was very, very personable and did
many, many “extra” things to make that trip that much more enjoyable—see our
blog from 2012.
This time,
we had hoped to take a 4X4 trip into the mountainous interior of Tahiti.
Unfortunately, the ship excursion for that trip was full, so instead of picking
a different excursion, we decided to do Tahiti on our own—much like we did in
2012.
Our ship was
docked in Papeete—the capital and largest city in Tahiti, and after we
disembarked from the ship about 9:00 AM, we first walked a few blocks up to the
Marche’ or Market. At the Marche’, we saw all kinds of goods for sale—from
fruit, vegetables, meat and fish to sarongs, wood carvings, and other tourist
items. We even tasted and purchased a type of fruit we had never seen or tasted
before—“Romtuk(sp?)”. Romtuk has a spiny surface and a very large “seed”
inside. But the flesh around the seed is delicious!
From there,
we walked up Rue Paul Gauguin—we had heard that there was a wine store there that
we wanted to check out. Indeed, we found the wine store, but it sold “boutique
wines”, which were far too expensive for our taste!
So we
decided to go out exploring the island and walked back towards the Marche’.
There we saw a line of taxis on Rue Collette—just as there had been in 2012.
And who should we see standing next to his taxi on that street but Mike, our
taxi driver from 2012! Of course we immediately employed his services, climbed
into his taxi, and we were once again off exploring Tahiti! Since we had explored
the northwest and north coasts of Tahiti nui in 2012, we thought it would be
fun to head south from Papeete with our goal being Teahupoo—the end of the
public road on the south side of Tahiti iti.
The first
stop on our journey was just outside Papeete at “Carrefours”--a grocery chain
in Tahiti. There we were able to have our wine needs met, along with a few
other sundry items. (NOTE: At many ports, we go “wine shopping”—because any
kind of alcohol aboard our ship is exorbitantly expensive. However, whatever we
purchase off the ship can be brought on board when we return.)
As we moved
south from Papeete along the coast road on the western side of the island, we
stopped numerous times for photo opportunities. The beaches along the coast
were beautiful, and it made us wish we had days to visit the island, not hours.
Bill especially wanted to go swimming and snorkeling, but if we were to get all
the way to Teahupoo, we would have to choose our stops carefully.
Our next intended
stop was at the “Lagoonarium” and “Captain Bligh Restaurant” near Punaauia. The
Lagoonarium is a marine aquarium within a lagoon which has underwater viewing
of marine life, and the restaurant was one recommended to us by our travel
guide on our ship—so we were excited to visit both. But unfortunately this was a Monday, and both
were closed on Mondays, so we continued on.
Our next
stop was the “Museum of Tahiti” just south of Punaauia. When we arrived at the
museum, we saw a tour bus parked outside, and proceeded inside to purchase our
tickets. But we quickly discovered that the museum had opened just for this
tour group, not members of the public. Undeterred, we entered the museum by a
side door, and quickly joined the tour group—finding our previous stop closed
made us a bit more determined to take fate into our own hands! So we pretended
to be part of the tour group and tried our best to act like we belonged. All
went well except for two things: 1. the group consisted of German tourists, and
so the commentary was in German. (However signs were in English, so we could
read the details of each exhibit)—and 2. Eventually museum officials started
wondering what a taxi and driver was doing parked outside. Nevertheless, we
enjoyed our “tour” which contained many fascinating and authentic Polynesian
artifacts—and after about an hour were back on the road.
We continued
south on the coast road until we reached Marae Arahurahu, a couple of miles on
a dirt road off the main coastal road and near the town of Paea. (At this
point, it should be pointed out that one town blends into the next all along
the coast road, so it is often difficult to know when one town ends and the
next begins!) Marae are “spaces reserved for ceremonial, societal, and
religious activities of ancient Polynesians.” Marae consist of a courtyard, (te
tahua), an altar (te ahu—where human sacrifices occurred), a cornerstone (‘ofa
‘i tihi), and other ceremonial areas and objects. For us, our visit here was
one of the highlights of our visit to Tahiti. First, we were by ourselves with
no one else at the site at the time we were there. We weren’t sure whether or
not we had just arrived in-between tour buses or whether this site was off the
tourist track—but for whatever reason, this meant we could wander about at our
leisure without feeling we were part of a “herd.” No matter how wonderful a
site is, if it is crowded with people and has a tour guide who keeps saying
“Hurry up, move along—we have to get back on the bus to get to our next
location”, it takes away from the enjoyment of the visit.
So we had
the site to ourselves, which we enjoyed for a half hour or so, and then
wandered back down the dirt road about a quarter of a mile to a fruit stand we
had seen on the way up. Once again, we were by ourselves, and by coincidence,
the owner was a cousin of our taxi driver’s wife. Maybe it was because we were
the only ones there or maybe because we were with Mike, but the young woman was
extremely outgoing and friendly. She gave us a type of fruit we had never seen
or tasted before—“Corosol”(sp?). When split open, the flesh inside can be eaten
(seeds need to be spit out) and is absolutely delicious and unlike anything we
had ever tasted. The woman was so nice, we also purchased some “Authentic Monoi
de Tahiti”—a type of lotion—and she seemed happy to have some business for the
day.
We departed
Marae Arahurahu, drove down the dirt road, and back to the coast road again
heading south. Our next stop was “Maraa Grotto” just south of Paea. This grotto
is just a short walk off the coastal road and is absolutely beautiful! Imagine a
cave with crystal clear blue water at the bottom, surrounded by lush ferns
everywhere, and backlit by the sun. It looked like a scene out of the “Ring
Trilogy.” For about twenty minutes we took photos and looked around the
area—there was a second, small grotto nearby. And then it was time to continue
our journey.
By this time
we were starting to feel hungry, and Mike said he had just the place for us—the
Gauguin Restaurant near the Gauguin Museum in Papeari. Mike told us that
although the museum was closed for renovation, the restaurant would be open.
And indeed, as we drove up, we saw that the restaurant was beautiful—right on
the water with large fish in pens next to the restaurant and a boardwalk out
over the water to see the fish. But we arrived at 2:15 PM, and the restaurant
stopped serving at 2:00 PM! We were told that the kitchen was closed, and no
amount of persuasion would convince them to serve us. So we walked out over the
boardwalk, viewed the fish, and began to think that Tahiti was a lovely place, but
seemed to be closed for our visit. And at this point it began to rain.
So back in
the taxi we went, and continued our drive south to Teahupoo. The rain stopped,
but by this time, Pat especially was getting a little concerned about time—we
had hired our taxi for four hours, and it was clear that our trip was going to
be significantly longer than that. We were starting to feel we were ready to
return--even though “all aboard” wasn’t until 3:00 AM the next morning.
In addition,
we were definitely ready for something to eat! Nevertheless, we persevered and
continued on to Teahupoo—which took about another 30 minutes of driving. And
the drive was interesting. We drove through the “neck” between Tahiti nui and
Tahiti iti at Taravao and the further we went into Tahiti iti, the more
primitive and “non-touristy” the scene became. The beaches were beautiful, and
Teahupoo is where international surfing competitions are held. We finally
reached Teahupoo, and knew we were there when Mike announced that we were at
the “end of the road.” And there is nothing really at Teahupoo—except for big
waves and a lovely beach. We quickly had our photos taken in front of a
surfboard sign and began heading north along the same road back to Papeete.
There was
only one sight to see on the way back that we hadn’t seen on the way down, and
that was the Vaipahi Water Garden between Papeari and Mataiea. There we made a
short stop to view the gardens—which included a beautiful waterfall. There were
hiking trails around the gardens that would have taken an hour or more to
complete, but we were getting tired and were anxious to be on our way, so we
didn’t take advantage of any of them.
We think
that Mike may have felt a bit bad that both the Captain Bligh restaurant at
Punaauia, and the Gauguin restaurant at Papeari were closed. He told us he knew
“just the place” for us to get a bite, and guaranteed us that it would not be
closed. So we headed north, back towards Papeete, wondering what Mike had in
mind. Along the way, Mike talked to us about the Tahitian culture and even
taught us some Tahitian words (spelled below phonetically):
“Matahe” is Mike’s name in Tahitian
“popaa” is a white skinned person
“marooroo” means thank you
“nana” means goodbye
“tamahini” is a young girl
“vahini” is an adult woman
“tamaroa” is a young boy
“tane” is an adult man
“tamar-ee-e” are children
“ita” means no
“eh” means yes
“pee-ra-ro” means car
“api” means new
We did our best to converse with
Mike—and others we met—using the few Tahitian words Mike taught us.
After driving north to somewhere near
Punaauia, we reached the “restaurant” Mike had in mind for us—“Beach Burger.”
This wasn’t quite what we had in mind, but at least it was open, and we
all enjoyed a meal there—hamburgers for us and a plate of Mahi-Mahi for Mike.
(We had had enough fish by this point!)
Afterwards, we returned to Papeete,
and along the way, mentioned to Mike that one day we would like to take a trip
up the volcano and into the interior of Tahiti nui. Mike told us that his taxi
was 4 –wheel drive, and that next time he would be glad to take us. Mike gave
us his contact information, and told us that if there ever is a “next time”, to
contact him ahead of time--that is what we will do.
Mike dropped us off near our ship in
Papeete about 5:30 PM, and we said our goodbyes to a person whom we feel had
become our friend. Immediately after that, we went back on board--it had been a
busy day, we had just eaten at Beach Burger, and we were tired enough to go
straight to our cabin. The ship would leave Papeete in the middle of the night
while we were sleeping, but it wouldn’t go far. The next morning, Tuesday,
January 28th, we would be just across the bay from Tahiti at our
next port of call—the island of Moorea!
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