Hawaii, French Polynesia, Tahiti, the Marquesas -- 35-Day Cruise -- 27 February thru 04 April 2022

This morning we crossed the equator at exactly 09:06 AM Hawaii Time.  We received certificates proclaiming the we are no longer LANDLUBBERS, and have been found to be seaworthy and now Honorary Members of the Royal and Ancient Order of Shellbacks! King Neptune, Masked Tuna and Princess The first timers of the crew to cross the equator were initiated in a ceremony on the Lido Deck, complete with King Neptune and his entourage.  It was a fun time as the new inductees were dunked in the pool, after being covered in colored dyes and bowing to a large "masked" tuna Inductees Captain and First Officers -- Judge Tribunal  

Well, we knew it had to come to an end and here we are at Nuku Hiva which is the largest island in French Polynesia after Tahiti.  We had a lovely entrance into the bay this morning with the sun helping to highlight the mountains. After a late breakfast, we went into town and looked around. We hiked up a small mountain that had the Tiki Tuhiva on the top overlooking the bay. This is the highest sculpture in all of French Polynesia.This is considered a sacred ground of the Marquesians and has a number of smaller tiki statues in the area.  It also has the "octopus" that represents the linkage of all the islands from New Zealand, to Easter Island, to Tonga to Hawaii with Raiatea the center, the head of the octopus.  This is the Polynesia Triangle that indicates how the seafaring tribes used the stars and winds to arrive in the 118 Polynesian Islands. Then we met up with our tour guide, Aniata, her name translates to "image of the sky".  She was excellent and gave us a ...

We came to the island of Tahuata in the Marquesas this morning under low clouds that obscured our view of the island.  However, with the sunrise the clouds burned off revealig another lush, green island. The day was mostly cloudy and very humid. In the Maquesas Archipeligo only 6 of the 12 islands are inhabitated with a populace of around 9400. The  Maquesas Archipeligo is cosidered the ocean gate to French Polynesia and is spread over 350 kilometers. The distance has limited exchanges between the islands, and each one has kept its own personality, customs, and dialect.  We went ashore by tender in Hapatoni on the east side of the island, which afforded us the best protection from winds and currents.  We received a very warm welcome from the islanders, complete with leis and song and music.  Robbi made a new friend as well! We walked along an ancient rocky road to the main pavilion, where the artisans had their wares on display, where we were treated to native d...

We've turned the corner and are heading northeast towards Tahuata, as we are near the end of our voyage, visiting the last 2 islamds on our itinerary during the days ahead! We had a sunrise that was hidden by clouds on the horizon, but what a fantastic sunset. As we had a sea day, we had a relaxing morning at the aft pool, followed by Robbi's standing Mahjongg game.  She really has had fun playing and even had some imprmptu games in the afternoon after tours while we were in port.  I've been reading and draining the library dry!😃😃 Last night we were treated to a Polynesian Feast complete with a fully stocked Fruit Market.  The staff has gone out of their way to decorate and make this a wonderful experience.  Today they had a French Restuarant menu complete with mussels, bouillabaise, baguettes, etc.  Where they get all these varietties of foods, we'll never know, and we probably won't experience them in our normal day-to-day life when we return to reality!!! W...

Welcome to the atoll of Fakarava with a population of 847, a lagoon surface of 1121sq.km and a dry land surface of only 16sq.km.  Pristine!!  It was named a Natural Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. We entered the lagoon from the north (Garuae) which is the largest pass in French Polynesia. A short tender ride to shore and we were warmly greeted by the people, with music, coconut, and local artisans in the village of Rotoava.  We really had a nice walk-about on the sand, taking in the sites!!  

We docked during the night of the 21st after our short voyage from Moorea and were treated to a spectacular show by a Tahitian Dance Group.  So wonderful to exoerience their culture and history!! The morning in port was cloudy and very humid, but the sun broke through as we took a morning stroll through downtown.  Papeete is a bustling city and very metropolitan, with its high end shops and expensive yachts in the harbor. Personally the other islands we visited were much more fun to walk around and experience the people. Mid-morning we're off to tour the island and the sights of this great island.  Papeete has a population of around 160,000 and with Moorea, accounts for about 75% of the French Polynesian populace. Our tour guide, Douglas, came to the islands as a 7-year old.  He was full of ancedotes about almost everything that we saw.  Our first stop was the James Norman Hall museum, famous author who wrote 3 Bounty books and quite prolific, even writing a boo...

We arrived  early this morning and once again the only access to the bay is through a very narrow opening in the coral reef. Now we are off the tour the island and more history to tell y'all about later! We took a tender ashore and were welcomed with flowers and an artisan market that we browsed through and of course, made a few small purchases!  We walked about and noticed the church, Papetaoi, and found out it was the first Protestant church in French Poylnesia and started the diffusion on Protestantism in the 19th Century. Moorea, meaning Yellow Lizard, is one of the younger islands, in terms of volcanic formation.  It has a population of around 10,000 people and an average wage of $1500 per month.  The island has 6 major cities, each with its own mayor.  Children learn French at pre-school. followed by English in 5th grade and in 7th grade they can chose another language. Tahitian language is home-taught. Our tour guide, Maui, was quite informative and we sp...

We had a very relaxing last day in Vaitape, Bora Bora.  Nothing out of the ordinary as we did it all yesterday -- good breakfast, this morning, time in the sun and the sail-away party at 4:30pm .    We can't help but close this post with some more beautiful photos of what we saw and experienced!  It was so breath-taking!  A Camera just does not do justice for what we saw and experienced.  And we have more yet to go!! And this little stingray hooked a ride to our next port -- the island of MOOREA!  Yes, we did see live ones in the shallows of the reef!

We entered the only gap in the atoll that surrounds the island of Bora Bora this morning at 6:00am.  This is the reason that the U.S. Army established a strategic supply base here in WWII.   Sunrise entering the Gap of Bora Bora We started the morning with a short walk around Vaitape before we met our tour.  An interesting fact is that there are 2 of every kind of shop with a 6 block stretch of Vaitape.  And again, a majority of the businesses are owned by Chinese. However, the influx of the Chinese was created because of the Opium War. The coral reef atoll isolates the Pacific Ocean from the intercoastal deep water channel that circulates around the island.  This creates the variety of colors in the waters that is absolutely amazing!  The white line you see in the picture are the waves of the Pacific Ocean hitting the coral reef and filling the lagoon Mt. Pahia and Mt. Otemanu are the 2 ancient volcanoes that form the uniqueness of the island this was...