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| The end of the runway at Papeete International Airport |
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| That's the frequency to call the tower |
We have had several people suggest that Tahiti isn’t the
most beautiful place in the world or even very interesting. I hate to admit
that I agree with them. We haven’t seen Moorea (an island just a short ferry-ride
away) or Bora Bora yet and most of our friends who have been to this area seem
to think they is much nicer than Tahiti. So we’ll have to give it another shot.
Sometime. Maybe not soon, however!
We did have a nice day with Patrick in the wilds of Tahiti,
however. I wasn’t quite sure what we were in for with him but Garry and Joanne
(from the world cruise last year
http://gaznjosworldcruise2011.blogspot.com/)
thought he was pretty good. Our weather didn’t cooperate completely but at
least it didn’t rain. Patrick took us through the traffic of downtown Papeete
(which was nothing compared to what it would be later! LA Friday traffic has
nothing on Papeete on a Friday!), stopping for gas (petrol for my Aussie
readers—of whom there are more than my American readers!) and then some
sandwiches for lunch. I have never before seen pink ham! But that’s what you
get in Tahiti if you want a ham and cheese sandwich. Yum. Not.
Finally we got off the main road and headed up to the
mountains and the waterfalls. There were quite a few waterfalls but there
hadn’t been as much rain so in many places we could only see where the
waterfalls would be if they were waterfalling. Fine with me, I didn’t really
want to slosh around in the rain.
Patrick has a penchant for asking questions: This is a
_______? (Bear in mind that we Aussies and Americans had absolutely NO idea
whatever plant he was holding up and asking us to identify!) We would all make
wild guesses and laugh until one of us stumbled on the correct answer or
Patrick took pity on us and gave us the answer while looking like we were the
absolute worst students he had ever had the misfortune to question. We just
laughed some more.
He did show us lots of plants including a really, really
weird one. It’s a fern; you just brush the leaves of one and the leaves
immediately close up. If you run your hand along a bunch of the leaves, the
bunches just close up and wilt completely. He said they would bounce back in 15–20
minutes. Pretty cool. I tried to get photos but couldn’t. Bummer.
We drove and drove and finally got to a place where we would
have lunch and perhaps go for a swim. Only Randy and I had brought bathing
suits and the hike was quite strenuous even if short. Patrick jumped in, Randy
jumped in, I clambered down and sort of oozed into the water. Cool, kind of
refreshing, but we weren’t staying that long and none of the other six were
going in, so we didn’t stay in that long. There was a waterfall that Patrick
got under—sort of like a massage, he said—but we didn’t have time.
After a lunch standing around the vehicle, a rather
bare-bones pickup with (luckily) padded seats, we headed back down the
mountain. That pretty much was it for our $80 per person tour. We didn’t get to
see the blowhole, we didn’t get to see much of anything except lots of plants.
Although Patrick was entertaining and quite fun, I did expect more of a “tour”
than we got. What we got was a drive out and back on the island. A tour around the
island might have been better.
Comments about Tahiti being quite expensive are definitely
correct. I needed some mousse for my hair; $27!!! With a combination of not
much time (we got back at 1600) and expensive (beers are on the order of
$10–$11 each) we didn’t even try to have a beer, just headed back to the ship
for a much needed shower (open air truck, dirt roads, you do the math!).
Oh, yes, the title of this: “Papeete Tower, Sun Princess
requesting clearance”? I have it on reliable authority (my husband, the retired
airline pilot) that the ship has to let the airport know they are there because
the end of the runway is so close to the ship corridor.
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| Coming into Papeete; note all the canoes on the beach |
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| Nice little boat with a helicopter on board |
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| Tahitian dancer |
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| Patrick, our tour guide |
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| Patrick, Neil, and Randy |
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| Patrick bringing the large leaf of some introduced pest plant for us to indentify |
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| The group admiring the scenery |
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| Wild orchids |
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| Patrick sliding into the pool |
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| Not THERE!!! |
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| He made it! |
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| Flat Stanley admiring the scenery |
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| Patrick and Flat Stanley |
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| Janet with a natural "tattoo" on her forehead from one of the local ferns |
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| That's our road out there in the distance |
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| Waterfalls |
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| I wasn't sure Patrick's truck would fit! |
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| That's the tunnel in the distance that we just went through |
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| They believe in steep roads in Tahiti |
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| Somebody actually has a hotel out here in the Tahitian wilderness. |
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| Pam showing Randy where her G-spot is |
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| Look closely, these guys are standing in the tanks of water from which they scoop out water to water the plants in the public byways. |
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| Not much fauna in Tahiti, but there are bees |
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| Some of the roads we were on all day. |
