It is 9pm as I type these first words, the end of a day that started when the alarm went off at 4:30am. Ouch! We watched from the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet as the Pacific Princess pushed away from the pier in Papeete for possibly the last time ever and began to navigate out of Papeete harbor. It was twilight-y dawn when we first sailed, but we soon saw the sun rise from behind the island of Tahiti as we made our way across the Sea of the Moon between Tahiti and Moorea.
Sunrise over Tahiti
As we looked back at Tahiti, we could see a small, older cruise ship approaching the Papeete harbor. G could make out its name: The Peace Boat. This was a new one for us, but, using the ship's new internet (faster to log on and off), G Googled it. It's a Japanese ship that does cultural/ goodwill world cruises.
It was still very early (6:15am-ish) and a long time until the Club Restaurant opened for breakfast, so we decided to eat in the Panorama Buffet. We had fruit and, in a mad moment, freshly made Belgian waffles, too. That was a splurge, but, with whipped cream and orange marmalade, so delicious. I forgot to mention that, last cruise, the shops on board were selling off the last of the Alaska souvenirs and a fellow passenger bought real maple syrup and had Belgian waffles and ice cream with maple syrup nearly every day. That's living large!
By the time we finished eating, we were sailing along the northern Moorea coastline, and we went up first to Deck 11 forward to watch our approach into Cooks Bay, but I eventually moved down to the Promenade Deck to get out of the sun. 
Cruising through the pass into Cooks Bay
We gathered up things for a beach or pool day, uncertain of our exact plans for the day. We were on the second tender to shore and, once there, hitched a ride to the nearby Moorea Pearl Resort, where we had gone to get Hiro's tour two days ago. We were hoping they sold a day pass, and they do, for 5700 XPF per person (US $51 per person was charged to my credit card). This enabled us to use the beach, the pool, the loungers, towels, water sports equipment and included a two course lunch.
The Moorea Pearl Resort was the only major Moorea resort we'd not yet visited either this year or last (the Sofitel, Intercontinental and Hilton being the others). Of the four, it's probably the least expensive one; though it's very nice, the lagoon view from pool is blocked by overwater bungalows. Still, it was a great place to spend the day and we were more drawn to the pool today instead of the beach, and settled into some comfortable wicker loungers.
Beach at Moorea Pearl Resort
Over the course of the day we kayaked out to the reef and G stand-up paddle boarded and we chatted with a group of sisters and sisters-in-law from western Michigan whose husbands had all gone deer hunting together (really, they were drinking beer and playing cards in the woods) and so their wives decided to fly to French Polynesia. They are from a part of Michigan with which we were very familiar, and it was fun to talk about places we all knew.
By noon we were getting hungry (after that 6am breakfast) and we went to the open air restaurant right next to the pool and were able to order anything we wanted from the menu: one entree and one dessert. We had a feast as I ordered fresh seafood tempura and G ordered a Polynesian burger, and then split three scoops of tropical flavored sorbet and a fresh fruit plate for dessert.
Lunch was long and leisurely, and it was 1:30pm by the time we returned to our poolside loungers just feet away. We had free WiFi at the resort, not fast but fast enough to upload these several photos which provided a good start to today's blog post. I also texted friends for the first time in almost two weeks, and it was wonderful to get caught up. While I can reconcile myself to being 'outside the loop' for months when we travel (and, in fact, it makes being away that much easier), the closer we get to going home, the more I feel the need to get caught up.
At 3:30pm we packed up and walked back to the front of the resort, where a taxi was called for us and arrived soon after. We were back at the tender pier just a few minutes later, and I did some more shopping for gifts to take home. Once on the ship, we showered and were on the Panorama Buffet terrace to watch as the Pacific Princess sailed out of Cooks Bay. The ship's horn blew some extra goodbye toots, and people on shore waved goodbye as we left. Weep! I'm sure the Pacific Princess will be sorely missed.
We went to dinner at the new time of 5:15pm, which is very early on port days but won't be so bad on sea days, especially once we start sailing east and moving clocks ahead. We will be seeing several new menus on this 16-night cruise, and my favorite one was featured tonight, with ciappino (seafood stew) and key lime pie for dessert. The Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall began at 7pm on the pool deck. Our weather today and tonight was perfect and it was nice that we could have it out there. Afterward, we went to the Welcome Aboard show in the Cabaret Lounge (a comedian whose name eludes me right now) and that was the end of our evening. It had been a long but fun day.
One more early morning tomorrow to watch our 6am arrival into the Bora Bora lagoon through Teavanui Pass, and then we have five (!) lazy days at sea en route to Hawaii. After 73 days, we are so ready for them. I don't know what excites me more: lunches in the Club Restaurant, fun activities, reading on the Promenade Deck, attending lectures or turning off the alarm.
Oh yes I do, and I bet you do too. ;-)
