Day 74: Bora Bora - Farewell to French Polynesia

Oh, this was a day I'd been dreading for a couple of weeks. Not all of it, of course; the day was absolutely perfect until about 5pm. But that Bora Bora sailaway was wrenching. At least last year when we left French Polynesia we knew the Pacific Princess would eventually return, and, if life was kind, so would we. But today...

We started the day the way we have so many days this year, with an early alarm (5:30am). The sun was already up when we looked out our (large) cabin window, and we could see Bora Bora in the distance. We hurriedly dressed and went up first to Deck 10 to take some photos ('cause the 292 we already have of our Bora Bora arrivals are simply not enough), but then went to the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet for a different view of our transit through Teavanui Pass. 

The day was sunny and the lagoon was at its best, showing us its 50 shades of blue. We were surprised to see the Peace Boat from yesterday already at anchor, and the Pacific Princess ended up a little further north in the lagoon, near the now defunct Bora Bora Lagoon Resort on Motu Toopua. It's where we anchored when we were in Bora Bora on the larger Diamond and Sapphire Princess ships, and it makes the tender ride slightly longer. 

We ate breakfast in the Panorama Buffet and returned to the cabin to pack for a beach day. We were on one of the first tenders to shore and arrived to a frenzy of activity on the pier. A group of schoolchildren greeted us on shore, welcoming us to the island in song and handing out tiare buds. We were told it was because this was the last time the Pacific Princess would be in Bora Bora. I saw Patrick's daughter Vaitiare, and she gave me a big hug, telling me they would fit us in today if we wanted to do Patrick's tour one more time. It would have been a wonderful end to our French Polynesian odyssey, but we had other less ambitious (and less expensive) plans for the day. 

We took a taxi down to Matira Beach before 9am. It was never our intention to spend the entire day there, but we ended up renting two cushioned loungers and settling in. At least in the morning we had some shade, but I applied buckets of sunscreen and made it through the day without a burn. However, someone else forgot that the sun reflects off the sand and water and can burn a face shaded by a Tilley hat. He may feel it tonight!

Love this pic!  Camera half in and half out of water

G soaking it all in

We spent the day moving between floats on the water and loungers on the sand, watching the many crew and officers from the Pacific Princess and the Japanese passengers from the Peace Boat also having fun. I think that a majority of the crew got at least a little time off today to go to Matira Beach, and it was wonderful to see them enjoying themselves. We even saw some of the ship's senior officers on the beach. It seemed like everyone wanted to have a perfect day in Bora Bora before leaving French Polynesia and five days at sea.

I swam waaaaaayyyy out and took this photo looking back at the beach

We were entertained by Iti playing a ukulele and singing and then by G playing Iti's ukulele and not singing ;-)

We stayed on the beach until 3:30pm and rode back to the tender pier in Vaitape, never taking our eyes off the beautiful lagoon along the way. It was at that point when it really started to hit me that This. Was. It. and I got a lump in my throat that lasted for almost two hours. We've traveled many places in the world, but have never enjoyed any of them as much as French Polynesia. 

Once back on the ship, we got cleaned up for dinner and took a bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne up to the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet. Douglas Pearson's traveling companion, Beverly, who was on the Pacific Princess most of this French Polynesian season as well as last year's, joined us in repeating our last sailaway from Bora Bora last year. We all toasted a fantastic season and watched as the Pacific Princess turned around in the lagoon, blew its horn repeatedly (answered by the Peace Boat), and sailed back through Teavanui Pass.

For the first time, we saw the pilot boat come out to the ship to pick up the French Polynesia port pilot. One pilot stays onboard for the entire ten days of each French Polynesia cruise, and then switches with another pilot when the ship returns to Papeete.  As the pilot boat headed back through the pass to Vaitape, the Pacific Princess again blew its horn several times to say goodbye, and we all stood on the deck returning the pilot's waves. Bittersweet, for sure. 

Champagne for sailaway served by Janet from Peru

The Peace Boat on its world cruise from Japan

Waving goodbye to the pilot boat. Waving goodbye to Bora Bora. 

Waving goodbye to French Polynesia. 

Sigh. 

We went to dinner in the Club Restaurant, excited to see if the menu was a new one for us (it was). I had a crab cake starter and vegetarian korma topped with grilled shrimp, followed by mango sorbet. We went to the Cabaret Lounge for the 7:30pm performance of production show Stardust, the first time the new cast has performed it. As soon as we left Bora Bora and started heading almost due north toward Hawaii, the ocean got rougher than we've seen since we arrived in French Polynesia in late September. It was the first time 5 of the 6 dancers had performed on a rocking ship, and they did a fantastic job. That had to be a scary thing for them; when we stood up afterward to leave the Cabaret Lounge, we could barely walk a straight line. 

Bora Bora (in the middle) is left behind as the Pacific Princess sails past Maupiti and heads almost due north. 

G is still out listening to music, but duty called and I wanted to prepare this blog post. The alarm clock is turned OFF, and it will stay that way for at least the next five sea days. We are following about a 355 degree course almost due north and will cross the equator on November 22, arriving in our first Hawaiian port of Hilo on November 25.  As hard as it was to leave French Polynesia, we're thrilled to finally be coming to America!

Day 50: Bora Bora

Honestly, I had to open my iPad this morning and check to be certain I had even published a blog post last night. I had been that tired from yesterday's heat and activity. This morning, Bora Bora arrival be damned, I turned off the alarm and decided to allow myself to sleep until I woke up naturally. That occurred at a very respectable 7am, and, with our 9am arrival in Bora Bora this morning, allowed me to meet G in the Club Restaurant for breakfast. We finished eating and were up on Deck 11 forward; joining what seemed like every other passenger on the Pacific Princess when we sailed through Teavanui Pass into the gorgeous Bora Bora lagoon. And in today's bright sunshine, gorgeous wasn't enough of a superlative. It was stunning.

I had half a thought about meeting Bora Bora Patrick on the pier in the event he had a cancellation today. We are scheduled to do his lagoon tour and motu picnic later in the season, but were in the mood to be on the water again today. As it turned out, Patrick may have had room for us, but when I checked in the safe this morning, we didn't have enough cash on hand to pay for his tour, and need to get more from the ATM in Raiatea tomorrow. 

Instead, we gathered up floats for a beach day, and, by 10am were already settled on beautiful Matira Beach, after taking a $5 (or 500 XPF) taxi ride from the tender pier. Matira Beach had never looked prettier; the algal bloom that sometimes plagued the beach last season was nowhere to be seen, and the crystalline blue water glistened in the sun. The beach was not particularly quiet today, however...a large group of school kids was apparently having what we would call a "field day" on the other end of it. They were clearly having a big time, but, fortunately, left immediately after lunch. 

G and I were early enough to get two wooden loungers that, at least early in the day, were in the shade. We immediately headed into the water with our two floats and spent most of the rest of the morning and until mid-afternoon paying in the water. I applied SPF 50 several times (honest I did!) but am still cooked tonight. Why does that happen to oh-so-cautious me when others are purposely baking in the sun and don't get burned?

Look how clear that water is!!

A man sailing a small Hobie cat sailed in offering quick sails out to the reef, and G insisted I take one for $10. What a thrill that was, with two stingrays and a black-tipped shark easily seen swimming below us. Over the course of the next several hours, fellow passengers, crew members...even G went out for the same sail. The man sailing the catamaran, Olivier, offers circumnavigation sails of Bora Bora that we may have to consider on a future cruise. We've circumnavigated Bora Bora several ways- jet skis, motorized outrigger canoes, car, taxi- but never by sailboat. 

Waves crashing on the reef surrounding the Bora Bora lagoon

Matira Beach

We seem to have switched from animals to babies. This is 10-month old Manua. 

You know how you can feel that you're getting too much sun even before anyone else mentions it?  Well, by 3pm I was feeling that telltale chill that accompanies a burn, and we caught a taxi back to the tender pier and were on the ship and showered with our gear rinsed off by 4pm. We were too hungry to wait for dinner and so went to the Panorama Buffet for a slice of pizza, and sat on the back terrace watching as a very brief, misty shower moved over the Bora Bora mountains. With the sun still shining, we saw a beautiful rainbow, enhancing an already perfect view. 

We went to dinner in the half-empty Club Restaurant at 5:45pm. The Pacific Princess is staying in Bora Bora until 10pm tonight, and many passengers are dining in the Panorama Buffet or at Bloody Mary's on land. We considered tendering back over to shore and taking a taxi to Boody Mary's for a drink, but we will have more opportunities to do that over our next two overnight visits to the island. After our two days on the water and in the sun, I am done for the day.

We arrive in Raiatea tomorrow at 7am. Since it's only 25 or so miles from Bora Bora, the Pacific Princess must be turning in circles overnight. I'm not sure if we're arriving at the pier in Uturoa, Raiatea through Pai Pai Pass or Teavapiti Pass, but either approach will offer spectacular views.  However, a 5am wake up call is not in the cards for me...if the sounds of the Pacific Princess maneuvering through the passes don't wake me up, I was meant to sleep in. ;-)

G took this pic of the full moon over cloudy Bora Bora 

Day 83: Bye bye Bora Bora! Bye bye French Polynesia!!

Today. Was. Perfect. There is no better way to describe it. But I'll still spend several paragraphs trying to explain why ('cause written brevity has never been my strong suit).  ;-)

While we were still in Papeete, I had checked the forecast for Moorea yesterday and Bora Bora today. It was spot on; we had had sunshine with brief passing showers in Moorea and today was gorgeously sunny and HOT. How much better could it be for our final day- our 83rd day- in French Polynesia?

Even before the day began, when I read the Princess Patter last night, I was thrilled (surprised, shocked) to see that husband and wife duo Elua- Dave and Leialoha- would be joining the ship to keep us entertained and educated in the Hawaiian culture until our return to Los Angeles. This was truly a bonus; they are generally on the round trip Hawaii cruises out of LA. I knew from the Internet that we would be learning lei making and the hula and how to play the ukulele, and, who knows what other goodness is in store for us. Something extra to look forward to! 

We slept well last night and were up on deck early for our final arrival in Bora Bora. Again with the memories (I've been very nostalgic these past few days)...my first arrival in Bora Bora in December 2004, when G was supposed to have been with me celebrating his return home after two years of military duty and he was stop-lossed and detained and I went with friend Sheila instead. So many times in our careers, when his military duties or my corporate relocations would keep us apart for days or weeks or months at a time, G would say to me, "Just hang in there. The good times are coming". (Little did we know...)  Anyway, back then, in 2004, I was up and on our balcony on the Sapphire Princess two full hours before we arrived in Bora Bora, as Mount Otemanu was just a speck on the horizon and then grew larger and larger on our approach. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Bora Bora!  I was in Bora Bora!!  Well, today was our 13th day in Bora Bora this winter, and it's still just as thrilling to me as on that first day in 2004, especially when the sun is shining brightly and that gorgeous lagoon is glistening. I don't believe I'll ever lose that sense of amazement. 

Today, after breakfast in the Club Restaurant, we dilly dallied a bit in leaving the ship. We knew we were going to take a shuttle (US $5 per person each way) to Matira Beach and enjoy one last simple beach day, but we also knew there was no shade on that beach, and so wouldn't be able to tolerate more than a few hours there without getting fried. We had plenty of time, and it was 10am before we finally boarded a tender to shore. 

We had about 8500 CFPs left (about $86), and I was determined to spend it all today on fun or souvenirs. I mean, converting it back to US $ is a losing proposition regardless of where we do it; better to go out with some fanfare. We started by looking for a baseball cap for G (because the 241 hats he already owns are simply not enough). It took a little looking, but he finally found one he liked for 1300 CFP. Success! We also paid with local currency to get a shuttle to the beach (another 1000 CFP). It was a little bittersweet to make the drive in the back of an open taxi down the western coast of Bora Bora, knowing that this would be the last time we did this. How nice that the day was so pretty!

I was surprised that the were only five other passengers from the Pacific Princess on the beach, but I guess that made sense. Entertainment staffer/dancer Natalie had told me this morning they had 417 passengers going out on ship's tours today. Add to that the number of passengers who were doing independent excursions and there were not a lot of us available to just hang out on a beach. I think we all were winners; though the wind was brisk the day was gorgeous for any activity. G was the first one in the water using our float, while I stayed on shore with our things and listened to what I call my "cruise music", which, of course, includes a fair number of Jimmy Buffet songs. I sat there listening to "Changes in Latitudes, changes in attitudes..." while looking at the perfectly crystalline blue water and couldn't have agreed more. 

Matira Beach, Bora Bora 

At 3:30pm we caught a shuttle back to the ship and I spent some time walking through the craft market near the pier. After two rounds of the tables, I decided to spend most of the last of our local currency on a three Tahitian black pearl necklace. Two of the pearls are greenish-grey, and match my bracelet. The third is a lighter, more ivory color. It's a wonderful souvenir of this winter in the South Pacific. We have exactly 350 CFP left, about $3.55, and it will go into the drop box at the Passenger Services Desk as a contribution to maritime charities. 

By 4:30pm, we were cleaned up for dinner and at our favorite sailaway spot, the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet. We had stored some bottles of our MTP-awarded Veuve Cliquot champagne on the ship while we stayed in Papeete, and we retrieved one at breakfast this morning. It had been chilling all day, and, while we sat there on that open deck watching as the Pacific Princess sailed through Teavanui Pass and out of the Bora Bora lagoon one final time, we toasted our 83 wonderful and safe days in one of the world's most beautiful locales. Captain Ciruzzi had made an announcement that we would  be seeing the French Polynesian pilot disembark the Pacific Princess as soon as we had sailed through Teavanui Pass, and this was a first. Unlike on most other cruises where the pilot is brought out to the ship by boat in the morning as the ship approaches an island, and then leaves shortly after it sails that evening, in French Polynesia the pilot stays on the ship the entire time it is in French Polynesian waters. Different pilots, of course, but they do stay onboard for an entire 10-night cruise. That our pilot was leaving was the exclamation point on the statement that our time in French Polynesia has come to an end after 83 days. In fact, our passports were collected when we had checked in for the cruise and are being held to be reviewed by French Polynesian and US authorities. 

The pilot returning to Bora Bora after disembarking the Pacific Princess 

We spent a few minutes in the Pacific Lounge, which is where the Elite lounge is being held. The views up there at the front of the ship on deck 10 will be wonderful- when there is something to see. For the next five days it will simply be open sea. We had another new dinner menu tonight...we're really enjoying that, and had three courses plus dessert. Well, we were a little hungry, having skipped lunch. That won't happen again for at least six days!

The island of Maupiti, another of the Society Islands, as seen from our table at dinner

Our table is on the sunset side of the ship for the next five nights

Elua performed for the first time at 7:15pm in the Casino Lounge, beautiful Hawaiian music, then we went to production show Cinematastic in the Cabaret Lounge, then back to the Casino Lounge to listen to piano man Jere Ring. It was a day filled with sunshine and blue water completed by an evening filled with a wonderful dinner and lots of entertainment. How will I cope with five days at sea for the first time since our second transatlantic cruise in 2000?  We might all be surprised. I have an iPad full of books and magazines, an iPhone full of videos, a ship full of entertainers, lots of activities to choose from, NFL playoffs and ten more bottles of wine and champage to drink. 

Life is good. :-)

Day 58: Bora Bora One

It was rainy and gloomy as we cruised through Teavanui Pass this morning on our approach to Bora Bora. Too, too sad for those people for whom this is a highlight of their cruise. G and I lingered a bit over breakfast in the Club Restaurant; there was no need to rush when the rain was pouring down. Finally, by mid-morning, the rain stopped and, for the rest of the morning we had only intermittent misty showers. We packed for a beach day and took a tender to the island. 

Once on the tender pier, we wasted no time boarding a $5 per person each way shuttle to Matira Beach, about a 15-minute or so ride south along the western coast of Bora Bora. While these rides are sometimes given in the back of a minivan, we rode on the covered (and cushioned) bench seating in the back of a pick up truck. 

Not too surprisingly, given that the rain had just stopped, the beach was nearly empty. We walked the length of it, then spent a bit of time in the water before walking to the nearby Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort. 

Matira Beach looking north...

...and south. It's the best beach we've seen on the mainland of an island (not on a motu).

The Sofitel private motu with the island of Taha'a in the distance. 

Leaving the Intercontinental, we walked along the perimeter road in Matira village, which offered a different view of Mount Otemanu.  

Our next stop was the MaiTai Resort, a moderately priced mainland resort. One of these overwater bungalows for tonight cost just over $500 (and they weren't that nice!). But the beach at the resort was nice, and we used it for awhile as the weather continued to clear. 

This intricate rock wall at the MaiTai Resort was constructed around an existing palm tree.

Our last stop was at the Sofitel Marara Resort, where we had drinks and used the beach. The Sofitel sells a day pass for cruise ship passengers for $70 that includes a three course lunch and use of the pool and water toys. We had arranged our visit ahead of time and didn't buy the day pass. 

By this time, it was after 4pm and we had been swimming and/or walking for about six hours. I was starting to wear down a bit, and told G I thought we should try to get a taxi back to the ship from the Intercontinental instead of walking all the way back to Matira Beach where we had started. We walked out of the Intercontinental to see none other than Motai, our driver from our morning ride. He was just finishing up a circle island tour with four passengers from Toronto and also had room for us in the back of his truck. He asked how we had gotten there and when we told him we had walked, he was shocked. So were we when we were in his truck driving back along the road. We had come a long way, and the day, though never sunny, was hot and muggy. 

Men in pareos beg the same question as men in kilts. In Motai's case, he was wearing a Speedo under there.

Once back at the tender pier, we had just enough time to return to the ship (well entertained by several outrigger canoeists surfing the tender's wake along the way), get cleaned up and go to the Elite Lounge before dinner. We were hungry, having skipped lunch, and I had mushroom soup followed by chicken Caesar salad and sorbet for dessert. We are skipping the show tonight (comedian Tony Daro) and resting before we go up to the pool deck at 9:30pm for this cruise's tropical island night party.

We overnight in Bora Bora, and sail tomorrow at 5pm. Weather permitting, we may return to the Hilton Bora Bora Nui to use the pool and have lunch on the beach, or rent a dune buggy to drive around the island. We're likely here only three more days after this cruise (hard to believe) and there are a couple of things we still want to see and do.