Day 67: Raiatea

We viewed our 6:30am entry into the shared Raiatea/Taha'a lagoon through Teavanui Pass from the Promenade Deck today. While I would definitely recommend watching island arrivals from Deck 11 forward, after doing that several times for Raiatea, it was nice to get a different perspective. The channel markers were right next to the ship, and not much lower than the Deck 5 level we were on. It also put us at about the height of the palm trees on Motu Ofetaro, and still gave us a great view of the beautiful blues of the lagoon.

The Pacific Princess docked in Uturoa, Raiatea with our port side against the pier, facilitating our departure early tomorrow morning (5am...groan) and transit through Pai Pai Pass between Raiatea and Taha'a en route to a 9am arrival in Bora Bora. Some of our best photos so far have been taken during our early morning cruising through Pai Pai Pass, and we will be up, probably on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet, to watch it tomorrow. The Pacific Princess docked this way means that our starboard cabin overlooks the lagoon, not the legs of people walking by on the pier. It's a good thing. 

We were at breakfast in the Club Restaurant at 7:30am, not too hungry but looking for something to kickstart our day. Maitre d' Oscar came over to us saying, "My God, I thought you went home!!!" because we have not been at dinner in the Club Restaurant for three nights. (You have to know Oscar to know how expressive he is. He is, after all, from Italy but I'm not certain it's an entirely geographic quality.) We told him that we hadnt wanted to infect his restaurant with our sneezing and coughing but that we had recovered and would see him tonight for dinner. And that it was nice to have been missed. 

We had no plans for our day in Raiatea. Renting a car last cruise on Taha'a really finished up the list of things we wanted to do here. Had we felt top notch, we might have climbed Mt. Tapioi (let me put it here, in writing, that I am much aggrieved we couldn't do that today ;-)), but we didn't and, besides, it was very hot and muggy today. Still, when we moved from breakfast only as far as two loungers on the pretty (lagoon) side of the Promenade Deck (we know just which ones are in front of an exhaust fan pumping out the ship's AC, because it was already hot), G announced that we needed to get some exercise today. Frankly, I've kind of had it with these kinds of proclamations. I think I'm going to sit at home some morning and announce "We need to clean out the garage today" and see how much he likes it. :-)

But, as much as I hate to admit it, he was right. I knew I'd spend part of the afternoon in the ship's pool, but it wouldn't hurt us to take a walk. And the fact that a crew drill was scheduled that would mean loud announcements and horn blowing and the Promenade Deck being closed off motivated us to take our walk earlier rather than later. 

We walked off the ship and stopped first at La Cubana to use their (usually moderately reasonably fast) WiFi. That's how we found ourselves drinking overpriced Hinano beers at 9:30am while using frustratingly slow internet. It was useless, and for the honor of using it for 30 minutes, we paid $7 for beer we really didn't want. Moving on...

We stopped into the Champion Supermarché to see if they had nasal spray (I think our colds have left us brain-addled), but, of course; they didn't. They have nothing like that,  and we didn't feel like walking to Uturoa's only pharmacie to see if they did. Cruise Director Sammi put it so well last night...Uturoa offers the best shopping in French Polynesia outside of Papeete and it still only has 10% of the things we find at home at a 70% markup over what we'd pay there. We set out walking along the waterfront as far as the airport on the very northern end of Raiatea. The day was sunny and HOT and we decided that that distance constituted our morning exercise. 

The AC felt wonderful as we stepped back on the ship, and we changed into swimsuits and went up to the pool deck where we spent over an hour using the hot tub and pool. They were the most comfortable place to be outdoors. Eventually we got cleaned up and had a late lunch on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet, carefully positioned at a table that caught the benefit of the ship's AC every time the sliding door there opened. The view was just incredible, as the back of the ship faced that long length of blue lagoon and the motus on either side of Teavanui Pass. Oh, I will miss that!!

The views from the Panaroma Terrace (the one on top was to the right of the one in the bottom)

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the Promenade Deck, but dressed for dinner in time to go to the Children of Raiatea folkloric show in the Cabaret Lounge. The kids are ages 5-17 or so, and are just adorable, especially the littlest ones. They can really shake their narrow hips!

The older ladies performed to huge applause, too!

We were welcomed to the Club Restaurant for dinner as if we were prodigal sons returning home. We'd only missed three dinners there (two plus the steakhouse last night) but that is the charm of this little ship. Still,  we ate fairly lightly (I've fallen back the chicken breast on salad combination that I swore I'd never want again after our last month at home), and made it to the 7pm of vocalist Claude Eric. The man was born to entertain and has the voice to do it. 

We're early to bed tonight. The alarm is set for (wait for it) 4am to allow us to watch as the Pacific Princess leaves Uturoa and sails through Pai Pai Pass for perhaps the last time. The scenery alone is wonderful; combined with a pretty sunrise, it's unforgettable. 

Day 56: Raiatea, but really Taha'a

We had another nine-hours-off-the-ship day, our eighth port day in a row. Not that we're counting, but just 24 hours from now, we'll have a sea day to look forward to, and a morning to sleep in.

We were up at 5am today, and on the open decks for a beautiful sunrise. We cruised south along the western coast of the island of Taha'a and through narrow Pai Pai Pass, which has become my favorite passage through the reef to the town of Uturoa on the northern coast of Raiatea. It was exciting to see the Windsurf Wind Spirit just ahead of us, sailing through Pai Pai Pass to anchor off the coast of Taha'a today. It was quite a picture with its tall masts reflected in the mirror-smooth sea. 

Windstar Wind Spirit transiting Pai Pai Pass

We docked in Uturoa at 7am, and grabbed a very quick breakfast in the Panorama Buffet. We were meeting our tour operator in the visitors center at 8:15am to complete paperwork, and by 8:30am were on a motorized outrigger with Tyronne, our boat captain from September who had taken us up the only navigable River in French Polynesia in Raiatea. We had made an arrangement at that time for a transfer to/from the neighboring island of Taha'a 2.5 miles away and a car rental for the day on the island. Today was the chosen date because we weren't sailing tonight until 9pm. 

G helping to raise the flag

Tyronne's boat holds 12 people, so, with just the two of us, we were able to move around and take photos of that beautiful lagoon. It was only a 12-minute ride to the southern point of Taha'a, where Tyronne and his dad own a dock. We met his dad and his young son and he walked us to a nearly new little manual drive Fiat. Armed with a map of the island (really, there are just two coastal roads in a figure 8) we set out, heading first counterclockwise around the northern part of the island. 

Along the way we stopped several times for photo ops, and then at a wonderful vanilla farm where we received a personal tour (while the large ship's tour was in a different group about 10 minutes ahead of us). The entire vanilla bean production process is extremely labor intensive (it is an orchid plant that must be manually fertilized) and takes as long as two years from rooting to drying the beans. We also saw the process of extracting oil from Tamanu nuts, used for its medicinal topical properties

The man who owns this vanilla farm, called Vallee de La Vanille, was a Dane who had served in the French Foreign Legion in French Polynesia and the  retired to Taha'a before the age of 40. On his farm, he has planted all sorts of fruit and nut trees and flowers, but his vanilla plants are grown in the traditional way, where the vines are trained to grow up trees and the leaves of the trees provide the shade the plants need, and their roots are mulched with piles of coconut husks. 

Any tree with leaves can be used as a vanilla vine trellis. The leaves shade the plant while coconuts are used for mulch to keep the roots cool.

Drying tables for the vanilla beans

Some of the 60 plus motus off the coast of Taha'a

Our favorite village name

We continued along the coast, stopping many times for photos. There are over 60 motus located off the coast of Taha'a, and most of these are off the eastern and northern coasts.  Eventually the island of Bora Bora came into view as we rounded the northern end of Taha'a and provided even more photo ops. We stopped at a pearl farm where we received yet another education about the cultivation of Tahitian black pearls. I am in the market for a pair of earrings to go with the bracelet and necklace I purchased last year on Moorea and Bora Bora, respectively, but G wants them to be blueish-green to match my eyes...and I want them to be cheap. We didn't find any that satisfied both requirements, so we moved on. 

Bora Bora from Taha'a 

Off the western coast of Taha'a is a motu that is home to one of French Polynesia's most exotic resorts, Le Taha'a Island Resort and Spa. Since Taha'a doesn't have an airport, it is only reachable by boat transfer from the Raiatea airport...or private helicopter transfer. 

By the time we completed the northern circuit of the figure 8 coastal road, it was after 1pm. I directed G to go counter clockwise around the southern circuit, but, while the road on the northern portion was in perfect condition, there were some spurs off the southern road that were in very bad shape. I was trying to get us to a place that Tyronne had marked on the map with an X, thinking it was something we needed to see, but after trying to navigate lots of rocks and ruts, G pointed out that the X meant we should stay off that road. Moving on...

Fellow passenger Peggy from Sydney, who is on this cruise with her husband David and son Justin, has read my blog, and knew that G misses his salty snacks when he cruises. She was so sweet to bring us two bags of Australian potato chips, and one of them was especially intriguing:  hot dog flavored potato chips. We had packed it in our bag this morning, and stopped at a tiny store on Taha'a to get water and juice and had a great time eating those potato chips as we drove around the island. It was a good thing we had taken the chips, because we didn't see any open restaurants today where we could stop for lunch. 

The entire island is only home to 2500 people and, especially on a Sunday, very much struck us as 'Mayberry goes Polynesian.' We stopped outside a church to listen to the beautiful (really spectacular) singing that was taking place inside during the service. Families were walking home from church with the woman and girls dress in traditional Tahitian attire, covered neck to wrist to almost the ankle in a homemade floral dress with a straw Minnie Pearl-type hat with a crown of flowers. We saw groups walking home singing along to one person playing a ukulele. Later in the day, large family groups were gathering along the water to have BBQs and play volleyball and lawn bowling and sing. Tyronne had told us that Taha'a was like Moorea was 50 years ago, and I've heard it said Moorea is like Hawaii 50 years ago, so I guess that means Taha'a is like Hawaii 100 years ago. We loved it. 

Very common scenes in French Polynesia:

That's a French bread box, not a mail box in front of the house

In the front yard...Gramma and Gramps and a copra (coconut) drying shed

The drying copra up close. This would be transported to Papeete to the coconut oil mill in the port area

The entire island of Taha'a is one coastal road and then steep mountainsides in the center of the island. There are eight very small villages dotting the coast (our favorite village name was Patio, closely followed by Hamane, which we nicknamed Ham and Eggs) We saw several copra (coconut) drying sheds all around the island, several family graves in front yards, as is typical everywhere in Polynesia, and vanilla beans grown on trellises enclosed in screened cages, which we were told is a trial sponsored by the government to find a more efficient way to grow the beans. 

Though not nearly as developed as Rarotonga or even Rapa Nui (really!), we saw lots of similarities among the islands in terms of many roosters, hens, dogs, cows, and even some goats. There is no industry of any kind, and very limited tourism. Most people work at subsistence farming and fishing. 

We eventually changed drivers, and, since we had some time left, I drove around the southern coast road first one direction and then the other, having fun with shifting that little car on the few hills and many curves. Tyronne picked us up around 4:45pm, and it was after 5pm by the time we got back to the ship. We were hungry, tired and in need of showers, and skipped tonight's on board folkloric shows to go directly to the Club Restaurant for dinner and then right to bed. 

We have another full day excursion tomorrow in Huahine (help us!) and then that wonderful sea day to keep us going for two more port days on this cruise. We know we will have just one more day on most of these islands, and are trying to squeeze everything in at the end. I can promise you one thing...you will not hear me complain one bit about our ten sea days back to Los Angeles in just over a month.  We may order breakfast in bed for every one of them! 

Day 51: Raiatea

Last night in Bora Bora, G rode a tender back over to the island, took some photos of the ship all lit up at anchor in the lagoon, and came back to the cabin...and I slept right through it. But that extra rest allowed me to be on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet early this morning, to watch as the Pacific Princess navigated Pai Pai Pass through the oh-so-shallow lagoon surrounding Raiatea and Taha'a. Since the distance the ship had had to sail overnight was only from Bora Bora to Raiatea, it must have done some large loops around the islands, allowing it to desalinate water for use on board. 

Navigating Pai Pai Pass with Bora Bora in the far distance and Taha'a in the foreground.

Yacht harbor on Taha'a

The S curves of Pai Pai Pass with Taha'a in the background

While either approach to Raiatea is picturesque, I think that Pai Pai Pass is my favorite. It never fails to amaze me that the passage through the reef is very narrow and curving, and on either side of the ship we can see markers designating shoals that are so shallow the reef touches the surfaces of the water. And yet the Pacific Princess gracefully curves her way through it. When Douglas Pearson announced to me that I had missed the most spectacular display of dolphins at the bow of the ship this morning, I was able to assure him that he had missed the most spectacular display of navigational skill as evidenced by the ship's wake at the back. ;-)

The Pacific Princess pulled bow first against the pier in Uturoa, positioning it for an easy departure this afternoon. 

Rainbow in front of Mt. Tapioi, overlooking Uturoa, Raiatea

The gorgeous lagoon surrounding Raiatea and Taha'a

It was still not 7:30am, so I sat for awhile on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet drinking coffee and, frankly, expecting G to appear. When he didn't, I imagined he had been one of the first off the ship at 7am and was running up Mt. Tapioi. I would not put that past him!  A misty rain began, barely reaching the ground, but it made for a beautiful rainbow in front of the mountain, and I knew that, if G was climbing it, it would feel pretty darn nice. 

I went to breakfast in the Club Restaurant at 7:30am, and was surprised to hear "Sir G!" from the waiters behind me. No, G wasn't climbing Mt. Tapioi; instead he had viewed our cruising through Pai Pai Pass from the bow of the ship. We had breakfast, discussing only one firm plan for the day:  to stay out of the sun! (And to get money from an ATM, 'cause we were broke!). 

We left the ship and first verified some plans we have for Raiatea during our next visit on November 1 (can you believe it's almost November?  Can you believe we only have five weeks left in our Polynesian Odyssey?). I walked to the ATM and withdraw the cash to make a small deposit to secure our reservation, and, in that short distance had already lost G. No matter; in a tiny town like Uturoa, it's hard not to reconnect somewhere along the way.

Suddenly free to go exactly where I wanted to, I first walked through the market, which is not nearly as large as Papeete's Le Marché, but is still very nice. There a fellow passenger staying on back to Los Angeles was selecting a beautiful tropical flower arrangement for her cabin. I came out of the side of the market building and walked right up to a pareo tying demonstration. While I've seen a few of these in the past, a little local girl off to the side caught my attention. She wanted a pareo tied around her, and, try as she might, her mom could not tie it in any way where it wouldn't drag on the ground and trip her. But, oh, she was ready to be a pareo model, too!!

Such a cutie!  While we seem to have lost our connection with dogs and chickens this cruise, toddlers have filled the gap.

I launched the Maps.me app on my iPhone to determine where the post office was. In a town the size of Uturoa, it couldn't have been far, and it wasn't. We have a series of post cards we're mailing to Mom from different islands, and were smart enough to buy stamps for them while in Papeete so all that is required is dropping them in a mailbox. (But I was sad to hear, when I spoke with her over Vonage later today, that she hasn't received a single postcard from us!). 

Uturoa waterfront

It was getting hot by then, and my sunburn was letting me know all about it. I crossed the main street back to the maritime wharf and that is when my sunglasses broke right off my face. One lens fell out and dropped to the street where I immediately stepped on it, rendering the sunglasses irreparable. Following the bad luck I'd had with a contact two days ago, this was even more discouraging than you might imagine. Sunglasses are easily replaced; bifocal sunglasses with a 2.5 reading prescription are not. I know myself, and brought two pairs with me on this trip, as well as one pair of standard polarized sunglasses. The first pair of reading sunglasses disappeared somewhere in Rarotonga, but I wasn't worried; I had a backup. And now there are none (but tonight I found one pair in the shops on board that are 3.0 strength. Beggars can't be choosers, and I considered myself very lucky to find them). 

Still, I took a seat at La Cubana restaurant on the waterfront to buy some water and use their WiFi. And that is where G found me (he knows me sooooo well!). Doing the best I could wearing broken sunglasses with just one lens, I logged onto WiFi and tried to address my other issues du jour.  I had not been able to access my business Hotmail since I left Papeete nine days ago. Hotmail in French Polynesia gives me nothing but grief. Everytime I log in, it sends me a warning that I am accessing it from somewhere different. And sometimes it just refuses to let me in at all. I needed to reset my password, and that required the fairly stable WiFi of La Cubana, and 156 emails suddenly appeared. 

The other issue of the day was that I received what I thought was a phishing email, confirming my Canadian $94 iTunes purchase this morning. Right...buying iTunes movies while on French Polynesian Internet. I might as well just burn my money. That was eventually straightened out, too, by verifying there was no new activity in my iTunes account nor on my credit card. Simple things, both of them, but not easily done when so far from home. 

I took a few minutes to do some texting and to upload photos to my blog posts for the past few days (so you might want to check them if you're interested), and then G and I returned to the ship, adequately cooked for the day. We went to lunch in the Panorama Buffet but sat inside...it was just so hot on the deck. We followed up with some time on the shady side (the pretty side facing the lagoon) of the Promenade Deck where some air conditioned air blows out of the ship, but eventually moved into the coolness of our cabin. There we took care of some housekeeping (and a haircut) before G, who didn't get as red as I did on Matira Beach yesterday, went to a hot tub. I got cleaned up for dinner and packed our bags for tomorrow's planned excursion during turnaround day in Papeete. 

Sailaway viewed from behind the Panorama Buffet was the perfect end to our day in Raiatea. We took a few minutes and went to the Pacific Lounge for the last Elite Lounge of this cruise. We could easily see the island of Huahine just ahead of the Pacific Princess; the Leeward Society Islands of Bora Bora, Taha'a. Raiatea and Huahine, as well as Maupiti and Tupai are all within sight on a clear day like today. 

Motu Ofetaro in the Raiatea Lagoon

Sunset over Raiatea

A table mate (at the next table) shared a bottle of Merlot tonight, so I chose my dinner right from the children's menu:  garden salad and spaghetti and meatballs. The meatballs on this cruise have been out of this world good, and I've had them twice for dinners and once for lunch, a first for me. We left before the Baked Alaska parade to attend Lanie Gullickson's 7pm show. Though it was understanbly poorly attended (everyone is busy packing up), Lanie certainly gave it her all. She will be leaving after next cruise as part of the cast changeover and we will miss her. 

We are tucked into bed early tonight; Captain Ciruzzi said we'd be arriving in Papeete at 5:15am, and even if we don't get up to see that, we do have plans that, if they work out, will have us taking an early ferry to Moorea. A sunny day is forecasted (we've been so lucky with weather this cruise!), and, covered from head to toe, we'd like to spend the day on and in the water. 

One final note about today:  Cruise Director Maraschal had to leave mid-cruise, and Deputy CD Jen, aided by Company Performance Manager Alex and the rest of the cast have really stepped up to the plate, doubly hindered by a broken soundboard that prevented the performance of more than the first production show, Stardust. Maraschal's replacement, Sammi Baker, is arriving in Papeete tomorrow, accompanied by repair parts.

Anyway, Jen and Alex were doing the Wake Show today and going over events in the Patter and commented on our MTP photo in the bottom corner of the front page. They also said that we'd be glad to autograph the photo and all that passengers had to do was ask. We were completely unaware of any of this, but couldn't figure out why we were repeatedly asked to autograph fellow passengers' Patters (after being told that they wanted to grow up to be us...even those passengers 15 years our senior!). Finally, late this afternoon, we were filled in on what had been said on the Wake Show. Harious. Thankfully, we become completely anonymous again on turnaround day tomorrow, when a new batch of passengers arrive.

When we received a letter congratulating us on our #1 MTP on the first day of this cruise, I told G to run, run like the wind to the Photo Department to see if they still had our photo from three cruises ago. Someone had spent a lot of Photoshop time making us look good. Photo Manager Nico offered to take another photo for this cruise, but G assured him that this was as good as we get. ;-)

Day 18: Raiatea, French Polynesia - Land ho!

Wow.  It is only 8:15pm and we are tucked into bed. G claims he's going to go back off the ship (we're docked in Uturoa, Raiatea until 5am tomorrow) to try to get some internet at La Cubana restaurant on the pier, but between you and me, he's not going to make it. We are completely wiped out tonight.

While I've admitted we enjoyed our sea days more than we might have in the past, by yesterday we were getting a bit antsy to get off the ship. Captain D had told us at last night's Captains Circle party that if we thought we had enjoyed our cruise so far, just wait; the best was yet to come. The best arrived this morning!

I set the alarm for 5:30am and bounded out of bed and was up on deck well before 6am. Douglas Pearson was already holding court on Deck 11 forward (he told me later that he was thrilled to see so many people on the open deck and I replied that he had told us often enough that we MUST be up there for every island arrival!) I was just in time to catch the sunrise near the neighboring island of Huahine, and Douglas pointed out Raiatea, Taha'a and Bora Bora in the distance. For a ship-full of people who hadn't seen land in five days, this was heady stuff. 

We were treated to a beautiful rainbow over the southern end of Raiatea, with a backdrop of of steep green mountains. G eventually joined me on deck (he had been out until almost midnight last night) and we watched our approach to the island for awhile longer (our scheduled arrival today was not until 9am, but made our way back to the floor to ceiling windows and wonderful breakfast service in Sabatinis. As we sailed through Teavapiti Pass, we kept going from one side of the ship to the other to catch the motus close by on either side. It was wonderful to see the familiar sights of Uturoa- the Gare Maritime, the Champion grocery store, Le Marché- and feel immediately at home. 

Our first glimpse of the Raiatea lagoon

Motu Ofetaro

The day was mostly sunny with occasional passing clouds. It was noticeably cooler and/or drier than we remembered from December last year. Some of the hottest days I recall were in Uturoa; it was far more pleasant today. We had no plans for the day other than to get to the ATM just a block from the ship. Unlike last year, we brought no French Polynesian Francs (XPF) with us; we knew we could use the ATM in our first port. Please note: if you're coming to French Polynesia on a cruise, ATMs are only conveniently located for cruise passengers in Papeete, Raiatea and Bora Bora. 

Our next stop was to walk through Le Marché and then over to Champion market. G needed some Coke in resealable bottles, and the price was quite reasonable (about $1.15 each). We walked though the tourist booths on our way back to the ship and met Tyronne who, with his wife Vai, offered a boat tour down the east coast of Raiatea to the Fa'aroa River, and then up the river. The Fa'aroa River is the only navigable river in all of French Polynesia and this was one thing we hadn't seen last year. On the way back to the ship, Tyronne would drop us off on Motu Ofetaro for almost two hours of beach and snorkel time. The price was 5000 XPF or $50 U.S. per person, a good value for an almost four hour tour. Our trip would leave at 1:45pm. 

Taro 

I was anxious to see what our rate of exchange from the ATM was and immediately got on Internet once we were back on the ship. 30000 XPF cost us $290 U.S. and that includes the 3% transaction fee. I am very happy with the value of our stronger dollar this year!

We took some time for a quick lunch in the buffet, and sat with blog reader Toni who had just conquered Mt. Tapioi overlooking the Raiatea-Taha'a reef. She wanted me to clarify here that, regardless of what the guide books say, it is NOT an easy hike. No, it is not!!  I cried on the way down last year; she cried on the way up.  But those views from the top...outstanding!!  G was already making noise this morning about climbing it today and I squashed that like a bug. Somehow, while sleeping, I injured my knee and I put on Mom's knee brace to make sure G knew it. I have no idea what I did. Comedian Troy Thirdgill has a harious bit about how, when you're young, every injury carries with it a great story. "I was going in for a layup and strained my knee", or "I was trying to stay inbounds when I caught that pass" or "I was sky diving and landed a bit too roughly". At our age, injuries come from things like reading. Or sleeping. Or clapping along to music a little too aggressively. It's a sad thing,

So, anyway, back to our afternoon. We wore swimsuits and I took my snorkel gear (including my new camera and sexy new hood) and boarded Tyronne's 12-person boat right near the cruise ship. We traveled quickly south along the coast of Raiatea and then navigated up the Fa'aroa River for about 30 minutes, right into the heart of the caldera of the original volcano that created the island. The mountains and flowering vegetation all along the river banks were really spectacular. We stopped once along the way where a family was selling fresh coconuts with straws in them to drink the coconut water   They had a little son about 9 or 10 years old who was just darling and he came on our boat and brought us all wild ginger and bird of paradise flowers (and was well compensated for his cuteness).

The now defunct Hawaiiki Nui hotel, site of the first overwater bungalows in French Polynesia 

We left the river and started back north up the coast. When we reached Motu Ofetaro, Tyronne dropped off the five of us who wanted some beach time. G and I immediately walked down to the far end of the motu where I had had the phenomenal experience of spotting my first-ever clown fish last year. I snorkeled back and forth over the same area I was in last year, but, while I saw a lot of beautiful coral and fish, I did not find Nemo. I'll have to keep trying. 

The island of Taha'a as seen from Motu Ofetaro

Tyronne picked us up about 5pm, and we were back on the ship by 5:20pm. We took speedy showers and rinsed out our gear, and then rushed to the Club Restaurant about 30 minutes late for dinner. No matter; it was nearly empty. The Children of Raiatea folkloric dance group was performing at 5pm so many people were watching that and were just dining in the buffet afterward. The adult folkloric show is at 9:45pm. We won't make it that long tonight. 

Today was our 32nd wedding anniversary, the first time we've ever celebrated it on a cruise. Sadly, we were so worn out during dinner that we asked waiter Henry to skip the group fanfare and just provide the special cake. Henry obliged but offered us a beautifully simple song he had written for his wife around their 15th anniversary. No group singing, no applause, it was a perfect end to a perfect day. 

The alarm is set for 4:30am tomorrow (yikes). We will be leaving Raiatea and making our way through PaiPai Pass, between Raiatea and Taha'a en route to a 9am arrival in Bora Bora. It should be an absolutely spectacular morning as we cruise up the west coast of Taha'a and through Teavanui Pass into that beautiful Bora Bora lagoon (nothing else could get us out of bed that early). 

And, finally, I will be adding pics and maps to these posts when we get to Papeete...I hope. Internet is simply way too slow on the ship. We hope that Chaplin's relatively speedy WiFi is still available and are preparing ourselves for the many Hinano beers we'll be drinking as payment.  

Day 67: Raiatea

Sun!  We had sun today!  Sure, it was only for a couple of hours this morning, but beggars...  We had not seen the sun since Huahine four days ago, and then only briefly, which had not made anyone very happy. The San Diego-types, with their 420 days of sunshine a year, were grumbling about having traveled all the way to French Polynesia for THIS?  And the British-types, with their 420 days of rain a year, had traveled even further and did not expect to feel so much at home.

With our porthole hatch still battened down...indulge me a minute while I discuss that. Two readers, Nancy and Nicola graciously supplied us with answers to our wondering about the origin of the term "batten down the hatches". I'll provide Nancy's briefer email here, and Nicola's fuller explanation below. Thank you both for being so kind as to help us out in our Undernet world!! :-)

What Is the Origin of the Saying "To Batten Down the Hatches"? From Nancy

To batten down the hatches means to prepare for pending trouble. 

To batten down the hatches is a nautical term from the early 19th century. When a ship was about to enter rough seas, the captain would order the crew to batten down the hatches.  The crew would close all the hatches (doors) on the ship’s decks and use lengths of batten (rods) to secure the hatches in the closed position. 

... we could tell only from the front of the ship camera broadcast on Channel 49 that we had docked in Raiatea. and know enough now to be able to tell by the view on the camera which way the Pacific Princess was docked, and so knew that our porthole, had it been unhatched, would have been right at pier level. G went into the bathroom to take care of morning ablutions when suddenly the ship's power went out. He opened the bathroom door to ask for a flashlight (for which our iPhones work perfectly) just to find his way over to the porthole. Battened down hatches be damned...drastic times call for drastic measures. He lifted the porthole cover (surprisingly heavy) and I put the rod (batten) in place to hold it up and we at least had enough light in our cabin to navigate. 

G couldn't wait to get out to see what was going on; he was dying to know if the emergency backup generator on Deck 10 had kicked in (and therein lies the difference between the two genders. I didn't even know there WAS an emergency backup generator on Deck 10, and, even when I had that knowledge, couldn't care less what it was doing during the power outage). I was more interested in brushing my teeth and washing my face and trying to wet down my hair a bit to tame its 'bed head' appearance and, mostly, get my contacts in so I could see something...anything. Water pressure had instantly dwindled to a dribble...a scalding hot dribble. Luckily, I remembered the gallon of distilled water I keep under the sink, to clean my contacts in case of an emergency. I was able to mix it with a little of the boiling water and complete my morning cleanup, also via iPhone flashlight reflected off the bathroom mirror. Toilet flushing was out, of course (okay, I'll be honest- that was my first question to G when all this went down and he said "OF COURSE the toilets won't flush...they're vacuum operated". I am still in the dark (ha ha!) about what one issue has to do with the other, but, wouldn't you know it, he was right. What happened in the toilet stayed in the toilet). Our cabin was also immediately starting to warm up since there was no circulation, and the elevators were obviously out of service, too ('obviously', because even I knew that would be the case). 

You can see how these situations so quickly turn desperate. Captain Ciruzzi immediately made an announcement that emergency backup power was providing lighting for the corridors and that they would have all the power up in a few minutes. Once I was cleaned up and dressed, my first stop was the Club Bar for some brewed decaf coffee before it got cold. That, and water was about all we could drink. Dispensers of all sorts- soda, coffee, juice- stopped working when the power went out. I knew I could get fresh fruit and cottage cheese, and so sat down in the Club Restaurant for that. G soon found me there, and since I couldn't have toast, I had a slice of Christmas stollen. Stollen!! They had stollen!  I have been anxiously waiting for it, and it was a wonderful substitute for my usual six grain toast. 

Finally!

The power soon came back on in stages:  first the lights then the air conditioning. I don't think it was out for more than 15 minutes total, but it provided a bit of an exciting start to the day. Thankfully we were already docked when it went out, so there was no drama at all, just a sense of adventure as we navigated around the mostly dark and very silent ship. 

We had one last thing we wanted to do in Raiatea and so packed just a few things in my backpack, including my mask and snorkel, and set out to walk about 20 minutes south along the waterfront to the Hotel Hawaiki Nui, originally called the Raiatea Bali Hai, and the site of the first overwater bungalows in French Polynesia constructed in 1968. There was no beach (Douglas Pearson says there's no beach at all on mainland Raiatea), but we had heard about good snorkeling right off the pier at the Hawaiki Nui. There were no shoulders or sidewalks along the road on the walk down there, which tends to concern G (raised in a small town) more than me, but we wore our yellow "don't get hit by a taxi- or a pickup truck" t-shirts, walked facing traffic and hoped for the best. At least the cars on Raiatea drive at a reasonable speed, which they don't on Moorea. 

Once at the hotel we bought drinks but drank them on the pier, and I wasted no time in slipping into the water right there. Oh yes, what we had heard was absolutely correct. There is amazing snorkeling along the coral shelf on which the overwater bungalows have been constructed. The sun had slipped away by then, so the colors didn't pop, but the variety of fish was incredible. It was the best no-cost snorkeling I've done in French Polynesia, topped only by the Aquarium on Rangiroa and Coral Gardens on Bora Bora. I looked seriously hard in every bit of what I call "car wash coral", the wavy, mop-like coral for another Nemo fish; I had seen my first (and only) three right across the water at Motu Ofetaro. While I didn't see any, I saw the most interesting assortment of colorful fish and had a great time. 

Motu Ofetaro (that we visited last cruise) on the left, as seen from the Hawaiki Nui

I don't know how long I was at that (G says well over an hour), because I go into my own little world when there's good snorkeling, but finally G yelled down at me from the pier that, if we didn't leave soon, we were going to get caught in a downpour. I climbed up the ladder and started to dry off a bit before I dressed. While I was air-drying, I looked over at the deck off the nearest overwater bungalow and saw a glamorous young lady in a hat step out. Hmmm...that looked like one of the dancers from the ship, Natalie. Before I could ponder it any longer, out came dancers Steph and John. Assistant Cruise Director Xavier had surprised those that could get away with a day at on overwater bungalow at the resort. They all invited us to join them ('cause they're just that nice), but...please. They were trying to get away from passengers like us. I left them my mask and snorkel to enjoy the snorkeling and we were on our way. 

I loved the color of the foliage we saw on our walk. 

G's weather forecast was 100% accurate, but our little delay in talking with the dancers meant that we were about 10 minutes from the ship when the skies open and we were caught in a deluge. Luckily, it didn't last long, but that was kind of the end of the even marginally pretty weather for the day. We returned to the ship soaking wet with the Princess "flag" (blue and white striped beach towels) wrapped around us. While G was showering, I ran two of our Coke tumblers out to the two local security guys, and, in return got big hugs, two cheek kisses (I am getting so good at those!) and Joyeaux Noël's. These guys have given us friendly greetings on all our comings and goings from the Pacific Princess in Raiatea over the past two months and it was nice to have something small to give them. 

We ate lunch on the terrace behind the buffet, joined by entertainer Dan Riley and with Paige and her husband Lee at the next table. I could tell G was wearing down, and was grateful that, for once, I wouldn't be the one discouraging more activity before sailaway at 6pm. Sure enough, we made it only as far as two loungers on the pool deck overlooking Uturoa before G fell asleep. And when he finally awoke, we returned to the cabin so he could nap some more. That's a good thing; we have a late Christmas Eve planned and there is no way we'll make it until nearly 1am without a little down time. 

The Pacific Princess sailed earlier than originally scheduled today, due to the winds that are expected to increase this evening and might jeopardize our ability to get through Teavapiti Pass if we'd waited until 11pm.  There was no sign of the winds early on, but, honestly, Uturoa on Christmas Eve doesn't offer a lot of night life anyway; the Pacific Princess is the best place to be. Where we'll be cruising until tomorrow morning's arrival in Bora Bora is anyone's guess; it's located within sight of Raiatea, just 20 or so miles away, but Captain Ciruzzi said we'd be cruising 140 miles overnight. Too bad we can't see these Society Islands we're cruising past.

Even with overcast skies, the water is the lagoon is perfectly clear (this is the motu on the right in the photo above)

We were up at the Elite Lounge at 5:30pm (and I enjoyed both the port wine and Stilton offered tonight), but stepped out on Deck 10 for our final sailaway from Raiatea this winter (weep!). Suzan, we met your friends Roy and Pam up there. They said they were looking for a white beard and that eventually let them to G. It was nice talking with them, and together we enjoyed the views of the Raiatea mountainsides and reef as we sailed away. 

Tonight's dinner menu was Italian night, which was perfect. The waiters were in red and white striped pullovers and the assistant waiters were in green and white striped pullovers and several had Santa hats on too. I had eaten a late lunch and then had Stilton before dinner; I wasn't that hungry. I had just my favorite spinach salad topped with chicken breast...and lemoncello sorbet for dessert, of course. We shared a bottle of champagne and it was a memorable Christmas Eve dinner. 

Assistant waiter Gerald from India does everything with his own style. 

We're back in the cabin for a short time before going to the 8:30pm show in the Cabaret Lounge, Jere  Ring's Liberace Christmas. Between Jere's personality and talent; this should be a highly enjoyable hoot. Mass is going to be offered at 11:30pm tonight. (I hope I can stay up for that.) 

And, finally, Merry Christmas!  I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday. Big hugs to family and friends...we miss you!!

A Christmas stocking was waiting for us in our cabin tonight. 

From Nicola's email, a further definition of the origin of the term "batten down the hatches":

'Hatch' is one of those words with dozens of meanings in the dictionary. In this case we are looking at the 'opening in the deck of a ship' meaning. Ships' hatches, more formally called hatchways, were commonplace on sailing ships and were normally either open or covered with a wooden grating to allow for ventilation of the lower decks. When bad weather was imminent, the hatches were covered with tarpaulin and the covering was edged with wooden strips, known as battens, to prevent it from blowing off. Not surprisingly, sailors called this 'battening down'.

The above was explained, probably better than I just have, in the definitive record of history of nautical language, Admiral W H Smyth’s 1867 encyclopaedia The Sailor’s Word Book. He calls it 'battening of the hatches' but it is clearly the same expression:

“Battens of the hatches: Long narrow laths serving by the help of nailing to confine the edges of the tarpaulins, and keep them close down to the sides of the hatchways in bad weather.”

The misspellings 'battern down the hatches' and 'baton down the hatches' are sometimes found in print. 'Batons' are sticks or staffs, which makes that particular misspelling plausible. 'Batterns' are a form of stage lighting.