G woke me yesterday by singing 'I Left My Heart In Rangiroa' at about 6:30am. Unfortunately, he should have left his heart at least 45 minutes earlier; we missed the dolphins surfing the wake as we approached Tiputa Pass on Rangiroa, and Douglas Pearson informed the group on Deck 11 at the front of the Pacific Princess, in his best professorial tone, that we needed to be up there early, REALLY early for these island arrivals. That was much easier to do when we were still jet lagged from our trip down to Papeete but is getting harder every day. Still, we watched for the fourth time as the Pacific Princess approached Tiputa Pass. The tide was rushing back out of the pass, creating a tremendous current through which the ship had to navigate, then cut immediately to port to make its way around the little desert island with a single palm tree, which marks the location of the beautiful snorkeling area called The Aquarium. It was another beautifully sunny morning. (Rainy season? What rainy season? Our weather luck continues...)
We went to breakfast in the Club Restaurant so I could get my fav fruit plate, then immediately moved to the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet so G could get his fav pepperoni omelet with extra cheese (and his cardiologist shudders). It still amazes me that the Rangiroa lagoon is so large that one can't see across it: in fact, all that is visible even from the height of Deck 9 on the ship are the islets just to the east and west of Tiputa Pass. The other 200+ islets that make up Rangiroa are lost over the horizon. This atoll has to be (not) seen to be believed.
Uncertain of our plans for the day (we could have done the default public beach but were looking for something different. I'm waiting until my sunburned shoulder from our last visit here finishes peeling before attempting another 'all beach' day), we dressed for a land day and made our way to the island via tender. A week ago, I had canceled a dive excursion with Rangiroa Plongée. We are already getting so much water time, and have now learned that we can set up excursions right on the tender pier that we've decided to simply book snorkeling and dive trips the same day, based on how we feel and the weather. Before we arrived in French Polynesia, before we knew what to expect, it made sense to have things lined up ahead of time, but now we know, and with the luxury of time and options, we've been slowly disengaging ourselves from some of our prescheduled commitments. In other words, we're starting to do exactly what we do in the Caribbean...wake up, check the weather, see what hurts and what doesn't, and proceed accordingly. Didn't take us too long, did it? ;-)
Once on the island, I was immediately greeted by a representative of the tourist bureau, and offered a beautiful woven palm crown into which had been tucked many fragrant tiare and frangipani blooms. For free. Now, we're very often greeted on these islands with tiare blooms, but never with a whole crown. I looked around and saw several other ladies already wearing the same thing. What a welcoming gesture! The neat thing about this particular crown is that it was adjustable, and the size depended on how much of the woven fronds were pushed into a small loop at the back. It was really quite ingenious...the greeter placed it over the crown of my ever-present Tilley hat, but, later in the day, when I was sitting in the shade, I simply made it smaller and wore it directly on my head. I spent the rest of the day basking in the cloud of scent from the tiare and frangipani flowers, and loved every minute of it.
We decided to take the free shuttle bus which runs down to Gauguin Pearls pearl farm. First, it gave us a view of the narrow strip of island past where we'd already been (previously only as far as the public beach), and we were driven through Avatoru village (don't blink!) and saw the airport and the school to which kids come by boat from the other nearby islets. High schoolers have to board during the week on Raiatea or Tahiti, and that is something we've heard frequently on the smaller islands of French Polynesia.
Every so often, the narrow road would pass over single lane concrete bridges. What runs under these are the narrow 'hoa' channels, which are non-navigable and often don't even contain water (depending on the tides). Taking this short trip via the shuttle bus definitely gave us a better appreciation of how this island is made up of 240 islets.
We arrived at Gauguin Pearls pearl farm which, unlike the pearl farm on Huahine, was located on land (but, of course, next to the water. Everything on Rangiroa is next to the water, either the lagoon or the ocean, because the island is not much wider than the road that runs down the center of it). As a group, we were directed over to an open shed where we received the best explanation and demonstration of the Tahitian black pearl culturing process we've yet seen. Instead of simply being told about the process to culture pearls, we saw it in action, and I really have to recommend the (free) trip to Gauguin Pearls if you want to get a good understanding of how it is all done.
A pearl expert trains for two years at the only school that exists for pearl culturing (which just happens to be on Rangiroa) to learn how to set the white 'bead' from the Mississippi River mollusk (that still slays me) and the pearl graft in the gonad sack (not quite so squeamish about that by now). We saw that process being demonstrated, but the huge excitement occurred when we saw pearls being harvested. There is something amazing about seeing a shell pried opened a bit and a beautiful Tahitian pearl extracted. Then (quelle surprise!), we were able to shop in their store and purchase pearls and other gift shop items if we wanted but at no time was there any pressure at all to buy anything or even enter the gift shop. It was all very nicely done. I did spot a leather bracelet with a single black pearl on it that I liked, but the price was $281. There is a similar one- no doubt with a much lower quality of stone, but who cares?- on the pier on Moorea for sale for $45 that I have my eye on.
When we left Gauguin Pearls, the shuttle bus dropped some people off at the public beach. But G and I stayed on it a bit further to the Kia Ora Resort, where we asked to be dropped off. Now, we had heard conflicting stories about the Kia Ora's lack of hospitality toward cruise ship passengers who just happened on their beach, and particularly toward those who were so bold as to sit in one of their beach loungers. But we also knew that several of the bar crew had gone there last cruise for lunch. So we thought we'd see how we were received. Well, when we walked in the open air lobby and asked if we could have a drink and perhaps lunch, we were warmly welcomed and allowed to wander the small, but beautiful grounds.
The lobby of the Kia Ora Resort (the Pacific Princess is at anchor in the distance)
We made our way to the restaurant but decided the overwater bar just adjacent was more what we were looking for. There we both had drinks; G opted for a generous serving of Cuban rum and a Coke, but I chose a non-alcoholic mango and coconut cooler. I was thrilled when it was served with a pineapple wedge and more flowers, and along with my floral crown, every time I lifted it to my mouth to drink it was like being in a florist shop. For a long while, we were the only customers in the bar, and it was one of the prettiest things I'd ever seen and I thought it looked exactly like a cover for Islands magazine. There were glass panels in the floor through which we watched the fish in the lagoon below, and the azure blue water sparkled in the sun. The Pacific Princess was anchored just beyond the resort in the lagoon and we could see the ship's tenders crossing back and forth to the tender pier.
We were having so much fun sitting there (really, living like celebrities) that we ordered a small lunch and I got a Perrier and the whole afternoon cost us about $50, but provided us a really wonderful experience. We never tried using the beach (we weren't even dressed for it), and I'm sure that, had we shown up with snorkel fins and flying the Princess flag (the blue and white striped beach towels), we might not have been allowed to feel so welcome. But what we did do was so perfect that we want to spend an afternoon there again on a future cruise.
By 3:30pm, a few clouds started to move in and the wind picked up a bit and that was a most welcome change, because we faced the walk back to the tender pier, which was not a long one (maybe a mile), but which, we knew from experience, could be beastly hot when the sun was out. It was quite a thrill to hear the huge waves thundering on the reef just off the coast on the ocean side of the island, and that kept us motivated as we made our way along the uneven road back to the pier. If it weren't for the fact that there are occasional vehicles and a few houses and pensions and people, that part of the island reminds us a great deal of walking to Lighthouse Beach on the southern end of Eleuthera from Princess Cays.
It was 4:15pm by the time we arrived back on the Pacific Princess, and the skies were dark enough that we didn't rush to an open deck to watch sailaway. Instead, we showered and got ready for Breeza Marina night in the Elite lounge and then a very simple dinner of (for me) sliced, grilled chicken breast on mixed greens with honey mustard dressing, and, of course, sorbet ('cause there's always room for sorbet). We wanted to finish dinner early enough to attend the 7pm show in the Cabaret Lounge and waiter Jose accommodated us, as he always does.
Comedian/musician Dan Riley performed, and we thought we remembered him from Caribbean itineraries, and we did. He is an extremely talented guitarist who injects some humor into his show, and we enjoyed it very much, but, honestly, by the time it ended, we were half asleep, which is why this post had to wait until the next day.
Unfortunately, this was the evening that several toilets chose to take the night off on the ship, and I had to stay half dressed so as to make a quick getaway to the (working) public toilet one deck up. What is it about having a non-working toilet that makes me need to use one every five minutes (it was a lot like camping that way)? Finally, about 10pm, I was awakened by the telltale automatic multiple flushes that always indicate a plumbing problem has been resolved (isn't it funny that the toilet flushing during any other night does not wake me up, but when I'm waiting for it...?), but we've heard that a few were still out this morning. Oh well, it's part of being on an older ship at sea, but, for us, the inconvenience lasted only two hours.
There were plenty of other entertainment options available last evening- 70s night theme particularly comes to mind- and God bless the people who can go all day and then party at night. We simply cannot. But we're cruising in the manner we enjoy, interspersing less active days with active ones, and eating and drinking and spending in moderation all the way. It certainly works well for us.
Life is definitely good. :-)