Wow. Wow. wow, wow, wow. To see something in person that I've seen in photos for most of my life is a surreal thing. And then I looked around me and all I saw was this tiny island and a lot of ocean and I realized what it means to be on the most remote inhabited single island on Earth. We are in a whole world of nowhere off to the bottom right of a whole universe of nowhere. It is weird and wonderful at the same time. And I'm enjoying every minute.
We were asleep before our heads hit the pillows last night, and slept well. We are five hours ahead of French Polynesia time, the same as Central Daylight Time, so we're in the same time zone as Chicago. What is weird is that Rapa Nui shouldn't be on CDT but because most of their business dealings are with Chile, which is one hour ahead of EDT, they want to stay on a somewhat similar schedule. So sunrise is not until after 8am and sunset is about 8 pm. But, anyway, to get up at 8am (which was just 3am a couple of days ago) for our first tour, we needed to set an alarm.
Breakfast is included with our room and it was quite a feast. Fresh mango juice, fresh fruits, breads, a huge omelet and coffee or tea. It was a good start to a busy day. Our guide, Chris, arrived in a 4WD vehicle at 9:30am, and we were thrilled to see that, not only did he speak English, he had gone to Virginia Tech (G's alma mater) and even shared the same accent. It started to rain right then, and so Chris decided to route our tour around the very short shower, which worked very well.
Our first stop was Tahai, just north of Hanga Roa. The three Ahu (platforms) of Tahai were restored by American archaeologist William Mulloy between 1968 and 1970, and provided a good introduction to the layout of an original Rapanui village.
Tahai
(I am having difficulty uploading pictures here, which is disappointing, but to have internet at all (in the outdoor public sitting area of the Hotel Tau Ra'a) is a wonderful surprise. I'll continue to blog and upload photos when I can. I took over 100 today alone.)
We briefly visited Ahu Tongariki, one of the most famous ones, with a whopping 15 moai in a row. It has as its backdrop the beautiful sea cliffs of the eastern side of Rapa Nui. We will be revisiting Tonagriki for sunrise on Saturday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. The water around Rapa Nui is the most clear, brilliant deep blue. The cooler temperatures inhibit the growth of plankton and algae that can cloud visibility further north. And the air is absolutely pollution free. This island is a photographer's dream.
The largest ahu, Tongariki
The bulk of our afternoon was spent at the quarry from which the moai were carved, Rano Raraku. Along with Tongariki, Rano Raraku provides some of the most famous photo ops on Rapa Nui, and was certainly an 'I can't believe I'm here!!' moment. The moai varied in size, being shorter and squatter initially but eventually being carved much taller. And only a portion of the moai are above the ground; a larger portion of the statues, including the hands and hips, are buried under the ground. Rano Raraku has 397 moai in various stages of creation, as moai carving became more and more limited as resources on the island began to diminish. And everywhere we looked, there were fallen moai, usually lying face down but not always, which never made it to an ahu...they fell and broke en route (after over a year of carving!).
The quarry at Rano Raraku
Source: wallpaperswa.com
Source: popscreen.com
Ads inspired by the moai at Rano Raraku
Panoramic view of Rano Raraku (click to enlarge)
Ahu Tongariki from Rano Raraku
Our final stop was at Anakena Beach, the landing spot of the original king of Rapa Nui, Hotu Matu'a, and one of only two beaches on the island. Here there are three ahus, the most impressive of which is Ahu Nau Nau, with its seven moai. Ahu Nau Nau was restored in 1978, and its moai are unique in that most were very well preserved by the sand of Anakena Beach, in which they were buried. What is humorous is that one of the moai is headless, and there is a broken moai head used to fill in the back of the ahu, but archeologists believe the two are unrelated. It is simply reflective of the fact that, by the end of the 600 years of moai carving (approximately 1000-1600AD) even materials to build the ahus were running out.
Dude, where's my head?
Anakena is also the location of a stand alone moai on which Thor Heyerdahl conducted his theory of how the moai were erected into place: Ahu Ature Huki. This was the first moai on the island to be re-erected, in 1958. Using long poles to lever the statue up, and rocks to shore it up, it took a team of men 18 days to tilt the moai into place.
Anakena Beach was beautiful but the water looked rough and chilly...at least for these two travelers most used to French Polynesia's mid-80sF water temps.
Anakena Beach
One of the most amazing things about Rapa Nui is its size, 64 sq. miles. Nearly every view contains at least one coastline; many views contain several. Where I am sitting right now, though I am not on the water, I can see the ocean only two blocks in one direction, and a volcano in the other. It is certainly an awe-inspiring place, even without the hundreds of moai and other archeological artifacts found here.
Chris dropped us back at our room at 5:30pm. We are going to walk in search of empanadas and beer and return to our little porch to enjoy the view and have dinner. We have another full day of touring tomorrow, and need to get to bed fairly early. I'm so glad we're here for a week! Sitting around at the hotel tonight, several other travelers were bemoaning their three and four days here. We won't be able to see it all, but we will certainly be able to say we've seen the highlights of what the island has to offer.
We made it. Sure, it was a very long day (26 hours from alarm clock time yesterday to arriving at the Cabanas Ngahu today), and I slept for all of about 3 minutes, but I knew that would be the case going into this. The horror stories we had heard about late evening flights from Faa'a International Airport in Papeete proved to be untrue in our case. Sure, we waited outside the walled part of the airport until the LAN counter opened for check in at 11pm but it was not raining, it was not too hot and there were plenty of seats. Check in for our flight required an hour of standing in line, but it was quite interesting to observe everything going on around us. We heard several languages...French, Tahitian, Spanish and Portuguese, but we did not hear English being spoken. Neither did any of our fellow travelers; by then G and I were so tired we were communicating in grunts and gestures. And yawns.
Most thankfully, our flight was petty much on time. We even knew (because G had checked (he is fascinated by this stuff)) that our aircraft would be a brand new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. He knew that our takeoff would be steep and fast, and it was. But I don't think we anticipated the level of comfort we'd have in flying in that plane overnight. Digital everything...window tinting in lieu of shades, power plug ins for electronics at every seat, on demand video, of course, digital overhead light controls... everything. It helped our comfort a great deal that the plane was far from full, and we had an empty middle seat between us (it's a 3-3-3 configuration). However, knee room was limited, especially when seats were reclined, sliding the seat bottom forward. But the empty middle seat certainly helped.
But, again, I don't sleep, and by the time we landed I was in a near zombie-like state. Although only six of us on the plane were actually staying in Rapa Nui (the rest were South Americans returning from vacations in French Polynesia and continuing on the flight to Santiago- poor them!), all passengers had to disembark to go through Chilean immigration. The line for the transit passengers was long and slow moving, but we lucky six were quickly ushered through. Next, our suitcases (there were only five of them taken off the plane!) were xrayed to check for agricultural products. We had brought plenty of food that we had purchased at the Hilo WalMart (a later story) and were asked to open one of our suitcases, but all the food was processed and packaged and there were no issues. (An aside: travelers to Rapa Nui from mainland Chile are allowed to bring coolers full of meats and cheeses. Both are in short supply on Rapa Nui.)
There was nothing sweeter than exiting that tiny airport to see a lady from the Cabanas Ngahu holding a sign with our name on it in one hand, and gorgeous flower leis in the other. We were greeted and leid and accompanied to her waiting car for the short drive to the hotel and our first glimpse of Rapa Nui. It quickly became obvious that we were going to have language difficulties this week. Thank God we arranged for English speaking guides and at least knew how to say 'hello' in Rapa Nui ('cause it's the same as in Tahitian- Ia Orana). But Spanish is spoken here, through and through. And that's the funny thing about my lack of linguistic ability: I spoke French better until I tried to learn Spanish. Then I spoke Spanish better until I spent three months in French Polynesia. Now I am left unable to speak either. Oh I try...I start a sentence in one language, fill in words from the other and complete it in English when all else fails, rendering me absolutely un-understandable.
It was only when we arrived at Cabanas Ngahu that things really began to go south. The larger cabana we had reserved had been given to a family until October 1, but we were assigned a newly decorated smaller cabana as a "present". In fact, we were the first people to stay in it since it had been remodeled. It might be more accurate to say that we were the first people to stay in it while it was being remodeled. The kitchen sink leaked, the door opened the wrong way causing a trip-hazard door stop to be in the middle of the room, the safe was small and not bolted down (making it a handy box to carry away all our valuables quickly and easily), and, most egregious of all, the water was scalding hot- for 30 seconds- and then disappeared all together. Clearly, we were off to a rough start.
But we were too tired to deal with anything and collapsed on the bed. I woke three hours later to find G had gone out (leaving a note telling me his plans and also his litany of Cabanas Ngahu faults) to try to find us 1.) water; and 2.) another hotel, not necessarily in that order. I had drank only the welcoming fruit juice at the hotel since arriving; things would soon get critical. He warned me about the shower but I could not stand myself another minute and risked the scalding burns and frostbite to shave my legs and wash my hair.
He was gone a long time after I woke up, so I had no idea how long he had been away altogether, but had a feeling change was coming our way and reorganized but didn't unpack anything. Sure enough, he finally showed up telling me he had waiting taxi and a waiting hotel and went to speak with the owners of Cabanas Ngahu. I don't know what was said (but, with the language barrier, it couldn't have been too much) but I stood by as our taxi driver (in the tiniest taxi possible with his friend in the front seat) loaded our luggage. G and I squeezed into the back seat along with a suitcase and were driven just a few blocks away to the Hotel Tau Ra'a, owned by an Aussie named Bill Howe and one of the nicest guys around. He carried our suitcases up the stone steps, got us settled in our room, unlocked the safe (this one is bolted down!) and even unlocked the tiny restaurant kitchen so I could heat up the first of several Hormel Dinty Moore beef stews we had purchased at the Hilo WalMart.
The courtyard in front of our room.
G walked just a couple of minutes away at Bill's recommendation and found a bakery where he purchased Coke, water and a dessert treat for both us. And we sat on this little porch in front of our room (this place has much the same feel as a roadside 1950's motel) and ate our feast while we listened to the ocean waves crash just a block away and the drumming and music from a folkloric show being held just down the street.
It's not the Club Restaurant, but, in our exhaustion, it suited us perfectly. (Especially my dessert that managed to combine cookie and meringue and cream and Nutella all in one handy treat.)
We even have our own moai in our room, that we've named Morty (from Seinfeld). Morty Moai, Stevie Stingray...ain't travel great for making new friends?
Sleep will come quickly tonight, and tomorrow morning we start the first of our Rapa Nui tours.
I am so excited. Actually, I am so tired. Tomorrow morning I will be so excited.
From this point on, I will refer to Easter Island as the Polynesians do: Rapa Nui (Rah-pah Nwe), meaning Big Rapa. The island is Rapa Nui, the native language is Rapa Nui and the people who live there who are descendants of the original Polynesian settlers on the island are the Rapanui. I'll admit that 'Rapa Nui' doesn't glide off my English-speaking tongue as smoothly as 'Easter Island' does, but I have always had a bit of a rub with the notion of European explorers 'discovering' islands and Christian missionaries converting the 'pagans' in Polynesia. When I read what was done to the native Polynesians that first inhabited Rapa Nui (the Rapanui), once the Europeans and South Americans arrived...well, I'm not certain I will ever think of it as Easter Island again.
One more thing before I move on: I am preparing this post ahead of time, and will publish it before we leave Tahiti. My fear is that it may be the last post I'm able to publish for awhile. One common theme that arose from our research is that WiFi on Rapa Nui is horrendous, slow at best and frequently non-existent. That's understandable; this is one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth. But I'm not certain if it's "land-bad" or "ship-bad". Or worse. If you don't hear from me until we return to the fast WiFi of French Polynesia (that's sarcasm, you know), no worries. I will continue to blog daily and will catch up upon our return to the big city of Papeete (more of the same). As for photos...I'll get them posted when I can.
So, back to today...
Once again, YouTube provided a good depiction of what it's like to fly overnight from Papeete to IPC (Isla de Pascua, the airport in Hanga Roa on Rapa Nui), and I'll post it below. We've been told that this flight, though frequently late, is never cancelled, but we would certainly appreciate an on time schedule tonight. We are going to be exhausted!
And, while you await our Tales of Rapa Nui, below is a short history lesson to tide you over, one that I actually did research and write myself, after reading two e-books about the island that I checked out from the library system using the Overdrive app.
I also purchased the Kindle Edition of the Companion Guide to Easter Island, written by James Grant-Peterkin, a Scot who moved to Rapa Nui as part of his college research and ended up staying. This was the most highly recommended guidebook and it certainly deserves that designation. While it contains a history of the island, it is really intended as a travel guide, providing fascinating insight into the culture and detailed explanations about Rapa Nui's many archaeological sites, as well as some great information on how to make the most of your stay.
There are a lot of documentaries on Rapa Nui available on Netflix and YouTube, and I think we watched every one. They were all interesting, but the ones hypothesizing how the Moai (MOH-eye), the monolithic sculptures for which the island is known were moved into place with the limited tools of 600 years ago were especially fascinating. In the end, we named this "Our Mostly Moai Summer", as it felt as if every spare moment was spent in gaining an understanding about Rapa Nui.
This is the best video of the several we viewed about the history and culture of Rapa Nui. I particularly like the way the host points out the many inconsistencies in the theories about how and when things happened on the island. The overriding single element I picked up from all my research is this: Nobody knows for sure. There are hypotheses, of course, and some have now been discounted due to modern evaluative techniques, but the many mysteries of the island still remain.
With so many archaeological sites to explore and considering that fact that we can say, with certainty, we will never again return to Rapa Nui, we had to plan our time on the island very carefully. First, we are fortunate to have as much time there as we will (not that we had any control over that, what with the once a week flights). People visiting by cruise ship have, at most, two days, but in reading several trip reports about the island, most travelers admit more is required to get a really good sense of all it has to offer. Five days is frequently recommended as the right amount; we'll have five days plus our travel days.
However, we also didn't want to overschedule ourselves. We are not kids, and find that we travel best when we allow ourselves some intermittent down time. We want to enjoy Rapa Nui, not simply complete a checklist of things to see. And the overriding concern was to get the most out of our time at each archaeological site; therefore, we quickly made the decision to hire a guide for our tours on the island, and one of the most recommended tour companies is the one operated by James Grant-Peterkin himself, Easter Island Spirit tours. We have arranged full day private tours on three days on the island, and a partial day tour on a fourth day. This will leave us one and a half days on our own, to explore a bit, and two days for travel.
We've been lead to expect basic accommodations, limited and expensive food items, little English, unrelenting sun and wind, horses and dogs roaming the island, leaving behind the obvious signs of their existence, and safe, but unpalatable drinking water.
We can't wait. :-)
A Brief History of Rapa Nui
Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl in 1947 launched his Kon Tiki expedition to prove that people could have emigrated from South America to the Tuamotu Archipelago in Polynesia. He also maintained that, en route, South Americans would have populated Easter Island, and this theory was widely held for decades, but modern day DNA analysis disproves it. Instead, it is believed that the first inhabitants of Rapa Nui arrived from either the Gambier or Marquesas island groups (both currently part of French Polynesia) around 900 AD as one of the final segments of the Polynesian Migration. The island would have looked quite differently than it does today, with 70% of it covered in palm trees and edible plants.
The carving of the statues for which the island is known began as a form of ancestor worship, stemming from the belief that an important person's spiritual power, or mana, could influence things long after their deaths (sounds a lot like Catholic saints to me). In Rapa Nui, when a chief or important member of a tribe died, a statue was carved from the quarry at Rano Raraku and transported back to his village where it was erected, not looking out to sea, as one might expect, but facing inland, to watch over their people. Just when these statues were carved is open to debate, but most archaeologists place the peak period from 1000 AD to 1600 AD.
On Easter Sunday 1722, Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen became the first European to spot Rapa Nui; hence, its name of Easter Island (with no consideration to what the Rapanui had been calling it). Due to rough weather, they spent only one day on the island to restock and left for Tahiti. The next European explorer, Felipe Gonzalez de Haedo of Spain, arrived on the island in 1770. He had the Rapa Nui sign a contract claiming the island for Spain (they had no idea what it said or of its significance), stayed for six days and left. No one from Spain ever returned to follow up on the claim.
Four years later, in 1774, British Captain Cook arrived, in need of supplies and fresh water. He and his crew were ill, and spent only four days on the island, but noted that it was in considerably worse condition than had been reported just four years earlier in de Haedo's journals. The Rapanui were dwindling in number and health, and many of the statues had been toppled, probably due to tribal warring. The journals of these three explorers are the only written history of the island from that time that exist today.
The Rapanui were then left to their own devices for the next 60 years or so, but it is obvious that something quickly changed. What effect, if any, the arrival of the Europeans had on the islanders will never be known, but sometime between Roggeveen's visit and 1838, all of the moai were thrown from their platforms. Those that are standing today have only been re-erected since 1955. It has been proven that the moai were pulled from their platforms, not toppled by a natural disaster such as a tsunami.
There are two theories as to why the moai were toppled. The first states that diminishing island resources caused inter-tribal warfare and that the statues were pulled down by attacking enemies. The second is that the Rapanui simply lost faith in them. Generation after generation saw the effort and dismissing natural resources that were spent carving and erecting them, and felt they were receiving nothing in return.
But if things were bad, they were about to get worse. In 1862, the first slave traders arrived and, in a series of raids, kidnapped 1500 Rapanui to work in agriculture in Peru. The impact on the Rapanui culture was devastating. The chiefs and elders who could still read the written history of the island were among the first taken. Many of the islanders died en route to Peru, and only 15 were ever returned, bringing with them smallpox, further decimating the population. From a high of perhaps 12000 people, only 111 remained in 1877.
In the midst of this crisis, the first Catholic missionary, Eugene Eyraud, arrived from Tahiti. While he was not very successful in converting the Rapanui to Christianity, he did get word out that the island was in a desperate state and, in 1866, a permanent Catholic mission was established. To the missionaries' credit, many Rapanui artifacts were preserved; unfortunately, they also put an end to several of the islanders' belief systems.
International interest in the island heated up again when England, anxious that France not expand its Polynesian holdings beyond Tahiti, encouraged Chile to lay claim to Rapa Nui. In 1888, a document written in Spanish was presented to the island's king, giving Chile "full and entire sovereignty" over the island forever. The Rapa Nui translation of this document, however, only offered "friendship and protection". This duplicitous translation lies at the heart of much of the anti-Chilean sentiment found on the island today.
Friendship and protection was also the stated intent of Scottish/Chilean nitrate and sheep farming company Williamson, Balfour & Co., who acquired the island on a 25 year basis in 1903 and set up the Easter Island Exploitation Company (Seriously? They were so brazen as to actually name it that??). 7000 sheep roamed the island freely while the Rapanui were fenced into Hanga Roa to prevent them from stealing the sheep. Simulating Scotland, rock walls were built all over the island, the rocks, of course, coming from the dismantling of ceremonial platforms. Despite several uprisings from the islanders, the contract was extended until it was finally revoked in 1953, when control of the island was handed over to the Chilean Navy.
The Chilean Navy offered dubious aid to the island by first outlawing the native language of Rapa Nui in favor of Spanish. But, more frequent ships to the island as well as the introduction of air travel allowed the Rapanui to have greatly increased exposure to the world beyond their shores and its sometimes self-serving practices, and, as a result, a strong autonomous movement was begun. In 1965 the Rapanui were allowed to elect their own mayor and in 1966 became full Chilean citizens. Today, there are several economic benefits granted to citizens of Rapa Nui that other Chilean citizens are denied (no income tax, subsidized travel, free schooling) in the interest of maintaining a civil relationship.
In 1995, the Rapa Nui National Park, comprising 40% of the island, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, giving it access to greater financial and conservation resources. The increased interest in tourism has given Rapa Nui a voice in Chile, and an improved infrastructure is seen as proof of Chile's commitment to the island.
Papeete showed us her best side ever today...brilliantly sunny sky, comfortable temperature and no humidity. Where was this weather last year (especially the comfortable temperature and low humidity parts!)? We were so excited to be back and felt instantly at home. We enjoyed breakfast in the Club Restaurant and then walked off the ship to have a closer look at the city. The Radiance of the Seas, as expected, was at the first pier and we were at the pier normally used by the Paul Gauguin, right next to the ferry dock.
We were very happy to see that the sidewalk bordering the waterfront which was under construction and a real mess last year is now complete, and it is spectacular! It's also shortened the walk to the Hotel Tiare Tahiti by at least 5 minutes and avoids the congestion across the street. Oh, I wish that had been completed last winter. It provides direct access from the cruise ship to the beautiful park along the waterfront that we frequented last year during our Hotel Tiare Tahiti stay. We returned to the ship for lunch and made Chaplins WiFi part of the afternoon too.
After dinner in the Panorama Buffet, we disembarked the Pacific Princess around 8pm this evening and took a Princess transfer to the airport in Papeete. By purchasing the transfer ($78 total), we were able to use the ship as our base today, eating all of our meals and keeping our carry on luggage on the ship and our large suitcases secured in a tent on the pier. Though we had to be moved out of our cabin by 8am (the new passengers started boarding by noon), we were actually able to rest a bit in loungers on the shaded Promenade Deck this afternoon, which was a very good thing because at 1:30am tonight, we are flying across 2600 miles of South Pacific Ocean from Papeete, Tahiti to the town of Hanga Roa on Easter Island.
It's the 'new territory' I alluded to almost a month ago. :-)
As with most things we do, we jumped on the idea of traveling to Easter Island just as soon as it entered our minds...but researched the heck out of it before committing any non-refundable money. One evening in late April, we were watching the History Channel on TV. A documentary about Easter Island was being shown, and five minutes into it, G revealed that he has always been fascinated with the island and its unique history and really wanted to visit it someday. I hadn't felt that same yearning (Antarctica still tops my bucket list), but I am not unlike the family dog who, when a leash appears and not knowing where the trip is going, is still wild with excitement. I want to go anywhere...everywhere, and Easter Island, remote as it is, still meets that discriminating criterion.
While we both knew that Easter Island was reachable by cruise ship, the itineraries that stop there are rare, and weather can prevent a ship from being able to tender passengers ashore over half of the time. It's commonly said that, if you have your heart set on a particular destination, it's best not to rely on a cruise ship to take you there. G wondered aloud if there was an airport on the island (really, we didn't even know at that point), and I quickly got on my iPad to find out.
Well, of course there's an airport on Easter Island (the most remote one in the world!), and, if you're from the U.S., your tax dollars initially built its single runway. In the 1960s, the original airstrip was constructed and an air base established by the U.S., allowing the arrival of one flight per week from Chile. Prior to that, all shipments to the island arrived by boat, and, as recently as 100 years ago that boat arrived just once a year.
The U.S. air base was closed after the 1970 election of Chilean President Allande, but the runway was expanded by the U.S. in 1987, intended for use as an abort site for space shuttles taking off from Vandenberg AFB in California on polar orbital flights. While it was never needed for that purpose (plans were scaled back after the Challenger explosion), the expansion also allowed landings of the modern-day wide-body jets that must travel over two thousand miles from anywhere to reach it. It's almost the width of the island!
Despite having a world class runway, there still aren't a lot of flights going to Easter Island (eight a week!), and almost all that do originate in Santiago, Chile. In what must have been fate, one LAN flight per week also leaves Easter Island bound for Papeete, Tahiti, and then departs Papeete a couple of hours later to return. When we discovered we could disembark the Pacific Princess after it arrived in Papeete this morning and then tonight fly to Easter Island, we knew this was something we had to do.
Within an hour we'd booked a rustic bungalow at Cabanas Ngahu on the waterfront in the island's only town of Hanga Roa.
By June 1, we added air reservations, and there was no turning back. While our days were spent with our usual summer busy-ness, our summer evenings were spent reading passages of books about the island to each other, and watching the many videos on Netflix and YouTube while sitting on the deck.
We knew from our transpacific cruises that we love Polynesia, and last year's extended stay in French Polynesia only reinforced that opinion. This is a part of the world I'd love to see us return to again and again, but it's going to get considerably more difficult to see the parts of Polynesia we've not yet visited. We've already been to two of the three corners of the Polynesian Triangle (New Zealand and Hawaii), and getting to Easter Island was a logical next step. It's fortuitous to be able to combine that with our cruises this year. Flying to Easter Island from our home airport would require at least three flights, 18 hours and $1400 per person. We'll be flying there direct in less than a third the time at less than half the cost.
So I'm posting this as we are sitting in Faa'a Airport in Papeete, awaiting the 5 1/2 hour flight on LAN Airlines to Easter Island. An overnight flight in Economy over 2600 miles of dark Océano Pacifico. These are so NOT a few of my favorite things.
Next stop: Easter Island...Rapa Nui (in the Polynesian language of Rapa Nui)...Isla de Pascua (in Spanish)...Île de Pâques (in French)...The Microscopic Dot in a Big, Big Sea I Hope our Pilot Can Find (in me-speak)
Today marked another milestone...our 1000th day at sea! And I might have mentioned to G once or twice (or 27 times) that I was very clever when I went out on a limb and booked our first cruise (to Alaska) with only three days notice in 1997. I came home from work on a Wednesday and told G, "Guess where we're going Saturday!" And that started us off...
As far as days in French Polynesia go, this one was fairly unremarkable. I think we were a bit done in by three straight days of sun and sea. We did get up early and watch our arrival in Huahine. The weather again today was glorious; in fact, during these entire 21 days we've only had rain in Hilo (twice) and missed the port of Kauai. The remainder of the days have been beautiful. We've been very lucky.
The entrance to Maroe Bay, Huahine
The far end of the motu on the left is where Marc of Huahine Nautique holds his beach BBQ
We went to Sabatinis when it opened for breakfast at 7:30, enjoying the view of the mountains surrounding Maroe Bay reflecting in the water below. Our last Sabatinis breakfast (weep!)... we stayed for two hours and savored every minute of it (and several mimosas to boot).
We tendered to shore about 10am with not a single plan for the day. No plan for a Sunday on Huahine...that means we had only two options: take the $16pp round trip shuttle to the tiny town of Fare on the northwest coast of Huahine (never a bustling metropolis and practically dead on a Sunday) or walk. So we walked. We first turned right from the tender pier and walked along the shoreline of Maroe Bay as far as the bridge that connects the island of Huahine Nui (Big Huahine) to Huahine Iti (Little Huahine). This was not a forced march, in fact, it was very picturesque. We could not get over the fruits growing wild (papayas and mango and bananas. Oh my!) and, in fact, rotting on the trees. The birds must be extremely well fed.
The island of Raiatea is clearly visible to the right of the motu in the middle.
During our entire walk today we saw one piece of trash - a Coke can- on the ground. Nothing else. Things are as neat as a pin on these Polynesian islands, and homes, though usually quite modest, are meticulously cared for.
Eventually we turned around and walked back past the tender dock the other direction, toward the pass through which the Pacific Princess entered Maroe Bay. That was pretty, too, and the road was very flat, which was good, because it was getting hot. Around 1pm we had had more than enough sun and returned to the ship for lunch in the Panorama Buffet.
The Panorama Buffet always feels crowded for lunch when the ship is in Huahine. First, the back terrace is closed off due to the fly population in Maroe Bay, meaning 30 or so tables are off limits. Then, the Mommas of Huahine folkloric dance group come on board to perform, and get to have lunch in the buffet before they do. The combined effect is that things are busy in there for a few hours, but we had no trouble sharing a table with another couple (it's always very interesting to see what people's onward travel plans are once we arrive in Papeete tomorrow because many are continuing their stay in Tahiti or taking the ferry to Moorea for a few nights).
We finished lunch in time to catch most of the folkloric show. It was fun to see the littlest dancer, 9 years old last year, a year older and completing more advanced dance steps.
Then we returned to the quiet coolness of our cabin to rest. Crash, really. The several early mornings and active days have caught up with us. I took advantage of the down time to prepare some extra tip envelopes (I only do this every two cruises or so because it takes time) and do some hand laundry. We were showered for the evening and up on Deck 11 for a gorgeous (and I mean gorgeous) sailaway from Maroe Bay and sunset over Huahine.
What a perfect cruise this has been!!
We took a bottle of champagne to dinner in the Club Restaurant and continued to enjoy the sunset over Huahine from the huge windows on the back of the ship. We were so busy enjoying the sunset (and the champagne) that we forgot to leave the dining room before the Baked Alaska parade. While this is fun one time per season, we try to avoid it the rest of the time. But tonight, the entire dining room was so jazzed for it that we kind of enjoyed it too.
We went out in the Promenade Deck to see that huge full moon but it was directly in front of the ship, so we went up to Deck 11 forward where we sat under that moon and finished the champagne, toasting to 1000 days at sea. Here's to the next 1000!
Life is good. :-)
Our photo used on the front page of today's Princess Patter because readers always want a photo! (Sorry so large...I can't resize it until I get home on my laptop).
If no other day for the rest of our winter is half as good as this one, we will still have had a fantastic time. But this day will always hold a special place in my memory.
That darn alarm clock went off today at 5:30am and I was up on deck long before the actual sunrise...and still Douglas claimed we were too late, and that the glow of the orange dawn behind the islands of Tahiti and Moorea just 30 minutes earlier had been the most beautiful he had ever seen. Yeah, yeah. I'm getting used to hearing this. I told Douglas this afternoon that we were going to hide in his closet and when he gets up, we'll get up too. Only that way will we be certain to never miss these perfect views he sees.
But, late or not (and it was not yet 6am!), the sunrise we did see, and the beautiful jagged mountains of Moorea becoming clearer and more distinct as the Pacific Princess neared the island made hearing the alarm go off all worthwhile. We stood up on Deck 11 forward watching our arrival until 7:30 am. By then we were nearly anchored in Opunohu Bay and Sabatinis was open for breakfast.
And things got even better.
First, though, you might recall (particularly if a cruise on the Pacific Princess in French Polynesia is in your near future) that Captain D had originally told me we'd be anchored in Cooks Bay today. But he announced during the Captains Circle party a couple of nights ago that plans had changed and we'd be in Opunohu Bay instead. Though Cooks Bay is slightly prettier, both offer spectacular views.
So, there we were, once again the only ones in Sabatinis with two waiters bringing us mimosa after mimosa and fresh squeezed OJ and fruit plates and waffles with strawberry sauce (for G) and orange marmalade (for me), taking in the gorgeous mountains towering over the little Pacific Princess. Given we had the time and a stable ship (and a lot of Internet minutes left), I tried getting on WiFi to text because I knew the twins' flag football game was starting right then. It was a big day...not only their birthday but their team was playing against the team coached by their basketball coach and they really wanted to win.
It was one of those times when, once I started the text conversation with their mom, I was able to log off WiFi to stop the meter running but we were still able to communicate. The first update was not good, but the tide quickly turned and stayed that way. QB McGuy was throwing bombs and the final score was a whopping 52 to 35 (must have been an exciting game!). And I was kept apprised the entire game. (Remember, please, that this is my diary, not a travel log, so these extracurricular news items are highly noteworthy to my future memories). ;-). So, breakfast served with Moorea as a backdrop AND a football win. It simply doesn't get any better than that.
But it did...
We turned to our cabin and gather up things for a water day. We had no specific plans, but we were thinking of maybe doing Hiro's tour to see the stingrays. We wanted to do something with stingrays and snorkeling and a motu beach. When we arrived at the tender pier, we were surprised to see a new open air pavilion housing the various craft vendors who used to set up canopies on the pier. And another one with restrooms is still being built, as well as one in Cooks Bay, which is why we couldn't anchor there today. In fact, the pavilion on the pier in Opunohu Bay had just opened today.
We quickly found dear Celine of Hiro's tours, but it just as quickly became obvious that Hiro was not going to have enough passengers to take his large boat out today. Instead, someone called Sato had a small boat that could hold just four or five couples, and for $40 per person was offering a tour taking us to see sharks and stingrays and then to a beach in the usual motu (you know the one I'm talking about if you've watched that travel video because we did exactly that today).
Soon we were gliding across that crystalline water and it felt so good to be back! I really love swimming with the sharks even more than the stingrays, but there was something for everyone today. The sun was so intense that the colors of the fish just popped, too. G could have stayed there forever , but we continued on to the motu and the most ideal set up imaginable. Plenty of loungers and even chairs in the water (a personal favorite!). Sato's cousin Christiane had cut up freshly picked papayas, pamplemousse (grapefruit) and coconut (third day in a row I've had fresh coconut!) and had beers for sale for $5. G settled in on one of the chairs in the water while I snorkeled for over an hour between the two motus (which is why I need that stupid swim hood).
As I worked my way back to the beach, I saw everyone sitting in the water about a foot deep petting a stingray they'd named Stevie. Eventually, Stevie decided G was his new BFF, and sat (lay?) down next to him with his nose brushing against G's hand or resting on his leg. This went on for an hour, with G being called the Stingray Whisperer as a result. It was exactly like a puppy and I don't know who enjoyed it more - the stingray or G.
Finally, around 2pm we left the motu and rode in the outrigger canoe back to the tender pier. We quickly boarded a tender and returned to the ship around 3pm. I didn't know if I was more fishy (from hugging stingrays) or hungry or dirty but I managed to rinse out my gear and take a shower before I went up to the Panorama Buffet. I found G already eating a cheeseburger and decided that looked pretty good. There is something about being in the water all afternoon that makes me crave hamburgers.
We ate on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet with the Pacific Princess gently turning on its anchor chain and continually changing our view of Opunohu Bay. We decided that that was right where we wanted to stay for sailaway and sunset and so added some fruit and called the whole thing dinner. The view from the back of the ship was more attractive at that moment than dinner in the Club Restaurant and a show.
After the sunset, we moved down to loungers on the Promenade Deck to watch as we cruised past the north coast of Moorea and the mountains became silhouettes against the orange glow of the sky. Interestingly, we cruised east, with the lights of Papeete in the distance, although tomorrow's island, Huahine, lies west of Moorea. We've simply never done these islands in this order. Moorea usually immediately precedes or follows Papeete, but the Radiance of the Seas has caused the rearrangement.
Picture it (Suzan and Greg) - sitting together in loungers on the Promenade Deck with the moon (is it full?) shining on the ocean, the lights of Tahiti in the distance and no one else around.
It is 9pm as I type these first words and I have much to tell you about a day that began at 4:30am when the alarm went off. Half asleep, I threw on the clothes I had laid out last night and snuck out of the cabin. I watched from the Promenade Deck as the Pacific Princess pushed away from the Uturoa pier just a minute or two after 5am and then went up to Deck 11 forward. There, both Dr. Rhodri Evans and Douglas Pearson already had an avid following, explaining the stars and planets in the night sky. I listened for a short while, but then decided that the pre-dawn light really was best viewed in solitude.
It was nothing short of spectacular to watch as the Pacific Princess began to navigate Pai Pai Pass between Raiatea and Taha'a, en route to Bora Bora. The shallow water depth of the lagoon required the ship to weave its way, followed by a small freighter making the same gentle curves. By the time the sun rose, it was behind the island of Taha'a, and G had found me on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet. By 6:30am, the Pacific Princess made its way out of Pai Pai Pass into the open ocean and, while Taha'a remained on our starboard (right) side, Bora Bora began to appear as a shadow on the northern horizon.
You can see the pass in the reef through which the Pacific Princess had to navigate
Sabatinis wasn't yet open for breakfast, so G and I grabbed coffees and went down to the Promenade Deck to watch the Taha'a shoreline go by.
By 7:30am, we were getting closer to Teavanui Pass into the Bora Bora lagoon but instead of joining the crowd on the upper decks, we chose to watch our entry into the Bora Bora lagoon while having mimosas and breakfast in Sabatinis. We were the only passengers in there and it was the perfectly peaceful place to watch as the view of the Bora Bora motus filled the window next to our table.
We were not in a huge hurry to go to shore and so waited until most of the passengers tendered over before we did the same. We spent some time walking around the Vaitape pier and seeing some of the locals we knew from last year. One business we had frequented last year offered us the use of their WiFi, and we gratefully accepted. We were able to check on things at home and with our accounts for the first time since Hawaii, and I was thrilled to receive a few photos of the twins' 12th birthday party, which was held today. Their birthday is actually tomorrow, and it's the first time in their lives I have missed it. It was also the hardest part of leaving home this early, but, judging from the pics, they are not pining for me. ;-)
We returned to the ship around 11:30am to eat an early lunch, and then dressed for a day on the water. When I had asked G months ago what he wanted to do in Bora Bora, top on his list was to jet ski around the island again. You might remember that last year we justified the expense of this excursion by installing a sliding glass door ourselves. This year, our whole Pacific Princess trip was justified by remodeling our deck ourselves, and we finished the installation of 50 feet of railing just before we left home. A big project...but our savings were already earmarked for the cruise, not jet skis. Once again fate stepped in and, just as we were considering the jet skis, our cruise price dropped by exactly $500. With the stronger U.S. dollar, what cost $539 last year was $481 this year. Surely this was proof that we were meant to do the jet skis again...at least my husband saw it that way.
And so once again I found myself bouncing across the Bora Bora lagoon, hanging on to my jet ski so tightly that it took an hour after I returned to the ship for my hands to uncurl. Our trip with Moana Adventures started out innocuously enough...our guide this year was Vincent, originally from France (of course) but a 17-year resident of Bora Bora. He gave us the option of following him while he went to the Hilton Bora Bora Nui on Motu Toopea behind where the Pacific Princess was at anchor, or waiting for him to return with two people staying there. Well, heck, let's consider this...an extra half hour of jet ski freestyling in that gorgeous lagoon in front of the Hilton Bora Bora Nui or waiting in the Moana Adventures office.
That half hour of slowly jet skiing while I took lots of photos of the resort and the lagoon and the reef and Raiatea in the distance while waving and yelling "Ia Orana!" (hello!) to all the passing boats was exactly my style. No scary waves, no speed, no being the distant last in a line of jet skis...this was a sport I loved. Then the honeymoon couple from the resort joined us and we were off and roundIng the southern part of Bora Bora around Matira Point. I remember this was the scariest section last year because of the way the wind blows and creates some wavelets in the lagoon that rock the jet ski from side to side. I do NOT like that sensation! This is also the point where it is so rough that, last year, my iPhone went flying off my wrist and landed, floating on top of that gorgeous blue water and I had to turn around to retrieve it.
The rest of the group became dots in the distance but, luckily, pulled up to a beach next to the overwater bungalows of the St.Regis, giving me a chance to catch up. And breathe. And take lots more photos. Once again, I could have been happy doing just that to finish out the tour, but no...after a short break we were speeding across the azure water while I held on for dear life. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted one of Patrick's excursion boats leave his motu and begin its return to the Vaitape pier, and I wondered, if I hadn't married an 'action man' 32 years ago, I might not, at that exact moment, be sated with suckling pig and French champagne and riding safely in that motorized outrigger back to the ship while listening to Maretto play the ukulele while he steered the boat with his feet.
But then, I wouldn't have learned two things today. First, only 1/100th of a second separates exhilaration from pure terror. I finally started hitting my stride and catching some air and then in the next moment was forced to cross a wake and was certain I was going to die. And, second, G saying he can't tolerate long, rough boat rides because they bother his back is simply an excuse. There is nothing rougher than riding a jet ski, and his back is fine tonight. I'm quite suspicious...
By the time we were skiing past the Pacific Princess and waving at the passengers watching us from the open decks, I actually was flying and passed G for the first time. I'm not certain if I had finally conquered my fear or simply spotted the 'barn' and knew this venture was almost over. But I survived. Go me!
We were given a 10-minute ride back to the ship where we quickly boarded a tender. How familiar is Bora Bora to us when we actually recognize the paddlers in outrigger canoes attempting to surf the tender's wake? Pretty darn familiar.
After a quick clean up (no snorkel gear to rinse out) we made it to the Elite Lounge for the first time in days, and then to dinner in the Club Restaurant. It was Italian night, and penne arrabiata topped with chicken strips really hit the spot after an afternoon on the water. We made it to the 7pm performance of production show Motor City and thank God we did...the upbeat show energized me enough to get this post typed. It is after 10pm now, and I'll attempt to get it published, WiFi permitting. The alarm is set for 5:30am for our arrival in Moorea tomorrow. I'm so glad that cruising is such a wonderfully relaxing vacation!! ;-)
