We were thrilled this morning, when we first opened our eyes, to see sunlight outside. Have we broken the weather curse of the last three weeks? We hope so, but nice weather today was especially important. We had another death-defying adventure planned with ATV Moorea. Well...maybe not quite so death-defying this year. It might be more accurately termed a bloodshed and bodily injury-defying adventure.
When we were first planning our French Polynesian excursions (which, in the pecking order of islands we'd be visiting this season came far, far behind Rapa Nui and even behind Rarotonga and only ahead of Hawaii), G was adamant that he wanted to repeat two: Bora Bora jet skis (done!) and ATV Moorea. The activities I wanted to repeat involved half-naked men and food...go figure. ;-) However, we decided right from the start that we'd only book the 2.5 hour ATV tour, which pretty much did everything the longer tour did, and then today possibly add the additional hour or more required to tackle the notorious Magic Mountain (and, more specifically, the trip back down Magic Mountain).
It's more than just the fear factor. We were both sore (my hands and wrists were screaming) in the several days following our nearly four hour tour last year. It was the height of the Chikungunya scare in December and we were experiencing so much joint pain and fatigue after 60 days of cruising that it was only the fact that we did not have the fever and headache that accompanies the disease that kept us from seeking medical care. My theory is that some things, as spectacular as they are, need only be done once in life (and I would put climbing Mt.Tapioi on Raiatea in that same category, but my husband disagrees. Stay tuned for that resolution...). But, for today, I was leaving the Magic Mountain decision up to G.
(Have I mentioned that I am a very good wife? I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately?)
So today was another alarm clock morning, and I was out of the cabin first, getting made-to-order scrambled egg beaters and brewed decaf coffee (which apparently does not exist outside of the U.S. and possibly Canada because I haven't had it since we left the Pacific Princess in late September) and enjoying both on the beautiful terrace behind the Panorama Buffet. The view was spectacular...we had left Tahiti at 5am this morning and it was behind us and Moorea was off our port side. With waiters offering juice, pastries, more coffee, I'll say it just once more: it is GOOD to be back. We forget how easy cruising is as a mode of traveling the world until we try it on our own for awhile.
I returned to the cabin to find G getting things ready for our excursion and I did the same: copious amounts of sunscreen and DEET and Tilley hats (for pictures when those helmets came off and left us with helmet hair) and, most important, drivers licenses. G grabbed a quick breakfast and we were on the second tender to shore. Phillipe from ATV Moorea was waiting for us on the pier: the three other couples doing the tour with us had made it to shore on the first tender.
Of all days, the Pacific Princess was anchored in beautiful Cooks Bay today. While Cooks Bay is perhaps even prettier than Opunohu Bay, ATV Moorea is located only ten minutes or so on the other side of Opunohu Bay. Because of the size of the bays, though they are located almost side by side, the coastal road must follow their winding perimeters, and it added at least 20 minutes (maybe 30) to the drive to come from Cooks Bay. Thank goodness our transfers were included.
Darling Gui (pronounced with that back of the throat hard G-ee) was our guide once again this year. Joy!! He is possibly the best guide we have ever had anywhere on any tour. We started with the same form signing (and after being the designated filler-outer of every immigration form to date, I conveniently forgot (right...) my reading glasses today, so G was in charge of that) and helmet fitting and operational instructions, and then there I was again, driving down Moorea's coastal road and even on a beautiful black sand beach, waving at all the road construction workers and bicyclists we were passing. I liked that part!
Too soon, though, we were going off road and through streams and...well, it was exactly like it was in that Travel Bug video I posted before we left home. Exactly. We encountered our first significant mosquitos of the year while going through the beautiful fields of the agricultural school, but were well protected. On the way up to the Belvedere look out, we saw that a guy doing an ATV tour with a different company had driven his ATV over the edge of the road into a ravine. Yikes! And all the time, I was thinking, "I'm a very good wife. I'm a very good wife.", but I would have settled for being an adequate wife if I was also a very good ATV operator.
Our day was perfectly sunny and the views from the Belvedere were just fantastic, but I posted them twice last year and simply don't have the patience to battle the ship's WiFi to post them again. Just click on the ATV Moorea tag on the right side of my blog to see how pretty they were today. We stopped by the agricultural school for juice and ice cream on the way back down from the Belvedere, and this year we were prepared with coins with which to purchase things. I got a scoop of ginger sorbet that was out of this world. I love trying new flavors of familiar foods, but I also knew that Gui would soon be looking for an answer on whether we wanted to extend our trip to include Magic Mountain, and, frankly, I thought that sorbet would make a nice final meal. :-o
Thankfully (and reinforcing my belief that God was smiling on me today after attending Mass yesterday), G decided he didn't need to see the view from Magic Mountain again either. I'd like to think the reason is that he knew it had scared the bejeebers out of me to come down that mountain last year, but, really, it's more the fact that we are still recovering from our 20 days of surviving in the wild and are a little tired. Owner Karine drove the van to come meet us, and G and I followed her back to the office while the other three couples (all of them with the man driving and the woman just sitting behind him taking photos, but you know that's not what we're about) followed Gui to tackle the mountain.
After we dropped off our ATVs, Karine drove us the short distance to the Intercontinental Moorea, where we had a drink on the beach and watched the three dolphins in their Dolphin Discovery and generally had a most reIaxing and enjoyable hour until the rest of our group had conquered Magic Mountain and Phillipe returned us to the tender pier.
Thank God that's over. Now I just have motu BBQs and half naked men to look forward to. :-)
We cleaned up a bit and had lunch on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet with the glory of Cooks Bay as our view. We stayed long enough to share a table with two different couples over the course of more than an hour and I was reminded of another difference between independent travel and cruising. When it was just G and I...it was just G and I. On a cruise, even on a ship as small as the Pacific Princess, we have hundreds of people to talk with. It's fun!
We had a bit of a lie-down after that. G napped, and I...didn't. Instead I took advantage of the time to start this blog post. I was more than a little frustrated by the lack of a WiFi signal in our Deck 3 cabin last night. Pacific Princess WiFi was not even showing up as an option, and I had to publish the post a bit early in the evening from Deck 4. If I continue to have issues, I will have to start publishing posts the next morning (I'm not going out in my robe and slippers when I've finished typing a post at night). As for photos...they will be few and far between until we return to Papeete. Our fellow travelers bemoaned the state of Internet on Rapa Nui and Rarotonga; they haven't really suffered until they try to access it from the Pacific Princess in French Polynesia!
One of my favorite events from last year is once again taking place in my favorite venue: the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall on the pool deck. It took place today at 5pm, just as we sailed away from Moorea and the sun was getting low in the sky. And around 5:30pm the senior officers were introduced. It should be no surprise that I, who love eating dinner on a deck wearing a swimsuit also enjoy a champagne waterfall on the pool deck dressed casually for dinner, instead of in the Cabaret Lounge dressed formally.
Maitre d' Oacar and Cruise Director Maraschal starting the champagne waterfall (Captain Ciruzzi was still on the bridge following sailaway)
We went to dinner (early seating is now at 5:45pm instead of 5:30pm as it had been on the cruise out of Vancouver) and have been assigned the same table for 2 next to a window we had most of last season. Our waiters are Melvin and Larry Mark, both of the Philippines and both of whom we knew from last year. Dinners should be a highlight of every day. Tonight I had the seafood skewer with tropical salsa and we ordered another bottle of Riesling to accompany it. G had promised me, when I spent weeks assisting him on projects around the house, that I would have wine every night with dinner on our cruises and I am definitely taking him up on the offer!
The Welcome Aboard show took place tonight, as so many people arrived on the late flight last night and most of the rest of the passengers were jet-lagged. Our third vocal impressionist of the season, Sean O'Shea, performed and for the third time this season we heard Louis Armstrong's Its a Wonderful World. Really. Is that a requirement of the art? But I have to say that this was the best impressionist of the three and we are actually looking forward to seeing his full show.
At 9:00pm, I am already tucked into bed for the evening. The alarm is set for 5:30am again for an early arrival to the island of Huahine for the second time this season. We have no big plans, but Captain Ciruzzi said tonight the weather forecast looks good again for tomorrow. I have a feeling that a float on a crystal blue lagoon will be part of our day. :-)