When I did finally wake up (at 8am!), I was pleasantly surprised to see we had some sun today. Despite all the fantastic weather we've had since we returned to the Pacific Princess on October 18, Huahine had been a stubborn hold out, offering us some combination of rainy, misty, and/or windy weather on each visit. Today started out much better; unfortunately, we were once again in Huahine on a Sunday, and that limited its already limited options.
I walked into the Club Restaurant for breakfast at 8:30am, just as G was walking out. In the one minute after he had vacated his table, it had been cleared and re-set and we sat right back down there together. He had another fruit plate and I had a fruit plate and cottage cheese and toast and over breakfast we formulated our plans for the day.
I have been philosophically opposed to paying $8pp each way to take the 20-minute Princess shuttle to the island's only town of Fare on the northwest coast. We did that a couple of times last year, and, though we enjoyed the small stretch of beach there, with its views of Raiatea and Taha'a in the distance, it didn't hold $32 worth of appeal. And, especially on a Sunday, we knew there would be little else on offer in Fare. Instead we decided on our fallback excursion option: Swimways floats in some blue, blue water.
We packed very simply- everything needed to be able to get wet- and walked off the ship wearing swimsuits and carrying floats (and in my case a mask and snorkel, because there is always something to see in the water). I wore a pareo on the tender and, once on shore, we walked down along the coast into the wind, looking for a good (safe, not too rocky) launching point. We had eyed an area from the ship that had particularly light blue water, meaning it was shallow and sandy. After a 20-minute walk, we found our spot. I put my pareo in a ziploc bag I'd brought along, we inflated our floats and set out.
We stayed close to the shore, though, in enclosed Maroe Bay, it would have been difficult to get into trouble. I spent as much time in the water as on it, and though there were limited coral heads, there was still a good selection of fish and several stingrays. As we approached the tender pier, we climbed out of the water at a pre-selected place and walked up the road to do it again. After three times, we started getting hungry for lunch and so stood around a bit until we were slightly dry (we hadn't packed towels), deflated and curled up our floats and took a tender back to the ship. An easy, fun and free way to spend the morning. :-)
We took quick showers and then went to the Panorama Buffet before it got busy with the Huahine folkloric group's arrival. They perform at 2pm and always eat lunch on the ship before they do. We skipped their performance this time and instead returned to our cabin where we (yes, me too!) napped for over two hours. I wish I could do that on a regular basis, because it allowed us to stay up much later this evening.
We went to the Elite Lounge in the Pacific Lounge to watch sailaway and drink port and eat Stilton and generally enjoy a great start to the evening. It was nice not to have to rush though dinner, and afterward we listened to guitarist Kenny perform in the Casino Lounge and then went to listen to comedian Ritch Shydner in the Cabaret Lounge.
The weather cooperated right into the evening, and we were able to have the Love Boat Disco Deck Party outside on the pool deck. Lots of dancing and fun later, we are back in the cabin at 11pm, a late night for us.