James A. Michener wrote Tales of the South Pacific after spending time in the Pacific during WW2, and having read the original version printed in 1946, I have always been interested in each of the little islands around Vanuatu and New Caledonia that we have visited on previous cruises. On Sunday and Monday, we visited Papeete and Moorea, and at last have seen the fabled Bali H'ai from the book. Papeete is the capital of Tahiti, French Polynesia and is a great place to visit. The ship entered the 150m channel to the harbour around 6am so we were up and watching as Cap'n Todd gently guided the good ship Dawn Princess through the marker buoys. Now, for those of you who have visited a French port in the Pacific on a Sunday and found it to be closed up, and nothing open, Papeete is different. The local tourism bureau organised for the stores etc to be open in the morning, until 12pm, and then they were holding a regular festival and market on the waterfront from 1-6pm. Very different from Noumea! The locals were extremely friendly, and speak a mix of French, Tahitian and English.
After taking a short tour to see a couple of natural highlights (waterfalls, blowholes and Captain Cook's location for viewing the Venus eclipse back in the late 1700s, we then wandered around the town. Given the warm weather we were building up a bit of a thirst, and naturally Bryce and Fred found "un petit bar" that served cold beer. The two owners don't usually open on a Sunday but in their wisdom, decided to open for the day and night. Turns out it was a very smart move for them, with 2000 Australians and NZers just across the road at le port. We were using US dollars so four drinks would work out to $20 US for just about anything to drink (beer, wine, spirits - single and double shots). We witnessed the most amazing feats of endurance, with two gentlemen from the ship consuming 5 steins of beer each (a stein holds just under 2 litres) in a three hour period. It was then time for the bar games to begin, and one of the owners jokingly brought out a bag trolley for one of these legends to get his colleague back on board the ship. Then the other one wanted his own bag trolley. Next thing we knew, Aussie blokes in the bar were lining up to have their photos taken on the bag trolleys! The locals loved it, and we women were laughing hysterically at the simple things that keep men happy.
After heading back to the ship to freshen up (after about five hours of international relations building) we then visited the festival and food market at the port. Little vans were set up with their various cuisine, tables and chairs. The locals were all out in force, with the police closing off the roads to let everyone roam freely. A wonderful atmosphere, and definitely a place to visit again. We returned to the ship, and then headed for Moorea at 5am the next morning. Moorea is 15 miles away from Papeete, and is the beautiful, mystical island that Michener describes as Bali H'ai in his book. We could see Moorea from Papeete, and it is very much shrouded in mist and clouds from that distance. Sailing into the small bay where we were anchoring on Monday morning was amazing, as the mountains rise up a very short distance from the coast. And they are spectacular. Fenna and Fred did a tour around the island that turned out to be longer than they expected, but well worth the effort. Bryce and I decided to walk around the little market that was set up where the ships tenders dropped us off, and then caught a taxi to the Intercontinental Hotel a few miles up the road. The scenery was breathtaking, and the colours of the water really outdo anything we've seen elsewhere in the Pacific.
Once all were back on board in the late afternoon Cap'n Todd swung the ship around and headed out through the coral reefs into a golden sun set. We gathered at the Oasis Bar at the back of deck 14 and watched Moorea slip back into her misty mantle, with a full moon rising over her.
Erika & Bryce
No comments:
Post a Comment