Last year we also landed at Moorea and since neither one of us was really feeling well, we opted for a laid-back day. We are both trying to shake a really bad head cold and today Bonnie just wanted to coop on the ship and I wanted to go ashore to take a quick look at the nearest town.
Our anchorage was near the northern end of the bay and just outside of the village of Maharepa (ma-ha-reh-pah). Maharepa is about three blocks long by about one block wide. It took me all of ten or fifteen minutes to hoof it from the tender dock to the town. It took about another ten minutes to look around and decide that I’d seen enough.
On the left is our ship, the Silver Whisper, as seen from my walk along the shore into town. On the right is the thriving metropolis of Maharepa. Truthfully, there was really more activity than I expected given the small population.
Everything on Moorea is measured from the entrance to the airport on the north side of the island. There is a single road that circles the island and the “mile markers” (actually kilometer markers) begin at the airport with KM 0 and go all the way around to about KM 35. I happened to pass KM 7 on my way to and from town. If you look at it carefully, you will see that it is a stone cutout of the island with the two prominent bays at the top: Cook’s Bay on the right (where we are anchored); Opohonu Bay on the left. The picture on the right with the haze-covered mountain backdrop is the Paul Gaugin that was also anchored in Cook’s Bay the day we were there.
As we were leaving that afternoon, I glanced out our veranda and just had to take this last shot.
Since we were just here a year ago, we did not feel like we missed much. If you are interested in a more active adventure, here is a link to last year’s blog entry: 2015 Moorea blog post
After tendering back to the ship, I looked in on the Princess and assured that she was doing well. After a light lunch, some reading and a nap, we decided that we were both doing well enough to get to dinner. This evening we had a local troupe give us a song and dance show that was very well done, but unfortunately, was so repetitious of many of the “South Seas Islands” shows that we lost interest about halfway through. The show was followed by a Polynesian dinner buffet, complete with suckling pig, huge skewers of giant shrimp, chicken, sausages, lamb and beef, and on and on.
At about 8:00 PM we docked in Papeete for an overnight. Tomorrow we plan to revisit the market, stroll the waterfront, and just soak up the city…
New day:
Well, it’s now “tomorrow” and we did exactly as I predicted. Although it was overcast and we had a light rain as we started out, we did make it to the market. It is amazing how your sensory memory kicks in when you re-visit a place that held a strong response when first visited. Last year when we came to the market, we were really overwhelmed with the smells, and the size of the structure. This time, as we walked in, I commented that it seemed like just last week when we were here before. Bonnie agrees.
The above two pictures were shot from the second floor of the market. We were fortunate that even with the rain, the market was busy since there is little refrigeration in Tahiti and every day is market day. If you have never shopped in a local market – or even strolled through one (and it can be an uncomfortable stroll if it is busy), then you are missing one of the great joys of travel. Every market is similar in that there is food, staples, etc., but every market is different in that every culture has its own way of farming, shopping, food preparation, and sales techniques. We love markets and can’t imagine not visiting them as part of our travel education. Oh…and we love to eat. Fortunately, Bonnie does not come through any the worse for these experiences, but I seem to increase my bulk the longer we travel…
After a walk around to refresh our memories again, we prowled the jewelry shops for a while to look for some pearl earrings for our niece. I cannot say if we were successful or not since she also reads this blog and I wouldn't want to spoil any surprise that might be lurking. Suffice it to say, we are not always successful in finding what we want in local markets and at local shops – but, then again, sometimes we are…sorry, Chelsea….
After our walk around and a rest stop for a bottle of water accompanied by a few minutes of people-watching, we ambled around a few back streets window shopping, looked at the outside of the cathedral, and took a slow stroll back to the ship. Then it was lunch, a nap for the Princess, and blog time for me.
We did have a nice refresher in Papeete, but since we are both recovering from really nasty colds, we chose to again take it easy the rest of the day. If you are interested, here is a link to last year’s Papeete blog entry: 2015 Papeete blog post
We leave at 7:00 this evening and head for Bora Bora. We are planning on an off the ship adventure in Bora Bora, so stay tuned…
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