Blogs from French Polynesia, Oceania - page 11

Rangiroa Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago Feb 20th, 2009 Again the Aranui crew was absolutely capable at their respective duties. We were hauled off the boat at anchor in the lagoon, brought to shore and disembarked on a beach. Some went on a glass bottom boat and some of these went snorkeling, others went scuba diving. Terry and I swam a bit on the rocky, coral strewn beach; not conducive to snorkeling as there was a heavy sea and the water had too much turbulence. Then we were brought by air-conditioned bus to the Gauguin Pearl Farm; after an explanation and a tour we purchased a lovely pendant for my naked gold chain, my souvenir of French Polynesia. We then swam some more- I say swim, I mean soaked in the South Pacific, walked to the ... read more

nice Saturday Feb 14th Nuku Hiva- T he biggest island Disembarqued at Taiohae, ride to town to see many arts and crafts and clothes Long cherry wood or sandal wood log instrument with ornamental carvings on the outside and a slice hollowed out in the middle- with drum sticks, hit at different places is a lovely percussion instrument. We visited the Cathedral with all 14 stations of the cross sculpted from one tree, the stations are semicircles about 3 feet high, just lovely except when the carver asked the bishop what an olive tree looked like for #1, the bishop said carve what you know so the leaves in the Mount of Olives are really breadfruit We then toured in jeeps, through the Taipivai valley of Melville’s Typee and Omoo fame stopping at many lookouts between ... read more

Hiva Oa et Tahuata Le 16 février 2009 La Polynésie française (les Marquises en particulier furent découvertes en 1575 par les Espagnols) est annexée à la France depuis les 1850 isme. La publicité en France amène beaucoup de voyageurs français, et quelques allemands. Ils y a aussi des américains dont nous avons faits de bons amis (Pat & Bruce) et quelques canadiens, nous sommes 5(amie Dominique). Donc nous parlons souvent français. Les guides sont forts en français et en marquisien mais ont quelques fois difficultés en anglais. Nou, les bilingues, devons traduire pur eux. Durant une escalade il y a quelques jours, nous sommes montés par une pente boueuse (il pleut ici 5 à 10 minutes par jour) pour voir 2 meaes. Celle du haut, avait une roche plate au milieu et c’était pour les déchets ... read more

Fatu Hiva Feb 15th 2009 Small island known for wet weather, wood carvings and engravings and tapa. We stopped at Omoa and at Hanavave between 9 am and 4 pm; I like 2 stops as between visits to different parts of the island, we get back on board and I use the pool to uncook myself. Yesterday somebody said it was 34 degrees Celsius and to that add humidity, even my legs are sweating. Today we saw tapa being made from the bark of banyan tree and flower bouquet made with ylang-ylang, mint, basil, tiare, etc and tied with a string of pineapple segments sprinkled with sandal wood dust; it ends up to be the size of a pound of butter, ladies twirl their long hair around it and it smells wonderful. At the next stop, ... read more

Ua Pou, Marquesas, Feb 13th Our hybrid freighter/cruise ship started working (doing freight exchange) today, fascinating. We pulled into a dock on the island of Ua Pou, and they started unloading onions, refrigerated crates, other crates (6 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet) full of boxes which seemed to be destined for grocery stores- water, coke, beer, insect repellent, etc. Terry and I walked to a lovely church with fantastic carvings; we also walked up a 450 m hill, Terry turned back and I continued to the top, about half way up the mountain and I could see over to another bay across the island with surf and beautiful shades of South Pacific Ocean. We had lunch at Tata Rosalie’s restaurant: buffet included poisson cru, pieuvre, pork and beef, bananas stewed, fried and pudding and ... read more