Advertisement
Published: April 19th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Saturdays 4
th– Boarding the Oceania Marina
By staying in Papeete we were able to wheel our cases from our hotel down to the ship. Unlike other cruises there was no waiting on the dock, we were directed up the gangway and into a lounge where we were quickly issued our ships passes. After a delicious dinner in one of the specialty restaurants we were able to go back ashore as we were not sailing until early morning. We spent our last evening in Papeete at a brew pub on the waterfront listening to a local band and enjoying the balmy evening.
Sunday 5
th Moorea – Society Island
Arriving early in Moorea we joined a tour with two other couples to travel around Moorea in a mini bus. Our first stop was Belvedere lookout for a wonderful view of Cook and Opunohu bays. We also visited a Marae, an ancient Polynesian temple, and a tropical garden on our tour around the entire island. We were a little worried about the amount of mosquitoes at some of the viewing points as they have been causing serious problems within the islands by spreading an infection which our driver explained he and
his family had all caught and had taken about month to fully recover. Moorea is a beautiful island and we enjoyed viewing the natural beauty of it’s jagged peaks and lush greenery all encircled by a fringing reef and deep blue ocean.
Monday 6
th Raiatea – Society Island
Our full day tour on Raiatea commenced with traveling by boat out to a pearl farm on the nearby island of Tahaa, here we learnt how shells are grafted with small pieces of clamshell to form pearls. Our boat then took us out on the reef where we swam with stingrays and some small reef sharks, it was a little daunting at first to be so close to so many string rays which were swimming beneath and beside us. We also visited a vanilla bean farm on Tahaa before going to a private atoll for lunch and swimming.
Our last stop in the afternoon was at coral gardens, which were located between two atolls. We waded into the fast flowing channel and then drifted with the tide for around 1000 metres over the coral and colorful fish until we reached our boat. It was a great experience and we
were lucky not to get any coral cuts unlike some of the other passengers who found themselves scratched and cut, you really needed to keep a look out for where you were drifting as the passage between the coral was fairly narrow.
Tuesday 7
th Bora Bora - Society Islands
On Bora Bora we joined with two other couples to take a jeep tour of the island. We visited three lookouts up very steep and bumpy roads. The views of the island were amazing with lots of stunning over water resorts within the lagoon and reef. We viewed a WWII canons and learnt how during the war the Americans had built the first airstrip on the Island. We left our tour early to get dropped off at Bloody Marys restaurant where we enjoyed a cold beer sitting with our feet in the sand floor with the overhead fans giving just enough relief from the heat to enjoy our lunch. We took the local open-air bus back to the tender port to do a little shopping before returning to the ship for a sail out late afternoon.
Wednesday 8
th Rangiroa – Tuamotu Islands
Another day in paradise. We
walked to a local beach for snorkeling in the clear blue waters before returning to a restaurant where we had a beer on the deck with an amazing view of the channel separating the two atolls. A very low key and relaxing day.
Thursday 9
th Fakarava - Tuamotu Islands
Fakarava, we learnt not to hesitate when pronouncing the name of this island! Fakarava is a very long narrow strip of land and we were able to walk for around 20 minutes to a resort where we enjoyed lunch in their open-air restaurant. After a swim we walked in the opposite direction to what was once an unusual step lighthouse which looked a little like a Mayan temple rising out of the the jungle. After our 8km walk we were glad to get back to our cool cabin to relax before going up on deck to experience another beautiful sunset sail out. The next two days were spent at sea, relaxing by the pool or attending lectures on Pitcairn Island and learning about Captain Bligh of Munity on the Bounty fame in time for our next stop at Pitcairn Island.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.366s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 58; dbt: 0.1097s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb