Taha'a

Taha'a is a small agricultural island and is known as the vanilla island since most of French Polynesia's vanilla is grown here.  The ship was moored in such a way that we were also close to Motu Mahaea a VERY small island that Windstar owns so we could also experience a private beach and a barbecue.

Since it is the vanilla island, one of our excursions included a tour of a vanilla plantation.  I knew vanilla had beans, but I have to confess they looked completely different than I expected.  I thought something like a lima bean when in fact they look more like big green beans!  Vanilla is a very hands on plant to grow.  It has to be protected and it has to be manually pollinated.  Uh yeah you read that correctly each flower has to be pollinated by a human being.  The French spread vanilla around the world as they explored.  They planted the usual variety in Tahiti, but the climate was not quite right so the plant adapted to the local climate and thus the variety in Tahiti is only found in Tahiti.  It is different from the vanilla you get in the Caribbean or elsewhere.

The first week we did an excursion that combined a tour of the vanilla plantation with some snorkeling.  While the vanilla plantation seemed small to me, it was actually a pretty good sized one because they had racks where they dried the beans for other growers too.  We had a presentation under a tent and then we walked around some and just like Disneyland ended up in a little shop.  I bought some dried vanilla and a small packet of beans.  

Carol and Kathy checking out the drying vanilla beans

Then it was time to snorkel.  Since I had not snorkeled in a few years, I had practiced at the pool before we left so I felt confident I knew what I was doing - um no.  I put my equipment on and got in the water and was having some problems so took a life vest to hold on to as I tried to swim around.  With my blessings, Jeff had already gotten in the water.  We passed a few times, but it was not till our guide decided he was going to get me out to some coral did anyone realize I had the snorkel on wrong which was a big part of my struggles.  Let's just say it is not easy to try and change the side of your head the snorkel is on while wearing it.  I saw the coral and pretty much said I had enough and went back to the boat.  Shortly thereafter it started to rain - not a drizzle.  Guide struggled to get everyone back on the boat so he could take us back to the ship.  Guess who was the last one to get back aboard - Jeff of course.  The rain lasted long enough that there was no lunch on the island, but it did clear up enough in the afternoon to go to the motu so Jeff and I did and hung out for awhile.

The second week it rained hard in the morning and again lunch was on the ship.  This time it cleared up early enough in the day that the Motu was the place to go - hey we had all been cooped up all morning!  We actually had to take numbers to get on the tenders to go to the island there were so many of us wanting to go.  The afternoon was great.  I practiced snorkeling and got to see some fish.  I also successfully paddle boarded.  I had tried a couple of years ago in Panama but had never got past my knees.  This time I stood up - full disclosure a crew member held the board steady while I stood up and then off I went.  It was a good afternoon.  Back to the ship so we could head off to Bora Bora for a 2 day stay!

Enjoying the beach with a mai tai in hand

Off to our next Island

Raitea

Raiatea is an important island to the French Polynesians.  It is believed to be the first island settled by their forbearers believed to be the people of Samoa.  It is considered the spiritual center of the Polynesian Triangle of island exploration.  Historians believe that the exploration of Hawaii was planned from this island.  Today only 12,000 people live on it although size wise it is one of the larger islands.  The island is not popular with tourists, because it does not have beaches which is probably also why it has a small population.  Although it does have quite a few black pearl farms.

Our first week we kayaked the Fa'aroa river and the second week we toured the town of Uturoa where our ship was moored.  I always have mixed feelings toward kayaking.  I want to do it and sometimes I really enjoy it and sometimes I am just uncomfortable in that small of a boat.  This trip was a little bit of both.  We had 2 tour guides for our small group.  We were driven to the mouth of the river where we got our kayaks and gear and headed upstream.  It started out nice and wide (well not Mississippi River wide but a nice size) then as we got further upstream it got narrower.  One of the other excursions was a motorized boatride up the river which some friends chose so we all pulled over and waved as they passed us by.  Amazingly a common danger in the islands is falling coconuts - seems they can kill you so our guides were constantly pointing out trees to stay away from - guess a dead guest is bad for business.  One of the amazing and pretty things to me was all of the wild hibiscus trees there were along the way - the flowers were one color the day they bloomed and then faded to another a day or so later.  Having struggled to keep a couple of hibiscus trees going back in St Louis for years I really appreciated the size of these wild ones.  Our guide pointed out land crabs along the bank of the river.  Not sure how to describe except to say they are not edible, make huge holes in the ground and are everywhere once you know what to look for.  We paddled up river past a botanical garden and heard locals enjoying their week end (it was a Saturday).  Then it started to feel kind of junglelike as the river got narrow - watching the kayak in front of you so you could navigate the best path - as the front person I can assure you I did not appreciate it when I ended up in the middle of a tree branch a couple of times!  Then it was time to head back which meant going back to the mouth of the river at the bay.  One of our group was an experienced paddler and he had predicted it could be a challenge to get back all the way across to our landing spot.  He was correct.  When you got to the mouth you could no longer just go with the current you had to cross it and a wind had picked up.  Yeah at the END of the kayak tour.  We all did it, but you earned your lunch at that part of the tour!

Jeff and I chose to forego any tours the second week because we wanted to wander around the town of Uturoa.  We had not really been able to do that the first week because it was a Saturday and the town pretty much closed down at lunchtime and our tour had been in the morning.  Matter of fact all but one of the tour options were in the morning.  So, on week 2 we checked the town out.  We wandered into a little local grocery store and Jeff bought a bottle of a local beer Hinano in an amber.  The ship had some of the pale ale version onboard but not the amber.  He had tried to buy some the first week only to discover that because of a covid restriction no alcohol was sold after noon.  We wandered around and saw a very nice town hall/civic area and some other small shops and of course checked out the boats in the local marina!  

One other important thing to note about Raitea is that it is home to a very rare flower.  In fact if you pick it and get caught it carries a $10,000 fine.  The flower is white and has petals on only 1 side it is called the tiare apetahi.  I got a tee shirt with a drawing of it on it in one of the stores we visited.

Back on board the ship, in the afternoon they had some locals come on board and perform for us.  They sang local traditional songs, made wearable floral arrangements (think wrists and hair) and taught us many ways to tie and wear a pareo.  I got a kick out of the lady's  saying - short for day and long for night when describing the different styles.  The evening ended with a barbeque and line dancing by the crew.  Now remember this is a small ship  so when I say crew I mean my cabin steward was up there, the receptionist, someone from the spa, etc.  I do not mean professional entertainers.  It was a fun evening.

On to Motu Mahaea, Taha'a.

Island of Moorea

The island of Moorea was our first stop. You can see Moorea from Tahiti even so it took us all night to sail to our anchorage in Cook's Bay. Most of the stops/ports on this cruise were in the middle of a bay or lagoon so you could walk outside on the top deck of the ship and see land on 3 sides with open water on the fourth. Moorea is a heart shaped island with 2 bays. The one we were in is named for Captain James Cook who came to this island several times. The other bay is called Opunohu Bay. Moorea is now the pineapple growing center of French Polynesia. 

the clearing is a pineapple plantation

On our first week, Jeff and I selected different excursions; he would go on the Snorkel Safari and I would go on the Island Tour with Belvedere Lookout. These were our first excursions in the world of Covid so we weren't totally sure how everything would work - would we have our masks on constantly, would the guide wear a mask, how packed in would we be? Guides tended to take masks on and off a lot and usually if they were talking the mask was off so you had a fighting chance of understanding them! Although most of my guides spoke very good English. There were fewer people in a van/boat/jeep then normal and if we were in fresh air, we tended not to wear masks. 

The island tour took us to UC Berkeley Gump Research Station, to Belvedier Point, past a pineapple plantation, to a marae, a new national park, and a couple of bays. UC Berkeley Research Station was our first stop. It is not an impressive looking spot, but then you learn what they are up to there and you end up impressed. It is a group of 1 and 2 story buildings and a couple of covered areas like a picnic pavilion. Oh, but the details. The 2-story building is a dormitory that welcomes researchers from around the world. They can come here with just a suitcase of clothes and everything else they will need is there from scuba to lab equipment. Additionally, this island paradise is a study abroad opportunity for UC Berkeley students and in fact we saw a group. Between the students and the researchers there this island is one of the most studied marine spots in the world. It was here that I learned how their white sand beaches were formed - it is not sea shells but coral. Fish try to eat plants, etc. off the coral and gets some coral which their bodies cannot process so it is excreted.

our guide at UC Berkeley Gump Research Station

After leaving the research station, we went to what will become their first national park.  It has been donated to the government and will have some great hikes in the future.  Currently its claim to fame is that it is the site that was used for Bali Hi in the movie South Pacific. 

Bali Ha'i

From there we would journey up to Belvedere Point which is one of the highest spots on the island and we would be able to see both bays from the lookout point.

My pictures from Belvedere Point.  While I could see both bays at once, I could not get them in my camera at once!  Also took another picture of the surrounding mountains.

Cook's Bay - our ship has the masts and the other is a yacht

Opunohu Bay

The mountain I saw was Mount Totui.  It is in the picture below.

Snorkel Safari

Scott and I traveled in a covered outboard boat within the lagoon to our first destination.  The water is very smooth due to the coral barrier protecting the lagoon.  A couple tour boats were already there, but it wasn't crowded.   You could easily see the sandy bottom from the boat.  Once you're in the water you see the Sting Rays in small groups ~10 feet away.   However, when your tour guide enters the water they immediately come closer as they know he has food.  The Rays know where to get a free meal.  These Rays use their mouth to suck on food, so the guides joke about getting hickeys as they are mouthing to get the fish.  This is your chance to pet/touch the rays.  The skin is both smooth, but also gritty in places.   If the tail with the barb gets too close the guide would gently point it in another direction.   

The Sharks stay at least 10' away and closer to the deep channel next to the sand bar we are at.   They are about 4-'5 feet long and are not interested in us at all.  I'm not sure why they are there as I didn't observe the guides feeding them, nor any tourists losing any limbs.   

Our next stop was a shallow coral reef with exotic fish.   The water was so clear I had difficulty judging the depth as I didn't want to touch the coral.   I extended my hand to assure myself that I wasn't going to end up with a cut or damage the coral.   Most of the fish were quite small and look like what you would see in a salt water aquarium.   

For our second visit to Moorea, we planned on hanging out on the ship and using the swim deck.  Turned out to be an excellent plan because it rained almost all day and all tours were canceled.  In the morning, Jeff and I hung out in the back of the ship in a small open air covered area (outdoor bar area) reading and watching the rain come and go likewise the ship was twisting and bobbing slightly so we would see different sailboats at different times.  The plus side for the day was they played a movie in the afternoon in the lounge.  We watched "Couples Retreat" which was filmed in Bora Bora.  Being a popcorn lover, I had wanted to taste their room service popcorn, but they only offer it after 10pm so I had not gotten the chance.  Guess what they served during the movie - yum!  Jeff and I had planned on eating dinner that night outdoors on the top deck with another couple but the rain continued and as we left the protection of the coral reef we discovered stormy waters so we had room service instead.  You see it was a serious storm out in the open waters as in 8-9 feet westerly swells.  Jeff made it up to the lounge to the hear the talk for the next day - I decided against and decided I was better off staying in our nice low middle of the ship cabin.  I also quickly closed the curtains when the waves were covering our porthole.  Some things are better not seen!  We ordered a light dinner, ate in the room and watched a movie.  Jeff was fine and I was ok thanks to motion sickness meds, but was glad it was projected to end in the early morning!  On to Raitea for an overnight stay - guaranteed smooth sleeping there!

 

Set Sail

 

Windstar's Dreams of Tahiti Cruise

With great relief and giddy excitement we passed our third Covid test and were cleared to board the Wind Spirt!  Carol could barely contain her excitement.  Many times did I question if this day would ever arrive.  I questioned if Tahiti would close again or would we fail one of the Covid tests and not be able to board the ship.  Despite my concerns, we kept the faith as Windstar had resumed cruising in French Polynesia on July 16th with a fully vaccinated crew, passengers and strong procedures.  The ship felt spacious with only 87 passengers aboard vs the capacity of 148 resulting in more crew than passengers.

Cleared the Covid test and ready to go

This was our fourth cruise with WindStar, but first on this smallest member of their fleet, the Wind Spirit.   Once aboard, we headed for our cabin.  Then we were off exploring the ship.  We had no trouble finding our way around, as the layout was very similar to her big Sister, WindSurf. 

Our Cabin

We enjoyed the afternoon aboard with our traveling friends and prepared for the Sail Away.   Once we clear the harbor its time.  The sail away is very special on these ships.   The title music from the movie "1492" is played with the unfurling of each sail synchronized to the music.  It's an emotional event for this former master of my own sail boat. 

Setting sail for the Island of Moorea

We quickly fall into our routine.  We love to stay out on deck as much as possible enjoying the views, a drink and meeting new people.  After sunset, we join the evening briefing on our next destination followed by dinner with our friends and traveling companions. 

Carol and her friend Kathy on the flying Bridge

Over the next few blog posts, we will share our adventure with you.   The sites are everything contained in this Windstar promotional video and much more.   We love small cruise ships and WindStar in particular.  With so few passengers you make new friends and socialize with just about everyone.   Very quickly the crew is addressing you by your name and inquiring about your day. 

French Polynesia - Papeete Tahiti

 

Air Tahiti Nui Dreamliner - boarding at 11at night!

We flew in and out of Papeete which is the capital of French Polynesia.  The cruise started and ended there too.  It is a city of about 26,000 people on the island of Tahiti which has about 190,00 and the whole country is only 275,000.  I have to admit before planning the trip I did not realize that Tahiti was not a country but rather the most populous island in the country of French Polynesia which while an independent country is still related to France.  It was only on Tahiti that I saw a 4 lane road or a shopping area with multiple streets.  Papeete felt much bigger than say Kirkwood which is very similar in size.  I suspect the difference is that Kirkwood is a suburb of something bigger and Papeete is the bigger with lots of little suburbs/towns.

I had heard that Tahiti is what Hawaii used to be and there are definitely some similarities.  I remember being told in Hawaii that they use all of the vowels in a word - no silent ones.  Well Tahitian words are very similar like Papeete is not a 2 syllable word - it is 3: pa pay it.  The island of Tahiti is quite pretty - Papeete is a small city with a large port and a small airport that is half international. And the mountains and greenery and the blue water are everything you see on TV.

After landing at 4:30 in the morning - yes you read that correct 4:30 am, we wondered through a  combination customs/Covid line under a tent outside the airport terminal for around an hour.  We had to have been fully vaccinated and pass a covid test within 72 hours of leaving the USA and yet we still had another covid test to pass and complete contact tracing documents before we could get really into the country.  This test was unique - only one I have taken that included a swab of the mouth.  After that last covid test we were allowed to leave the airport and head to our hotel.  We spent a day and a night at the Intercontinental Resort Tahiti.  Arriving to find a very nice open air lobby area and a line with others from our flight waiting to check in - it might be around 6:30 by now.  Of course our room was not yet ready, but after giving our luggage to the bell man we went with friends to explore the place some.  As we wandered we smelled food and decided breakfast sounded like a good idea!  It was a large buffet with many types of food, some American, some French and some Polynesian.  Most was quite good.  We spent one day at the hotel.  With my cousin Kathy and her husband Scott we chose a pool with a grotto to hang out at for the day.  There was another pool with an infinity edge close to the water.  Our pool was next to the lagoonarium which Jeff chose to snorkel in a little bit.  Below is a picture of the pool area we spent the day at - me trying NOT to get a sunburn on my first day of the trip!  You can't really tell from the picture but the darker water is a different area - the lagoonarium.  A lagoonarium is a body of water with fish and other sea animals in it that is cultivated and maintained as a swimming area too.  Jeff was the only one of us to go in it.  He swam with lots of small colorful fish and a couple of 3 feet long blue fish.  The water was constantly coming and going through pipes to the nearby ocean so we saw crabs and other sea life on the other side of the walkway that were in the wild.

We all had looked at the website and were excited to have dinner at the onsite French

restaurant.  In addition to having a reputation for good food, it was also outside overlooking the water.  The picture below is of the restaurant.

Restaurant over the water

Our hotel room was billed as "ocean view" - well yeah sort of.  It was however a nice room with a balcony and a nice bed which was a welcome change after sleeping on an airplane the previous night.

Our water view room

The view from our balcony.  The water in the middle is the lagoonarium and the light blue is the pool and to the left is a lagoon.  Oh we weren't in the US for sure, notice the ashtray on our table!!

Same view just no balcony in it.

Next day was the big day - we were getting on our ship - yippee!!  I however am going to jump to our last day since that was the only time we spent touring the island of Tahiti.

During our last week on the ship, we had met a pair of friends who were travelling together and offered us the chance to join their tour of Tahiti  after we disembarked from the ship (we had 11 hours to spend before our plane departed).  The tour was from a group called Tours by Locals.  Our local is now a French Polynesian passport holder but she is originally from St Petersburg Russia!  Anyway in what turned out to be a day of pouring down rain we headed off for our tour of the island in her van.  First stop was  Marae Arahurahu  which was a religious place for the Tahitians before the missionaries arrived. It is  built of stones  cemented together.  It has an altar and stones for people to lean against while sitting and was pretty big say 50 by 70 feet.  After walking around the area we were all soaked.  Our next stop was a grotto - 2 people got out and checked it out; the rest of us hid in the van.  After that the tour turned into a scenic drive for awhile with our tour guide being very creative and resourceful to get us the best possible view from inside the vehicle!  From the nice, dry confines of our van we saw:  a couple of popular surfing beaches complete with surfers, a black sand beach, some pretty views from up high in the mountains and pretty views of small islands forming in the ocean.  Natalia our tour guide even drove on the black sand beach for us some to get better views - we were all surprised she could do that and not get stuck in the sand like you would at most beaches in the US.  We also got a little local excitement.  It was raining so hard that the acacia trees were falling.  Like anywhere a tree blocking the road caused traffic.  However the memorable one will be the one that fell 30 feet in front of us as we were stopped from another tree blocking the road!  Happily no one was hurt and we all went on our way.

Marae Arahurahu

trying to stay dry

black sand beach

Surfers

Arohoho blow hole

The rain did eventually lighten up and we got out and saw:  Venus point, Arohoho blow hole, and  a Fautaua waterfall at full force thanks to all the rain!  The rain did make the blow hole and the waterfalls more impressive and fun.   The 2 pictures below are of Jeff at the waterfall - it stopped raining. The waterfall is about a 10 minute walk behind him in the first picture.  He is standing by a bridge that is elevated because during the rains the little stream floods and kept washing away the bridges. 

Venus Point is a park on the beach with many interesting memorials and sights.  There is a lighthouse (the only light house in French Polynesia), a memorial to the crew of the Bounty, and one for Captain Cook.  It is on a black sand beach so I got to touch it - it was soft.  

The only light house was built by the father of Robert Louis Stevenson of it he wrote "Great were the feelings of emotion as I stood with Mother by my side and we looked upon the edifice designed by my father when I was sixteen and worked in his office during the summer of 1866."

Venus Point - Black sand beach

Venus Point

  

Venus point was pretty much the end of our tour.   From there our tour guide took us to the airport to wait for our plane to board.  We got to the airport and I had no idea where anything was which surprised me at first since I had just been there and it is a small airport, but then I remembered I hadn't really been in it when we landed as they had kept us in a small confined area.

If a cruise starts and stops at the same place, then how do you visit it three times?   Answer: You repeat the cruise.  Windstar offered us a deal we couldn't refuse and assisted in changing our flights.  Thus, at the end of our first week in French Polynesia we also had a few hours in Tahiti.  We spent that day checking out the marina our ship was in and some local shopping.  The marina was a mixture of commercial vessels such as ours, ferries, small cargo ships, a naval vessel and large private ships - yachts.  60 foot long sail boats were the norm.  Jeff and I spent a couple of hours walking around and staring.  Since the marina was right in town, we also did some shopping.  We went to a local open air market - both food and touristy things.  Jeff bought a tee shirt there from a man who does pencil drawings.  His artwork was great, but he usually had someone else run the shop for him and it showed!  For the life of him he could not work the credit card machine and finally had to ask someone from the shop next door to do it for him.  By this time, I am sweating up a storm which is even less enjoyable then normal when one has a mask on.  We finally paid for the shirt and went in search of a shop we had been sent to by someone on Bora Bora.  The store clerk had claimed it was the best shirt shop in the islands.  Now the four of us (Jeff, me, Kathy and Scott) were using a crude hand drawn map with 3 pieces of information on it and no shop name.  Amazingly we found the bank by the church and there was the shop.  It was a nice men's shirt shop so Jeff now owns a Hawaiian style shirt that fits him nicely and is unique.