A tender to town and then we started to climb off to the right. Only one yard with a dog in it sent us scampering back to the proper trail. What a well maintained trail. If they had a little box for donations, I would definitely have added some money to it.
Once you left the concrete streets, and started on the Tehaatiki trail - it was nicely in the shade! And eight degrees below the equator, you want shade!!
After about an hour climb, we made it to the viewpoint where you had a thatched roof shelter that allowed you to view the stunning vista in comfort!
Take a look at my panoramic photo! This was my ‘pinch me’ moment on this trip! J and M left me and tried to hike higher and find a trail to the ridge. I stayed put by myself and revelled in the view!
I descended down and took the extra trail to Haetapatu Beach. This part of the trail was a little overgrown and not too spectacular a view - though J later told me it was a great beach to collect shells!!
As I returned to the ship, I quickly changed into my swimsuit and went for a swim. After a refreshing shower I felt all cleaned up. I found not one, but two sets of friends to join for lunch. The couple from New Zealand invited me to sit with them while I ate my main course. They told me about their daughters (about my age) and granddaughters - about the age of our boys). Once I lost the shade of the umbrella, I moved to join the Mother Daughter duo from St Louis and had ice cream with them. Just then, J appeared, so I knew he safely returned from his hike! More laughter and conversation ensued.
We called our youngest son, attending University in Ontario and asked how he was doing. (Using the Vonage travel app for 1 cent per minute - get the app!)
The line was clear as a bell and not really delayed. We then ran into J’s hiking companion, M and his wife. We chatted and spotted more manta rays off the side of the boat!!
We returned to the room for 30 minutes - then joined the mother / daughter duo for a pre-arranged game of cards. The daughter was interested in a trivia game so we went and tried our hand at that. Lots of fun!!
I raced up to the Oceania club members cocktail party just to see what it involved - I learned there were over 200 Canadians on this ship (of 1200 passengers) with about 600 Americans and I grabbed a glass of red wine for my DH. What I really was interested in was sail away in 15 minutes time pulling out of the volcano!!
We ate dinner on the back deck (for the our third time today) - we love this ship design for this cruise in French Polynesia - we truly get to enjoy the warm ( well I would say HOT) air morning, noon and night. It is 8 pm at night and I am just barely avoiding breaking into a sweat!!
I will publish this post then retire to the air conditioned comfort of our room and look for a movie. My three hours of exertion hiking today are getting the best of me!!
Tomorrow, we enjoy a free day st Sea!!
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