Raiatea is a port where we are able to dock this 1900 person ship - so that meant a quicker disembarkation for everybody’s excursion today.
Today we had an excursion booked with L’excursion Bleue and they contracted us out with their partner Terainui Tours. The event planner in me very much appreciated the reminder email sent by L’excursion Bleue 24 hours before our tour with all the details spelled out. They reminded us what we had booked, what to pack, what time to meet and provided us with a map of directions to our meeting place. Perfect!
And so we packed our bags for what was likely to be (make that certain to be) a rainy day. In fact, I put my raincoat on before I walked down the gangway as it was already raining. We met at the boat next to the Shell station. As this Shell station sells marine fuel, I think it does a very good business!
We had 17 of us on the boat along with George our Captain and his first mate. Our first stop was a snorkelling stop to see black tip sharks near the reef. They are about 4 feet long and harmless. It was quite interesting being on a boat with 17 guests as opposed to yesterday’s tour where there were six of us. Yesterday Diego made the comment we were professionals - as we all had our own snorkelling gear and were quick to exit the boat at every snorkelling site. Today, at this first snorkelling site, I was ready to climb back IN the boat and the last people were still getting organized to get off the boat and into the water!
We then went to visit a pearl farm. It is amazing what goes into crafting black pearls. After 2.5 years of being a junior oyster, they then receive a graft with a nucleus (sourced from the Missippi River and shaped into a sphere in Japan) along with a small amount live material from the oyster to help it grow a black pearl (which could end up being grey, green, silver….). The oysters then grow another 2 - 3 years beore being able to be removed. Two million oysters are housed in the ocean in 85 hectares of space. That might generate 1 million pearls… of varying qualities. Black pearls are classified kind of like diamonds, A,B,C according to their quality. A single A black pearl would sell for about $1,000 in the boutique at the farm - paid for by somebody who was willing to spend that much on it! Very interesting work to see and the pearls are beautiful!
After the pearl farm we went to the West Coral Garden to snorkel. The tide here was strong so we did a drift snorkel and had the boat pick us up. It was an effort to stay in one spot with the current. We were supposed to go for our picnic lunch at the beach at that point, but due to the rain, our Captain adjusted the schedule to go to do things under cover and out of the rain, and perhaps hoping the sun would clear for an improved session at the beach!
We then went to visit the Vallee de la Vanille (Vanilla Farm) where they told us about the labour intensive process of producing vanilla. 1% of the world’s vanilla is Tahitian vanilla - that is a small segment of the industry! And 70% of Tahitian vanilla comes from the island of Taha’a (one of the two main islands that makes up Raiatea). Our ship docked at Raiatea, then boated over to the island of Taha’a, where this vanilla farm was situated. They sold a tiny plastic bag of vanilla powder for $30 US. It can be used 1/4 tsp of powder in place of 1 tsp of regular vanilla. We were here 3 years ago and we purchased vanilla paste - (it is fabulous to bake with) and is used in a ratio of 1/2 tsp instead of 1 tsp of regular vanilla.
I must say at this point, it was pouring rain - so walking in our wet gear the 800 metres or so from the boat to the vanilla farm was kind of humorous - we couldn’t get any wetter. (We were already in our wet swim clothes after our snorkelling)!
Our group walking away from the vanilla plantation back to the boat!
We then headed on the long boat ride to the motu for our picnic. The rain was kind of like needles landing in your face as we headed towards the motu. We arrived about 1:30 pm but didn’t eat till 2 pm when several other boats arrived. We were fortunate to sit at tables and chairs under a protective cover while waiting to eat - but the wind made me shiver nonstop! This was not the blue sky weather we have had on previous visits to French Polynesia! But my ‘dry’ clothes were in a very wet knapsack on the boat - anchored offshore - so I continued to sit in my wet clothes.
After lunch, we now had free time that was enjoyed by the four people who decided to snorkel off the motu (J being one of them). He walked in the water out to the boat to retrieve my knapsack and I went and change into my dry(er) clothes. And covered up with my raincoat and towel around my legs. It would have been an exceptional island to spend a few hours at enjoying the beach, the loungers and views, had it been a hot, sunny day!
All in all I was happy to return to the ship by 3 pm - six and a half hours after we departed. It is a lovely excursion itinerary - but the weather today made me want to have booked a 3 hour tour!
Our picnic motu view!
I wanted a hot chocolate after a hot shower - but the lido didn’t have any hot chocolate packages so I had a hot tea. At supper time our waiter Juma did the miracle of rounding up a hot chocolate for me after our meal so that was appreciated! I don’t want to sound critical of the weather when I know they are getting far too much snow at home for this time for the year but I was happy to return to our warm dry stateroom tonight! After supper, I had a few hours of work to do for my business that will keep me busy when I return back home in November.
Tomorrow we visit Moore’a!
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