Pape’ete is the capital city of Tahiti and it was a pleasure to wake up to this view today!
We were docked on the starboard side, so we had a splendid view of many other boats (and ships) in the marina. The port side was looking more out to the open ocean and had more of an industrial view.
Two things were of particular interest to watch: 1. The Lonian “Georgetown” private ship parked directly across from our ship and 2. The replenishment of food and drink being loaded onto our ship.
As we learned last night that our private excursion provider (Tahiti by Boat) had cancelled our tour for this afternoon due to the weather, we knew we would go out and explore the city by foot. So immediately after breakfast, we headed out to walk along the boardwalk of the city. It was under construction when we last visited the city in 2019. They have done a beautiful job developing this park space. Interestingly it had three children’s playgrounds with rubber surfaces and current playground equipment. All three playgrounds had fences around them and padlocks on the fence. One little girl was looking longingly at the park. J asked her what time the playground opened and she said she didn’t know. :( On this walk we also confirmed the little hotel we stayed at three years ago, Hotel Tiare Tahiti, is now closed. I suspect it is another victim of not being able to weather the COVID storm.
We then went to the market which I thought was open for the whole day on a Saturday - good thing we got there about 11 am - because it closed at 1 pm! We bought some mangoes and avocados! It had been sprinkling rain on and off all morning. When we left the market, it began raining in earnest. As we neared the ship, I saw Cruise and Travel Director, Ian Page was carrying a nespresso bag so I slowed down and chatted with him. In the process J went ahead and boarded the ship. As Ian and I approached the gangway the medical team was bringing somebody down the ramp in a wheelchair (a very wet slippery gangplank). We were told to wait at the bottom and then the skies opened up and it really started pouring! So once again, all my clothes were soaked through by the time I returned to the ship. Tahiti is in the rainy season from November to April so we shouldn’t be that surprised by all the rain.
Ian and I were discussing the Lonian private ship. He told me it costs $35 million dollars to operate the ship annually and that the second ship we saw loaded with water toys including a motor boat with five 450 horsepower motors on the back of it, was the ‘support’ boat to the Lonian “Georgetown”. Evidently the person who owns the ship has a net worth of $2 billion. There are different stratospheres of travelling by ship!! Ian said the nespresso shop does a booming business in Pape’ete because of all of the private yachts, sailboats and ships that come to this port!
While J went and played a game of pick up bridge, I had a lovely afternoon on the verandah. I covered my legs with a wool blanket, was sheltered from the rain, surrounded myself with books to read and a cup of tea and watched the loading of supplies onto our ship. There were six sea cans of cargo loaded onto our ship, which took from 8 am till 4 pm. At least one of the sea cans was filled with alcohol - beer, wine hard liquor! Then I pulled out the binoculars and determined the produce they were bringing onboard is coming from New Zealand. J is excited to have a new crop of apples! The Canadians we sat next to were really happy to hear that raisin bran is being replenished (there was a whole pallet of that)! A couple of times I saw the double stacked pallets being moved by forklift tumbled down. It is clear the forklift drivers are local pier staff and Holland America supervises the operation. When the forklift driver decided to push the goods on the pier with the forklift, rather than restack the boxes and lift it properly with the forklift, it was the Holland America staff who made sure the pineapples didn’t get bruised any further and insisted the boxes get stacked back on the pallet. It made for an interesting afternoon.
After supper, we both decided to go sit in the MainStage theatre at 6:45 pm for the one and only 8 pm show. It is a show with local Tahitian musicians and dancers called “Spirit of Tahiti”. We found lineups through the casino waiting for the doors to open. Doors didn’t open till 7:15 pm and some folks weren’t too happy about that. The good thing was, once inside, they announced repeatedly that there would be no holding seats for people not present. So the theatre filled fast and I am sure a number of people were disappointed not to get a seat. The show was of high energy and got steady applause!
So J asked if I wanted to go for a walk in Papeete tonight. Though the rain seems to have subsided, I had no interest in walking in a foreign country at night after the sun has set. So here it is 9:20 pm and I am wrapping up my blog. We overnight here for the second night and depart at 4:30 pm tomorrow.
Internet is down on the ship…so we will see how soon I can post this!
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