Day 10 Bora Bora

This morning it was a pleasure to wake up to the views of paradise naked Bora Bora. That is the first time we have ever stayed overnight in port on a ship. Some people use the opportunity to stay in one of the overwater bungalows but they are too rich for our blood at $1000+ per night!

After breakfast in the Waves Grill we were down in the Marina Theatre at 7:30 am to catch a tender. It occurred to me that I have used the theatre more times to catch a tender than actually to watch the entertainment!

Once ashore, we found Arii from Moahi Nui and he directed us to Vai. We waited with our friends M & P from Cambridge (the Canadian one) as they were waiting for an ATV tour combined with snorkelling, whereas we were repeating our day yesterday but adding in a picnic on the private motu. Both yours were offered by Moahi Nui at a more reasonable price than the ships excursions. 

This time we had 12 people in our boat with Teddy as the Captain and Vai as the tour guide. Vai was born in Bora Bora but raised in California so she spoke perfect English. 

We saw lemon sharks out side the reef at the first stop, lots of black tipped sharks and singrays at the second stop and a variety of fish in the coral garden. 

We met up with the ATV crew at lunch on the motu. What a beautiful motu. Here they had started roasting a pig in an underground oven and had plantains, breadfruit, a chicken and spinach dish as well. 

The meal was augmented by some tuna cooked on a grill that was delicious. We served ourselves up on plates woven from fresh greenery and felt that we had an authentic Polynesian feast!

After talking with P and M, I felt we made the right choice not doing the ATV option as they were sitting on benches in the back of a truck going up and down very steep, precarious roads!!

It felt a bit like we were filling in the day because we had paid for a full day tour. But it was enjoyable nonetheless. 

So after a vote, we decided to boat to a destination where we could just jump into shallow water and float for a bit. This was a lovely way to appreciate the beauty of our surroundings. We then went to another snorkel sight and found the current VERY strong st this point. We couldn’t let go of the outrigger balance pontoon while snorkelling or we would have needed a pick up a long way away!!  J thought this was the best snorkelling in Bora Bora!

Once we returned to the shore, I walked through the craft market and bought a pareil- a piece of fabrics hand painted in my favourite colours than can be used as a bathing suit cover up. 

Back at the ship, we showered and cleaned up all our gear.   We tried out high tea in Horizons where the string quartet plays for a very classy ambiance while looking out at the views of Bora Bora!

Dinner at the Terrace Grill Was wonderful!  Visited with a young couple from Calgary and enjoyed lobster, shrimp and chocolate mousse cake for dessert!  8 pm and we are tired again!

Another day in paradise!!

Day 9 Bora Bora

We arrived on the beautiful island of Bora Bora today. I need to watch the film Mutiny on the Bounty!  It was filmed here I do believe. 

We had a relaxing morning with not pulling into port until 10 am. Stunning scenery. Absolutely stunning. Four shades of turquoise blue water at least!  

We headed down to the Marina Theatre to grab tender tickets and loaded onto a tender to arrive in Bora Bora by 11:30 am. We looked for the Maohi Nui sign and joined the other 3 people in our group. All cruise critic folks were with us (two were from Victoria BC). 

We headed to our first snorkelling site which was in about 30 feet of water and saw lots of black tipped sharks and two lemon sharks. The largest lemon shark made me a bit uncomfortable. As J says, my head could easily have fit in his mouth!!!  Cue Jaws music!!  Our guide was comfortable enough to feed the lemon shark a broken piece of fish and reach out to pet him as he went past!  The other two women on the tour made a hasty exit back to the boat when that largest lemon shark came into view!

The next snorkelling site was in shallow water about four feet in depth. Here we had lots of black tip sharks and loads of sting rays. They Sean right up to us and are quite muscular too!  One nearly knocked me over.   The water was warm like a bathtub!!

The third snorkelling site took us past the Conrad Tahitian huts over the water to a coral area with a variety of fish. One finished snorkelling, we  took about a 45 minute boat ride past lots of resorts with classic huts over the water. 

What a fabulous way to enjoy Bora Bors for $70!!  Great private excursion!

A tender back to the ship at 3:30 allowed me to squeak upstairs to the Wave Grill before it closed at 4 pm!

Three Vonage phone calls to LC, JG and P (sister and two sons) and we felt caught up on life in Canada!!  What a great way to stay connected for 1 cent per minute!!

We had a delightful dinner on the terrace with our friends from Missouri and Ottawa. Talk about paradise, sitting outdoors to eat dinner in 30 C weather with high humidity, surrounded by the islands of Bora Bora!  Splendid!

Day 8 Rangiroa

We awoke at 5:30 am with the sounds of work being done right below us on the tender boats. Good thing we tend to be early birds anyhow!  (What with going to bed at 8 or 9 pm!)

We remembered that one could watch the dolphins jump in the water as one entered the atoll of Rangiroa so we through on some clothes and raced up to deck 16 near the mini golf to watch our entry into the atoll from the front of the boat. We saw no dolphins but we did have a fabulous view of the island!!

We then went down to the Terrace Grill for breakfast. Once we finished eating we joined four new friends while they ate breakfast and talked about adventurous activities like cycling and canoeing before talking about the day’s plans!  

After a quick few laps around the very small track around the back of the ship, we made plans to join one other couple planning for a bit of snorkelling. We decided to take a boat to the very nearby aquarium - which we negotiated for $40 US apiece - instead of $50 for two hours worth of snorkelling. Once you arrive at the spot, the drivers say okay - jump in and start spotting the marine life!!  I don’t know if I expected a beach nearby or what- but at least the boat would stay at the site and allow us to climb back on if we got tired. Our friends from Missouri would have liked a pool noodle - like others were using ad a flotation device in the water - but since our boat didn’t have those - they had a life jacket to wear!!

We saw black tipped sharks, loads of fish and a few moray eels!  The eels are kind of creepy. The boat periodically left us and went back to the pier and collected more customers. That was a bit disconcerting  to have lost our anchor. In the transfer of acquiring more passengers our friends lost access to their life jackets and that wasn’t good. Nevertheless a good day of snorkelling in turquoise blue water that was warm like bath water!

At noon we returned to the dock, where we decided to return to the ship, clean up, get on dry clothes, and eat lunch. We then returned in a tender back to the dock. We wanted to catch a free shuttle to the Paul Gaugin Pearl Farm. We quickly learned the shuttles were finished for the day. We contemplated renting electric bikes for $10 per hour per bike, but needed to return them in 90 minutes. So we decided to walk to Josephine’s. There was a wonderful boardwalk facing the water with a few tables and chairs. I had a juice while the others had a beer. What a delightful way to pass a few hours in the afternoon. 

We returned to the ship at about 4 pm - a full 30 minutes before the last call to board the tenders!

We played a board game of Carcasonne and passed the time until our 7:30 reservation at Jacques- the French restaurant. We had a lobster gnocchi for an appetizer 2 the best gnocchi of my life!!  My main course was Coquille St Jacques - scallops. Delicious. And chocolate mousse for dessert. 

John headed to the room, while I listened to the entertainment in the theatre ( and sat in the back row to finish this blog!)

Life is good!  Tomorrow, we pull into Bora Bora!!

Day 7 Fakarava

What a day!! Fabulous!!

It is 8 pm and J and I are all tuckered out - in fact J is already snoring in bed!! I will do my best to keep my eyes open and fill you in on the details. 

Today we set an alarm for 6:15 am so we could be eating breakfast at Waves Grill as soon as it opened at 6:30 am. Our plan was to be in the Marina Theatre by 7:30 am all packed for a day of snorkelling and we needed to be on the first tender ride. That meant we were given the coveted red tickets to be on the first tender. 

You see we had a private boat booked with Ato Lissant and six of us from Cruise Critic were travelling to Sable Rose. The boat ride to get there was at least 1.5 hours long - but our guide had to stop and fish for lunch food so that made it more like a two hour boat ride. It was a blue sky day and we covered up as much as we could with SPF clothing but I still ended up with burned skin on my neck and on the back of my hands. 

We got to a remote village in Fakarava where we did a drift snorkel - hopped on land and walked back to the start and drifted again. We then boated to our own private island to have lunch. The two guides, Matai and Coco, built a fire and started cooking our fresh fish, lobster and chicken over the open flame. We explored this little tiny pink sand island, sat in the water and swam to totally enjoy the day. Talk about paradise!

We have our friends from Cambridge and Ottawa, ON with us on this fabulous day!  We probably stayed 2 hours on this private island before loading up in the boat to head back. 

We returned to the ships tender area by 4:15. We each paid $140 US for this tour - and it was very exclusive!!

Once back on the ship , we showered and cleaned up for supper. The Terrace Grill was a lovely to eat supper tonight. 

Today was Superbowl Sunday and the ship had a viewing party with special food in Horizons on 15th Forward. 

I really want to include a picture but know that wifi connectivity is pretty poor in the middle of the South Pacific and pictures really slow down the load speed!!

Day 6 Day at Sea

Today was our only full day at Sea this cruise. 

After breakfast in the Terrace Grill, J went for a spin class ( all the fitness classes on the ship have limited spaces but they are free!!). I went for a light workout. 

At 11 am we both attended a lecture put on by Nick Glakas about the islands of French Polynesia - we had met Nick and his wife, Katie, processing through customs at the airport. It was very informative and J and I both took notes!!

We met up with two other couples from Canada, with whom we planned a snorkelling excursion in Fakarava tomorrow!  We were joined by Tammy and Rick again as they will be snorkelling with the same company tomorrow - but going to a different destination. The right of us shared lots of laughs in the Terrace Grill over a two hour lunch. 

We attended another educational lecture by Nick  in the Marina Lounge at 2:30. We decided to go play some mini golf after that, followed by reading by the pool. I went for a lukewarm hot tub after that.  J attended a yoga class while I went to the cocktail party to meet the ship’s officers and staff. 

Our reservation at Toscana at 6:30 was at a shared table. We met a delightful couple from Austin Texas. We had so much fun that dinner took nearly 3 hours!  I am feeling a bit too full, but not entirely wowed by the food at Toscana. 

We have retired to our room and packed our snorkel bags for a 7:30 meet up in the lounge to get the first tender tickets off the boat!!

Day 5 Moorea

We awoke before 6 am today - our ship pulled away from the dock around 5 am, so we probably felt motion on the water. We went to the Terrace Grill - thinking breakfast started at 6 am - but we learned it wasn’t open till 7 am. They pointed us to the Waves Grill as it was to open at 6:30 am. We enjoyed eggs over easy and some muesli. 

We walked up to deck 14 to view the approaching island of Moorea!

Many ports on this cruise involve dropping an anchor - and tendering into port. These islands are not big enough to support the size of pier needed to dock such a large ship.  

We entered the theatre to find out the process to obtain tender tickets. In fact, you needed to be ready to walk off the ship as soon as you were provided tender tickets (though you could in fact wait for a few minutes till you were called)!

On our tender over we met a bit our first but the second couple from our home town!!  The first couple had rented a small vehicle and planned to hike, the second were scuba diving. The Marina had dropped anchor in Opunohu Bay and we took the tender a little west of that point to the village of Papetoai. 

We walked off the ship and were intent on finding a circle island tour. Dammon, an outgoing fellow approached us and showed us a map of where he intended to take a group on a driving tour. He had an air conditioned van and spoke good English and would charge us $50 pp. Sold. We just needed to wait till he sold the tour to another couple. We were joined by a delightful couple from St Louis, Missouri, and then a third couple from Tucson, Arizona.  Dammon provides us with lots of insights on the local flora and fauna and general historical information. 

We drove inland into the crater and up to Belvedere which is a lookout over Opunohu and Cook’s Bay. Here we met 2 buses from our ship where ship excursions cost about $150 pp!!

We circumnavigated the island clockwise, stopping occasionally to hear stories of the history, the geography and the people of Moorea. On the east coast we stopped for a view of the Sofitel Beach Resort to see how the rich lived!  

The Sofitel huts over the water are in the background here!

We continued south past Vai’are where our ferry landed two days ago. Then past the Lagoonarium where one could experience the fabulous snorkelling. 

Unfortunately the best weather was on the west side of the island where we didn’t do any stops, so our pictures don’t have blue skies. It rained on and off all day - still a lovely 30 C!

Once we returned to our starting point, I bought a pair of black pearl earrings. We were hungry for lunch so we tenderer back to the ship. J showered and we headed up to the Terrace Grill where we continued to visit with the couple from St Louis. 

After lunch, we read, prepared this blog and played a game of croquet!  Tonight dinner will be in the main dining room. 

I hope to check out the entertainment on the main stage tonight at 9:30 pm. Since the all aboard call is 5:30 pm - we will be pulling away from nearby land and therefore having an even tougher time trying to post the blog. With a day at sea tomorrow- it might mean the blog gets posted a day later!

Enjoying this fabulous cruise!!

Day 4 Embarkation

Today we boarded the Oceania Marina!!  It was exciting to look directly across from our hotel room to see the Marina awaiting our arrival!  Granted we had to peer around the side of our balcony to see the ship because we didn’t pay for an upgraded hotel room, but we could see it nonetheless!

We were really happy with the Hotel Tiare Tahiti. With our desire to walk every place, we could, without a need for taxis. We walked hardly 10 minutes to Les roulettes, the food trucks each night for dinner. We found it was better to walk along the boardwalk - in the water side as it was well lit and very safe until the crosswalk at the end of our block where our hotel was situated. 

At the end of our block there was also a taxi stand and a travel agency. I walked to both and determined a taxi would be the way to go on the return end of the trip. The rate to the InterContinental hotel (where we stay for our final day before our late night flight out) is 2100 XPF plus 100 per bag - so 2500 total. We will walk off the ship and cross the street to the taxi stand rather than fight crowds and pay the higher rates from the ship for the taxi. Rates are also higher at night. The travel agency would have charged 1800 XPF pp for a total of 3600 XPF!

We enjoyed a similar breakfast - but this time J had the banana juice and it was like a smoothie!  I wish I had ordered that one!  We lounged in our room reading and packing up until 11 am when we had to check out. We could have left our luggage at the front desk to leave the hotel, but we decided to read and blog in a guest lounge at the back of the hotel. No air conditioning, just high humidity here!!

Guests can board the fanciest ship suites beginning at 11 am, with the next category down can board at noon, then our division at 1 pm. J and I justify taking a lower class room allows us to cruise for longer so we are pleased with the compromise of an Oceanciew Suite on the Marina. The windows are huge!  No porthole here!

At 11:20 - J got too hot to sit in the lounge any longer and walked to find a breeze elsewhere in the hotel.   We found a game of dominoes that kept us entertained until 12:45 pm when we left the hotel with wheeled luggage in tow to walk to the ship. J reminded me this is the second time in our lives we have stayed in a hotel close enough to allow us to walk to an awaiting cruise ship. (The first time wa in San Francisco)

Within 5 minutes we were at the tents erected outside Oceania Marina. We completed a health questionnaire then walked to the ship- still with luggage in tow - most people left, in the tent,  their luggage tagged to be delivered to their stateroom.  We walked up a wheelchair ramp, while most people took a longer flight of stairs to board the ship. Passports were scanned and luggage was xrayed once inside. We were told we didn’t have access to our stateroom till 3 pm!  So having luggage in tow was now a nuisance. We took an elevator to the 7th floor (where our room was situated) and found the floor cordoned off. A helpful steward took our luggage and placed it outside our room - so we could go up to have lunch on the Terrace Grill on deck 12, unencumbered. 

Lunch was a delicious salad and seafood in a cream saffron sauce, with chocolate (for J) and lemon (for L) ice cream for dessert!

We then explored the ship and quickly learned we had missed the embarkation step to get issued ships cards. We headed to the theatre where staff were waiting with computers to check you in - no lineups here!

We found the coffee shop where J had a decaf espresso and I had the tiniest iced coffee (delicious!  I can see why our youngest son, P, enjoys these drinks!) 

We returned to our room where I began to unpack and J went to iron his shirts. Our room has two lovely full length windows and is considered an Oceanview category. It is quite exciting to have a bathtub and a separate shower!  We don’t even have that at home!  Delightfully, my Travel agent and sister, LC, ordered a flower arrangement to our room. Beautiful. 

We met a couple from Germany while participating in the muster still at 5:30 pm. We sat very civilized in the Grand Dining Room on Deck 6 to hear about emergency procedures. 

Our dinner reservation at Red Ginger at 6:30 - was something I was really looking forward to!!

My appetizer was a salmon dish, with  lobster avocado salad and a miso bass main course. The most delicious vanilla tea was served to me, while J chose gunpowder green tea. A trio of sherbets was my dessert. Loved my meal - but would save dessert and seek out something chocolate next time!

We returned to our room so J could change back into shorts (not allowed in dining room) but I kept the same dress on all day. We found lovely double loungers on deck 14 to enjoy the heat of the night (30 C at 9 pm) and fresh air ( at least until smokers came). The smoking section is near hear forward of us. 

J and I are sharing the one free wifi account. A second account will cost $24.99 per day.  We can share a login for that price!!

It had been a wonderful day in paradise. Looking forward to visiting Moorea tomorrow!!