At Raiatea - 法属波利尼西亚
Feb 6, 2020 (Day 17) - The ship stopped at another island, Raiatea, in French Polynesia. We went out on a shore excursion to visit ……
Day 17 - Feb 6
The ship stopped at another island, Raiatea, in French Polynesia. We went out on a shore excursion to visit a pearl farm and do a little snorkeling. The pearl farm is located in the middle of the ocean inside the lagoon. We took a small boat to a small house, which is built on coral reef and used for the pearl farming process. They demonstrated the process including how to harvest pearl from an oyster. The water on one side of the house is 80 feet deep and oysters are hanging underwater. The other side of the house is only a few feet deep, where we can snorkel. Today’s weather wasn’t very good and the water wasn’t very clean. However, we jumped into the water anyway after the farm tour. One of us did see three fishes but the scene wasn’t anywhere close to what we saw online. The snorkeling was disappointing but at least we saw wild fish on this trip.
After lunch, we walked around town again. The town has paved sidewalks along the coastline. The chickens are everywhere in the islands. They are truly free range chickens.
Pearl Farm House
We had dinner at Waterside today, which doesn’t require reservation. It serves modern and classic cuisine. We eat there 2 or 3 times in a week.
On the Island of Tahiti - 大溪地岛
Feb 4-5, 2020 (Day 15-16 ) - Our ship arrived at Papeete yesterday night. Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, is located on the island …..
Day 15-16 (Feb 4-5)
Our ship arrived at Papeete yesterday night. Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, is located on the island of Tahiti, which is part of the Society Islands. We stayed overnight at Papeete for two nights. The port is a short distance from downtown Papeete. On the first day, we went on the Temple, Art, and Culture tour to learn a little more about the island. The first stop was the Tahiti Museum, which is under renovation for the most part. We thought the exhibit was well designed and that the artifacts were interesting. We also visited an ancient temple used by a royal family and then visited a private colonial home with a meticulous garden. The almost 100-year-old house was built by English writer Robert Keibel and is now owned and preserved by a Chinese Polynesia woman and her English husband. On the way back, we stopped by Vaipahi Garden. There is a walking trail marked with several displays of “the path of purification of souls” to paradise. It is one of the best water gardens we have ever visited. The lily pond with lotus was our favorite. Maraa Fern Grotto Caves was our final stop. The tour lasted more than five hours.
After lunch, we went out to walk around downtown, where we first bought a comb to replace the broken one. We visited the marketplace around the time it was being closed for the day so there were not many people there. We hope to visit it again tomorrow.
As we strolled in the downtown area, we walked into the government’s Assembly Building. It has a beautiful private garden and natural spring pool of Tahiti’s only Queen. We had a great time there with the whole garden for ourselves.
We had dinner at Prego. After ordering our food, we added another appetizer, Carpriocio of Angus Beef. The slices of beef were so tender that it melted in the mouth.
Our ship stayed at Papeete for another night. This is the end of the first segment of this world cruise. Total sailing distance is 4765 nautical miles and we stopped at four ports over the duration of 12 days.
Today, we don’t have any shore excursion. We had planned to go out walking around the city. However, the weather didn’t cooperate. It was raining on and off this morning. Once the rain stopped, we finally went out to visit the city marketplace again. This time there were a lot of people shopping there. Most stands were selling fruits and flowers. A few stands sold red snapper and tuna fish. There were quite a few fast food places inside the marketplace. The Chinese population in Tahiti is about 10% so the local food is Chinese fusion food. Chow mein is one of them. The other one is a sandwich with chow mein and chicken meat. We didn’t taste the food there.
At Moorea - 莫雷阿岛
Feb 3, 2020 (Day 14) - When we walked up to Deck 12 for breakfast this morning, the cruise ship was already surrounded by …..
Day 14
When we walked up to Deck 12 for breakfast this morning, the cruise ship was already surrounded by beautiful dramatic mountain peaks formed by volcano eruptions many millions years ago. We were tendered to the port and welcome by locals with live music and flowers. Moorea is one of the Society Islands discovered by James Cook.
We later went on a Dolphin Watch Expedition. Our tour guide was an American who came to the island to study dolphins, but after getting his PhD, he ended up staying there for good. The dolphins inside the lagoon are the smallest dolphins species. They like to swim against the waves underwater and surf. In order to watch them surf, he took us to the barrier reef where the waves are highest. We did see several dolphins riding the waves. However, several of us on the boat got seasick. We swore no more dolphin or whale watches for us. After the boat tour, we took a 2-hour land tour to see the crater and Opunohu Bay and Cook's Bay. We think Moorea is the most scenic place in French Polynesia we have visited so far.
Crystal is leaving Moorea
We went to Uma Umi for dinner again. We had ramen noodles and red bean mochi, both of which are special items not on the regular menu and needed to be requested one day in advance so that they could be prepared. The noodles and mochi were very good.
Chenggang took some art lessons during this segment of the cruise. Today, there was also an art show in Palm Court. At 6 PM, we left Moorea for Papeete, which is only 20+ miles away from Moorea. By 7:20 PM, the ship docked at Papeete. Chenggang went out after the ship docked and found a truck food court nearby.
Another Day at Bora Bora - 在波拉波拉岛上的第二天
Feb. 2, 2020 (Day 13) - We stayed overnight at Bora Bora. When we woke up this morning it was still cloudy with high winds. We went……
Day 13 – Feb. 2
We stayed overnight at Bora Bora. When we woke up this morning it was still cloudy with high winds. We went to have an early breakfast since we would have an 8 AM shore excursion, swimming with stingrays and riding on a glass bottom boat. Unfortunately, a few minutes after we sat down in Stardust Club (used as a waiting room for all shore excursions), we were told that the tour was canceled due to the weather. We were disappointed but hoped the afternoon excursion would go on. That was our last chance to see Bora Bora. As the time past, the sky was open up and the sun had come out. Our Mountain Safari by Land Rover tour started at around 1 PM. Four of us from the cruise sat on the truck bed of a Land Rover. There were five or six cars in the group. They took us to several viewpoints around the island. They drove on narrow rugged service roads with 10-15 degree incline up and down. When we looked up or down, we were a little scared, but we knew they had done this many times. We were in good hands. Our tour guide spoke English and was fun. The first stop was a viewpoint next to a water tower in the middle of the hill. As we climbed out the car, a beautiful panoramic view of the picture-perfect Bora Bora jumped into our eyes. We saw several overwater bungalows laid on the lighter aqua color ocean from a distance. We also visited the World War II site and Matira Beach again. Today, it turned out to be a beautiful day for sightseeing.
At Bora Bora
On the ship, the Super Bowl was played in Galaxy Lounge. The room was decorated with a Super Bowl theme. We watched the last 7 mins of the game to see Kansas City win the Super Bowl from behind.
We had a quick lunch at The Trident Grill and had dinner at Waterside. Both meals were delicious.
Bora Bora - 在波拉波拉岛上
Feb 1, 2020 (Day 12) - After another sea day, we anchored at Bora Bora at around 9 o’clock on the morning of Feb 1, 2020……
Day 12
After another sea day, we anchored at Bora Bora at around 9 o’clock on the morning of Feb 1, 2020. The weather was rainy with very high winds. We canceled the shore excursion on the first day. As the first tendered boat was leaving, the weather got worse. It was raining heavily with wind gusts so strong that our anchored ship shifted. The tendered boat was struggling to sail towards the shore as we watched it. We were really worried. There was no way we would get on the boat under this condition. Instead of going to the shore, we went to the Hollywood Theater to watch a movie called “Going In Style”. The movie, which was about a retiree struggling financially, had the “perfect” audiences. After lunch, we went to shore. The boat was docked at Vaitape, a small town with many shopping art galleries and stores selling black pearl jewelries. Black Pearl is famous in French Polynesia. By all means, the town is not like what is shown in the pictures or postcards we saw. A paved road goes through the town, but even with nicely decorated stores selling expensive black pearls, the front parking spaces were muddy and not well maintained. Some houses along the road were flooded due to recent rain.
We paid $5 each to go to Marita Beach about 10 km away from the dock. The beach is beautiful, white sands with crystal clean water. One of us got into water with Osmo camera. We were enjoying the warm south Pacific Ocean. Then suddenly, the black cloud moved in from the west and everyone jumped out of the water to find a place to hide. The rain came down with gusty winds. Our good time was over. As the sky cleared up a little, we rode on the bed of a modified truck for tourists back to the dock. We walked around the town for a while and then headed back to the ship. We have two shore excursions tomorrow. Hope the weather will be better.
Brazil BBQ was our dinner. Tonight's show was another energetic piano performance by an Australian pianist, Ashley Carruthers. It was fun and energetic.
The First Port - 2020年环球之旅的第一个停靠港口
Jan 30, 2020 (Day 10) - Today is Jan 30, the 10th day of this world cruise. At 7:00 AM, our ship arrived at Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia……
Day 10
Today is Jan 30, the 10th day of this world cruise. At 7:00 AM, our ship arrived at Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia. Nuku Hiva is one of the Marguesas Islands. After eight sea days, everyone on board was excited to finally see land again. We went on a shore excursion with Crystal. Scenic Island Drive Excursion took us to the wood and stone Notre Dame cathedral, a small village, and the celebration festival ground. We also tasted the local fruits, which were very good. Mango, Coconut and YuZu are the local favorite. The tour took about 4 hours. The temperature was at high 70 F with high humidity. After the tour, we went back to the ship to have lunch then we were returned to the island again. This time we just walked along the coast line up to the hotel.
At 6:00 PM, we went to Umi Uma for dinner. The sushi bar was full, but they let us sit in the main dinning area without a reservation. The food was fantastic although there was too much. We also talked to the host and the Japanese Chef to order Mochi and Ramen noodle for our next visit.
Tonight we will turn our watches and phones back 30 mins. This is the second time we need to adjust the time by 30 mins. Before this trip, we never knew you could adjust time zones by minutes.