Helen and Tony's Travels: May 2011

Day 32 – Port Denarau

Monday May 9^th – Port Denarau – Fiji
Tender port today. Linda and Alice met us at 7 am today, we were on the second tender and made it to shore soon after 8 am. By 8.30 we were swimming in the pool of one of the resorts. We caught a taxi and organised to be picked up for the return journey at 11am. We had a lovely time swimming and on our return to the dock we checked out the shops before heading back to the ship for lunch. The last tender was 1 pm so not a lot of time to venture further, but Tony and I were here 12 months ago so we were quite happy with our leisurely day.
After Lunch we slept for 2 hours, missed sail away, so we got ready for dinner (it was only 4.30). We sought out Linda and played cards until dinner time.
John, Marion and Linda joined us at our table so for the first time this cruise we had a full table.

Day 31 - Suva

Sunday May 8 – Suva, Fiji

Tony and I made arrangements to meet up with Linda and Alice before leaving the ship. Once off we decided to just check out the City and found Lesley and Ross on the dock with the same plans, so we stuck together and roamed the city. Not all shops were open as this is a Sunday, and by lunch time we decided to head to the ship for a feed. We all ate in the dinning room and then went out again for awhile. Those that have been to Suva will understand our lack of enthusiasm to travel to far a field.

Day 29 & 30 – Sea Days

Friday May 6^th & Saturday May 7^th – at Sea

As always the Sea days fly. On Friday Lesley, Ross, Linda, Barbara, Tony and I made a team for 'Passenger Feud'. We did not do very well, but we had a good laugh.

After Dinner we rushed to the Vista lounge for 'A Night at the Races'. We laughed even more than usual as the Cruise director staff dressed up for each race. They are a great team, keep us well amused.

Saturday races were in the arvo today and after dinner we teamed up for a gameshow called 'majority rules'.

Day 28 – Two Days rolled into one at Sea

Wednesday May 4^th and Thursday May 5^th – At Sea

Two days rolled into one! Today we woke up and it was Wednesday May 4^th we will go to bed tonight with it being Thursday May 5^th. This will be the shortest 2 days I have encountered.

Day 27 – Bora Bora

Tuesday May 3^rd – Bora Bora – French Polynesia
Our last day in paradise, and we had to tender to the shore. Ross again had organised us a tour for 8 of us, this time just 3 hours. Our first stop today was to feed the sharks, yea again. Today was different in that we were in deep water and the sharks were bigger, but below us, about 30 feet down. The water was deep enough that a submarine was able to pass under us.
The rays today were larger than the last two days and with each passing day we were all more confident in our interaction with them. Our last stop was for a snorkel and this was also in deeper water than we have experienced this trip.
With the tour over we headed back to the dock and seven of us decided to visit Bloody Mary's for a drink. We found Linda on the dock about to return to the ship so she joined us. Bloody Mary's is a bar/eatery that has a sand floor and a controversial men's loo. We women did visit but it is not that great, in fact it is rather disappointing. I will not give it away, so you can all look for yourselves when you visit. We had a drink at the bar. Barbara had a Bloody Mary that she could not finish as it was too hot with the Tabasco Sauce that was added. We were all hungry by now so we headed back to the ship for a feed.
The weather has been perfect til now, it started to rain just before we caught the tender, so after dinner the scheduled deck party was held in the rain. It did not dampen the enthusiasm of the many passengers who attended, we stayed for a while but retired early, our 4 days of tours has warn us out and I am fighting a head cold.

Day 26 - Raiatea

Monday May 2^nd – Raiatea – French Polynesia
Raiatea is the second-largest island in French Polynesia
Today we are joining Ross and Lesley and 8 others on a tour that will take us around the tiny island of Tahaa just 2 miles north of Raiatea. The two islands share a Lagoon and are encircled by the same protective barrier reef. The itinerary for the day was swimming with rays and sharks, visiting a vanilla plantation, lunch and snorkelling. Even though we had done similar yesterday this was different as today we drift snorkelled, you just get in and the current takes you through the coral garden.

This tour was with Mata tours and cost us $100US per person for the full day.

Day 25 - Moorea

Sunday May 1^st- Moorea – French Polynesia
Moorea is only 20 miles to the North of Papeete. We apparently set sail at 330am in order to arrive here at 800am this morning. Today was a tender port. As we had no planned tours today we took our swim and snorkel gear and took the 15min ride to the shore. Within 5minutes we had negotiated a snorkel tour that included ray and shark feeding for a cost of 4000 CFX each.
It was a small group on our boat and it was exciting to be able to get in the waist deep water with the rays and sharks. The rays are very friendly; they obviously know where their easiest food source comes from.
Back on the boat and off we went to a nice beach where we were supplied with water and fresh pineapple. We soon ventured back in the water to snorkel. There were no time constraints; the boat came back every hour with another load of passengers so we could stay for as long as we wanted. When we came in for a break we found Linda and Alice had arrived and further down the beach, Ross and Lesley were also there. We snorkelled some more before retuning to the dock and then hopped on a tender back to our food supply, Horizon Court. The weather was once again perfect and a good day was had by all we spoke with.

Day 24 – Papeete - Tahiti

Saturday 30^th April – Papeete – Tahiti
Our little princess Port Guide reads "Think of any superlative – beautiful, stunning, magnificent, spectacular- and you'll just begin to describe Tahiti, that island paradise….."
Well I have one more word to add to the list WOW, not a word but we sure used it plenty today. WOW describes the views, the land the waterholes and the time we spent together today.
I was the organiser of today's tour; eight of us went 4WD driving through the centre of the island. Another group of 8 CCers were in a second vehicle.

We met our drivers at 930am for our full day tour. The first stop we made was for food so that we could picnic later. Our two vehicles then headed out of the town and towards the interior of this pretty island. Waterfalls were a plenty, the winding and sometimes rough roads took us higher and higher towards the clouds. We stopped and our guide Patrick gave us times to photograph his backyard and told us about the flora and fauna. We tasted native fruit growing along the way.

When lunch time came around we stopped and Patrick lead us up and then down on a tiny path to a place he called his office, you could only wish to have an office like this one. Not every one of the 16 made it to the office but those of us who did enjoyed a wonderful dip in a waterhole. We had a waterfall to get a massage from and rocks to sit on in the water when not swimming about. WOW! How great was this. We had to hike back to the rest of the group to have our lunch while sitting in a river bed, under the shade of trees. WOW!

Onward we went up and up, then through a tunnel in the mountain to the other side of the island. By now we had passed the centre point and all that was left to do was head back to the ship. This tour took us 8 ½ hours for a cost of $80US per person.

The tour operator is Patrick 4x4 Adventure website: papeete.com/patrick/

Email him on patrickaventure@mail.pf if you are travelling to Papeete, you are sure to have a WOW time.