Happy Valentine's Day!

February 14, 2015   Happy Valentine’s Day!

Another sea day….we were suppose to have a port call at Rarotonga, Cook Islands today, but the Capt. decided that the seas were too rough for the tenders to get us to shore…BOO!!!!  Good thing he wasn’t in charge when we were in Antarctica or we would never have gotten off the ship there.  I think it has more to do with the average age and lack of mobility of a large percentage of the passengers on this ship.  We have been rather shocked at the number of walkers and wheelchairs around the ship.  It’s like we are living that ”Senior Forward” going around the internet comparing living on a cruise ship vs. living in assisted living….YIKES! We have learned that World Cruise is code for VERY SENIOR CITIZENS….not all, but a lot.

I decided to combine Tahiti and Bora Bora into one blog post.  We were at Papeete, Tahiti on Wednesday, Feb. 11.  We were so excited to get off the ship and put our feet on land!  Papeete is the administrative capital of French Polynesia.  Our tour that day was an overall look at the highlights of the island.  It was ok, but not nearly what we had anticipated. Friends we’ve met on the ship told us that the other side of the island (which we didn’t see) is prettier and where the hotels and resorts are, but Papeete has the harbor we needed to dock.  So….there you have it.

February 12, we anchored off Bora Bora….BEAUTIFUL!!!  We arrived at 8am and anchored in the atoll which is formed by a the Bora Bora Reef  circling the island, giving it a natural “sea wall”, it was like a huge lake, so calm and so many shades of blue it was unbelievable.  I was so happy that we had chosen riding a jet ski as our excursion.  By 10:00am the wind had picked up and a small rain storm came in.  Four other couples braved the adventure with us and despite the rain and the wind and big waves we had a blast riding the jet skis with our native tour guides on a 3 hour tour all the way around the island.  The rain did stop after the first hour and the sun peeked out a little, but the waves remained pretty wild. As you can tell from the not so flattering pictures, we got soaked!!  Bora Bora is the one place so far on our “we liked to go back to list”.  Only next time we’ll pick the dry season!!

The Captain did announce that to make up for today’s’ non-stop, we will be stopping at another island off of New Zealand the day before we arrive in Auckland….weather permitting.  We’ll see….

We will lose Feb. 18 when we cross the International Dateline and after tonight, we will be 6 hours behind EST.     

Enjoy the pictures.   Cheers!

Our crazy tour guides!!!

One of the other couples took this picture for us.

Soaked to the bone!

One of two beach stops along the way

Taken from the beach with our ship in the background

A beautiful view from the beach in Bora Bora

Arriving in Papeete, Tahiti

Entering the harbor

View of Papeete from our ship as we enter the harbor

Point Venus and the only working lighthouse in the Society Islands.
It was build in 1867 by the father of Robert Louis Stevenson.

The blowhole of Arahoho

The tomb of the last King of Tahiti, Pomare IV.
 Best known for his controversial decision to surrender Tahitian sovereignty
to France in 1880.  His tomb is constructed of coral slabs and lava rocks in a tower-like
shape meant to resemble a Grecian urn,

My Valentine
Taken at the James Norman Hall museum.
Hall is most famous for the Mutiny on the Bounty trilogy.
The museum is an exact replica of his home.