Papeete snaps

Note the sea plane on the stern

Goodbye Papeete

Pitcairn Island Pics

Excited Islanders

Buying frenzy

Pitcairn's hamlet Adamstown

Easter Island snaps

Standing about 30ft high

How did they place the top piece on it weighs several tonnes

2/3rds in the ground

At the quarry

Someones pride and joy washed up on the rocks

Pago Pago American Samoa

26^th August – Pago Pago American Samoa

Two more sea days and we slipped quietly into Pago Pago harbour, there was a lot of low cloud hanging around what was obviously steep rugged peaks. It turns out the previous day it had rained hard all day. During the day the heat of the sun managed to burn off the misty cloud and it became quite steamy.

Pago Pago harbour is a natural inlet cutting right into the south western side of the island so it would appear fairly well protected from storms etc.

On one side of the harbour are two large fish processing factories (canneries) and a large Tuna fishing fleet with a smattering of Japanese long line boats amongst them. Presumably fishing is a lucrative business around these waters.

The township is situated on the other side of the harbour where we berthed at about 0800.

We couldn’t get over how many large 4wd vehicles there were, large Toyotas and Ford F150’s and F250’s were everywhere.  We were told fuel was cheap and measured in US gallons.

The place is very Americanised, they drive on the right hand side and the traffic cop even looked as if he was straight out of New York riding his big Harley Davidson.

There was not a lot to see, shops were few and the most popular place was MacDonalds where I had a massive flat white and Nancy had an ice cream Sunday all up less than US$5.00 (that is the local currency).

We wandered far and wide and at a market purchased two huge paw paw for $2.00.

Basically the place looked a bit scruffy and most things could do with a coat of paint.

However friends who did a tour around the island said it was beautiful and they saw a lot of substantial homes. There are still a lot of remnants from the US occupation during the second world war such as the roads and the airport that were built then.

From our brochure:

Polynesians inhabited the Samoan Islands around 1800BC.

Europeans caught a glimpse of the region in 1722.

Contact with the USA was made in 1839 when a navy ship anchored in the area.

The harbour was used as a naval base by the Americans during WWii.

The island itself is called Tutuila and is the largest island of American Samoa part of the Samoan archipelago.

Population: 11,500 (2000)

Language is English and Samoan

Currency is US dollars.

We are now on our way to New Zealand in very rough conditions.

Bora Bora - French Polynesia

23^rd August – Bora Bora (French Polynesia)

Overnight from Papeete we entered the picturesque harbour of Bora Bora, it was Sunday and threatening rain, we had plenty of rain squalls during the night but we are usually lucky when ashore.

Sea Princess dropped anchor and passengers were tendered ashore by ships lifeboat/tenders 150 at a time. Let’s hope if we ever have to abandon ship we are picked up really quickly.

Stepping ashore we were once again greeted by traditional dress, dancing and the ever present Polynesian music and plenty of big smiles.

You can’t move very far without having to pass through an area where local souvenirs are being sold (like sarongs with made in China labels).

We wandered around checking everything out dodging hawkers trying to sell island tours etc. Once again there was a focus on black pearls. A short distance from the main centre was a modern looking church and being Sunday a service was being held. I’m not known for my religious activities but I stood for ages at the entrance enthralled by the locals singing hymns it was absolutely beautiful.

Strolling back along the only road that was bitumen with more pot holes than bitumen, we chuckled as colourful trucks with safari style backs took passengers with pained looks on their faces, on tour around the island.

By this time we had seen everything locally and that amounted to a dozen small shops at most and mostly touristy stuff at that. We were ready to go back to the ship and it was only about 1100am. A lady standing next to a 25 seater genuine commuter bus was offering 2 hour island tours for US$35 per head, I thought what the hell and offered her US$30 and she accepted, so we climbed aboard with half a dozen others while the bus lady approached a likely looking group to try and fill the bus. Apparently she could only get them interested at $25 per head so when she came back to the bus she reduced our price accordingly – bargain.

So off we went dodging pot holes until we were out of town where the road became quite good and very few pot holes. One big lady drove the bus and her sister stood in the open doorway and gave us a running commentary in limited English. Several stops were made for photographs at various places and at one stop where locals were selling wares from their home we were offered selections of coconut, pawpaw, pumpkin pudding and bread-fruit dipped in coconut milk.

Along the way we were surprised to see how many tourist resorts that had closed down and were in quite a bad state of dis-repair.

We were told the prices had been exorbitant, tourists had stopped coming and tourists were coming by cruise ships now.

We circumnavigated the island on what seemed to be the only road, passing dwellings ranging from shacks to reasonable low sets, our stops included a beautiful pristine beach of white coral sand and crystal clear water and was obviously very popular, where I also noticed a chap sitting in the water feeding several large stingrays.  We also made a brief stop for a beer at a famous watering hole called Bloody Mary’s. All up it was well over the two hours so we certainly got our monies worth.  

Bora Bora is certainly a very picturesque Island and the people seemed to be very friendly.

A few facts from our brochure:

Indigenous Polynesian inhabitants settled the region throughout the fourth century.

Jacob Roggeveen was the first European to sight the island in 1772.

Captain Cook also visited in 1770.

Bora Bora is a volcanic island about six miles long by two and a half miles wide, situated in the Leeward Group of Society Islands of French Polynesia.

Population just under 9,000

French and Tahitian are the official languages.

Currency is French Pacific Francs (CFP) and of course they all accept the US dollar.

  

   

Papeete - Tahiti

Papeete – Tahiti

Another two days at sea and we docked at Papeete, French Polynesia’s capital city in Tahiti in the Society Islands.

It is a spectacular sight coming into the harbour with steep rugged peaks rising up into the sky shrouded in early mist. Unfortunately the sun wasn’t high enough to burn off the lingering cloud from the previous days rain but as it got later and hotter during the day it certainly improved and showed itself to be the beautiful backdrop that Tahiti is known for.

Population just over 26,000            and both Tahitian and French is spoken, French appeared to be the primary language.

It was at Point Venus not far from the city where James Cook’s astronomer tracked the transit of Venus across the sun and is now a notable historical site and hence the name.

Nancy and I wandered ashore at a respectable time greeted by tropical sounds and sights as islanders in traditional dress sang and danced welcomes to us all. Strolling into a busy Saturday morning city (town) there seemed to be small groups everywhere of islanders playing instruments and singing typical Polynesian songs, as with most South Pacific Islands and NZ, guitars and ukuleles and variations of ukuleles seem to be the most prominent instruments.

We found a general market place and wandered around the stalls checking out fruit and general touristy items, all too expensive for our liking. At one end of the market place was a fish market where every type of tropical fish imaginable was on display for sale including local crayfish and an obviously high Tuna presence. I had local coffee that was mild but nice and reasonably priced and Nancy found a French pastry !!!

Papeete is a busy port city, streets are fairly narrow and the traffic is crazy they drive on the right (most of the time) but they did respect traffic lights and pedestrian crossings.

A lot of the buildings still have that early colonial look about them and even though it is a reasonably busy little city it had a very laid back feel about it.

Black pearls seem to be all the rage in these islands and every second establishment seemed to be selling jewellery notably black pearls. We didn’t see any real bargains but we did hear of someone who purchased “Genuine” Niki runners at a very good discount, wore them once on the boat and the side collapsed on one of the shoes.

 Along one wall of the market place were tables where ladies were weaving beautiful flowers into garlands and the smell was incredible.

On the opposite side of the wharf where we were berthed lay a huge luxury yacht as in sailing yacht. It was at least half the length of Sea Princess, the mast was that high it had a red light on top to warn low flying aircraft and it even had a small sea plane secured to the back deck. Absolutely immaculate, shiny new stainless everywhere and bright white shiny hull, it could quite easily have been brand new. Rumour has it is owned by a crowd called Spitfire Investments??