March 27, 2018 – Pitcairn Island

After cruising 1,120 miles from Nuku Hiva, Crystal Symphony arrived about one hour early and anchored offshore at Adamstown ─ the only inhabited village, containing the entire population of Pitcairn island. The island appears green and fertile, with steep cliffs down to the sea. There was no plan for us to go ashore here, as the landing dock at Pitcairn is much too small and seas too rough for our tenders to operate safely. The hope was that a contingent of the Pitcairn island residents would be able to leave the island and board our ship where we were anchored at sea.

The Pitcairn Islands consist of four tiny islands in the remote South Pacific, only one of which (Pitcairn Island itself) is inhabited. Our location (in round numbers) is 25°S, 130°W ─ roughly 1,300 miles east southeast of Tahiti and just over 4,100 miles from Panama. The claim is that Pitcairn is further from any continent than any other inhabited island. The four islands have a total land area of about 18 square miles, including Pitcairn Island at 2.2 square miles.

Politically, Pitcairn is a dependent territory of the United Kingdom and is administered from New Zealand, 3,300 miles away. It is best known as home of the descendants of Fletcher Christian and his fellow British mutineers from the HMS Bounty, along with 16 Tahitians (Polynesians) ─ 11 women, six men and one baby ─ who accompanied them to Pitcairn in 1790, an event retold in numerous books and, of course, the movie, "Mutiny on the Bounty."

The stars were aligned perfectly for us again today, as the weather was beautiful ─ sunny, and warm with no rain, although it was a little windy. We watched from our balcony as a rather large motor boat from the island left Bounty Bay and finally arrived alongside Symphony. It looked like there were close to 40 people on this boat. Unfortunately, the seas were too rough for them to transfer to our ship, and they pulled well back away from us. Everyone went to Plan B. Captain Larsen fired up the engines, and Symphony cruised around to the other side of the island to a new, alternate site offshore from Water Valley, which just opened last year (funded by the European Union). Waters were calmer there. The motor boat full of islanders followed us and were able to successfully transfer all passengers and a large load of cargo ─ souvenirs and goodies to sell to our passengers later in the morning at a “Pitcairn Craft Market.” This operation was completed, with all Pitcairn citizens onboard by 10:00, which was the original time that had been planned. It’s good that Captain Larsen arrived early this morning.

At 10:30, we went to the Galaxy Lounge, to hear one of the Pitcairn islanders ─ Melba Evans ─ talk to us about life on this remote outpost of civilization. Melba was born and raised on the island, and she is a 6th generation descendent of Fletcher Christian. She married an American who lived on Pitcairn for a while, and eventually they moved to America. She moved, with him, to Alaska and said she really liked it there. When her mother became ill, she moved back to Pitcairn to take care of her. She misses her family, but they stay in touch by Facebook.

She described all four islands briefly. They are hundreds of miles apart. Henderson Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and no development may take place there. The other two islands are atolls, and Pitcairn people might travel to one of them, “if they want to get away from it all for a holiday,” as she described it. That drew a lot of chuckles from the audience. There is a problem at some of the islands with plastics and trash washing ashore (from far, far away).

Melba showed us photos of the community In Adamstown ─ the Post Office, General Store, Museum, Public Hall, Seventh Day Adventist Church, and the Medical Center. There is no harbor or airstrip. They have a supply ship that stops by once every three months, bringing the mail and supplies (such as meat and other food from New Zealand). It must anchor here, as we did. Then the islanders must transfer the goods to longboats for transfer to shore.

They are self-sustaining for many tropical fruits and vegetables, as the soil is good for agricul­ture; the fishing is good as well. They store rain water for their drinking water. The medical clinic is well fitted-out with supplies for their one doctor. More complex medical illness is a problem, as the person must take the supply ship to Mangareva Island in French Polynesia some 300 miles away. From there they can be flown to Papeete. There is no dentist on the island right now. There is one school for the island’s three children, and one contract teacher from New Zealand.

There are currently 45 permanent Pitcairn residents on the island and 10 people on various-length contract jobs (mostly hired by the government). Interestingly, she said the only “jobs” on the island are government jobs. Nobody else has a paying job. Of course, they can earn some money selling handicrafts to visiting tourists, such as cruise ship passengers.

While Melba was talking to us, the other Pitcairn Island people set up their products for sale on Deck 11, around the Seahorse Pool. As the sun was hot, everything was on tables in the shade.

The main locally-produced handicrafts include woven baskets, wood carvings, honey, and the island's postage stamps (primarily of interest to philatelists). The wood carvings we saw were done from beautifully grained Miro wood, which we understand comes from Henderson Island. Many of our passengers were buying post cards and stamps, which they hurriedly filled out and gave to the Pitcairn Island postmaster, who was onboard to collect the mail. Of course, the supply ship won’t leave the island until June. From there it goes to New Zealand. So, it may be many months until this mail reaches recipients anywhere in the world.

They are very proud of their honey, which Melba stated is “The purest honey in the world” as it comes from disease-free bee populations. They export their honey to New Zealand and to the United Kingdom. We did buy some of the honey today and will bring it home with us. We also bought a t-shirt from this man, who claimed to be descended from Fletcher Christian.

They were also willing to stamp our passports with the Pitcairn stamp for $10. We skipped that one, as our passports are full enough already. The islanders seemed to do well with their sales, earning a good bit of money.

Pitcairn people must be a sturdy bunch to survive on this small, lonely island. The ones that visited with us headed off the ship at about 3:00, and Symphony departed at 3:20. Captain Larsen saluted them with several blasts of the ship’s horn. The island faded away from our view very quickly. It’s a wonder Fletcher Christian and his co-conspirators ever found the island at all, back in 1790. 

Sunday (March 25) was a busy day at sea, as we attended some enrichment lectures, a Cruise Critic “Meet & Mingle” in Palm Court (fourth one for the World Cruise), and a fun Country & Western Dance Party in Crystal Cove. Shown are some of the members of the ship’s entertainment team, followed by our Signature Connections friends, Bob & Tom.

Following the Country & Western Party, there was a great show in the Galaxy Lounge with Karen Grainger at 9:15 p.m. Karen is a really good impersonator of famous female vocalists of the past 20 – 30 years. But, above all she has a great stage presence – strong singing voice and a fun persona. Karen performed for 2½ years on Crystal Symphony in a collaborative show called “Crystal Diva,” which ended several years ago, and she was very happy to be back. It was a full house standing ovation for her.

Monday (March 26) was also busy, starting in early morning with a “Waffles on the Bridge” breakfast celebration for full-world-cruisers (that’s us). We joined Captain Larsen (Master of the Vessel) and Sarah Hayes (World Cruise Hostess) for this special event on the bridge. Interest­ingly, there was a female officer steering the ship while we were up there. We’ve also seen her “driving” the tender boats. Good for her!

Here was the remainder of our schedule on Monday: two enrichment lecture sessions (Galaxy Lounge) in the morning; Magic Castle at Sea magic show (in the Avenue Saloon) in late afternoon; dinner in the Prego Italian Restaurant; a Dixieland Jazz Show (Crystal Cove); “Passion” Dance Show with the Latin Dance Team (Starlite Club). We must confess we didn’t stay up late for the Classical Pianist show at 9:15 p.m. Both the jazz show and the dance show were outstanding – there is real talent on this ship’s entertainment team. Days at sea are always very busy.

Jim & Ginny

March 24, 2018 – Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

We have reached the Marquesas Islands, the furthest east and most northern archipelago of French Polynesia (740 miles northeast of Tahiti). Crystal Symphony arrived yesterday (Friday, March 23), and we are anchored outside the village of Taiohae, the capital of the islands.

Taiohae (9°S, 140°W) is located on the south side of the island of Nuku Hiva - the largest of the Marquesas Islands, and the second largest in French Polynesia after Tahiti. The town is said to be in the center of an ancient volcanic crater, half of which collapsed into the ocean, creating a beautiful horseshoe-shaped bay, protected by tall rocky promontories. The nearby mountain of Muake rises to a height of 2,834 feet.

Even though the island of Nuku Hiva is large, the population is small -- only about 2,700, and half of them live in the village of Taiohae. Residents are predominantly Polynesian, with a small number of Europeans, mostly from France. Roman Catholic is the predominant religion.

All the Marquesas Islands are volcanic, with high, craggy mountains. Nuku Hiva is very pretty to look at from our vantage point in the bay, with verdant green mountains. But the interior of the island is mostly rugged, mountainous terrain that’s drained by small rivers and streams that flow through deep valleys. There are only two major roads on the entire island of Nuku Hiva, and to travel between sides of the island, boats must be used.

The Marquesas were first “discovered” by a Spanish explorer in the late 16th century, and they gave them the name, by which they are still known today. In the 18th and 19th centuries, portions of the Marquesas were claimed, in turn, by Americans and the British. But, eventually, all the Marquesas were annexed by France in 1842. Total population of all six islands now approaches 10,000. It was said that at one time there were 100,000 residents in the Marquesas before foreign sailors in the 19th & 20th centuries brought diseases and firearms that decimated huge numbers of natives.

Friday, March 23, 2018
On the first day we were anchored in Nuku Hiva, Jim ventured off the ship, via tender boat, into Taiohae. Ginny remained back onboard Symphony, as transiting onto and off of the tender was somewhat challenging, with sea swells causing a little rolling and rocking of both the ship and the tender. Once on shore, passengers were greeted by a large group of school kids dancing and playing drums. They had a lot energy and were very welcoming.

Amazingly, there was another ship – Oceania Marina – also anchored in the bay this morning. We haven’t seen many other cruise ships on this voyage. The large number of visitors didn’t seem to overwhelm the town, and most people visited the handicraft tents set up at the tender dock or walked around the small town. The only complication was remembering to get back on the correct tender to return to the correct ship (Crystal or Oceania).

Bringing the port map with him that the Crystal Symphony staff provided, Jim walked along the main street of town, which goes along the curving shoreline of the bay.

After walking about ¾ of a mile, he reached Notre Dame Cathedral, the largest church in the Marquesas Islands. The surroundings are tranquil, lush, and colorful. The church itself is a relatively new structure (completed in 1975) built from wood and stones that came from the archipelago’s six inhabited islands. Once again, inside the church, the wooden statues were carved from trees that came from all the six islands. The woodcarvings were a blend of Marquesan art with Christian symbolism. It appeared that some Christian saints are depicted with Polynesian faces. Luckily, it wasn’t crowded, and Jim could spend some time looking around, admiring the sunny, friendly-looking place of worship.

Nearby the Cathedral, but across the road and along the seafront, is a fascinating site exhibiting many tiki (sacred statues) and a tohua (open-air gathering place) in a broad expanse of green grass. There was a sign labeling this area as Piki Vehine. Apparently, this area was built on land reclaimed from the sea in 1989 to celebrate an important Art Festival of the Marquesas Islands. On the tour Jim took the next day, the guide told us that each of the islands contributed two statues, and two master sculptors completed some of the other pieces shown here. The site was used again in 2007 for another Marquesan art festival. The semi-annual event rotates between the six inhabited islands and encourages remembrance of Marquesan culture and heritage. They’ve done a wonderful job here.

As we are 540 miles from the equator, and it was getting hot, Jim headed back to the ship. But not before buying Ginny a colorful, handmade beaded necklace from the local artisanal center in town.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Oceania Marina departed overnight, so we had Nuku Hiva all to ourselves today. Jim signed up for a shore excursion titled, “Scenic Island Drive.” It was the only excursion offered in this port, and it was available both yesterday and today. There were about 50 passengers on the excursion. After taking the tender boat to shore at Taiohae, we were met by 20 4-wheel drive vehicles (Jim’s was a pickup truck). We were warned in advance that the drivers would not be able to speak English, and that was the case. There was one Frenchman acting as tour guide for all of us. He came to Nuku Hiva more than 20 years ago as a language teacher and decided to stay. He spoke very good English, as well as French and the native language.

Our parade of vehicles stopped first at the Notre Dame Cathedral. The guide talked about 15 minutes on Marquesas history, the Polynesian legend of how the islands were formed, and about the Catholic Cathedral here in Nuku Hiva. He was most proud of the revival of Marquesan culture, which was initiated and encouraged by a new Catholic Bishop who arrived here in the early 1970s. Prior to his arrival, the British, American, and French missionaries had outlawed all forms of personal expression, such as tattooing, flowers, dancing, native music, native art, and use of native language. This Bishop reversed the edicts, and the native people love him for it. The Catholic church flourished in Nuku Hiva, and this beautiful Cathedral was built. In its construction, ancient patterns and techniques were used where possible.

Inside the church, a local youth group was rehearsing for the Palm Sunday service. Our tour group members filed in quietly and spent no more than 5 minutes looking around. Jim was glad he had visited the Cathedral the previous day but learned a lot from the tour guide also.

Next was the same Piki Vehine area Jim visited yesterday. Again, the guide explained the significance of this area but allowed only about five minutes to look around.

Then the real scenic tour began, with a steep climb (and lots of switchbacks) up the mountain on what our tour guide said is one of only two roads on Nuku Hiva Island (the other road leads to the airport). We made one stop at the Muaka overlook site, to take photos of the Taiohae Bay, with our ship anchored there among the many seagoing yachts that call on this port.

Back on the road, we observed more spectacular scenery through the island’s interior on the way to Taipivai Valley, on Nuku Hiva’s eastern side. 

Taipivai was made famous by Moby Dick author Herman Melville, who took refuge here for several weeks living with Taipi people, and this was the setting for his first novel, Typee (1846). We were told that recently Taipai was the setting for one season of the TV program “Survivor.”

We finally arrived at the Taipivai Village, where the 2011 Art Festival of the Marquesas was held, which once again brought together residents of all the islands (including Easter Island this time). Local people set up a table of local fruits for us to sample (banana, coconut, breadfruit, grapefruit), as well as a table of local handmade handicrafts for sale.

We made a quick stop at Hooumi black sand beach, so that we could say we had reached “the end of the world,” as our tour guide called it.

Then we returned to our tender port, on the same nail-biting route (in reverse) as we used earlier in the day. This was a good visit to an island we had never heard of before, and it is almost totally undeveloped. They seem to be restrained by mountainous terrain and a lack of natural resources, other than rain, sunshine, and enough fruits and vegetables to feed the population. That, and a lot of beautiful scenery might be enough to live a happy life, as long as the French people support them.

We had an onboard World Cruise special event last Friday, March 23rd, called Casino Royale, which was held partially in the “Luxe” (High Rollers Club) and partially in the ship’s casino. All full-world-cruisers started with 10 free chips, and we could try our luck at Blackjack, Craps, and Roulette over a 2-hour period. Most of the ship’s entertainment team was there, in costume, and we had a lot of fun. We also learned not to use our own money for such games, as we lost everything rather quickly at Blackjack. They gave us (and almost everyone else) a few more chips along the way. Ginny was a big winner at the slot machine tournament and won big bucks, which we used to claim prizes.

Neil Lockwood returned for the third time as entertainer of the night that same evening. We always attend his shows, because he is the “real deal,” a very charismatic and talented entertainer. We never knew that hard rockers such as Neil were really that talented. This show featured a journey through his career, including when he was lead singer for The Alan Parsons Project and Electric Light Orchestra Part 2.

We also attended a short, 30-minute show, “Rock & Pop-A-Mania” starring the Crystal Ensemble of Singers & Dancers, as well as the versatile Crystal Showband. This show was in the Starlite Club. But we skipped the Dance Production “5, 6, 7, 8” later that night in the Galaxy Lounge. They were doing this show for the 3rd or 4th time, and once was enough for us.

A large group of enrichment lecturers are now onboard. We’ve attended and enjoyed all their lectures – Tom Faranda (World Affairs), Bob Alberts (Geography, and Destination Lecturer), Hilary McCormack (a Crown Prosecutor in Canada – same as District Attorney in the US – and DNA expert), Captain John Creighton (former NASA astronaut who flew on three Space Shuttle missions, twice as commander), Glenn Rosenblum (Special Interest Lecturer – Broadway and Hollywood), Dr. Ed Sobey (Oceanographer, museum director, and explorer).

We’re now cruising in a south-southeasterly direction, heading for Easter Island. We’ll see Pitcairn Island on Tuesday (Mar 27), but not go ashore, and then reach Easter Island on Friday (March 30).

Jim & Ginny

March 21, 2018 – Fakarava, French Polynesia

We don’t want to sound too repetitious from yesterday’s experience at Rangiroa, but Fakarava is another atoll in the west of the Tuamotu group in French Polynesia, southeast of Rangiroa and about 300 miles northeast of Tahiti. It’s the second largest of the Tuamotu atolls, after Rangiroa. The shape of Fakarava Atoll is roughly rectangular -- length of 37 miles and width of 13 miles. The lagoon has a surface area of 429 square miles, and there are two passes through the coral reef (entryways for ships entering or leaving the lagoon), one of which is said to be the largest in French Polynesia (½-mile wide). We read that the total land area around the lagoon is six square miles.

Here’s an aerial photo of Fakarava we found on the Internet, which clearly shows the coral reef and small motu (islands and islets) separating the water inside and outside of the lagoon.

Water in the lagoon is very clear and calm. Snorkeling must be great here. We understand that the best diving and snorkeling spots are in the vicinity of the two (northern and southern) passes. Gentler snorkeling opportunities must abound at some of the secluded fine sand motu (islets) on the atoll, as you can see in the above photo.

Fakarava has been designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, in recognition of its unique flora and fauna. This designation normally provides motivation to the local community to be actively involved in conservation efforts.

This morning, we traveled via tender boat at 9:30 am, from our ship anchored in the lagoon to Rotoava, the main village and administrative center of Fakarava. The water was so calm in this lagoon (as it was yesterday at Rangiroa) that getting on and off the tender was very easy to do; even Ginny enjoyed it!

Fakarava has a total of about 800 inhabitants, and most of them live in Rotoava. Once again, there were a few tables set up with souvenirs for sale, as we stepped off the tender. This time, it was almost totally handmade shell necklaces, with a few black pearls also available. There’s another black pearl farm on this island. We looked around the souvenir stands for about 10 - 15 minutes but didn’t buy anything.

Needless to say, there is very good diving and snorkeling here, but there were no shore excursions offered by Crystal. There were opportunities to hire a local person in Rotoava, if someone wanted to do any of these water activities.

Jim decided to take a walk in the village of Rotoava and was surprised that there was a long, paved road running through town and along the lagoon, with a few dirt roads leading off the main road for a few blocks before hitting water again.

It was a nice walk, with bougainvillea and other colorful plants lining the road, a bright colorful church, well-built homes, a boulangerie, and snack shop. This seems like a fairly quiet, but pleasant, village.

There were two fairly small spots in the village that looked tempting for swimming in the crystal-clear water. Jim saw several fellow passengers from the ship taking advantage of the opportunity. There are a few pensions (guest houses) here, but Jim didn’t see any major resort hotels.

Fakarava looks like a small, pleasant, remote place to escape to, if you want to get away (a long way away) from the modern world for a while. It’s also a great place if you want to spend a lot of time in the water.

Because we've been visiting so many ports during this portion of the world cruise, it's been relatively quiet during the day on board ship, as people go ashore on excursions or to explore on their own. Soon we'll be having more "days at sea." We're looking forward to the new enrichment speakers and other activities. Ginny may even start her watercolor classes again.

We may not attend as many evening entertainment shows, as they're now having only one show at 9:30 p.m. Up until now there were two shows per night -- early (7:30) and late (10:00).  They're also starting to repeat the production shows. In fact, one show (Speakeasy) was repeated for the third time since we got on the ship a month ago. We did go to see the encore performance of Mark Merchant, the ventriloquist, for an all-new show. He's very talented and quite humorous. Another night we went to a show by Giovanni, a vocalist performing "old school" Motown and Soul Train hits. For the most part, he was a hit with this audience.

Jim & Ginny

 

March 20, 2018 – Rangiroa, French Polynesia

This is a very pretty place – almost totally undeveloped, and a slice of the real South Pacific. It helped that the weather was so sunny and gorgeous today. This secluded atoll is 220 miles from Papeete, and there are no soaring, jagged mountain peaks like we saw on Moorea or Tahiti. Here, everything is flat, sandy soil with a covering of palms and pine trees.

Rangiroa is the largest atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago, and one of the largest in the world, with a lagoon so large (618 square miles) that it could fit the entire island of Tahiti inside of it. Circumference of the reef surrounding the lagoon is 110 miles. There are only two navigable openings (passes) in the reef to pass through from the ocean into the lagoon. It was interesting watching the crew steer Symphony slowly through one of those narrow passes this morning to an anchoring spot in the calm waters of the lagoon, close to one of the larger islands (motu) circling the atoll.

Only two islands, of the over 250 total islands, islets, and sandbars surrounding the lagoon, are permanently inhabited, and there’s a total population of less than 2,500 people living here. Rangiroa’s lagoon and prolific marine life have contributed to its reputation as a diving mecca. Many of our fellow passengers chose to go snorkeling today, while others decided to go on a glass-bottom boat ride. There were ten shore excursions offered for just those two activities. 

We decided to take the tender boat across the tranquil waters of the lagoon to a pier on one of the islands. It was relatively deserted here, as it’s about 7 miles to the nearest small town of about 250 residents. There were a few temporary stands set up at the tender dock, with people selling black pearl necklaces and other souvenirs. Our goal was to find the free Gauguin Pearls shuttle bus that Ginny had read about on the Internet before leaving home.

We found the free shuttle bus to the Gauguin Pearls “pearl farm” right away. This farm is where they process and sell cultured black pearls.

On the ride to the farm, we drove around the extremely flat island. There were many coconut palms and a few scattered houses and stores – one of the busiest was the dive shop The water is very clear here and it looked like the snorkeling and diving would be outstanding.

At the farm, we watched workers prepare and harvest pearls from oyster shells. The shells are originally allowed to grow for three years. They are then taken out of the lagoon and operated on. A tiny section of tissue (called the mantle) is removed and replaced with a piece of mantle from another pearl oyster that will produce a pearl of a particularly pleasing gray-green color. Then a tiny piece of shell from a Mississippi River shell fish is inserted in a pocket in the mantle. This forms the base of the pearl. It seemed to be a very delicate operation. The technician doing this can work on 350 shells a day. 

The oyster is placed in a pond to recover from the surgery and then, after a day, a hole is drilled in the shell and it is attached to a rope. The ropes are placed in the lagoon to grow for 18 months before the black pearl is harvested. The whole process takes 3 – 4 years. This can be done three times with each shell. Each pearl harvested is bigger than the one before it.

This particular Gauguin Pearls operation is quite large, with 200,00 acres of designated lagoon space and 400,000 oysters being cultivated. Luckily, we left the pearl farm without buying any jewelry. Ginny already has a very pretty black pearl necklace from Bora Bora that Jim bought for her a few years ago. We took the bus back to the tender base, and Ginny bought Jim a Rangiroa t-shirt for his birthday.

There’s a fascinating phenomenon here that we’d never heard of before. The string of thin motu (islands, islets, etc.) – generally less than ¼-mile wide – on the long coral reef are bordered by two different kinds of salt-water ocean: Moana-tea (Peaceful Ocean), mostly calm water which defines the lagoon (enclosed inside the reef), and Moana-uri (Wild Ocean) which pounds in waves on shore outside the reef. The difference was clearly noticeable as we rode on our shuttle bus to the pearl farm.

Additionally, because of the existence of only two passes through the reef, each high tide creates a strong incoming current while each low tide creates a strong outgoing current through those two passes. When the current is flowing outward through the pass, many sharks gather at the pass, remaining motionless waiting for their lunch or dinner to be delivered to them. The incoming tide brings many natural habitats into the lagoon but apparently not the sharks.

As Crystal Symphony departed the Rangiroa lagoon late this afternoon, we encountered many fishing and diving boats in our path, and as we cruised through the pass out into the Pacific, there were other boats waving goodbye to us.

It was a good visit to Rangiroa. Tomorrow, we travel to Fakarava, a similar atoll also in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia.

Jim & Ginny

March 19, 2018 – Tahiti, Society Islands

We arrived in Papeete on Saturday evening, March 17, at 6:00 p.m., after a short 11-mile cruise from Moorea. Papeete is the capital of French Polynesia and lies on the Island of Tahiti. We spent two nights here and will leave tonight at 6:00 p.m. Here are the views of Papeete from our ship, looking in both the port and starboard directions.

 

French Polynesia is a possession of France, made up of more than 100 volcanic and coral islands and atolls, go­ing for more than 1,200 miles – a huge stretch of the Pacific Ocean as big as Western Europe. It is an oversea territory of France, with the legal status of a “collectivité.” They can pass their own laws, except in areas of foreign affairs, defense, the courts, security, and currency, which remain the responsibility of France. 

Papeete is located more than 10,000 miles away from Paris, but French is the only official language of French Polynesia. In round numbers, there are close to 280,000 inhabitants in all of French Polynesia, and nearly 200,000 of them live here on this one island of Tahiti. The city of Papeete and its suburbs include approximately 137,000 inhabitants. This is the big, bustling, industrial and commercial hub of the Central South Pacific. 

We learned a lot about French Polynesia during our shore excursion today, including time we spent at the Museum of Tahiti and Her Islands. Within its massive geographical area, French Polynesia is logically divided into five archipelagos: (1) The Society Islands: (the largest) – includes Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora. (2) The Tuamotu Archipelago and (3) the Gambier Archipelago are often associated together and include low islands and atolls – includes Rangiroa and Fakarava, our next two destinations this week). (4) The Australis Archipelago is the southern extremity of French Polynesia (including five inhabited islands). (5) The Marquesas are composed of 12 high, volcanic islands without lagoons. (We will visit one of these islands later this week).

Saturday evening a local Tahitian entertainment team – O Tahiti E – came on board Crystal Symphony and performed a program. Both the male and female performers were very athletic and full of energy, showing us what we understood were traditional, fast-paced dance movements, costumes, music (especially percussion), and the joy of dancing. The female dancers amazed us with how they moved their hips at an unbelievable fast speed. It was an absolutely great show.

Sunday, March 18, 2018 - Papeete
We have visited Papeete several times in the past and decided we wanted to get outside of the big city and look at more of the countryside of Tahiti. We signed up for a 4-hour shore excursion called, “Tahiti’s Temples, Artists & Culture” for today, and that was a good choice.

Our tour guide was an extraordinary German woman who moved to Tahiti more than 30 years ago and has apparently absorbed everything there is to know about the culture, history, topography, and botany of the island. She talked nearly nonstop for the whole four hours and was fascinating to listen to. 

Our first stop was at the Arahurahu Marae, a stone temple which was used for many functions by the ancient Polynesians. Of course, these people didn’t keep any written records. Our guide gave us a few ideas of what could have taken place here – ceremonies, funerals, executions of enemies, etc. The marae has been fully restored and is used for the reenactment of old Polynesian ceremonies or celebrations these days. It is a tranquil, beautifully maintained site with lush, tropical foliage. 

In the village of Papeari, we made a wonderful, slow-paced visit to a private home built in 1920 on a promontory point with a beautiful view out into the ocean, the south coast of the island, and the peninsula of Tahiti Iti. The current owners of the home are also owners of the very popular and well-respected “Restaurant du Musee Gaguin,” also in the village of Papeari. The 82-year-old owner, Juliet Gowen, guided us through her landscaped grounds. She described each of the plants and trees, with their medicinal properties (many of which are Chinese remedies) -- just amazing. At the end of the tour, she treated us to juice and fresh fruits right from her garden. This estate is a genuine tropical paradise and a special experience!

On the return trip to the ship, we made two short photo stops – one at a very nice public garden, and another at a fern grotto. But, the longest, and most interesting stop was at The Museum of Tahiti and Her Islands, which is about 10 miles south of Papeete. Purpose of the museum is to conserve and restore Polynesian artifacts and cultural practices. Our guide led us through the museum’s first several sections, but then we ran out of time and had to return to the ship. The museum is divided into four separate sections: geography and natural history, pre-European culture, the effects of colonization, and natural wonders. Exhibits were well done, and it would have been nice to spend more time here.

Papeete was the end of a segment of the World Cruise, and a lot of non-World-Cruisers left the ship today to fly home, while new people are getting on the ship for the next segment. We will continue cruising in an ESE direction across the South Pacific to Valparaiso (Santiago), Chile. Here’s a map of the planned itinerary for the next 19 days.

Monday, March 19, 2018 - Papeete
We woke up early and put our laundry in three washing machines at 5:30 this morning, in order to beat the crowd. It was all washed, dried, and folded by breakfast time at 8:00. These necessities of life sometimes intrude on the day-to-day schedule aboard ship. Today was a good day, because we had already decided this was going to be a day to rest and relax a little bit. We managed to do a pretty good job at that.

Here’s a recap of the nighttime entertainment we attended in the Galaxy Lounge over the past few days:

• Tuesday, March 13: Encore show for jazz pianist Kym Purling 
• Wednesday, March 14: A 2018 World Cruise Special Event, “An Evening in The South Pacific” featuring the entire World Cruise Entertainment Team. This was a really well-done show -- conceived, written, produced, and staged onboard Symphony as a one-time show. 
• Thursday, March 15: “Speakeasy” Production Show 
• Friday, March 16: Mark Merchant, Comedy Ventriloquist. Much fun. 
• Saturday, March 17: “O Tahiti E” Tahitian Dance Show as descried above. 
• Sunday, March 18: Repeat of the “O Tahiti E” show for the new cruisers who just boarded the ship 
• Monday, March 19: “Crystal in Motion.” We’ve already seen this twice, so we skipped it this time.

Our routine is to attend these shows every night after dinner, and before going to bed; but, there’s much more going on for the “night owls.” There is live music (and dancing) in four different venues around the ship every night – Crystal Cove, Palm Court, Starlite Club, and Avenue Saloon.

Tomorrow, March 20, we continue in French Polynesia, with an anchorage offshore at Rangiroa. 

Jim & Ginny

March 17, 2018 – Moorea, Society Islands

Jim spent his birthday in paradise today, and it was a great day – warm, mostly sunny weather on the beautiful island of Moorea, a St. Patrick’s Day party on board Crystal Symphony, dinner at the Prego specialty restaurant, and a show by the traditional Tahitian dance group “O Tahiti E” brought onboard ship in Papeete. 

James Michener said it, Captain James Cook said it, and even Charles Darwin is said to have said it, so we can too: Moorea, in French Polynesia, is probably the most beautiful place on the face of the earth. Its dramatic scenery was made famous as Bali Hai in the movie South Pacific, then again in the 1983 Mel Gibson movie, The Bounty. It has long been known as the Romantic Island. We were lucky today, as the rain from Bora Bora didn’t follow us to Moorea overnight. It did remain somewhat cloudy all day, until Symphony’s departure for Tahiti in late afternoon, when the rain started again.

Moorea (sometimes seen spelled as Mo’orea) is a heart-shaped island, with two fjord-like deep bays on its north shore on either side of a very tall mountain range -- Opunohu Bay on the west side, and Cook’s Bay on the east side. The entire island is surrounded by coral reef and a spectacular turquoise-blue lagoon. The island of Tahiti is located only 11 miles away, to the east of Moorea.

Symphony was anchored this morning near the mouth of Opunohu Bay, and we caught the 8:45 tender boat to the docking point at the Papetō'ai Pier. Our travel agent, through their Signature Connection alliance, arranged for a private car and local guide to take us on a guided sightseeing tour of Moorea, starting at 9:30. While waiting for the guide, we looked at the souvenirs for sale by local merchants at the tables set up at the pier and admired the octagonal Papetō'ai Protestant Church (built by missionaries in the 1800s).

Our guide, Depita, arrived exactly on time, and we began with a short drive along the coast and then along Opunohu Bay, until turning inland for a drive into the lush, forested interior of the island passing by a rather large shrimp “farm,” as Depita called it, and an agriculture school. She then drove on a narrow road up the sides of an extinct volcano to the Belvedere Lookout (at 790 feet) for grand views of the island, especially Mt. Rotui (2,624 feet) in the center, separating the two bays.

There are three other volcanic peaks on the island – Mt. Tohiea (3,959 ft.), Mt. Puta (2,722 ft.), and Mt. Roa (2,499 ft.), which is called Bali Hai in the movie South Pacific.

We returned to the (only) main road – the one that circles the island – and started our 37-mile circumnavigation of the island, in a clockwise direction. We glimpsed a few of the almost-hidden large hotels, such as the Hilton and the Intercontinental. We made a quick stop at the Manutea factory and showroom. Here, they prepare and package many different fruit juices and drinks, especially pineapple, (marketed under the Rotui and Sunwave brands), as well as fruit purees, smoothies, iced tea, and jams. They’ve also expanded into distilling liquors from the pulp of their fruits, as well as creamy alcoholic drinks and pineapple wine. We sampled some of the fruit juice drinks, but turned down the alcoholic drink samples.

 
Next, we circled Cook’s Bay; despite the name, Captain Cook first explored Moorea from his anchorage at Opunohu Bay in 1777, not from the bay now named for him. The scenery on Moorea is different from what we’ve been seeing in other Pacific islands – green rolling hills, backed by tall, imposing mountain peaks with gorgeous beaches and the ever present blue lagoon. This island seems to have it all. We believe so many movies have been filmed here because there isn’t a lot of ultra-modern construction or industrialization on the island. We saw fields of bananas, pineapple, mango, papaya, breadfruit, taro, and avocado. 

There are 17,000 people living on Moorea, but there is nothing even faintly resembling a city. People, houses and small shops are scattered all around the island, and they’re surrounded by nature wherever they live. The only location where there was a build-up was at the Gare Maritime, boat terminal for the ferry boats making the 30-minute ride between Moorea and Papeete (Tahiti) many times daily. We stopped there, and our guide bought us some fresh pineapple at the fruit market. She says she only goes to Tahiti when she has to, because there are too many people, cars, and traffic there. When she visits her daughter, who is a policewoman in Papeete, she always takes fresh fruits to her. 

Jim took some photos from the Toatea panoramic viewpoint on the east side of Moorea Island, right above the Hotel Sofitel, with the island of Tahiti in the background. It’s obvious where the reef is located, separating the turquoise-blue lagoon from the dark-blue Pacific Ocean.

 

As we passed by the west coast of the island, returning to the Papetō'ai Pier, it seemed less “developed” (i.e., less housing and small stores). But the lagoon was still beautiful, and vegetation abounded. It was a good tour, and we especially enjoyed not getting on and off a tour bus at each stop. Plus, of course, you learn more about what life is like by talking to local people on a private tour.

After the tender ride back to the ship, we had lunch on the back deck of the ship with our friends Butch and Diane, who are on the same world cruise itinerary as we are – switching ships in Sydney harbor, from Crystal Serenity to Crystal Symphony and staying on all the way to Fort Lauderdale.

The sail-away was especially beautiful today from the aft end of the ship, with great views of the jagged mountain peaks and spires that give Moorea its unique profile.

Symphony departed Moorea at 4:00 p.m., destined for the island of Tahiti. Total length of the cruise was two hours, so arrival in Papeete was at 6:00 p.m.

At 5:00 p.m., the entertainment team put on a very nice St. Patrick’s Day party in the Starlite Club. We were given one gold hat, one green hat, and green beads to wear to the party, as well as a book of Irish songs. There was a lot of singing, dancing, and drinking. The party was planned by Jonathon Hawkins and Alex (an Irish gal who is one of the singers/dancers). We had a good time, but had to leave at 6:00 to go to the Prego specialty restaurant for dinner. They presented Jim with a birthday cake for desert, even though neither of us had told them that it was Jim’s birthday.

We’ll continue with a description of the late-night local Tahitian dancing show brought on board Symphony, in our next posting -- from Papeete. 

Jim & Ginny