Hello French Polynesia!
Hello again,
I wanted to share with you some of the high lights from the last few months… in particular, my recent travels to the idyllic French Polynesia.
I have often said that the universe presents opportunities to you every day. Sometimes these opportunities are missed and sometimes they are not…and when acted upon, these opportunities present a new ‘life adventure’.
One Sunday afternoon late last year, I switched on the T.V. (I wanted some distraction while I tackled my weekly ironing) and a program featuring the cruise ship the ‘Paul Gauguin’ caught my eye.
I admit, I am not one for cruises, I prefer a land based or scuba diving holiday however, the ‘Paul Gauguin’ captured my interest. She was small ship, had a 5 star rating, carried a limited number of passengers and specialised in short 8 – 10 day cruises in and around French Polynesia. I took note and on Monday morning, booked Andrew and I on an 8 day French Polynesian cruise.
We flew to in Tahiti, stayed 2 days in a nice resort in Papeete and boarded the Paul Gauguin late the next day….let the fun begin. We were greeted aboard with French Champagne, introduced to Marionette (who would look after us for the next 8 days) given an invitation for ‘Cocktails with the Captain’ at 6.00pm and escorted to our cabin. We unpacked, headed to the ‘tour desk’ and booked 4 scuba dives and 2 land tours.
Tahiti is world famous for her Black Pearls and I have a love of fine jewellery. I am lucky for Andrew indulges me often. In Bora Bora, he purchased a beautiful sterling silver (Lemon Shark) pendant adorned with a large Tahitian Black Pearl for me… that afternoon on our dive, we encountered our first Lemon Shark, a fitting end to a perfect day.
For the next 7 days, our ship dropped anchor in some of the most exotic locations our world has to offer. We scuba dived with the Eagle Rays at Huahine Island, snorkelled the coral reef at Taha’a and enjoyed an all day picnic BBQ (complete with floating bar) on (the privately owned) island of Motu Mahana. We strolled along waterfront in Bora Bora and ambled in and out of the many gift shops that sold the usual souvenirs.
We toured Moorea by 4WD truck, bounced and skidded our way along the rim of an ancient volcano and bush walked to an ancient temple, blood stained with stories of human sacrifice. We stopped at the bay where the Mutiny on the Bounty was filmed and visited a vanilla plantation…and in between all that, we ate breakfast on the top deck, lunched by the ship pool and dined in all 3 restaurants.
On my new ‘life adventure’ Andrew and I gained a small insight into the custom and folk lore of French Polynesia, met like-minded wonderful people, pondered over Trivia questions while sipping a Margarita, learned to fashion a flower Lei, dived with a Lemon Shark and much much more.
We returned home rejuvenated and well rested….however….with-in a week of arriving home, Andrew and I packed again (this time with scuba dive gear) and headed to Vanuatu for a week of diving. As they say, ‘there is no rest for the wicked’.
Stay tuned for my next blog post in which I will share my stories from our trip to Vanuatu.
Until next time,
