Years ago I read the book “South Pacific” by James Mitchner and always dreamt that one day I would experience its allure. We are now in the heart of the infamous South Pacific and it is every bit as picturesque as you see it in the movies. Imagine high waterfalls, lush tropical vegetation, rugged interior, white and black sandy beaches, and the surf. Think Hawaii. The islands that make up French Polynesia are like the Hawaiian Islands but much more primitive, smaller, rugged, and very hot.
We did a tour of the town of Papeete on Tahiti Nui or Big Tahiti (the larger of the two islands that make up Tahiti) which is quite commercialized. A hot item to purchase, if you are interested, is of course the Tahitian black pearl. Lucky for Brad, I wasn’t interested is buying a strand but I still dragged him around to the Pearl Museum which I thoroughly enjoyed. On our tour of the island, we visited a 700 foot waterfall, a “blow hole”, and Venus Point where Captain James Cook watched the solar eclipse of Venus in 1769. At Point Venus, there stands a 140 year old lighthouse to overlook this site.
After another day at sea we reached Rarotonga, Cook Islands. This island is the capital of the Cook Islands. It is smaller that Tahiti, also mountainous and covered in jungle. There are white sandy beaches and our destination was Muri Beach to do some swimming and snorkelling over the coral reef. Well, the ship did anchor and the tender boats went on shore to set up. Then came heavy rains, high winds, and rough seas. Our mission was aborted and we set sail for New Zealand. We expect to arrive there in five days.
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