Papeete, French Polynesia

We entered Cook’s Bay early this morning with the sun shining over the spire of hills. This bay was made famous in the movie South Pacific. Like the brochure says, it has crystalline lagoons, fjord like bays, azure waters and velvety mountain peaks. This is like heaven should be. That is what the priest said this morning during breakfast out on the terrace. It is breath takingly beautiful. Much more so than Bora Bora. This is where they also shot the movie The Bounty.

After breakfast, we got onto the tender ( for we are anchored in the bay) and then took a catamaran, on our way to the stingrays, black tailed sharks and snorkeling. The water is a beautiful blue, so that you can see right to the bottom while the catamaran is moving. We got off into the warm water and the sting rays headed for us because they knew that the guide had raw fish for them. The sting ray are slithery and smooth underneath but a little rough on the top. I was patting one and it came up to me and then put my finger in its mouth. They have no teeth but it frightened me. They came gliding up around our feet and around our backs and in front of us. They did not mind us touching them or walking around them. The sharks were swimming further out and we were told not to go alone among them for the guide didn’t know what they might do. He was also throwing raw pieces of fish out to them. The water was so warm and clear. The women in our group would be howling and screaming when the stingrays would surprise them by swimming right in front or up their backs. They have huge eyes and a square mouth. We loved playing with them.

Then we proceeded to a quiet cove where we snorkeled amongst some coral. The under currents were fairly strong but we saw many colorful fish. Across the cove was a quiet beach which used to be Club Med. They left this particular island and Club Med is also closing down their Bora Bora location because of lack of tourists. The guide off the boat said that tourism is really down. I feel sorry for the locals.

We headed back and just missed a shower. Sunshine soon reappeared. We came back to the ship and headed to the Lido to eat. On the way, we stopped to look at all the food at the theatre where the ship is bringing in the Super Bowl game. They have the theatre all decorated with banners etc. and are serving hotdogs, hamburgers, popcorn, chips etc. The game is also piped into the tvs in the staterooms so while I am typing right now, I am also listening to the football game.

After the game, we have a sail away with drinks on the top deck. Then we are having a BQ buffet out on the top deck with free wine. After that we head for Tahiti. We land Papeete, Tahiti at 9 pm this evening and at 9:30 pm, the Tahitian dancers are coming onboard to perform on stage. This will be a very full day.

The performers and some of the guests will be leaving the ship for the first leg of the cruise is finished tomorrow and new guests will be coming onboard. There are 7 legs to this world cruise. We have received new card keys for our room. This will be happening every leg of the cruise.

Time to go and watch the remaining of the game. It is coming via satellite through ESPN. I hope they bring the Academy Awards too.