World Cruise 2018 #3

 

World Cruise 2018 #3 

 I’m back, 

 We arrived in Papeete, on Tahiti Island, in the morning and weren’t leaving until early the next morning for close by Moorea.   We’ve visited here before so pretty much knew what we wanted to see and do.  There’s plenty of sights and eateries within a short distance from where we docked. There is a great pubic market that is always a must.  

We have a favorite place to eat lunch so, once we found it, we were good to go for quite a while.  They have the best green beans, of all things, on the planet. The guy with the painted pink toenails on his little dog was next to us.  Had to get a picture of that.  

We didn’t make it too far down the street when we felt overcome by the heat and a terrible thirst.  Okay, beer is good in this city.  We really enjoyed the waitress we had at our next stop.  Also just watching the traffic on the main street with the waterfront just beyond is just so Papeete.  Great place.  Good shopping for pearls but what you see in the photo is as close as I got.  Very beautiful and very expensive. 

What we had been waiting for was dinnertime and the food trucks to start operating.  They’re near the cruise ship dock and, though there are fewer than in the past, they’re now there every night instead of just Friday’s.  Good thing because this wasn’t Friday and we had our hearts set on a repeat of the most delicious Chinese food we’d ever enjoyed.  Not sure if it was the same truck but the food was wonderful regardless.  We ordered Chow Mein with combo meats and pork Won Tons.  Could not eat it all.  Absolutely the best ever once again.  The sunset photo shows us Moorea in the distance.  I didn’t label photos because this bunch is pretty obvious but let me know if I’m wrong.

Since we weren’t setting sail that evening there was a local show.  The local people come on board and the authentic Tahitian performers gave us a great performance.  This was the first of many local shows on this cruise.  They kept us happily entertained for sure, in port and at sea. 

 Moorea is only about 15 miles from Papeete and we arrived there in the morning and anchored in Opuohu Bay.  This is probably one of the most beautiful anchorages in the world.  And the view changes with the light, weather and distance from the shore.  I must have taken a zillion photos over the several times I’ve had the extreme pleasure of visiting here.  

We took the tender up the channel to the landing place which has souvenir tents with lots of items and happy people.  There’s a church and a few houses but not much else.  In fact, there really isn’t even much of a town anywhere on Moorea to my knowledge.  There are businesses, restaurants and hotels scattered around so the whole island has a rural feel.  

We have a favorite little restaurant a few miles up the beach called Mahana.....so took a cab and there we were.  I remember seeing Donna and Mike there but we really weren’t friends yet so didn’t speak.  But it’s funny that we always ran into them everywhere we went, even before we knew them.  We spent a couple hours and made our way back to the ship.  After all, it’s not tough duty to enjoy the view.  

The sail away later was beautiful and off we go to Bora Bora....almost everyone’s favorite island. Aloha, Gayle