17.2.11& 18.2.11 Tahiti, Gauguin, Bora Bora off road
Dress 49,50,51,52,53
We are now on the way to Pago Pago it’s a steamy 32C and overcast, but very bright, we have just and a long lazy lunch under the cover of the Pennant Bar, quietly chatting and laughing with others. The atmosphere on board is one of relaxation, relating tales of our various tours after two hectic days ashore.
We had been at sea for 8 days and were very keen to go ashore, one thing that I didn’t appreciate until cruising is that you can smell land as you get nearer. After 8 days the ‘hit’ of Tahiti damp soil, vegetation and smoke from the fires as I took that first breathe of land air was really memorable.
Before I start
A few corrections and final note on Pitcairn Island
Firstly the statues on Easter Island are Maoi not as I said, Maori, the average size is 14’6” and weigh 14 tonnes but can be up to 33’ and weigh up to 30 tonnes.
Also, following an on board lecture by the Magistrate of Pitcairn, Simon Young, it seems there are only 57 inhabitants on the island not 100. Simon came on board and is heading to a conference in Noumea to lobby for European funding to help the islanders and generously gave a presentation to us on board. The theatre was absolutely packed as the history and current state of the island is fascinating, we wish him well at the conference.
Tahiti
Just the name for me summons exotic sights, native ladies, tattoos, tropical fruits, white beaches. And that is exactly what we got when we docked in Papeete: the capital of the 130 islands which form French Polynesia:
Plus in great quantity, smiles and a great welcome.
I think we all know some of the key facts and figures for Tahiti, Captain Cook was here in 1769 to study the path of Venus across the sun and returned twice more, HMS Bounty and Captain Bligh were here to collect breadfruit plants to take to the slave plantations in the West Indies. The crew were not happy about leaving and three weeks into the trip to the West Indies the mutiny occurred. The missionaries arrived in 1797; The French took formal possession in 1843. Paul Gauguin, Somerset Vaughan and Rupert Brooke lived here. In 1966 French started a nuclear testing program which brought a great influx of wealth this lasted until 1975 when due to public protest this was abandoned. France now guarantees 90% of the islands budget
Imagine an Island paradise with French food and style.
I always thought getting dresses here would be good. Dress 49 is the first sights we had of the Tahitian ladies, these are called missionary dresses introduced by the missionaries and now worn to church on a Sunday, and these ladies are here to welcome us with the traditional Tiare Tahiti (gardenia). The smell is surprisingly strong. It is worn behind the right ear if your heart belongs to one person and behind the left if you are available and looking for love!! It’s not just a tourist thing everywhere we went we saw men and women with flowers behind their ears and the older ladies in particular wearing the long dresses, we also saw many people with the garland headdresses made of wonderful fresh flowers or plastic, or wickerwork pandanus, so pretty and colourful.
Dress 49
Having received our flowers and positioned accordingly we passed to the welcome dancers and musicians, the first group were lovely, playing their little guitars, however the next group were amazing with their drums, dancers, tattoos and power, the girl dancers were almost fluid in their movements and the male dancers stamped, lunged and jumped. A great experience to see them Dress 50 and Dress 51 as the girls and men of the traditional dancers
Dress 50 Dress 51 the traditional dancers
Shopping
This or course is always a favourite pastime, here its shells shells and more shells. Black pearls, these of course are very expensive and you need to understand the quality and grades. Tropical shirts and absolutely mad patterned fabric, David’s bought a genuine made in Tahiti shirt and I some fabric for table cloths they will look great outside for a BBQ ( I hope). Also not to be missed shell necklaces, it’s not cheap but its great fun buying
Lady who sold me the shell necklace
Pareo and coconuts to go
No trip to Tahiti is complete without an encounter with the Pareo, this as we know is a length of cloth which in the west we wrap round to protect out modesty around the pool or beach. Not so in Tahiti, in Tahiti it is an art form, for both boys and girls. Therefore we needed to be educated in the ways of tying folding and wearing this very popular garment. It was a bit of a surprise in the middle of the information centre to see what happened when one comes off but I suppose they do have a lot of coconuts here. Dress 52 Pareo and coconuts
Dress 52
Paul Gauguin museum
This was a must for us, and whilst his life was not very stable and his work controversial for the time we were delighted to visit the museum and botanical gardens which are built on his original home in Tahiti. The picture of David shows in the background the view Gauguin had from his studio. Also in the gardens are three sacred Tikis from the Austral islands which receive offerings of flowers from local people.
David in Gauguin Garden
Me and Tikis
The Arahurahu marae
Much of the Tahitian and Polynesian culture was banned during the time of the missionaries, and from about 1822 for about 150 years the Tahitians were not allowed to learn their own language. Now everyone speaks French the official language and the religious places – marae - are being restored and Tahitian is freely spoken. This place was beautiful, lush tropical trees, the terraces of rounded volcanic stone rising toward what is the most sacred place.
Arahurahu marae
David and dresses 53
Davids day ended happily with more lovely Tahitian girls, giggling and smiling they just live to have their picture taken, they were happy to wave and wish us ia ora nana nana maururu (let there be life goodbye goodbye thank you) as they handed us more gardenia flowers.
Dress 53
Bora Bora
There is only one very narrow approach to the island through the coral lagoon and we were up on deck at silly o’clock to see it. To watch these islands get closer minute by minute and the sun rise is very special, as it gradually gets lighter you can see the water more clearly and distinguish the shallower areas which are paler greens and blues and the water becomes the shallow blues and greens in the reef. The colours are spectacular and I hope these pictures give some of these.
During our day here we just looked and looked at the sea and the different colours for me the very best of Bora Bora is the lagoon and the views from the vantage points we visited. It has suffered financially as the recession has adversely affected their main source of income – tourism. The pretty thatched chalets hovering over the lagoon were all empty and three of the hotels closed. It’s a tiny island only 10,000 inhabitants
We had a great day here, 8 of us in an open top long wheelbase landrover. An off road tour of the island is a great way to see the interior. It was a bit edgy as we drove up vertical 5mtrs banks, badly rutted mud roads, sliding across what appeared to be precipitous drops and driving through mud which must have been 1.5mtrs deep.
We were drenched in a tropical storm, and laughed for 4 hours, at each other, we were wet muddy and shaken by the time we stopped at several fabulous vantage points. Then the sun came out we soon dried off and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the views.
I don’t have any dresses from Bora Bora, what we do however are some great memories of some of the most spectacular views of the lagoon.
Views from the mountain
I'm now trying to use Picasa so pics are a bit off where I would want them but hope you like them
off for a walk round the deck and a G&T
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