Rangiroa, Sea Day, Nuku Hiva (Marquesas) – March 6, 7, 8, and 9

The pitching and rolling after we left our scenic cruising of the leeward side of Tahiti on March 6 was the most ship movement of the trip so far – so Marie-Elisabeth loved it!  And…I don’t have a problem so we enjoyed the rest of the day on our way to Rangiroa.  We had dinner at the Pinnacle Grill for my birthday.

When we looked out our cabin window on the morning of March 7, we were already inside the lagoon of the atoll of Rangiroa.  This atoll is one of the world’s largest.  The entire island of Tahiti would fit in the lagoon. We were lucky.  During the night the weather improved and the seas became calm.  The entrance into the lagoon is very narrow; the Statendam had cancelled the stop here in October.

 

Rangiroa is sparsely populated on a string of islands that make up the atoll.  We stayed on board until 11:30 and then walked around the tender port shopping and watching local life.  There are schools on the two main islands.  Around noon a school bus arrived and kids got off and then boarded a boat for the other island.  Other kids got off the boat and got on the bus! 

Our main activity for the day was a trip to a pearl farm.  It was interesting to see the whole process of how a cultured pearl is made.  Tahiti is known for black pearls although this is a little misleading.  Colors range from dark to light gray – some are iridescent with shades of green, pink, blue, etc.  It takes up to 9 years to complete the process.  The sail-away from Rangiroa was interesting as the harbor pilot took us out of the lagoon’s narrow passage back into the ocean. 

There was one sea day between Rangiroa and Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas.  These islands are part of French Polynesia.  Our Location Guide on the ship informed us that the islands were once American until the French took over in the 1840s.  Our port on Nuku Hiva - Taiohae - was called Madisonville when under American rule.  For the first time that we can remember, we had to change our clock by 30 minutes rather than a full hour – making Nuku Hiva 30 minutes ahead of Tahiti.  Have not found out why they do this yet?

The ship anchored in the horseshoe bay about 7am.  There were no independent tour operators on the island and we could not find a car rental agency in advance so we booked a tour from the ship – which is unusual for us. We are glad we did!  There are no buses on the island for tourists so our tour was in a four-wheel drive driven by a local resident.  There was a caravan of these vehicles with four cruisers per vehicle.  We climbed up a switch back road to a lookout of the bay, the town, and our ship.  At almost 2,000 feet it was spectacular and noticeably cooler than in the town.  From here we traveled to a village on the other coast where a small craft market awaited along with samples of tropical fruit – breadfruit chips, banana, mango, papaya, fried taro, etc. Herman Melville had lived in this village. From here we went back to the town for a stop at a reconstructed temple and then to the Catholic Cathedral for the Marquesas. The Notre Dame Cathedral was stunning!  Construction was a collective effort of all of the inhabited islands of the Marquesas.  The islands are known for wood carving – the pulpit was amazing with a variety of traditional symbols - a bull, lion, and eagle.  In another sculpture, St. Peter was depicted as a native of the islands but still held a key and a fishing net full of fish keeping with the usual symbols. The twin steeples were in a separate structure from the main sanctuary with intricate stone walls that were similar to the walls in the ancient temples. This is certainly a Cathedral to remember!

Our driver was a local government employee who was working on Sunday for the tourists.  He did not speak English so Elisabeth became our translator.  His French was fairly easy for me to understand but I still needed help!  It was more interesting to be able to ask him questions about his life on the island.  Our driver told us, “Life is good here and we just sit back and watch the rest of the world!”  He also commented, “We don’t have cyclones – we send them to Tahiti!” The island was a surprise to us – more prosperous than we expected.  There was a leader of the caravan who spoke English (somewhat) who explained sites – but Marie-Elisabeth still had to help with some of the translation.    

After a little more shopping, our last Tahitian beer, and an interesting discussion with a French Canadian and two Austrians from the ship we headed back to the Statendam after visiting our last island of the trip – and one of the most interesting of the cruise.  Now – 6 days of relaxation and sea days.  I say relaxation but they keep us very busy.  The “On Location” program continues so Marie-Elisabeth plans to take Tahitian drumming and ukulele lessons, Tahitian dancing classes, and whatever else they present.  Our wonderful Hawaiian guide is still doing classes and lectures on Hawaiian culture and they have added a new lecturer who is an astronomer – he replaces the anthropologist from the San Diego to Papeete segment.  Who knows - there may be more since I am writing this on the morning of our first day on the journey back to San Diego. 

This will be the last posting on the blog – next up is – Berlin; Champagne (our tour following Elisabeth’s grandfather’s WWI diary); Paris and the 50^th high school reunion; and Portbail for the visit of family – August 20 to October 6, 2014.