Tahiti Nui Tahiti Iti - March 5 and Mo’orea March 6

The Island of Tahiti has two parts – Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti – connected by a narrow isthmus.  The shape of the island is similar to Maui.  Pape’ete the capital of French Polynesia is on the northern half – Tahiti Nui.  We arrived here on a National Holiday – Missionary Day – the Day missionaries from the London Missionary Society landed at Point Venus in 1797.  Most businesses were closed and those open in the morning were closed in the afternoon.  We again rented a car from Avis but this time our Fiat Panda was not available so we toured Tahiti with Pierre – our Peugeot! 

Our tour started with visiting Point Venus where the Missionaries landed.  The point is where Captain Cook stopped in 1769 to observe Venus during an eclipse of the sun.  Since it was a holiday, the area was busy with locals at the black sand beach. The weather was again great – sun and clouds – warm and humid.  We continued along the north and east coast along a road that hugged the coastline.  With the wind picking up, the surf was high and waves sometimes crashed over the seawall onto the road.  We stopped at a few view points as the road climbed over headlands.  Views were spectacular. 

Throughout the day we passed churches where there were festivities for the Holiday which also coincided with Ash Wednesday.  Families were seen in their yards having picnics; others were on the beaches; kids were surfing or on boogie boards. 

When we reached the isthmus we took the road on the north side of Tahiti Iti passing many beautiful beaches and waterfalls.  There were many stops for pictures of flowers.  The road does not go around this part of the island so we retraced our way back to the isthmus so we could then take the south coast road.  We returned the car to the airport just outside Pape’ete after driving up the west coast of Tahiti Nui.  Unfortunately the Paul Gauguin Museum was closed for renovations.   After dinner on board the On Location program of the Statendam presented a fabulous show of local dancers, drummers, and singers.  Made me tired just watching!  Tahitian dancing is Hawaiian Hula times 10! 

My birthday present for March 6 was the first day of bad weather – high wind and high waves.  The sea conditions caused the cancelling of our stop on Mo’orea!  BOO!  The Captain has chosen to do scenic cruising around Mo’orea and to cruise around Tahiti Iti.  Oh well – everything has been perfect so far even though the weather can cause problems when there are so many ports that require tenders.  We have heard that they often cancel stops on Fanning Island due to weather so we were lucky!