March 08 - Pape'ete & Onboard

March 08, 2008

This morning we woke up at 7AM and had a nice breakfast of Belgian waffles. We headed out to the port where we boarded a boat with a group from the ship. We went on a snorkel outing. We toured the local barrier reef and stopped to watch a large pod of spinner dolphins play and jump around our boat. We snorkeled first at a site where the depth was 20-30 feet. There was a nice reef and lots of sea life to be seen. There were 2 boat wrecks and a small airplane at the bottom. Pretty cool. The next spot was a shallow area that was 3-4 feet deep. There were lots of coral heads with plenty of fish and plants to be seen. On the way back to the dock it started to rain. It seems that we are here during the local rainy/hurricane season, which runs January through March. After the snorkeling tour we went back to the ship, showered & changed, had lunch, and headed back out for an afternoon of sightseeing and shopping. We bought a few t-shirts and souvenirs then went looking for black pear bargains. We visited many shops, large and small. We finally found the prices we were looking for at the local farmers/flea/craft market. After a long afternoon of walking, we found a nice pub where we relaxed over drinks/beer. We boarded the ship again shortly before 5PM. Karen promptly fell asleep in our cabin while I update this blog. The plans for tonight are a Polynesian BBQ dinner under the stars (unless it rains) and then we are watching the Oscar-winning movie “The Queen” in the main theatre. We’ll probably go to bed early tonight since we’re pretty tired. Tomorrow we go to Bora Bora, where we have a day-long excursion planned. I didn’t find an internet café, so pictures will have to wait some more…