I went on a whale watch!

Day 5 – Papeete Day 4

My room aboard the Pacific Princess is an outside with a porthole. Tons of closet space so I spread out. The room is easily doable for 2 people but no more than that or you would go nuts. There are plenty of pictures online, so I won’t post any! Big bed, couch, desk, closets and a bathroom with a very tiny shower.

I did the Whale Watch today! That was rather interesting. We headed off in one direction and did not see anything. So they turned the boat around and off we flew over the waves—huge chop. I didn’t mind it one bit……But when we neared the whale and her baby, they slowed the ship to a stop and just steered a bit to keep us in place. OMG—now I know what my friend, Aunt Linnie, feels like every time she gets on a boat. I thought if I move one muscle, I am going to hurl all over everyone. I just kept taking deep breaths and trying to keep my eyes on the horizon.

So, when some others got into the water with the whales, I didn’t move. I was so disappointed in myself. That has never happened to me, ever. But, I will say, I was not the only one that was feeling sick. When I get home, I will publish the videos I took and you will see how much the boat was pitching.

They did give us tea and ginger biscuits which I sipped and nibbled but the only thing that helped was when the boat got moving again.

It was very cool seeing the mama and baby whale. Our guide told us the calf is less than 1-year old and whatever the Mama does, the calf imitates her. We didn’t see a full breach, but some beautiful whale tails! Right now, the baby is drinking milk-I can’t remember how many liters per day the baby drinks but I do remember the milk is 60% fat.  During this time, the mother doesn’t eat. She added a lot of weight in Antarctica feeding on krill and she will lose it as she feeds her baby. The babies stay with the mother for 4 years and she won’t reproduce until after that time.

The word baby makes you think of something small, but the baby is actually about 8 feet long.

The scenery along the way was spectacular.

Still I was majorly disappointed in myself. I am told they do a whale watch on Moorea and I may try it again. One of the Top Dive guys said with all the wind today, the waves were bigger than normal.

Oh, and the other thing—everyone had to wear wetsuits. I will tell you right now, there is no way in HELL I am posting a picture of that. Well, maybe from the chest up. LOL And, I will tell you that I believe I sweated off a few pounds in that thing during the trip.

We sailed from Papeete about 5PM. We are on our way to Huanhine (pronounced Hoo-wah-he-ne). I have a tour scheduled called “Mark’s Motu Picnic”. It’s highly rated on Trip Advisor. I guess we shall see. It’s from 9-330. We are in port from 8-5 and this is a tender port.

I am not scheduled for dinner until 8PM. Which is pretty late but the only other choice was 530 and that is just too early. Of course, I can eat in the buffet at any time, but I prefer the restaurant. I’ll report back in on dinner!

Back from dinner. I was seated at a table for 5 with one other person—A Cruise Critic roll call member from Australia named Phil!! The maitre’d came by and explained that there are 390 people at early dinner and only 250 at late seating. Many tables for 4 or more had only 2 people at them.

There were so many choices for dinner tonight but I am just not used to eating a big dinner so I had a shrimp cocktail, a cold soup and an appetizer sized pasta dish for my entrée. It was all delicious. Then the dessert menu came out and I had a heart shaped chocolate covered chocolate mousse. It was very, very rich and I had maybe 3 bites before my teeth started to hurt.

It’s after 10PM here and I think I am in for the night. I’m going to read for a bit and try to get up with the sun again tomorrow to see us arrive in Huahine.