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.

Day 1 Papeete

Day 1 

My transfer from Unique Tahiti was waiting, as promised after I cleared customs. My luggage did make it although it looks a little beat up.

For the cost of my transfer, Tracey included a tour of downtown Papeete to orient me on this unique city. It’s very urban but has little pockets of beauty all over the place. There are multiple parks and benches set into the shade everywhere I looked. And although they like their graffiti, the downtown area was surprisingly litter free.

Cars here completely understand the meaning of the crosswalk!

After Tracey dropped me off at the Hotel Tiare Tahiti, I checked in unpacked a bit and headed down for the breakfast included in my rate. It was delicious—the bread was amazing but the coffee was strong enough to stand your spoon in. But, I added milk and drank it anyways. I needed all the help I could get!

My room at the hotel is on the 4^th floor overlooking the harbor. It is immaculate. It reminds me of the rooms in Italy. The most important aspect is that it has air conditioning! Which works in an interesting sort of way. On each wooden room key fob, there is a piece of metal that you insert into a slot near the door. This turns on the electricity for the lights and AirCon.

This is my view from my room. The cruise ship in this picture is just leaving port now.

After my breakfast, I headed out to an ATM and a walk along the waterfront and through some of the side streets. It was EARLY—I’m talking 7:30AM early. Tracey told me most people here rise with the sun and get out because the weather is so pleasant early in the morning. By noon, she says, it’s just too hot and people wait until late afternoon to come back out.

So today I saw a sunrise from the airplane while we were high above the clouds, had my breakfast and walked about 2 or 3 miles and was back at the hotel by 930. I turned on the A/C in my room, took out my contacts after 30 plus hours and BAM, I was out. I slept for about 4 hours and got up and showered. That felt heavenly but I don’t know if I get the whole shower thing here:

To the left of that, behind the shower door is an elevated tile, one step up and on the wall in back, a towel bar. I guess you take the actual shower in the recessed part and step up to the back to dry off? Who knows, but that is what I did.

The water in the industrial port here is even pretty!

That’s the ferry that you take to Moorea—the island you see in the background.

 There were lots of women on the sidewalks with fresh flowers making flower crowns and hats. It smelled wonderful.

The temperature has dropped a lot and there is a nice breeze now. I see people out walking with their kids on the waterfront—on their way to the park for a little play-time.

I am told the food trucks (roulottes) will start setting up down the street around 6PM. That is where I am having my dinner tonight!  And then this Gypsy will be heading to bed. I am still tired. I have a Western Isle tour tomorrow morning. They are picking me up at 9:40.  Snaps from the roulottes:

Oh and you know what else? I forgot to say last night, during some fairly decent turbulence, we crossed the equator! This is the first time I’ve ever been I’ve been in the Southern Hemisphere! And for a little education: Directionally, French Polynesia is sort of directly below Hawaii and it is as far south of the equator as Hawaii is North. The days and nights here are almost exactly even, year round. Sunrise and sunset about 6:30 or so. And because I’ve been dying to know, I filled up the sink in the bathroom and when I let the water out, it spun in a counter-clockwise direction! So now we know!