29 March 2024 Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia

 The ship moved overnight from Raiatea to Moorea. We took the first tender into the dock and met up with our Alto Offroad Safari Tour. There were three pickup trucks with bench seats in the bed of the truck for the tour. There were 3 couples in each truck bed from the ship. So, we had two tour guides and one new guy. We got the new guy truck! They took us around the island to all the major sites, including a Vanilla Plantation, Eel Fish, a pineapple plantation, an overlook into the bays below high on the mountainside, a 1500 year old Polynesia Religious Temple, then to a Black Pearl jewelry store. The vanilla plantation was on a hillside and enclosed by netting to help protect the plants. It takes five years for a vanilla plant to produce ripe beans for the market place. There was a great look out from this site as well. Then they took us off pavement to a shallow river where one of the guides got the Eel Fish to swim up stream to him. They look like their salt water cousins. From there we continued off road to a pineapple plantation in the valley between the rugged volcanic mountains. The plantation is on government owned land and the islanders have to rent it from the government in 99 year leases. The pineapple plants grow low to the ground. From planning, it takes a year to mature and flower/pollinate, then three to four years for the pineapples to form and grow to maturity and ripen for harvest. They drove back on to the pavement and took us to the very end of the road at an overlook high up on a mountainside. This was a popular with the tour companies and the locals since the view of the two lagoons (one with our cruise ship in it) and the Mountain in between was spectacular. Then we went back down about a mile to a 1500 year old Polynesian Temple where they made offerings to their gods. The islanders are mostly Christian now, due to missionaries in the 1800s, with several different Christian denominations. But some islanders still come to this temple to make offerings to the “old gods”. Then they ran us down to a jewelry store that specialized in the locally harvested black pearls. They took us to a roadside overlook where you could see the tiki huts over the water for the Hilton Hotel. Finally, we were taken back to the pier where we took the time to see the open air shops along the pier before boarding the tender for a very sweltering ride back to the ship. The ship pulled out of Moorea at 5PM and made the short run over to Papeete Tahiti and docked by 7PM. We decided to use the night to get some laundry done since we figured most of the passengers would be packing to disembark in the morning. What we did not count on was all the folks wanting to dry their bathing suits before packing them. Dryers were at a premium. But we got it done so we are good for cloths for a week or so. 

Vanilla Plantation

Ell Fish

1500 Year Old Polynesian Temple

28 March 2024 Raiatea, Society Islands, French Polynesia

 The ship moved overnight from Bora Bora to Raiatea and docked in the morning. We did not plan any tours for this island (were getting a bit toured out). After lunch we went ashore and explored some of the shops in the heart of the town. We found some items to buy for gifts and picked up a couple bottles of wine to take back with us. There was a very French influence in this island compared to Bora Bora. 

27 March 2024 Second day at Bora Bora.

 We had discussed maybe going back to shore, but since we will be back here in a week for two more days, we decided just to hangout on the ship. Our main credit card has been closed due to some fraudulent charges in the states, so we spent part of the day changing our auto charges to our back-up credit card to the extent possible. 

26 March 2024 Bora Bora, Society Islands, French Polynesia

 We arrived in Bora Bora just after lunch. We took the ships tender to shore and met up with the tour we had arranged through Oceanic. We should have read the tour description again as the first part of the tour was a glass bottom boat ride out to a reef to go snorkeling with the sharks and rays. Unfortunately, we did not wear our bathing suits so we stayed on the boat with another couple and pointed out to the others when a ray or shark was near them. One lady was very jumpy about the rays and black fin sharks when they came near her. Our guide, Dali, I think was feeding them to get them to come over. It was very hot and humid. So even though we did not get in the water, we were still wet from our own sweat. In the distance, we could see the tiki huts over the water that Bora Bora is famous for. The second half of the tour he drove us past the tiki huts and over to a coral reef and we could look through the bottom of the boat to see the fish and corals. While motoring back into shore, Dali, said something about Bloody Mary’s and construction but we could not hear well over the engine. After getting back to dry land, David asked Dali about how to get to Bloody Mary’s, which some friends had suggest we visit, and found we either had to rent a car or catch a taxi. We tried to walk around the area near the pier, but all the shops were closed at 5PM and there were no restaurants or bars that we could find near the pier. After going back to the ship in the sweltering tender, we researched the area over drinks and saw that Bloody Mary’s was closed due to construction of a new hotel and renovations to the bar/café. So Bloody Mary’s is out for this trip. There are very few restaurants outside of the resorts, and none near the pier. 

Tiki Huts over the water

Black Tip Shark swimming with the snorkelers

Manta Ray through the glass bottom 

24-25 March 2024 At Sea from American Samoa to Bora Bora

 We spent the last two days at sea. Used the time to catch our diary/blog up to date and to work on our tans. 

23 March 2024 The National Park of American Samoa

 Today is our second Saturday March 23 as we crossed the international date line overnight going from Western Samoa to American Samoa. We arrived in Pago Pago around 8 am and were the first ones off the boat and over to the Best Tours tent to meet up with our tour. There were 5 other couples off the ship on the tour including two couples that are on their quest to see all the national parks. As we waited for everyone to gather, the dancers that had greeted the ship as it dock came over to get out of the sun and get some drinks after a very energetic dance and singing routine. One of the other couples said this was national park number 63 for them and the other couple said this was their 48^th. So we had fun exchanging tails of our park adventures and thoughts of which were the best and worst. Our tour guide, Gertrude, led us to a rickety looking home made bus. It was a Ford F-350 that they had cut the cab and bed off and strapped on this homemade bus body. The seats were hard wood and there was no air conditioning, just open plastic windows. Our first stop was the national park headquarters/visitor center. There we got our passport stamp (our 57^th NP) and the required park hat and tee shirts. We had expected to see a park movie, but they no longer showed it because someone had complained it made the natives seem bad. But the exhibits were interesting and the building was air conditioned. The park was created when the villages agreed to lease large plots of land to the National Park System for 50 years in 2008. The park was created to protect the rain forest, fruit bat habitat, and sea turtle nesting sands. After listening to Gertrude describe the culture on the island and how most of the people on the island live off US Government subsidies, we decided that the land was leased more as a form of government hand out to the villages. There are very few hiking trails and the park is run by the American Samoa government, not by the national park system. Our next stop was at a tree, on private property, where the vast majority of the fruit bats hang upside down during the daylight. No one knows why this tree is the only one they hang out in. Next, we drove past the main employer in the islands, the Starkist Tuna packing factory. The smell of old tuna was almost overwhelming. Then it was up to the top of Afono Pass where we had a nice view of the harbor below and the mountain called “The Rainmaker”. The “bus” had a hard time climbing up the steep road to the top of the pass. Then we drove down into the village of Afono and then over another steep ridge to the village of Vita. Near the top of the ridge we stopped for a view of the Pola Island and Vatia Bay. Shortly past the village, the road ended at a National Park sign. We all piled out, got national park sign pictures and then walked out toward Pola Island on the remains of an old roadway . We saw an old WWII pillbox on the shoreline reminding us that this was the front line of the war in the Pacific in 1941. We walked out near Vai’ava Straight National Landmark, but the tide was coming in so we could not get too close. Then it was a half mile walk back to the ”bus”. The heat and humidity was taking its toll on some of the older folks on the tour with the heat index up near 110F. Then we drove back to Pago Pago and stopped at a market, but most of the folks declined to get off the bus. Leslie and I went in, but Gertrude soon came to collect us as the rest of the group wanted to go on. Our next stop was at the tour company building (also doubles as a gym) to have some fresh fruit and fried bread fruit chips. Then we were given a demonstration on how they weave baskets out of coconut tree leaves and how they open coconuts, and make the coconut milk (all of which we got to sample). Then they took us to the Flower Pot Islands with a stop for David to run into a grocery store and buy some toothpaste for Leslie. On the way back to the boat, Gertrude stopped the bus a couple of times to collect some other cruise ship passengers that were out on their own and having a hot walk back to the ship in the heat. We arrived back at the ship soaking wet from our own sweat. Our cabin was not very cool, but it was better after being in that heat. Cool showers help bring back our energy in time to go to the martini bar where we met another couple, Jim and Sharon, that were fulltime RVers in a nice class B. We had fun exchanging experiences over cocktails. 

Long Boat 

Dancers as we docked

Page Page harbor

Pola Island in National Park of American Samoa

 Tropical rain forests make up most of the national park

Our homemade bus

Vitia Bay

Hiking in the national park

Vai’ava Straight National Landmark

Making a basket

Flower Pot islands

Graves in the front yard of a Samoa home

Fruit Bat

We made it!!!

23 March 2024 Apea, Western Samoa

 We arrived in Apea in the early morning to a dancing and singing groups of natives on the dock. We had a tour arranged through the cruise line for a tour of the town and then to a beach resort. Our guide, Laalue, was on time and ready to go. He is an interesting guy, son of a village chief (his dad was chief), and son of the daughter of another village chief. He was on the Samoa Soccer Team and worked for the International Soccer League to further soccer in the island nation.  He talked to us as we drove through the town and headed up on the cross island road toward the western side of the island. The beaches on the eastern side are volcanic rock, but the western side has nice sand beaches. We stopped along the way at Sopoaga Waterfall where we bought a coconut from a vender who opened it for us and we drank the sweet coconut water from inside. We also were shown how they open coconuts, shred the meat from the hull and then squeeze the shredded meat for the coconut milk. It is a lot of hard work! The waterfall was at a distance, but beautiful. As we drove through the small villages, we noticed the people were not rich, but the houses were well maintained and the grounds well-tended. We also learned that the villagers owned the land they lived on (and could not sell it, its passed through the family) but reported to a village chief. They also buried their ancestors in the front yard! The road climbed up over a steep ridge that the bus had a hard time climbing. They had to turn off the air conditioning to have enough power to make it over the top. We arrived at a small beach resort at the end of a poorly maintained road. There we were served a lunch of delicious BBQ chicken. The we wandered down to the beach, stripped down to our bathing suits and enjoyed a warm swim in the South Pacific Ocean. It was a lazy couple of hours! Then we piled back on the bus for the drive back to the ship with a stop at Papapapaiata waterfall (it chose to start raining when we pulled up into the parking lot). Our drive back took us past Laalue’s home and through the village of his father. As we approached the ship, Laalue explained that we were then in the village of his mother and that he was destine to become chief of one of the two villages at some point. We arrived back at the ship with time for a cool shower before martini time. 

David at Sopoaga Waterfall drinking from a coconut

The Regatta in Area

Papapapaiata waterfall

South Pacific Beach

 BBQ Lunch

Sopoaga Waterfall

Dancers when we arrived in Area