Hotel Prince Hinoi Papeete

... eventually decided he would try and sort this out for us and allowed us to get our first hot shower in three days in an alternative bungalow. Bless him - although the suggestion of moving us to a room with some basic failities of our own was out of the question. Mind you, what sane man has never dreamed of running around "paradise" with just a towel around his waist ...so perhaps this was all part of the customer service.
On day four, a plumber ...

... it's completely urban with buildings everywhere, and a never ending flow of traffic. But we are enjoying it: the people are very nice, the food is great, and the view from the waterfront is amazing.

The buses stop running at 5pm from Papeete to our hostel since it is located where the locals live. So Mike and I head out at 3pm and stop off at the Tahitian museum. The museum was great mostly because we were the only ones there! Looking at pictures of the ancient ...

... in a way I wish we hadn't had to leave, but we did, we had new countries to explore and new adventures to have. And more importantly some sun to find, this helped leaving a little bit easier. So we finally arrived in Papeete at 9.40pm, 25 minutes late but a whole day behind!!!!! We had gained 22 hours which was rather cool but also slightly weird, so it was now the 18th April again. The airport was really busy and it took us over an hour to get through passport control and then ...

... of sun block, water, and for me a good full brim hat. So we were ready and we headed out from the ship to the city. As the ship docked right in the heart of the town, it was not a long walk. We stopped off at the Tourist Office at the end of the dock and got a good walking map of the city. Papeete is not a large city and located between mountains and the ocean, so it is very walkable city. We were told on ship that the city of Papeete was a very expensive city to ...

... sea, swimming and playing cards. One morning I did do a tour of the island, just to see what it had to offer, seeing the lagoonarium, the places that Gaugin used to swim, visiting blowholes and waterfalls and generally sightseeing. Outside of Papeete and in the resorts, Tahiti is a pretty place to be and I did have a good time there. Sadly my small camera has a virus so I can only upload limited photos at the moment.

Life on board has gradually evolved for us. These days we spend most of our time reading. The food has become too familiar and hence has lost our interest. We eat salad when there are decent veggies on the salad bar, and we never grow tired of the pizza (though we do limit our visits to the Pizzeria for reasons of needing to fit into our costumes!) We're still really enjoying life on board, but we visit the shore less and Tahiti is losing our ...

... after about ten metres. The restaurant at Belvedere was very pleasant; we had a beer on the terrace and enjoyed the view. On descent, we passed a dozen or so walkers in various stages of heat exhaustion, on their way up. The driver knew a surprising proportion of them and stopped for quick hellos. (Shows what a small country it is really.) We arrived back at the ship with one minute to spare. There were ...

... and reef surrounding us. To cap it all off the glass window in the floor with lighting so we could check out the fish below, day or night. After settling in to what was going to be our pad for the next 4 days, we had a look around the entire complex itself. It was a very nice set up with infinity pool, bar, spa, 2 restaurants and a watersports centre on the beach. We picked our complimentary snorkel gear and headed back to the bungalow to check out the resident fish. After ...

... out to Moreea which is a stunning island about 20km off the coast. Didnt have as much time there as i would have liked but made it down the coast to a brilliant snorkling spot and hit a look out point as well. The water colours are amazing greens and blues and you can see where all the reefs are. It was back then to papeete catch a bus back to the guesthouse collect the bags and off to the airport for an 8 hour flight on to LA.

... hop in the back of their truck on their way to church, it wasn't but the very next car passing by who gave us our next ride. After five separate rides, we eventually made it to the city centre and got some lunch. Absolutely everything was closed on Sunday, so sadly, we ate McDonald's. But it was our first meal in 3 days so who cares? I got a salad because I could point to it and I don't know how to pronounce McChicken Value Meal in French haha ...