Intercontinental Papeete

Land Ahoy!

After five relaxing days at sea we've finally arrived in Papeete, Tahiti. We’ve gone over 2000 miles without seeing land. In fact the only thing we’ve seen (other than lots of water) are flying fish, and one lone shark. The ocean is several miles deep and our waves have been between 6 and 9 feet—just a gentle sway. We’re somewhat tanned, but haven’t pushed it ...

... ago. Its sad how one person can come in and throw out the delicate working balance. This new guys is arrogant and inconsiderate! He has cut down the break times for his staff to almost criminal lengths. SO frustrating! Another friend left today too. Johnny (aka Junjun) finished his contract this morning and left the ship 40mins ago. We had dinner with our friend, Mike - my dresser for the shows, and then went to farewell Johnny. Anyway, that's all I have for now. Just finished ...

... to Papeete, flying over a couple of cloudy islands. The plane was not full and we waited for our bags as the rest of the luggage was collected, .........and waited! Yep - anyone think this sounds familiar? Our bags had not been put on the plane and I had visions of them having their own tropical holiday and being flown round the islands. I mean it's not as though Bora Bora was an international airport. You have less ...

... me.... that would have been ok, except there was no kitchen to use, no food nearby, and no bus service. I walked 40 minutes along the coast and bumped into the Canadians who were out for dinner and invited me to join them for a very welcome drink. I then continued walking to find a decent pizza and managed to hitchhike part of the way home. The next day was cloudy but it was still quite hot. I walked up to the viewpoint for a fantastic ...

... rates got higher.) The water wasn't cold at all; in fact it was quite warm considering it was after six and getting steadily darker. Eventually we had to force ourselves to get out of the water so we could have our picnic before we had to meet the taxi. The food was wonderful - there's just something about eating simple things out of their packaging while sitting somewhere beautiful in good company (thinking of you, Daddy). I couldn't have asked for better people to be ...

... which offers a drive up panoramic view of the island, and a cold beverage if your interested. The next stop, a fruit plant in cooks bay, was closed, but we managed to score some damn good pinnaple juice anyways. It was getting towards dusk when we made it to a beach just south of the airport on the northeast coast of the island. After lounging in the lagoon for a while, locals starting showing up to play a game of volleyball. The girls took ...