We are actually docked, no tendering, today on the island of Raiatea. Another mostly sunny and hot day for my tour.
Historical/Background Info:
Raiatea is
the second largest of the Society Islands (Tahiti is the largest) with a
population of around 16,500. This
mountainous, volcanic formed island is has a maximum altitude of over 3000
feet. It is 12 miles north to south and
10 miles wide in places for a total of 65 square miles.
The
island’s economy is based mainly on agriculture with exports of vanilla,
pineapple, and coconut. Pearl farming is
also an important industry. There is
less tourism here compared to the other islands in the archipelago making it a
quieter and less developed in tourism compared to Bora Bora and Tahiti. It does have some hotels and an airport. There are several yacht charter companies and
is visited by cruise ships from time to time.
TODAY, FEBRUARY 1ST
Several of these sand bars on sail in.
Our welcoming committee.
This is the guide on our "Sacred Island by Le Truck" tour. He was pretty much worthless.
There were two Le Trucks on out tour. This is the guide on the other bus who did all the talking at the two stops on our tour.
Faaroa River on the island
Our first stop after a very long, hour, drive was at a, what was supposed to be a botanical garden. Not much of a garden and you had to walk down over 30 steps to the garden. Many on our bus did not go down the steps. Marcia was on my tour truck and I sat next to her. I took her camera down the steps with me and got some photos for her too. It was REALLY hot with no breeze so I was sweat wet and very hot.
Above are some flowers I photographed.
Picture of my finger too.
This is actually a huge extinct volcano with the rims all around us.
After another long drive we arrived at our second stop. It was the Marae Taputapuatea archaeological site. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site
Marcia
This was where the islanders worshipped back in the 1600's. There was no building as they worshipped in the open air. Worshipping the sun, wind, water, and rain.
Let me know if you can read this.
Looks like a pile of volcanic rocks to me. It had sea shells and other things on it.
Ok, it is 9:30 pm and I have not been able to upload the last 16 photos that I took today. The ship's internet is REALLY bad. They are working to repair it and I believe the parts and technicians will be flown to make the repairs. Not sure when that will be. In the mean time everyone on the ship is NOT happy, included yours truly.
I am going to publish this now and head to bed. I'll put the rest on tomorrow's blog. If I can't do it on board I will do it at a wifi place on shore in Papeete. We sailed at 9pm tonight and will be docked in Papeete tomorrow morning. This is the end of the first segment of our world cruise. I think 60 segment folks will be disembarking and another new 60 will be embarking tomorrow.
I had a tour scheduled for tomorrow but cancelled it after today's "tour from hell". We had a nice evening with cocktails as usual and dinner in Compass Rose. There is basically no entertainment night so we retired and I am working on getting this posted. Really getting tired of this no internet crap!!
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