What a fantastic day! Tahiti is somewhere I've dreamed of visiting since I was a child and saw it in a film. It has not been a disappointment

When we woke up we were coming around Tahiti towards Papeete, with the island of Moorea ahead of us. It was already scorching hot at 8am. The pilot boat met us and guided Aurora in through a quite long channel through the fringing reef. The water was an amazing colour, so blue….. Tahiti being the largest island is also the most built up but actually it was much prettier and more unspoilt than I was expecting. There are still huge tracts of green jungle and mountain. Papeete itself is a smallish colonial style town, very French. All the road names are French and around us everyone was a French speaker.

We were off as soon as the ship docked to be welcomed by a traditional Polynesian band and singers and further along the dock drummers and dancers. Lastly we were given white tropical flowers to put behind our ear: left means you're taken, right means you're looking!

Had a bit of a wander round the town and then found a nice café/bar with free wifi. It had a great connection speed so managed to get all my pictures uploaded. We also called Daisy and Facetimed Lucy which was fantastic. So nice to hear their voices. Tahiti is jawdroppingly expensive. I had 2 x litre bottles of water and Bob had 2 x Diet Cokes. The bill was $27 (about £20!!!!). Yikes. Not free wifi at all…..

At lunchtime we retrieved our dive bag from reception where it had been stored and lugged it ashore. It was ROASTING by now. Blistering. We were diving with TopDive and they came and picked us up by boat and took us to their centre at the Beachcomber Hotel. Really nice boat and they were very professional. Once we'd signed the paperwork we went off to a site outside the fringing reef where there is a very old wooden shipwreck and nearby a deliberately sunk Catalina seaplane. The water temperature was 29C and no wetsuit was necessary!!!! It was absolutely delightful. Vis was good…ok…. Not gin clear but we expected that. Tomorrow at Moorea it will be better.

My ears were really bad at the start. I didn't think I was going to get below 10m and was stuck there swimming along in the blue for about 7-8 minutes. But slowly slowly after taking my mask off and blowing salt water into my nose, they cleared and I got down. (Don't try that at home kids!! LOL) The shipwreck was amazing. I've never seen a really old wooden one at that point before with the wood all worn and holey. It looked gorgeous. The seaplane was also fun to explore.

Lots of smallish fish and hard corals. The best thing about the dive was the utter bliss of the water temperature to be honest. We just dived in our swimsuits and that is THE best for me. To feel the water over my skin is a wonderful feeling.

Took the camera in. Had the flash attached but then found I'd not set the camera properly so the damned flash wouldn't fire. Nothing I could do about that once underwater, so blue pix again. Will do better tomorrow. Anyway a most pleasant dive and really liked TopDive. They were a pleasure to dive with. Nice boat. Good ladder.

In the evening the Captain had organised for probably the best dance troop on the island to come onboard. They had a traditional band and singers and the dancers were exceptional. Very beautiful to look at, great costumes and they could really dance. No wonder it drove the Bounty crew to mutiny!!!! Those hips don't lie…. Very exciting show. At the end the entire theatre stood up and cheered them.

Dinner then back to the café to try and call Lu again and get some more of my pix online. Still so very warm at 10pm. Nice atmosphere. Lively but safe.

So, Tahiti has lived up to expectations. A tropical paradise, slightly seedy round the edges in town in a louche French colonial stylee. If Humph Bogart rolled up in his plane looking for a hill of beans, you wouldn't be surprised. It's quite addictive. Lots of people come here and never leave. Gauguin. Marlon Brando, Robert Louis Stevenson, etc….. it's a long list. But, not us. In the early hours we will steam for 20 minutes across the channel to Moorea which is apparently the epitome of a tropical paradise. Can't wait.