As the ship pulled into the dock at Papeete, the sky was overcast making the mountains outside look a bit eerie. The clouds moved up and down and in front of and behind the mountains. The cityscape was dreary and gray looking, too. When we opened the balcony door, we were hit with the warm, humid air we were expecting here, and the wooden railing of the balcony and the hardwood deck furniture were damp and glistening. Our glasses and the camera lens all fogged up, but the dampness felt good on the skin. Seeing only eight coaches parked waiting for their tour passengers, I thought that many people must have decided, as we did, not to take shore excursions here. With weather as bad as it is, hot and rainy, I am glad we had no plans other than to take a self-guided walking tour. I also planned to do laundry expecting the launderette to be less busy than usual.

After breakfast in the Princess Grill, I went to check on the availability of a washer and found an empty one to use. That made our decision for us as to whether to take a walk first or do laundry first. The laundry was washed, dried, and put away shortly after eleven o'clock. The rain had picked up at that time, but we took our umbrellas and headed to the gangway.

Our walk took us first to the Vaima Shopping Center then across a side street to the Marche Municipale. Finding nothing that we wanted to buy, we headed back across the main street to follow the boardwalk along the quay. We walked as far as the Place Toata passing the Place Jacques Chirac, Eglise Evangelique, Bougainville Park, the rocky, black sand beach, and the monument to the victims of nuclear testing which was carried out in the area by French, British and Americans throughout the last half of the 20th century.

The rain slowed almost to a stop when we were the farthest from the ship, then gained strength again as we neared the entrance to the harbor on our return. Many of the locals did not carry umbrellas; a few had them, but not many. And it looked like most of them were wearing rubber flip-flops which they removed to walk barefoot when the rain was the heaviest and the puddles were the deepest. We had lunch in the Golden Lion Pub again and missed the starting time for the afternoon movie on the ship. We arrived for dinner in the Princess Grill just after its opening time of 6:30 and asked for what they call "fast service". We were finished eating by 7:30 and left for the movie, A Walk in the Woods, scheduled to start at 8:00. Having learned that the programs are all well attended, we arrive early to find our seats. We, and many other passengers, carry books along to pass the time waiting for the programs to start. Every program we have attended has started perfectly on time. Most nights, dinner takes about two hours from start to finish—from ordering appetizers to sipping tea and coffee with handmade, bite-sized candies.