Day 17 Tuesday January 30,2024 Papeete (Tahiti), French Polynesia

Arrival 8:00 All Aboard 19:30 Departure 20:00

Cloudy skies greet Insignia as she sails the waters between Moorea (our favourite island) and Papeete, Tahiti. Papeete is very busy as it's the major distribution centre for commercial goods received into French Polynesia. Rains showers in the early morning create several rainbows.

As we enter the harbour, what do we see but our sister ship, Oceania Nautica. She is preparing to do three 10-day trips around French Polynesia before starting a Grand Voyage from Papeete.

Here are some words that may be of help in Tahitian. These include:

Hello - Ia Orana (yo-rah-nah)
Thank you - Maururu (mah-roo-roo)

Our plans for today are to go to the shopping market and then take a ferry over to Moorea. The request to buy Vanilla beans from Joy was carried out. It is very hot with the humidex hovering around 40C. There is no breath of wind of any sorts, but we are not complaining.

Janice purchased some vanilla and vanilla beans with instructions to make it and she also added to her collection of black pearls - 2 casual bracelets and a pendant with a black pearl and mother of pearl compliments of her mom. I returned to the ship with the goods as well as purchases that Bev made. It was not a good idea to carry these goods for the entire day.

For some reason I thought the ferry to Moorea was 10:45 so off I went leaving the confines of an air-conditioned ship, but it was not until 11:45. Not wanting to wait another hour I decided to go for another walk in the extreme heat. This was not a good idea.

Janice, Bev, Glenn and I are now on the Aremiti 6 ferry to Moorea. It is a 25-minute ride over to the island where we decided to go for lunch and enjoy the beauty and quietness of Moorea. We thought the Sofitel Hotel on Moorea would be a good idea, but we found the dining area was under repairs although they were still accepting guests.

Our taxi driver's second idea was Manava Beach Resorts & Spa - Moorea. Getting out of the van something said we had been here before. Déjà vu, we spent time at the hotel under two separate occasions. At that time, the hotel was named the Pearl and Spa. I am not sure what happened but maybe the pandemic influenced the hotel and its change of ownership.

Walking down the stairs to the bar and restaurant was a blast from the past with very happy memories of our first experience in an overwater bungalow. Tahitian Pizza and salad for lunch with diet cokes and two beers. The pizza reminded me of Gondola Pizza in Winnipeg, extra thin and extra crispy.

Janice needed to return to the market as a set of pearl earrings she had purchased were defective. Fortunately, the stall owner was still there. She did not even argue but paid us back in French Polynesian Francs rather than USD which is very valuable here.

Insignia left Papeete at 20:00 making her way to Bora Bora where we will spend 2 days.

Everything after French Polynesia will be new for us. We cannot wait although we are always sad to leave Tahiti and her islands.