Our brief (less than 40 hours) stay on the Isle of Tahiti ended in the most pleasant fashion, with a half day Circle Tour of the island. We saw waterfalls, grottoes, sacred ancient sites, and had a trip to the Paul Gauguin Museum. The museum is on a particularly lovely spot overlooking the beautiful lagoon and the ocean, although there is very little original artwork, there is preserved the lintel which was at the entryway of his home in the Marquesas, where he died at age 55 of either a heart attack or syphilis, depending upon which source you believe.
There were also some interesting stone tiki statues there, which made for a lovely tourist photo op. (I think I have a very similar photograph with a Mayan statue from San Antonio, among many others.)
It was just Fayne and me with the tour guide so it was quite intimate. He then dropped us off in the heart of the capital Papeete for a little time to walk around the market, grab a bite, and window shop before catching the ferry to Mo’orea. The market was nothing special, but we did meet a young woman studying at the University. She was attracted by the Trader Joe’s bag I was carrying which reminded her of home in Philadelphia. The ferry ride was on a very efficient catamaran and only took about 35 minutes. I was happy to see that the ship was being protected by a particularly lovely tiki.
We arrived in Mo’orea very tired and once again after dark.Like our experience in Tahiti, we awoke to find ourselves in a very beautiful and restful spot, the Intercontinental Hotel Mo’orea.
We had breakfast on the balcony accompanied by some avian friends.
This hotel is undergoing some significant renovations, which makes it ironically somewhat more suited to us. They are fewer people here, and they’ve clearly happy to have the guests. We learned yesterday that tourism is down significantly in French Polynesia, from about 400,000 per year a few years ago to a little over 100,000 per year now. This hotel is home to a hospital for sick and injured sea turtles,
and there are some dolphins here, although I have to look at that completely differently having seen the movie “The Cove”. We are taking it easy today, regrouping, planning the next few days. Tonight we will visit a Polynesian cultural Center with some traditional food and dance (I’m sure It’s the local version of the luau, but we are looking forward to it).Adieu for now.
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