Papeete 2/25/24

Papeete

Authored by Laurie Hardcastle Seil

Welcome to where the palm trees sway, the water’s turquoise blue, and the sands can be black or white, Papeete, Tahiti. Located on the northwest coast of the island it’s the largest cruise port in French Polynesia. We’ll dock at the Quai D’Honneur in the center of town where the waterfront and port serve cruise ships, ferries, yachts and cargo boats. Along the harbor there’s a very pleasant and walkable promenade. The tourism office is next to the terminal and will have all kinds of information on city tours and shore excursions. Formed by the eruptions of not just one but two volcanoes, Tahiti looks to me a bit like a turtle with its head out. The larger northern part of the island is called Tahiti Nut, or Big Tahiti, while the smaller southern part is called Tahiti Iti, you guessed it, Little Tahiti. It’s the capital of French Polynesia and the second largest city on the largest island in this group, it will definitely have a French feel to it. If you 82 were paying attention to the last post it will probably be obvious that our friend Samuel Wallis, who we met discussing Mo’orea, stopped in at Tahiti as well in 1768. One thing to mention about his exploratory journey, he was out to discover Terra Australis Incognita, a supposed landmass that geographers believed had to exist to balance the northern and southern hemispheres, an idea worked out about as well as the earth being flat. Anyways, Wallis stopped here on Tahiti, named it King George III Island, and claimed it for England. Meanwhile, not long afterwards, a French navigator named de Bougainville, leader of the first French force to circumnavigate the globe, arrived on the opposite side of the island and claimed it for France. This is part of that convoluted story about how the French ended up with the islands that I mentioned previously. The English did have more adventures here, one of them being the arrival of the HMS Bounty in October of 1788. If that name sounds familiar no doubt, you’re going to associate it with the word “mutiny”, but I’m getting ahead of myself. The ship’s captain was of course William Bligh, who was an extremely strict, to the point of cruel, disciplinarian who much of his crew had grown to despise as they had made their way to Tahiti. Their mission was to procure breadfruit trees to take back to the West Indies to begin growing them there as a food source. Well, after five months in paradise with its charming Tahitian women is it any wonder that many of the men were reluctant to board the ship with that harsh curmudgeon Bligh? Everyone got back on board but not long into the journey, in April of 1789, Fletcher Christian and his buddies decided to put their mutinous plan into effect and set Bligh and eighteen of his loyal crewmen adrift in an open longboat and headed back to Tahiti. Suffice it to say that after the mutineers, whalers, British missionaries, and French military expeditions rolled through life had changed forever on Tahiti. When Cook arrived in the islands in 1769 there were around 200,000 Polynesians, but within a century or so various western diseases had decimated that population, and the number was less than 10,000. I can’t help but wonder if the French would have been able to stake their claim in the 19th century if those population figures hadn’t dropped so drastically. Walking around town and seeing the scenery is going to be one of your best bets for close to town today. Papeete has some lovely garden areas, the closest one to port being the Pa’ofa’i Gardens which has ornamental fishponds, hundreds of trees, and walking trails along the bay. In the center of town at the French Polynesia Assembly Complex you’ll find botanical gardens that were once part of an area known as Tarahoi, the palace grounds of the last Tahitian queen, Pomare IV. Also downtown is the small but pretty Papeete Cathedral. It was built in the 19th century then refurbished in the 1960s, you can’t miss the colorful red steeple on the oldest Catholic Church in Tahiti. If you would like to learn more about the unique and beautiful black pearls that you find in Tahiti, you can visit the Robert Wan Pearl Museum where there’s info on black pearls and farming them. Those looking for a beach today will find plenty to choose from as they are all over the island. The only differentiator I’m going to give you here is which are black sand beaches, and which are white sand beaches, the latter seem to be further from port. Those I believe are black sand include Place du Taharuu, probably the most beautiful of the black sands and the photo in the collage. Papenoo Beach, and Bain Lot, are two others, the latter being the most popular beach right in Papeete. Among the white sand beaches is La Place de Maui on the south shore where the waters are shallow and calm. Sands are also bleached at Vaiava and Place de Toaroto as well, plus the latter known for its snorkeling. Other points of interest on the island in random order include Point Venus, the spot where Captain James Cook observed the planet Venus transit across the sun, which had been his major reason for setting out on his expedition to the South Pacific.

Papeete is huge compared to Moorea. Population of Morea s 16K vs 138K for Papeete. In Moorea they will only allow 2 story buildings to preserve the beautiful skylines and habitats. In Papeete, they are allowed to build higher, and it looks to be much more cosmopolitan than its sister island. Only 28 miles apart, but what a difference between the 2. We heard that the children from Moorea take the ferry to Papeete to get to school. A lot more to do off the port than in Moorea. Mickey had a scuba dive today for about 4 hours leaving at 9:30 am and went to the shipwrecks and plane wreck sites. He dove 60 feet (which I think is a lot??? No clue. He tried to do the afternoon dive, but they were already full, so I believe he got on the ship and took a nap. Lot of these going around!! I got off the ship around 11 to do some shopping and a little sightseeing in the port area. I was tempted by the beautiful Tahitian pearls but stayed strong!!! looking for pearls in Japan or China. Met up with friends from the ship to join them on a snorkeling tour. Was incredibly warm and humid in the morning, so looked forward to an afternoon on the water. It of course clouded up and we ran into a small squall...saw a group of dolphins on the way to our first stop and also some surfers out enjoying the waves. On the first snorkel stop, we got to see turtles and myriads of fish. The water was quite pleasant. Our guide led us to the best sies for fish which were magical to watch. We were in the water about 45 minutes - the current was quite strong so the swim back to the boat took a while longer. Next stop was 2 shipwrecks and a plane wreck, the third was the stingray stop. We saw four of them around our boat and they were very friendly swimming in around us as we snorkeled. Once done, our captain, Moana, brought put his home-made rum punch which was delicious along with fresh pineapple and grapefruit...hit the spot. and we learned a little about him.... still single but maybe close to proposing to his girlfriend, a native of Papeete, building his home on land by his parents, working to buy his own boat. All in all, a delightful young man, my granddaughter Autumn told me to look for Moana while we were visiting, and voila, we found him!!! Back to the ship for a Polynesian dance show and a very satisfying day. I think we could come back to these two islands and spend more time to really embrace the beauty and culture of French Polynesia...and tomorrow, back to sea days on our way to Auckland, New Zealand.