Tahiti

It was 86 degrees and humid as we sat on the upper deck having a coffee. It was 9am and the Saga Rose was just pulling into the next berth, this would be the last time we see her as she heads in a different direction from here. We went ashore soon after, before it got any hotter and walked the 2 or 3 minutes to the main shopping street. The ship was docked very conveniently within 200 yards of downtown Papeete (pronounced ‘Pappy ate eh‘) and we wandered up a few side streets making our way to the market we remembered from our previous visit. Once there we checked out both levels then decided most items were overpriced and the only thing we were interested in was the flowers which were more reasonably priced. On the subject of pricing we heard a few second hand stories, a hamburger for $9 from a street vendor and $24 for a beer and an orange juice in one of the cafes, can‘t comment on how accurate they were as our only purchase was the flowers.

The heat was unbearable and we were both drenched, so after some negotiations we settled on a nice arrangement (pictured left) for $17 and walked back to the air conditioning of the ship.

After lunch we relaxed on the promenade deck and I watched the crew going through their usual maintenance work, painting the ships’ hull, then since we’d just come through 5 days at sea I decided to have another half hour on land strolling around town.

By 3.30pm I was back and we were sitting in the ships’ main lounge watching a local Polynesian folkloric show which was very good. Capital of Tahiti, the town of Papeete is not altogether unattractive with a beautiful long ocean front main street, Boulevard Pomare, with nicely laid out public gardens, innumerable shops and street side cafes. There were some taxis available pierside and I’m told they accept US dollars, there were also a few banks within easy walking distance. We were back out on deck to watch the 5.00pm sail away, around 4.35pm they announced (this is for Lorraine) “Would Mr & Mrs Swanson kindly contact the pursers desk”. Apparently there were two passengers unaccounted for, the minutes ticked by then with only a few minutes to go, first Mr Swanson came running down the pier, followed by Mrs Swanson a hundred yards behind. The crowds on deck alternately cheered and boo’d them as they boarded, it must have been embarrassing, as soon as they were on, the gangway was withdrawn and we were underway.

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