Hawaii & French Polynesia 2019

  The voyage took about eight hours, but the distance between Bora Bora and Raiatea can be covered in less than 45 minutes in a speed boat. On a clear day Raiatea can be seen from Bora Bora.    The satellite internet is very slow, but we did manage to upload text for the past few days since Tabuaeran.    Another early morning temperature at 29°C, the wind was 30 kph, good for keeping cool and there were the usual fluffy white clouds and sunshine.  At breakfast we watched as the ship approached the administrative center of Raiatea, Society Islands, Uturoa and docked at the long pier in the center of town.  We watched the crew, prepare to throw the preliminary ropes to the longshoremen so that they could haul over the heavy ship’s ropes to secure the ship.      Raiatea is the second largest Tahitian island. The scenery was lush looking out from the ship’s deck.  Above Uturoa’s visitor center,...

We slept in but were in time for breakfast in the dining room. The ship remained anchored in the bay by Vaitape for our second day in Bora Bora.  There was a bit of a wind, just enough to be cooling in the 29°C heat, under a partly cloudy sky. It did not seem as humid as yesterday, but it could also be due to less sun.    We didn’t even need to get tender tickets, since the excursions were long gone by the time we were ready to leave. Once on land, we turned right, (easterly) out of the gift shop by the pier, opposite to the direction we walked yesterday. There was a group of musicians in the shelter of the gift shop’s patio roof playing ukuleles and singing songs. In the parking lot was a small grey two-seater Avis rental car, like the one Jeff and Susan rented today. We saw a similar designed car when we were in northern Norway. The traffic was light. The variety of traffic was interesting – bicycles, small motorcycles, two-seater cars of different designs...