March 28, 2019

Today’s French Polynesian island was Fakarava, which is one of 80 islands of the Tuamotu Archipelago (or Tuamotus). The Toamotus are grouped into 16 communes. The local time is the same as in Papeete, Tahiti, the capital of French Polynesia. TheFakarava atoll with six neighbouring atolls have been named by UNESCO as a Natural Biosphere Reserve.IT is the third largest atoll lagoon in the world. The ship entered the wide opening into the atoll’s lagoon and anchored.

Today was another hot day with the 7 a.m. temperature 29°C, a gentle breeze and blue skies with some white clouds around the horizon. We watched Carol and Dennis with their snorkelling gear board the first tender of the day for the 10-minute ride to the pier in the village of Rotoava, as we walked on Deck 3 before going to breakfast in the dining room. We were ready to take the tender before 9 am and there was no line to get tender tickets. You just needed to walk down two decks to Deck A and board the waiting tender.

As we got off the tender boat, there were ladies giving each guest a tiare flower, which we obediently placed behind our left ear to indicate that we were married. Single people put the tiare flower behind their right ear. There were lots of passengers milling around the little shops or under the tarpaulins covering the vendors in the open-air market selling shell jewelry or black pearl jewelry. Some people were taking island tours for 4,500 francs in pickup truck buses holding about 8 people in the truck bed. There were plenty of bicycles to rent, either one gear or e-bikes. The atoll is flat. The atoll is 60 kilometers long and is a lot more modern than Tabuaeran, our stop in the Republic of Kiribati last week.

A two-lane concrete road with a bicycle lane on each side runs the length of the atoll. It is lined with trees, of which many are coconut palm trees. The temperature had already climbed to 33°C, but walking and the gentle breeze made the 2.3 kilometer walk to the old lighthouse and back quite pleasant. We took photos of flowers and trees along the way and on the walk back, we stopped at a little beach to wade into the turquoise blue water of the lagoon. The little beach was stony, but only a few meters to the sandy floor of the lagoon water. We waded in carefully since there was lots of coral and sharp stones, so we did not go so deep as to get our shorts wet. The water temperature was warm, but cooled our feet and lower legs. We took pictures to prove to our dining room tablemates that we did go into the water of the South Pacific. My portable thermometer showed a temperature in the shade of 33°C.

Back at the village we found Susan and Jeff, who had been beachcombing for shells and had two handfuls of interesting shells. It looked like there might be a shower soon, so we looked around in the grocery hardware store and bought an ice cream treat. Susan and Jeff had made another unsuccessful attempt to find Dr. Pepper soft drinks. They have been trying at all of our stops in French Polynesia. Steps 12,140

We looked at the goods in little shops and vendors then stood in line for five minutes for the next tender to the ship. Just standing in the heat, we found that we were sweating so much that our hands were dripping wet. Once in the tender , with no breeze, we could feel our clothes absorbing our sweat. It was a relief to enter the air-conditioned ship and shower. We were amazed at how wet our clothes were.

After lunch on Deck 9 in the Lido Market, we found deck chairs, on the shady side of Deck 3 facing Rotoavavillage, to sit to write the blog and read in the tropical warmth.

Carol and Denis’ snorkel tour went to five different location, plus they had a shore lunch. Susan and Jeff were taking a 90-minute snorkel tour to the north pass, where the ship entered this morning, for a quick look at the deep-water coral garden. The boat took 10 minutes each way. They saw grouper, parrotfish and triggerfish plus harmless black-tipped sharks, white-tipped sharks and nurse sharks.

Sail away was 5 p.m. to travel to the final island destination for this cruise, Taiohae, Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Archipelago before heading back to San Diego. We followed a familiar evening of dinner with Susan, Jeff, Carol and Dennis, with the exception that as dessert was served Ida asked if he could present a small birthday cake, which they had missed giving Claire yesterday. Several waiters sang an Indonesian Happy Birthday. We shared the chocolate cake, the same four-inch square as last evening, with the rest of the table. Then the six of us played Trivia – we scored 10 before either taking the elevator or climbing the stairs to Deck 11 to the almost empty Crow’s Nest Lounge to play Five Crowns. Jeff won for the first time. The entertainment in the theater was accordion player, Annie Gong.

We can sleep in tomorrow as it is Sea Day # 11. Total steps 16,805