They were a lot of fun and made the trip even more enjoyable. Bob kept us laughing with his quick wit. For example, when the guide stopped to talk about the Noni plant, Bob christened the Noni fruit the "state fruit of Florida", due to its many "dimples". Judy chimed in that it was appropriate that a "dimpled" fruit grew on a "Bush". We all got a big laugh from that one, given the fact that we were in Tahiti a month after the U.S. presidential election, and we STILL didn't know who our president was going to be.
Our local guide was a young man named Mahiti. He was very knowledgeable about the plant life of the area and made frequent stops to point out items of interest. The 4x4 had padded seats with backs on them in the back of a small truck. It was a much more comfortable ride than we anticipated! The truck had plastic sides that would protect us from the rain. However, we all decided we wanted to be able to see better, so Mahiti rolled the sides up and the cool, cloudy weather made for a pleasant ride. Like the day before, the rain held off most of the morning. However, Mahiti had brought along rain slickers for each of us just in case we needed them. The ship had large umbrellas near the gangway that were also available to take ashore.
We retraced our circle island route to the north side of the island. Near Papenoo, we turned right and started following the Papenoo River, the largest river on Tahiti, up the valley. It was beautiful and lush. The rushing river in the Papenoo valley and clouds hanging low over the mountains looked like the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina. The road definitely required a 4x4, but was not too bumpy. We had to ford several small streams. At one point we had to ford the river. It was a little scary, because it was at a very wide point in the river and came up over the wheels. Mahiti got us through safely. We all marveled at the many waterfalls we saw en route. Mahiti told us that only three of the waterfalls--the largest ones--had names. These were the Topatari, the Vaiharuru, and the Puraha. The others were a result of the heavy rains over the past few days. Guess that was one good thing about all of the the rainy weather! At the turn-around point, we feasted on watermelon, giant star fruit, juice, water and coconut. All of that riding had made us hungry! The trip ended up longer than we anticipated, and we didn't get back to the ship until about 1:30. None of us complained because the guide, the scenery, and the group's camaraderie had made for such a great shore excursion.
We ate a late lunch and returned to the market to buy some souvenirs. Late that afternoon, we had signed up for the " Grand Ballets de Tahiti" show at 5:15 pm. It was advertised as a "short walk" to Morrison's Cafe, where the show took place. However, it was probably about 3 or 4 blocks, ending with 3 flights of stairs to climb. The Cafe was located behind the Vaima Shopping Center, so if you have problems walking, you might want to check out the distance before you book this show. Once we made the climb to the cafe; however, the show was well worth it. There were about 15 young male and female dancers, accompanied by a Polynesian band. Their flamboyant costumes and energetic dancing made me feel like I was really in the South Pacific!
After the show, we returned to the ship and had dinner in the Club Restaurant. While we were dining, the R3 raised its anchor and we sailed for Huahine. Due to the bad weather, the captain decided to rearrange the itinerary and go to Huahine first, followed by Bora Bora, Raiatea, and then finally Moorea. All of the passengers were getting desperate to see the sun, so we didn't care. I'll bet the shore excursion desk staff were stretched to the limit trying to rearrange all of the tours for different days!
Author's Note: Although Renaissance Cruises stopped operating and filed for bankruptcy in September 2001, you can still cruise Tahiti and French Polynesia either as a stopover on a Transpacific cruise or on the Paul Gauguin.
