Day 17 - Thu 25Apr2024 - Papeete, Tahiti - Day 2

 After cancelling our snorkeling excursion, we slept in and after breakfast we left the ship and found a private tour operator who offered us a round the island tour on a bus for $50 per person.  We were directed to a tent to the left of the dock and between our dock and the next dock which this morning had the Star Breeze berthed there.  I would note that there are a number of tour operators there and one can book tours for both Tahiti and Moorea and for future days.  There are water tours, snorkeling tours, 4x4 tours, and more as of this writing.  After finalizing our ticket purchase, the departure time was set for 11am for a 4 hour tour.  With over an hour free before the departure time, we walked over to the market and shopped a bit.  I also visited a motorcycle store and priced motorcycles.  They are certainly expensive here with a 125cc bike going for $4k US$. They are Chinese and possibly Japanese bikes.  

After shopping we went back to our assembly area and waited for the bus.  Finally at 11:15am it showed up and we boarded the clean and neat and air-conditioned city bus.  After a little delay i an effort by the tour operator to fill the bus, we departed.  Our guide, Teiki (Tee eeki) was a local who studied English in England and he provided lots of commentary throughout the trip which ended up being 5.5 hours long due to traffic issues and we had long stops at each of the 6 stops.  We had done this excursion about 7 years ago when we visited here on the Massdam but we found it fund to re-visit the sites and reminisce about that trip.  The stops we visited were 1. The grotto; 2. The Water Garden; 3. The Waterfall; 4. The Blowhole; & the Black Sand Beach & Lighthouse.  We also made a stop to snag some lunch items at a Carrefour which is a major supermarket chain in the French speaking world.  

There were lots of construction delays on the far side of the island and we weren't able to visit Tahiti Niti (small island) as its closed for site preparations for the 2024 Summer Surfing Olympics.  We were able to visit the surfing site when we were last here and it's really impressive.

At the end of the tour at 5:30, we were dropped off across the street from where we departed and near the nightly food truck area.  We decided to wait for all of the food trucks to arrive.  There were two of them already there when we arrived.  I received a text message from JoAnn and Gary asking if we were okay as our medallions last showed us on deck 4 which is the medical center. I assured her that we were okay and were chilling at the food truck site.  So they came down and joined us.  They had beef noodles and Angela and I split a ceviche order.  Both dishes were quite nice.  We ate there at little tables sitting on stools and chatted about our respective days and other things.  Unfortunately the same tour that. JoAnn and Gary took yesterday was with a non English speaking guide and on a bus with dirty windows and barely functioning air conditioning.  After paying for our items, (cash is the only thing accepted and they take US$ at a poor exchange rate), we then returned to the ship and Angela and I went to the Princess Theater to watch the musical set by 2 female and 2 male singers from the cast.  They were really good.

We then participated in a Legal themed game show which was rather interesting although I didn't agree with some of the decisions.  Afterwards I showered and came down to the Vista showroom to see Sid Davis' comedy show.  Our other friends had just seen it and really liked it.  He was super funny.  Angela went to her customary late night karaoke.

Our onboard time tonight was midnight and we only have to sail a short distance to Moorea which we can easily see from the ship.  Tomorrow we have another snorkeling trip and water shuttles will be once again in operation.  We have to be back on board by 4pm tomorrow to begin the first of 5 sea days to reach Honolulu.