Huahine, French Polynesia – May 29th

Huahine consists of two main islands, Huahine Nui (“big Huahine”) and Huahine Iti (“small Huahine”) surrounded by an atoll and many motus (islets). It is quiet, agricultural (vanilla) and undeveloped with a population of only 6300. 

I went diving with a little two-person shop run by owner Annie Brunet and her assistant Didier. It was wonderful although a little challenging. With few gaps in the atoll between the lagoon and the ocean, tricky ever-changing currents result from the tidal ebb and flow. Joani went snorkeling with the party crowd and saw much of the same things I caught on my camera.

We saw lots of reef sharks like this Black Tip. There were also White Tips and a group of 30 Gray Reef Sharks that we watched for five minutes by holding onto rocks on the bottom so the currents didn’t move us somewhere else.

Huahine is known for its Blue-tipped White Anemone, pictured above and below with an Orangefin Anemonefish.

Similar to anemonefish and clownfish, damsel fish also play and hide in and around the anemone. Below are some Three Spot Damsel Fish and some little yellow Nemo Fish.

We saw Titan Triggerfish everywhere; they think they own the lagoon. Maybe they do.

Annie carefully picked up a Conch to show us.

And last but not least, we saw a brightly colored Butterfly Fish

Diving in French Polynesia continues to be amazing. Although I never got into bird watching and learning to identify different species, tropical fish are a different story. We never get tired seeing them. Joani is snorkeling twice tomorrow and I have another two-tank dive: more of the same in Rangiroa.

Island hopping from Bora Bora to Tahiti – May 28th

Tahiti is the largest and most populous island in French Polynesia and the largest city, Papeete, is the capital. Tahiti was settled about 1500 years ago by Polynesians in outrigger canoes as long as 100 feet propelled by sail and oar. The national sport is still Va'a, outrigger canoe racing. The best time to visit is July around Bastille Day for the week-long Heivā Festival celebrating Polynesian culture. But we are happy to be here now.

Before leaving the hotel in Bora Bora, Joani wanted to walk over to the ocean side of the atoll to see the surf on the reef.

 We caught a little turbo-prop island hopper from Bora Bora to Tahiti around noon.

Good-bye Bora Bora!!! Until now, when people on shorter legs of the cruise (the "leggers" as they're called by "the 180s") asked, what has been your single best experience, we always said, well how can you choose between experiences like Kilimanjaro, the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Hong Kong and Singapore? But now the answer is different: Bora Bora stands alone.

Rejoining the ship, we saw a huge ocean-sailing yacht docked next to the Insignia. Beautiful lines. It cost somebody a few pennies.

There are lots of tropical flowers here. Maybe that’s what inspired Paul Gaugin to come and paint in Tahiti. Or maybe it was the women who wear the flowers in their hair.

Pacific Islanders remember.

We also saw the French Polynesia Independence Monument on the waterfront.

The sun is beginning to set over the nearby island of Moorea, just to the west.

Shopping baskets this big are for serious shoppers. We have world champions among the 180s.

The sun fell below the yardarm, so it was time for liquid refreshment.

The local beer of choice in Tahiti is Hinano. We gave it a big thumbs-up.

Next: two days of SCUBA and snorkeling on the islands of Huahine and Rangiroa, our fourth and fifth stops in French Polynesia.

Bora Bora, French Polynesia – May 27th

We are anchored off possibly the most idyllic and romantic tropical island in the world. Since this is our 40th Anniversary year, we are staying tonight in a thatched-roof over-water bungalow. And people say I’m not romantic.

The bungalows of Le Méridien reach out from the atoll towards the iconic shape of Bora Bora’s volcanic cone. 

Bora Bora isn't the inspiration for the mythical “Bali Hai” in “South Pacific;” but it could have been.

Here is Joani inside our bungalow, which features a glass bottomed floor

Looking through the floor, Joani shot this video of me swimming under the hut.

 I took this picture of Joani from the water.

Of the 200 people staying in the hotel, roughly 190 are honeymooners. We shared a six hour “romantic snorkel adventure” with Steve and Claire, 27 year-old newlyweds from California. Here we on a private motu (islet) where we had a champagne lunch.

Our first of four snorkel stops was a reef featuring this big barracuda. The snorkeling in Bora Bora is better than SCUBA almost anywhere else. The barracuda shared the reef with a couple of giant eels, one 8 feet long and the other 18.

 The bigger eel

The little guy 

 

In a shallow part of the lagoon we swam with manta rays and black tip sharks. Joani is petting a manta ray. They are soft and cuddly. She is an official ray whisperer.

 A ray swimming near Joani’s leg. In the background, you can see the black tips.

Here is a shark swimming under a ray. They are coming to see me. Good thing we had been to the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium in Australia and knew they aren’t dangerous.

A black tip, from the next reef, which featured a lemon shark that made this black tip look tiny. 

 Lemon sharks are big and impressive but not aggressive or dangerous

 All the same, I am still glad he decided to swim away from me

 After our third snorkel we headed to this motu for lunch. Then to our fourth and final reef of the day.

No more sharks, just lots of colorful reef fish. 

 As we returned to the hotel, Bali Hai was, as always, in the background.

All in all, a totally amazing day celebrating 40 years of marriage. To paraphrase South Pacific, one enchanted evening (Thursday, December 6, 1973), I did see a stranger, across a crowded room (the Cornell Tri-Delt Chapter Room), and somehow I knew, I knew even then, that I would see her, again and again.

Guess I’m just as corny as Kansas in August.

We fly to Papeete tomorrow on Air Tahiti and rejoin the ship.

The adventure continues.

Black Pearl Farm, Raiatea, French Polynesia – May 26th

We are anchored off the coast of Raiatea, our first of six stops in French Polynesia and the second largest island in the archipelago, after Tahiti. It is the center of the eastern, or leeward, or sous le vent islands; and it is likely that the original migrations to Hawaii originated here.

Actually, the houses and buildings here today look just the same as everywhere else in the world. These vendor huts at the cruise pier are for tourists to see what they expect to see.

We visited a black pearl farm where we snorkeled in the oyster beds, saw a demonstration of cultured pearl techniques, and, que surpris, had the opportunity to buy black pearls.

The Anapaperle Farm rides herd on 20,000 head of oysters spread across two acres on the bay side (sheltered and protected side) of the reef. The oysters are attached to tender ropes by lines run through small holes drilled through the hinge side of the oyster shells so they can open and close unimpeded. The ropes have anchors and floats that keep the oysters suspended at about 30 feet, where the water temperature, water oxygen level and phytoplankton count is just about ideal.

Anapaperle uses the cultured pearl technique developed a century ago by Mikimoto. A string of oysters is brought up and an impurity is surgically implanted in the reproductive organ. The oyster secretes mother-of-pearl, the shiny substance lining the inside of the shell, to encapsulate the irritant. It takes two years for them to grow the 0.85 millimeter thick coating required by commercial specs.

 Above is an oyster pried open about a half-an-inch to have an impurity the size inserted or a pearl removed.

Above is the surgical removal of a pearl from an oyster. To see the implanting of an irritant, just run the video backwards in your mind. Impurities just larger than a bee bee are first inserted in five year-old oysters. Two years later the pearl is removed and simultaneously a new and bigger impurity just slightly larger than the old pearl is re-inserted.

Above are the various sizes of irritant / impurities that are inserted, made from Mississippi River mussel shells for low rejection levels. Go figure. They’re round to hopefully get perfectly round pearls. Doesn’t always work: 80% of the time the mother-of-pearl is secreted non-uniformly, yielding egg or oval or tear-drop pearls. When a pearl is removed, a larger-than-the-last irritant is inserted into the now stretched-bigger cavity. Each oyster produces four ever-bigger pearls over an eight year period before being harvested for its mother-of-pearl shell.

Above a pearl “surgeon” is removing the thin membrane that covers the mother-of-pearl inner shell of a 13 year-old oyster undergoing final harvest. Black pearls are grown from “black-rimmed pearls,” so-called because of the black rim around the outside of the mother-of-pearl shell.

Now the “pearl surgeon” has taken a length of membrane that covered the black rim and is cutting it into small pieces. Turns out that the DNA of this membrane determines the color of the mother-of-pearl secretions. When a small piece of membrane that covered the black rim is inserted with the impurity, it results in black secretions, and thus black pearls.

Above are the pearls removed by the “pearl surgeon.” To become a certified pearl surgeon requires a three year apprenticeship. It is a skill often passed down from father to son.

This all reminds me of Steinbeck’s classic novel, The Pearl. But Kino dove for pearls in Baja California, not Polynesia. The ship stops in Cabo San Lucas, but the pearl beds there played out years ago.

We snorkeled over the oyster beds and the protecting reef. We had great water clarity and here are some highlights:

Not surprisingly, on a reef perfect for oysters, we saw amazing giant clams. Above is a blue-lipped clam.

And a green-lipped clam

And of course a blue-green clam

Last, but not least, an I-am-curious-yellow reef fish.

So ended our first day in French Polynesia. Tomorrow: Bora Bora, the inspiration for the mythical “Bali Hai” in the musical “South Pacific.” Joani and I have something special planned on this, our 40th anniversary year.

Pago Pago, American Samoa - May 23rd Again

Since starting we have set our clocks forward 17 times and lost 17 hours. Enquiring minds wanted to know, where did those hours go? Now we do: American Samoa. We got them back with interest as a free bonus day! Yesterday was Monday, May 23rd and so is today. Groundhog Day, of course, is the ship movie playing tonight.

 We went to Tisa’s Barefoot Bar on Alega Beach, the Trip Advisor #1 rated attraction for Pago Pago.

 Among others from the ship party crowd, our friends Drew and Tan were there too.

 The local beer of choice is Vailima, which Tisa’s advertises as “the coldest beer on the island.” It met Joani’s exacting standards – she didn’t ask for a cup of ice.

 There is a nice little beach, reef and lagoon surrounding the bar

The beach is teeming with hermit crabs, about which we made brilliant observations, keen natural scientists that we are:

   

    

The lagoon was also teeming with little blue fish

After a taxi ride back to town, I stopped to get a haircut. In the barbershop I made a friends quickly, 

because people from Pittsburgh and American Samoa are both big fans of one particular guy:

So it was a very good day, and now, after a few sea days we will arrive in French Polynesia. Some enchanted evening …