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River Of Data.com |
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Tuesday, 16 December, Papeete, Tahiti to Moorea, Tahiti We got up early, considering how late we'd gone to bed (200am), but we made it for room service breakfast and checked out and were picked up at 830 by a taxi and guide for the day, Carl, of Carl's Taxi, who was wonderful. He put all of our bags in his van and off we went. We drove around Papeete a bit and headed downtown to the Marketplace where we got some coffee and bought a couple of gifts and souvenirs. Then we saw more of town and headed out along the north shore of the island and saw The Diadem, a blowhole, a beautiful waterfall, a lighthouse, and a black sand beach. Carl took us to the Fast Ferry to Moorea via some very interesting back streets, in order to beat a traffic jam. He's lived there the last thirty years, and knows his way around. He made sure we got the right tickets and showed us how to get our luggage into the "storage containers" that are wheeled onto the ferry. I paid Carl the 15.000 cfp that we'd agreed on by email in advance. Prices here are high, and seem even higher, when you realize you're paying 350 cfp for a cup of coffee. That translates to about $4 US, as there are about 86 cfp (French Polynesian Francs) per US dollar. Since this is French, and European Community citizens don't even have to have a passport to visit, it is surprising they don't use Euros, though the exchange rate is similar if 100 cfp were to equal one euro. Carl said that there were a host of political and tax matters that kept it from happening. But we're able to handle the math, though it is still strange to have 10000 cfp notes in my wallet, and the smallest note is 500 cfp, with coins for smaller amounts. The ferry ride of 35 minutes was smooth and pleasant, and we arrived on Moorea fine. We got our luggage from the storage containers that had come off the boat, and I went off in search of a cab. I found one with a van, so it could hold all of our luggage, as well as us. He even drove the block to where we were so we wouldn't have to drag it that far. He also picked up a nice retired couple from Illinois who wanted "a quick ride to the nearest hotel so we can find an island tour". I pointed out to them that this driver did tours (he had a sign inside that they'd not seen), so they agreed that he'd drop us off and then continue the tour. Since the tour had already started, he stopped at several locations for pictures on the way to the Sheraton. We stopped for a view of the overwater bungalows at the Sofitel (don't look as nice as ours), a monument in memory of those who died in a plane crash just off shore just last year (his best friend was one of the victims), and for several other views. We arrived at the hotel shortly, and checked in quickly. We were taken to our bungalow in a golf cart, and another cart brought our luggage along. We walked in and were more than pleased, as it was better than we had even imagined. The bed had tiare flowers on it and the floor has a glass panel (about 2 x 8 feet) that looks straight down into the lagoon so we can watch the fish from inside. You'll see more of it on subsequent pages. It even has lights underneath so we can see them at night. We dropped our things off and went back to the beach bar and restaurant for a sandwich for a late lunch. We had enough left over to be our supper. We ordered desserts from room service, and decided not to do that again, as the service charge was exorbitant, especially for just desserts. The TV has ten channels, but only two are in English, TCM and CNN. The TCM movies sometimes, but not always, have French subtitles. A wonderful start to our time on Moorea. |
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