Saturday, November 11, 2023

Papeete Tahiti, French Polynesia

For our first day in Tahiti we booked the Holland America excursion - Tahiti's Natural Treasures which was a drive around the island on what's called the ring road. It ended up being a large tour bus with 30 to 40 people unlike the tour we'd had the previous day in Huahine with groups of 8 people. The large group size and single tour guide made it much less enjoyable.

Our first stop on this tour was at Plage de la Pointe Venus, or Beach of Point Venus. The Point Venus name comes from the fact that it was here that Captain Cook and other astronomers measured the transit of Venus across the sun. The lighthouse shown in the picture below was built later to commemorate the event.


Another stop on the tour was at the Water Gardens Vaipahi where we saw this waterfall pictured below.


The last stop of the tour was at Grottes De Mara'a where we saw a natural grotto, or water cave, that was quite a ways inland. The park also had some nice flowers and other plants.


One of the nicest things about our stop in Papeete was that we were docked instead of being anchored in a nearby harbor. This made it much easier and more convenient to get off and on the ship. Below is a night view of other boats docked at the harbor.


In the afternoon we went to Les 3 Brasseurs and I was able to get a flight of four beers. Locally brewed and very good tasting. But the wait staff didn't smile at all, didn't really speak any English and didn't seem very friendly. Maybe because, although it was a Saturday, it was Remembrance Day, our Veterans Day, and a banker's holiday here in Tahiti. Almost everything was closed and they probably didn't like working on a holiday. It was also very hot in the restaurant which was an outdoor restaurant. The weather web page said it was 84 and felt like 88 because of humidity.

Click this link or one of the pictures above to see more pictures in the Papeete Tahiti, French Polynesia photo album.


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