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Ocean Liner History and Stories from the Sea, Past and Present. With an In Depth focus on Holland America Line

10 December 2012; Papeete, Tahiti.

We all had a quiet night without being bounced around, while outside the wind was raging. During the night we had several heavy rain showers that came over with the wind. The officer of the watch could see the wind coming in, as it increased the swell surging over the reef that marks the boundary of the port. The French call these wind gusts: Rafales. I am following the local weather forecast in French at the moment as it gives a better view of what happens around the island than the deep sea forecasts we normally work with. It does not necessary make the weather better, but it gives more up-to-date detail. So today most of the morning was taken up with scrutinizing these weather forecasts as tomorrow it will all depend on the wind angle on how much shelter we will have in the bay.

 On day break the guests could have a good look around the port and see some interesting Real Estate at the various docks. One item of particular interest was the passenger cargo vessel the Tu Moana. In the rest of the world they are long gone but for the interisland trade it is still feasible to have them. It conjures up pictures of the old trading days. Small white ships leisurely sailing from island to island for regular trading. Unhurried gliding around the Pacific while going from island group to island group. The Tu Moana is a left over from those days but in a modern form. Capable of carrying containers in the hold and on deck, rolling stock in a Ro-Ro garage and guests in a nice accommodation under the bridge. A large landing boat was observed sitting on the forward deck, as not all the islands called at have regular ports. The real estate around us was the large yachts. Some of them of the ultra version as apart from the yacht, there was a 2nd small yacht, the fishing boat, and a 3rd. larger support vessel with all the toys on board.

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It says something if you can have a support vessel that is larger than your yacht. This one belongs to the Sultan of Oman. The yacht itself was somewhere in open waters.

When we came in, a large passenger cargo ship was docked behind us, not unlike the Tu Moana. At least that was what I thought, but it was the support vessel of a yacht belonging to an Arab Sultan. It was carrying support personnel and extra toys such as Rolls Royce’s, helicopters and about 130 extra personell.

On our sb side we had the yacht Golden Odyssey (80 meters) with her support vessel the Golden shadow. Then there is the fishing yacht Golden Osprey which completed the setup. It is used by the owner for private trips but also for scientific expeditions and other charters. I suppose it offsets the enormous costs a bit for operating this little fleet. It is owned by Prince Khalid bin Sultan, the assistant defense minister of Saudi Arabia, who has a great interest in Nature and invites scientists to use his fleet to study coral reefs.

What was also interesting was to see that the Traffic Jam has reached Papeete as well. By 07.00 a 3 lane solid stream of slow moving cars came down the hill on our port side. All driving past the sea front and then disappearing into the city. You do not directly connect a south sea island and waving palm trees with a traffic jam but I suppose it is part of modern times. The days of taking an outrigger canoe to get to work are long gone. Although we saw a lot of outrigger canoes in the port today. Some just coming by and a few large ones doing some training, as outrigger-racing is very much the national aquatic sport here. Tomorrow morning we will leave early and head to Moorea which is an island just to the West of Tahiti.

I will be at anchor there by 08.00 for a day long tender service. The challenge will be with the direction of the wind blowing into the Bay, which is only exposed to one side. The north; and guess where the wind will be coming from tomorrow…………. I am closing with some photos of Lesley, who as roving reporter went ashore to see the sights.

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Welcome by Tahaitian music, courtesy of the local Tourist board.

 

 

 

 

 

Downtown is located right outside the port gates, thus if you are not trekking into the country, you can easily walk it.  As it was overcast with showers, it was not as extremely hot as it can be here.

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The local market.  Very colorful due to all the local  produce and also because the way in which the Tahitians are dressed.

3 Comments

  1. Thank you for the new pictures…It seems these south pacific islands are still as beautiful as they have been depicted in all the old movies, albeit, a little hard to get to by cruise ship. They are definitely worth adding to the old bucket list but perhaps as a land vacation…(the depth of the Pacific, as you have described it, is a tad bit frightening to me) Hopefully, the big ‘mega’ ships will stay away for a long while…I could appreciate not seeing another Senior Frogs every place I go–:)

  2. Captain, how is the combination wind and swell? It seems that sometimes there is a lot of wind and no swell, so tendering is possible. Tomorrow you will be able to tender, despite of the wind blowing.

  3. Missed Career at Sea

    December 15, 2012 at 1:42 am

    This island sure attracts people with a lot of money from time beginning, Captain … Among them, an ex-prime minister of Canada who met his wife here on the surf! Alas, “with money we get traffic jams”, as sometimes I fear the island of Oahu will sink under the weight of all the cars on the road. Fortunately, these islanders in Tahiti are still in good shape when it comes to paddling their outrigger canoes. They seem to always win the Moloka’i races from Moloka’i to Oahu. Perhaps a matter of less McDonald hamburgers in their diet? 🙂
    This local, downtown market brings back fond memories, Captain! It was my transfer point from one “le truck” to another to get me to the Maeva hotel that had a white sand beach.
    How thankful I am that you were on board on this cruise so we can read and see some of the sights so far away in the middle of nowhere.

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