Moorea to Papeete

We actually arrived in Papeete by 2000 and we were able to leave the ship as soon as dinner was over.  The bars and clubs close to the ship were packed, but we found a table and shared some Tahitian beer with some of our cruising mates.  We got back to the ship by 0030 in order to get some sleep before the 4X4 tours the next morning.

The tour was called “off the beaten track – a 4WD safari” and we headed to the Papenoo river and valley outside of Papeete where we saw waterfalls, lots of scenery and had a chance to swim in the Papenoo River before returning to the ship at 1245.  The traffic, dust and smoke were all intense, with 160,000 inhabitants on the island of Tahiti and 80,000 in Papeete alone.  That left us some time to walk through the central market before we had to be back on board at 1430.  The ship departed at 1500 and is headed to Nuka Hive, some 768 nautical miles to the northeast, for our last port of call before returning to San Diego.