DAY 33-PAPEETE, TAHITI

        

BACKGROUND INFO:
         Tahiti is the largest of the French Polynesian islands with a population of over 180,000.  It is shared like the figure “8” with the larger portion being “Tahiti Nui” (meaning big Tahiti) and the smaller portion being “Tahiti Iti” (meaning small Tahiti).  How creative is that!!!!  Anyway,  most of the people live along the coast of Nui, especially near the capital city, Papeete.  The interior is almost entirely uninhabited.
        Tahitians are French citizens with complete civil and political rights.  French is the official language but French and Polynesian are both in use today.  Besides tourism, the Tahitian black pearl farms are a substantial source of revenues.
        If you have read or seen the movie, “Mutiny on the Bounty”, Tahiti is where the crew came back to after they seized the Bounty and set Captain Bligh adrift in a ship’s boat back in April 1789.

WHAT WE DID TODAY:

       We are docked right next to downtown Papeete on Tahiti today.  Will be here until 8:30 tonight as it is a short trip over to Bora Bora, our port for tomorrow.  Not sure why but the ship's internet sucks big time today.  I tried all morning to not avail to download the above two photos.  Finally got them loaded this afternoon.  Will try the rest of today's photos later tonight or tomorrow.
       It seemed most everyone got off the ship this morning for touring.  I had a 3 hour catamaran cruise scheduled for this afternoon but I got too much sun yesterday so cancelled.  We both worked out this morning and were the only ones in the fitness center.  After that I left the ship for a short walk to the market.  Those photos will come in a later post for reason above.  It was very warm and lots of people at the market.  Mostly locals it seemed buying fresh vegetables, fish, and just having some lunch.  There are two other cruise ships in port with us today.  The British ship, Arcadia, and a Fred Olsen ship, Black Watch.
       I was only off the ship for an hour.  We had a little lunch up in La Veranda.  Ship is very quiet again this afternoon.  We got some new headliner entertainers today.  One is our friend, Brandi Chapman.  We met her on another Regent cruise several years ago.  Reception says she is on the ship but we have not seen her yet.  Hope we can have her join us for dinner tonight but she may be tried from flying in.
       Since we are not leaving here until 8:30, the chef and his team are having "Dinner Under the Stars".  They will be decorating the pool deck and having a dinner buffet up there.  I will go take some photos but we prefer air conditioning down in Compass Rose for our dinner.
        At 6:00 pm there will be a pre-dinner special local Tahitian show in the theater.  There is no after dinner show this evening.  Rather, they will be showing the movie, "Free State of Jones".  We want to see it but will probably watch it on our suite tv.