Tahitian Sunshine

Boy is it HOT…almost 90 degrees and 56% humidity. We spent the day in Papeete, Tahiti’s capital. It is French Polynesia’s only real city and a major South Pacific port of call for freighters, cruise vessels and yachts. It is not as pretty as Moorea and far more commercialized. We departed the ship early to take a private tour of the entire island, with the most memorable stop being the Arahoho Blowhole, one of the island’s major natural resources. It was formed thousands of years ago by a lava flow that, once cooled, created a channel that became the source of roaring plumes of water shooting into the air (see below)...


It was situated adjacent to a lovely black sand beach with gorgeous waves.

We also made a trip to the museum of Paul Gauguin, the famous French impressionist painter. Dedicated to Tahiti’s most famous resident, the museum was inaugurated in 1965 by the Singer Foundation of sewing machine fame. It is a memorial to the artist’s life on Tahiti from 1891 to 1901, when Gauguin created his most powerful canvasses highlighted by brilliant colors and exotic subjects. However, we were disappointed that the museum had no original works on display, but featured documents and photographs from the Gauguin era, along with some reproductions of his paintings.

We set sail again shortly, this time for Bora Bora, arriving at 8 am on Tuesday.