WorldTravelReynolds

This is a long post but it was a very long day. Hope you enjoy.

Welcome to the beautiful turquoise blue waters and the black sandy beaches (and white too) of Papeete, Tahiti.

Formed by the eruptions of not just one but two volcanoes, Tahiti looks to me a bit like a turtle with its head out. The larger northern part of the island is called Tahiti Nut, or Big Tahiti, while the smaller southern part is called Tahiti Iti, you guessed it, Little Tahiti.

It’s the capital of French Polynesia and second largest city on the largest island in this group, it definitely had a French feel to it. Many times while shopping we heard merci for thank you.

If you were paying attention to the last post it will probably be obvious that our friend Samuel Wallis, who we met discussing Mo’orea, stopped in at Tahiti as well in 1768. One thing to mention about his exploratory journey, he was out to discover Terra Australis Incognita, a supposed landmass that geographers believed had to exist to balance the northern and southern hemispheres, an idea worked out about as well as the earth being flat.

Anyways, Wallis stopped here on Tahiti, named it King George Ill Island, and claimed it for England.

Meanwhile, not long afterwards, a French navigator named de Bougainville, leader of the first French force to circumnavigate the globe, arrived on the opposite side of the island and claimed it for France. This is part of that convoluted story about how the French ended up with the islands that I mentioned previously.

The English did have more adventures here, one of them being the arrival of the HMS Bounty in October of 1788. If that name sounds familiar no doubt you’re going to associate it with the word “mutiny”.

The ship’s captain was of course William Bligh, who was an extremely strict, to the point of cruel, disciplinarian who much of his crew had grown to despise as they had made their way to Tahiti. Their mission was to procure breadfruit trees to take back to the West Indies to begin growing them there as a food source.

Well, after five months in paradise with its charming Tahitian women is it any wonder that many of the men were reluctant to board the ship with that harsh curmudgeon Bligh?

Everyone got back on board but not long into the journey, in April of 1789, Fletcher Christian and his buddies decided to put their mutinous plan into effect and set Bligh and eighteen of his loyal crewmen adrift in an open longboat and headed back to Tahiti. I’ll leave the rest of the story to you to look up if you’re interested. Suffice it to say that after the mutineers, whalers, British missionaries, and French military expeditions rolled through, life had changed forever on Tahiti.

When Cook arrived in the islands in 1769 there were around 200,000 Polynesians, but within a century or so various western diseases had decimated that population and the number was less than 10,000. I can’t help but wonder if the French would have been able to stake their claim in the 19th century if those population figures hadn’t dropped so drastically. A long story but I found it interesting.

The last and surprising settlers were the Chinese in 1865. They came over as cotton laborers, most of them from southern China. Chinese immigrants have contributed significantly to the territory’s economy. In 1973, the administration of Georges Pompidou allowed Chinese to obtain French citizenship.

We learned this on a trip to the Chinese cemetery where next door we stopped at a factory that made clothing. The type that look like Hawaiian shirts, dresses and material. It was a very unique experience in how the factory worked.

After a short stop at the Presidential palace we visited a locals home where they sold some wood carvings. In or near their my home we experienced some huge eels that live under a bridge and we saw so many stray animals. The couple that lived there stated their neighbors weren’t kind to their own animals to the point of cruelty so they just took the stray dogs in. And it was so miserably hot in their house. So much so one of the family members slept outside because it was cooler. We are so very thankful for all God has blessed us with.

Time to see some beaches! On one of the black sand beaches, Papenoo Beach, it had these beautiful black rocks that were washed up on the beach. They were so perfectly formed they looked machine made.

Lots of surfers were out today but they didn’t do very well at getting up on the boards. I think we got 1 or 2 on video.

We saw the coolest blowhole. It’s called Arahoho. At times it scared you as it blew water spray at you through the hole. It is actually a lava tube that was formed by one of the erupting volcanoes.

A little hike past the blowhole we found the most popular waterfall in Tahiti called Faarumai waterfall. It is 443 ft (135 km) in height. It is located in the valley of Tiare and was really beautiful. Of course nowhere near the waterfalls we’ve been experiencing but this one was more unique and quaint. And you still just wanted to sit and stare for hours.

Along our drive and walks we saw so many trees and plants that are native to this island. I tried to name as many as I could on the pictures. The island just smells so good! One is the plant that is used in Chanel #5.

After a long full and informational day in Papeete Tahiti, we had to return to the ship. Before sailing off we experienced wonderful Tahitian dance and songs. Another treat for all the world cruisers. They sang and danced on stage for almost an hour and no one wanted them to go. They were great!

I don’t know how to calculate exactly how many days we’re going to spend at sea after today since we’re crossing the International Dateline and apparently missing out on Leap Day this year. All I can say is I’m pretty sure it’s at least five days at sea.

May God bless you always.

Chuck and Lea Ann