Raiatea is the
most sacred of all the Society Islands.
Legend says that Oro, the God of war and fertility was born atop Mount
Temahani on the northern end of Raiatea.
Raiatea is the second largest island in French Polynesia and the second
largest port (next to Papeete). Nestled
within the same lagoon as Raiatea and encircle by the same reef is Tahaa. 80%
of the vanilla produced in French Polynesia is made in Tahaa.
 |
| Cruising! |
On the morning
of March 1st, we sailed through the amazing clear, blue waters,
around Tahaa to Raiatea. We docked in
Raiatea – which made it nice for coming and going. We arranged the Tahaa Drift
Snorkel through Princess. They use Marie and Tony Tucker of West Coast Charters
(www.raiatea-tours.com) . They were great! They took us by boat
to the lagoon between Le Tahaa (at the Tahaa Pearl Beach Resort) and a smaller
motu. We walked up through the brush
of the small motu and drift snorkeled through the pass. It was extremely shallow. The colors and clarity of the water made you
forget how close you were to scraping your knees on the coral. We walked up and snorkeled the pass several
times.  |
| Tahaa Pearl Beach Resort |
We anchored at
the Tahaa Pearl Beach Resort. It is a very expensive resort, often visited by
famous celebrities. Tom Cruise had just
been there! If you have time, visit the
bar for a drink. Marie and Tony served us fruit and juice after
our snorkel.
 |
| We walked up the motu on the right and drift snorkeled back through the pass! |
After our
snorkel trip, we shopped right there at the dock in Raiatea. There are lots of
little jewelry pieces and trinkets to find – they take US dollars. There is
also a bar right there where you can sit and have a Hinano!
Princess welcomed some of the Tahitian dancers to the ship and they performed for the passengers in the Cabaret Lounge. The littlest kids were very cute.
The dancers also
sold hand make flowered head dresses ($5 each) for the island party later that
night.
Because we
arrived in port at noon that day, we did
not set sail again until 3am the next morning. We did the night dive through Princess from
7-9 p.m. They used Hemisphere Sub. It was my first night dive and a good
experience, but not my favorite type of dive.
It was a little uncomfortable not having the day light shine through the
water to help you see. We did have
flashlights, but it was not the same. We
went off the end of the pier at the Raiatea Pearl Beach Resort. There is a
wreck less than 75ft. below the surface - Nearby is a merchant ship that sank
in 1900. We saw shrimp and an eel.
At the island party later in the evening, more adults performed a Polynesian dance show. There was also an ice carving demonstration, champagne fountain, and late night buffet with amazing food displays. People danced (mostly the crew) until just after midnight.
No comments:
Post a Comment