Cruising the South Pacific, no show tunes allowed

[bPeteb]

Too low!

We had the same view back in April.

That size ship looks just fine - we passed through on the Celebrity Edge ~3000 PAX but that actually was fine also - especially with only 10 kids in total!).

Plus Spirit looks a LOT better than our last NCL cruise 2 years ago on the Jewel around Asia - it was very tired.

We were at full capacity SYD, just over 2000. We'd expected near to no kids but it was US summer holidays so there were kids from toddler age through to teens, all well behaved. If only all of the parents had been. Maga is everywhere.

 

[bPeteb]

June 10, Raiatea

Not so many drinks last night although we did give it a nudge. A drinks package where the staff come to you is such a pleasure compared to the cough shoot that it was on RCL three years ago. The three staff in Magnum's - El Marie, Michael and I Ketut know our names after just one night. They are the best wait staff we've ever had the pleasure of working with in 25 years of cruising.

In Raiatea I booked a tour through TripAdvisor - 4x4 tour - culture crafts and agritourism, operated by Hubert of Hava'i Tour by 4x4. Cost was AUD243 for the two of us. https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attr...urism_in_Raiatea-Raiatea_Society_Islands.html

Docked in town so no rush for tender tickets



I was sent clear instructions of where to go inside the ferry terminal building to get tickets but it was actually just the meeting point. There were three other couples on the tour including a French couple who weren't on the ship.

It was an excellent informative three and a half hours.



Hubert was super interesting. He had sailed the Atlantic single handed at a terrifyingly young age. We went up to a viewpoint where Hubert explained the geology of Raiatea.



copra drying



Then we visited a pearl farm, something we'd done before in Huahine, but this was a much more intimate experience. Very interesting how they use shell from Japan for the good pearls.



Next we visited the UNESCO listed Taputapuatea Marae Explore Taputapuatea - Tahiti Tourisme




before driving to Hubert's amazing permaculture garden. I took notes but clearly didn't press save.

first a cooling drink



His garden was ridiculously productive. Hundreds of kilos of avos and honey and melons and mangoes. We tried his delicious honey infused with vanilla that Hubert had also grown. Such an inspiring bloke.



We had all had a great time. One of the couples is heading back to Australia later in the year. Driving from Brisbane to Port Douglas and maybe beyond over either four of five weeks. They've done other single route drives in Oz and love it so much they keep coming back. That's the way to see Australia.

 

[bPeteb]

Lunch time and we had a super delicious raw fish meal (again) at a wonderful little cafe in the ferry terminal. Washed down with some more local beers of course.



I bought a couple of very reasonably priced shirts, and bAlt a sorely needed bucket hat, in a shop in the terminal before I convinced bAlt that we needed to visit the supermarket/ I love wandering through local supermarkets.

Mahi Mahi head anyone?



cheese?



fruit and veg?



pastries?



baguettes?



then back to the ship after a wonderful day. bAlt, wait for me!



Raiatea is a really beautiful island that I could see myself staying on for a few days



We had our first and only pier walkers here. They kept calling a couple of names as it got to sailaway time. We'd been out on deck having a cooling beverage when a fancy catamaran sailboat went past with a couple of people out on the trampolines. bAlt said I bet that's them. 15 minutes later they strolled down the pier carrying their toddler and pushing a pram with not a care in the world. Peak entitlement.

The sailway from Raiatea started pretty spectacularly and just got better.