Don & Kully's World Cruise on Viking Neptune

We awoke in Papeete, Tahiti this morning to overcast views of the Tahitian mountains, but great views of the mountains of Moorea just 10 miles or so to our north. We were also docked next to the Windstar Sailing Yacht, Wind Spirit. This is her home port, so they were busy disembarking passengers from the past week and embarking new passengers for the upcoming week.

Tahiti is the highest, the largest, and probably best known island in French Polynesia. Papeete, is the capital city of French Polynesia and is home to the only international airport in the Society Islands, so for most travels this is the gateway to Polynesia. The island is shaped like a figure-eight, it is divided into Thait Nui, the larger western section and Tahiti Iti, the eastern peninsula. The island was created by two extinct volcanoes and is famous for its black-sand beaches, beautiful lagoons and numerous waterfalls. The island was first explored by Captain James Cook in the 1760’s and was made famous by the paintings of French artist Paul Gauguin. Tahiti also claims to be the birthplace of surfing.

Today we had two tours. The first was the Vaipahi Gardens and Papara Surf Beach tour. The first tour took us on a scenic island drive to the west coast where we visited Port Venu, the historic landing site of the early European explorers and the eventual settlers of Tahiti. One of the important landmarks seen was a white lighthouse built in 1867 to commemorate 100th anniversary of the arrival of Captain Samuel Wallis. While driving through Papeete we learned the city hosts an annual Street Art Festival/Contest where artist paint large murals on city buildings. Here’s one of our favorites:

We continued through town and on to Gaugin restaurant for a short refreshment break and then went on to the Vaipai Gardens where we admired rare species of tropical flowers and precious woods.

Our next stop was Papara Surf Beach that provided amazing views of the coastline. There were nice swells today, so we saw several surfers and paddle boarders riding the waves. We learned today, that surfing will be included in the 2024 Summer Olympics hosted by France. The surfing venue will not be in Paris, but in Tahiti at the world-famous surfing beach of Teahupoo. France is going to charter a cruise ship to anchor off the venue to serve as an Olympic Village for the Olympic athletes, coaches and officials; what a novel idea!

From here we continued back along the east coast of the island and back to the ship for a quick lunch break before heading out on our second tour, Walking Tour of Papeete.

The walking tour began with a stop at the municipal market which is a few blocks from the pier. Here you can find fresh produce, local delicacies, black pearls and other local arts and crafts. We were also shown the city hall, a replica of the former Royal Palace and Notre Dame Cathedral. The guide also provided an overview of Taitian history and folk lore. We also walked past the Territorial Assembly, home to the Polynesian Parliament and the French High Commissioner’s residence. Our final stop before returning to the ship was the Park Bougainville dedicated to explorer Louis Bougainville.

We definitely enjoyed the morning tour, but the afternoon walking tour was only average. Our guide was a little disorganized and struggled with the audio device, but still the sights were interesting and worth seeing.

Tonight, we headed back out to sea for our next port of call in Bay of Islands, New Zealand. This leg of the voyage is 2,211 nautical miles and will take five days arriving there on 1 February. Now those of you who are paying attention to the dates are saying it is six days at sea if we count from 26 January to 1 February, but we will cross the international date line on 29 January, and for us it will magically be 30 January.

“To travel is to discover places and things much greater than oneself.” Kully Quote.