Month: May 2011

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So, when are you coming home?

Tiffany: Last year Greg had a birthday post all to himself so he’s decided to keep the tradition alive this year. Please indulge him…

Greg: We have started being asked fairly frequently when we’re coming back, so I guess using that as a gauge, we’ve been gone long enough to be missed 😉

Again a year has passed and we’re still out here in the South Pacific. New island though so that counts as progress right?

 Yes it’s a palm tree, but it’s a different palm tree!

This year was an experiment: Would it actually be possible to maintain a twice weekly text & video travel blog while sailing around the world? Well as we’re about to hit our first full year doing integrated entries yes, reckon it is. We are way more surprised than any of you that we’re about to post our 100th page of the new format. Lost count of the videos. According to WordPress it’s something around 400+. It’s been a BIG lift.

And now that we’ve done that, there is so much more to do! Again, you will see massive upgrades in the coming year. As we have learned in business and now blogging, start with the basics and build up as you go. Here’s a preview… Continue reading “So, when are you coming home?”

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How do they get their hips to do that?!

Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia

So uh…what else do normal tourists do?  Dance shows!  Yes, tourists go to Tahitian dance shows!

We ended up at the Bali Hai hotel in Moorea for our obligatory Tahitian dance show which ended up being quite wonderful!  Every Monday night this hotel puts on a free beachside show at dinner time.  Figured we’d fall for the ploy, buy dinner and have a good time.  As we’ve come to expect, the food was not cheap but at a show alongside it made it easier to rationalize.  Also, this show was cool because it was put on by a local Tahitian dance school.

Instead of seeing paid professional performers, the idea was that we were supporting a group of locals and immigrants who were learning Tahitian dance in order to rebuild and preserve their dwindling cultural heritage.  This is totally something we can get behind.  Also, we thought watching students instead of tourism professionals would lead to us seeing more authentic dances than just the gussied up shows for the gringos…not that they call them “gringos” here but we are unfamiliar with the Tahitian translation.  (Mostly due to the fact that we don’t think the islanders we’ve encountered so far think of tourists in this way.)

It was a great show.  So you kind of expect the ladies right?  Because basically what the average person thinks of when they hear the words “Tahitian dancer” is a young Polynesian woman. Continue reading “How do they get their hips to do that?!”

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Further experiments in tourism

Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia

(cont’d from previous post)

Continuing our exploration of the heritage site we found the ruins of a marae (altar/temple) and evidence that perhaps Mr. Morse was a bit premature in taking credit for his code…also perhaps Greg is better at “tourist-ing” than he first let on…

Our final stop on the tour was a series of scenic viewpoints in the mountains.  The roads were very, very steep.  While this was something we had previously experienced, the truck added a new twist.  Namely, the road was too narrow to allow us to turn around at the top.  So the driver had to decide: was he going backwards on the way up or the way down?  Continue reading “Further experiments in tourism”

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Experiments in Tourism

Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Like we said, we’re moonlighting as “normal tourists” in the Society islands.  So what do normal tourists do?  No, that isn’t rhetorical or a clever way to intro this blog entry.  Really, what do they do?

While we are, at this point, arguably at least relatively well traveled, we really haven’t done a lot of “tourist-ing.” (is that a word?)  Packaged tours aren’t really our forte and why pay for a walking tour of Venice when you can wander around it all by your dang self to find the local’s dance club?  Our method of exploring a place is best compared, in Greg’s twisted gamer mind at least, to a random encounter roll.  A hold over from his Dungeons and Dragons days…

Tiffany: “Oh, look Greg, there went half the freaking audience in three words or less!”

Greg: “No, no wait, it’s cool!” Continue reading “Experiments in Tourism”

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Outside the bungalow – Dolphins and Sea Turtles!

Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Bungalow’s cool but what else do they have to do around here at the hotel?

Actually, quite a lot.

We went over to check out the dolphins responsible for our free lunchtime entertainment.

The part where you get the dolphin to leap at your beck and call?  Yeah that’s extra. Continue reading “Outside the bungalow – Dolphins and Sea Turtles!”

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Bungalow living

Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia

We’ve all heard of beach bungalows before and until now, we really had no idea what to expect from this iconic South Pacific icon of the good life.  We had no preconceived notions here except waterside and a bed.  Which leaves a lot of variables shrouded in mystery when you stop to think about it.  Is it like a normal hotel room?  is there a kitchen?  Outhouse or running water bathroom?  Does it come with one of those dancing hula-girl statues you see on people’s car dashboards?  What’s it really like to live in a classy hotel’s overwater bungalow in French Polynesia?  Well, it’s like this: Continue reading “Bungalow living”

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What do you mean sinking!

Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia

At only 10 miles from Tahiti, way less populated and with regular 5 times a day ferry service from the capital city, Moorea is seen quite literally seen as Tahiti’s garden-esqe backyard.  We got a good look at the place when we took one of the regular busses around the island to our over-water bungalow.  (sounds classy huh?)

Oh look!  A slide show!  Now that is classy! 😉

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While it doesn’t hold a candle to the Mexican bus service, the fact that Moorea had a regular bus service at all was pretty spectacular and yet again evidence we were no longer on an island that is unaccustomed to vacationers.  In addition to the beautiful scenery, Continue reading “What do you mean sinking!”

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Blasting on to Moorea – we’re going plaid!

Enroute Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Our expectation on the quality of ferry service was not too high.  So Papeete is the major commercial port for the region.  Come on, the second largest commercial port in the region had guys on outboards bringing in fruit and a grand total of one cargo ship that goes about 8 knots best speed.  So it can’t be that much more advanced right?

The distance between Tahiti and Moorea is not much more than a stone’s throw in island terms, a little over 10 miles to the rest of the world.  Add in the docking, loading and unloading process and we figured it would take us about four hours to make the transit.

Our first hint that we had underestimated the situation was that the 5 passenger ferries that service this route (!!) are each bigger than the one resupply ship for the rest of this country…and not by a little bit.

Our second hint was the nicely upholstered airline style lounge area aboard with the flat screen TVs showing old black and white island TV.

But what really convinced us was when the 4 jet turbine engines kicked in (they have those here!?) and we hurtled across the channel between the two islands at about 25 knots!

This may not seem very fast to those of you living in the DSL wired, jet setting, car driving crowd but Continue reading “Blasting on to Moorea – we’re going plaid!”

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Mind the Jetwash

Papeete, Tahiti, Society Islands, French Polynesia

We have established that Papeete is a city of contrasts.  A land where, quite literally, dogs and cats are living together.

One of the most striking personifications of this is the harbor.

Now on our journey through the islands of French Polynesia so far we have navigated everything from rock minefields that will spear your hull like a ripe mango to rip currents that turn your boat into a bumper bowling ball with coral reefs and desert islands playing the part of the bumpers.  So we had a pretty solid feeling that, with enough preparation, we could handle just about anything this island could throw at us.

Which is of course why, in Tahiti, it’s not the island that will sink your boat.  That would be too easy.  The reef limits how big the protected shipping channel is but what room they have is clear from natural obstructions.  See, Tahiti is a developed port.  In fact it’s the only developed port in this entire county.  Which means that everything, and we do mean everything, not to mention just about every one, that goes anywhere in French Polynesia comes through Papeete first.  And while this town is ridiculously huge by island standards, London-sized it ain’t.  Lots of people, lots of stuff, all trying to get somewhere at the same time in a small city.  So while the environment has been beaten back for your navigational well-being, it’s everything else sharing your space in this very confined, busy harbor that makes life interesting.  Let us elaborate: Continue reading “Mind the Jetwash”

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