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STILL IN MOOREA!
2007-03-20 23:25:00 LAST DAY CRUISING - SEPTEMBER 2004After the stop at the Sofitel Ia Ora Hotel, we continued our tour of the Island passing through Teavaro, next to Vaiare and by Afareaitu. Then we got near to the Hotel Linareva, and Le Bateau restaurant, where we had a fabulous lunch during our first time in Tahiti in 1992. One day I'll complete the post on the Blogtrotter 90s with some videos, since there are almost no photos at all!"HOTEL LINAREVA""LE BATEAU (the Floating Boat) ? Located in front of the Linareva Hotel in Haapiti, it was owned by a Swiss, and had a very nice ambiance and very good food!"INTERCONTINENTAL BEACHCOMBER HOTEL - Almost at the end of our tour we stopped at the Intercontinental to take another swim and grab some food. The parking at the entrance is nested in a quite interesting garden...""WATER - Many beautiful white sand beaches can be found in the northern coast around Papetoai. The beach at the Intercontinental is quite nice, and had already been visited in 1992. No wo...
By: Blogtrotter
MOOREA - THE YELLOW LIZARD
2007-03-17 20:51:00 LAST STOP - SEPTEMBER 2004"MOOREA MAP, borrowed from The Tahiti Traveller website.I love Moorea, one of the Society Islands, a bit more than 130 square kilometres and 17 km far from Tahiti, to the north-west! After Bora Bora and its lagoon, it's my favourite Tahiti island; and in some aspects (less touristy, calmer and quiter) is even better than Bora. Seen from the sky, its shape looks like a fork or a trident, with its two almost symmetrical bays on the north side: Opunohu Bay and Cook's (or Paopao) Bay. The island is of volcanic origin, and it is said that both bays were formerly river basins that filled during the searise. Some, however, would claim that the bays are the result of the work of the tail of a giant yellow lizard, the meaning of moorea in Tahitian language...""SUNRISE""GETTING CLOSER - Early morning, after capturing the rising sun, we were sailing towards Moorea""ENTERING Opunohu Bay""EAST""WEST""ANCHORED - The Tahitian Princess dropped anchor at Opunohu Bay - the...
By: Blogtrotter
MAGICAL TOUR
2007-03-15 00:47:00 STILL BORA BORA - SEPTEMBER 2004Bora Bora is actually magical, and the memories are even more striking than the myth. The colours of the lagoon are simply fantastic, and the water is terrific..."WAKE UP - Early morning view at the cabin balcony of the Tahitian Princess""PEARL BEACH RESORT - Bora Bora has probably one of the highest concentrations of luxury resorts in the world...""MOTU - There are many motu in the lagoon, and some of them are quite beautiful""BEACHCOMBER INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL""BLUES - Enjoying life""SOFITEL HOTEL""MATIRA BEACH - I love this one...""PATROL & YACHT - P689 «La Railleuse» is an offshore patrol boat designed to accomplish police operations in the French Exclusive Economic Zone. Yachts are always sailing the lagoon...""MOUNT OTEMANU was finally uncovered""GOODBYE BORA BORA""SAILING - Enjoying the sunshine before sunset...""SUNSET"
By: Blogtrotter
BORA BORA SUNSET CRUISE
2007-03-11 11:29:00 IMAGINE! - SEPTEMBER 2004"THE TAHITIAN PRINCESS was anchored at Povale Bay while we travelled around the lagoon""CATAMARAN - It was a bit windy at the catamaran and we even caught some drops of rain during the cruise...""A SISTER catamaran was also cruising the lagoon""SAILING - Enjoying the sun and the sea...""SHOW-TIME""BORA BORA NUI RESORT, set in on the largest motu at the south western tip of the Bora Bora Lagoon, has one of the best fine white sandy beaches in the island""OVERWATER BUNGALLOWS""PAREO TRYING""ONE MAN SHOW - One of the crew - guitar player, singer, joke teller, boat driver, champagne waiter, etc. - was preparing to open the coconut with his bare hands... or was it with his head?""SUNSET""CHAMPAGNE - It was not Dom Perignon, but anyhow it was quite decent...""OVER!"
By: Blogtrotter
BORA BORA!
2007-03-07 10:23:00 THE MYTHICAL DESTINATION - SEPTEMBER 2004Bora Bora, an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands located some 250 km north-west of Papeete, was discovered in 1722. It is surrounded, like almost all other islands in Tahiti, by a lagoon and a fringing reef, and has two peaks in its centre: Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu (the highest at 727 meters).Bora Bora, the «First Born», is one of the most beautiful islands in the world, and probably the most famous, due to books, movies, and its stunning beauty. The fact that, following the Pearl Harbour attack by Japan, the United States choose Bora Bora as a South Pacific military base, surely contributed also to the myth. Actually, it is said that, though the base was officially closed on June 2, 1946, some American personnel refused to leave, and had to be forcibly removed..."SWIMMING POOL - The next destination of the Tahitian Princess was Bora Bora and its proximity excited everybody. The result was that at 9:00 a.m., while the shi...
By: Blogtrotter
POLYNESIAN PARTY!
2007-03-03 15:16:00 SHOW TIME ON BOARD - SEPTEMBER 2004"THE NIGHT IS YOURS - Every night on a cruise there is usually a live theatre production. When in Raiatea, local artists came on board and we had a Polynesian show, first at the ship's theatre, and then outside...""CARVING - There are always some artists on board the ship; at the Tahitian, we had a Philippine cook who was a carving specialist. The ice Horse-head is not easy to see, but it was perfect!""DANCERS - Preparing to enter the informal stage...""POLYNESIAN SHOW""PASSENGERS' SHOW""GLASS PYRAMID - Though we were in French Polynesia, the Champagne was far from being acceptable. Some Portuguese sparkling wine is much better than what we were offered...""AS TIME GOES BY - It's definitely not the best photo to illustrate the theme, and the singers were not playing this tune. But there was «moonlight and love songs - never out of date)». Anyhow, a recent post from Cris (on a quite different subject, but using the same motto - actually on old ho...
By: Blogtrotter
A FULL DAY AT SEA
2007-02-24 18:59:00 TAHITIAN PRINCESS - SEPTEMBER 2004A full day at sea (two or three for cruises lasting from seven to fourteen days) is an interesting experience, as it allows you to fully enjoy the ship: your cabin, in particular if you have a balcony (we had one in Deck Seven), the spas, and the pools, jacuzzis, golf practices, jogging tracks, shops, lounges, theatres, bars or, if you like it, the casinos... This time, further to all this, we could also enjoy the Library and Card Room as well as the Internet satellite connection provided for by the Tahitian Princess!"TAHITIAN PRINCESS is described at the Princess website as «our pearl of the Pacific. Smaller in size yet rich in amenities this beautiful vessel features an array of onboard activities. Relax on deck by the pool or get a massage at the Lotus Spa. At night, fine fare abounds in refined dining rooms and specialty restaurants, with live entertainment rivalling anything on shore. And this ship offers more than 200 balcony staterooms so you...
By: Blogtrotter
RAROTONGA - COOK ISLANDS
2007-02-21 02:47:00 CRUISING IN PARADISE - SEPTEMBER 2004After departing from Huahine, we had a full day at sea to get to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. The Cook Islands are located at the heart of South Pacific: they lie in the centre of the Polynesian Triangle, flanked to the west by The Kingdom of Tonga and the Samoas and to the east by Tahiti and the islands of French Polynesia. Cook Islands consist of 15 islands, scattered over an area the size of India with a total population of approximately 18000 souls, no bigger than a small New Zealand country town... Rarotonga, whose name stems from «raro» meaning «down» and «tonga» meaning «south», is the youngest island in the Cook Islands southern group, and stands 4500 meters above the ocean floor. The volcano has a diameter of roughly 50km, at a depth of 4000 meters, and its highest peak is 658 meters above sea level. The island is surrounded by a lagoon, protected by a reef distant some hundred meters, which then slopes steeply to deep water. Rarotonga...
By: Blogtrotter
HUAHINE - THE GARDEN ISLAND
2007-02-18 01:35:00 CRUISING, DAY THREE - SEPTEMBER 2004After a first night docked at the Autonomous Port of Papeete and a second night travelling to Huahine - 170km northwest of Papeete, the first of the Leeward Islands you meet when coming from Tahiti -, we passed the fringing reef, entered the lagoon pass and, by 6:30 a.m., dropped anchor at Maroe Bay. Everything looked beautiful, but even close to Paradise sad news do reach you: a fax sent by satellite to the ship gave notice that a very good Colleague and Friend had unexpectedly passed away. That was the only shadow and blow during this fantastic trip!Huahine (The «Garden Island», «Secret Island» or «Rebel Island») is composed of two islands - Huahine-Nui (Big Huahine) and Huahine-Iti (Little Huahine) - formerly joined only by a sandpit at low tide, and now connected by a small bridge over the narrow isthmus in the lagoon. It is, geographically speaking, one of the more diverse of the Society Group, with hills that descend steeply to the blue lapi...
By: Blogtrotter
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