Noon Reading:

• Position: S 17° 32.30′, W 149° 34.19′
• Speed: At anchor
• Course: At anchor

Having a 9:00 excursion shouldn’t make that much difference from a 9:30 lecture. But somehow it does. Maybe it’s the fact that the meeting point is a couple-hundred yards down the pier. More likely it’s because the 9:00 excursion is a snorkeling adventure. So there are bags to pack – towels, goggles, which snorkel tube is mine?, the GoPro, water, kleenex (because let’s face it – A snorkel mask is just another form of neti pot.). Then there’s the sunscreen (reef safe, of course). And don’t forget the top of your bald pate (because the fish laugh at you if you wear a hat while invading their realm).

Ayway we got ourselves together and on the boat and headed out

We stopped at 2 locations. Pretty interesting fish and such.

Returning from the excursion we got showered and lunched and headed out for a bit of checking out of Papeete.

You’ll note in the “Typical street scene” photo above that there are no high-rise buildings. One of our guides pointed out that while we were docked we were the tallest building in Tahiti.

Our next excursion was a bus tour down the west side of the island. I’ll try to post more details about where we went, but for now enjoy these photos:

Next we stopped at a the Vaiphai Water Gardens where we wandered while our guide talked about plants, animals, history, and such.

Returning to the ship we ran into Denny and Pat in the cafe so we joined them for dinner.

Then it was off to BBB where we once again scored 50%.

As we sailed off into the sunset we leave with memories – mostly fond – and look forward to the next phase of our adventure.