We were originally scheduled to be in Bora Bora today, doing a glass-bottomed boat ride, but instead we’re in beautiful Tahiti, and hoping that the medical emergency that diverted us here is able to be successfully handled for the passenger involved.

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Bora Bora, Tahiti, and Moorea are all within an archipelago in French Polynesia called the “Society Islands”. According to Wikipedia, the legend was that the archipelago was named by Captain James Cook, on his first voyage in 1769, in honour of the Royal Society who sponsored the first British scientific survey of the islands; however, Cook himself wrote in his journal that he called the islands Society “as they lay contiguous to one another”.

French Polynesia holds a romantic image in people’s minds: sparkling waters, pristine beaches, warm breezes blowing through the palms. In my mind, I hear the strains of Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Bali Ha’i” from South Pacific, the musical based on a portion of James Michener’s novel of the same name, even though that mystical island was based on Ambae Island which Michener could see from neighboring Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu (Newmarket Hebrides) where he was stationed in World War II.

These islands are major luxury tourism destinations, famous for their resorts and fantastic scuba diving. 

Since neither Ted nor I scuba (he at least can swim, while I can’t even relax enough to allow myself to float), most of the excursion opportunities on the island were not suitable for us, but here in Tahiti we nonetheless found something interesting to do – a real “Tahiti Treat”, but totally unlike that fizzy bright pink ultra sweet fruity drink of that name from my childhood.

Our excursion today was called “West Coast Highlights”.

Bernie, our tour guide, was very knowledgeable and very intent on giving us every single anecdote about Tahiti that he could, all liberally coloured with his personal opinions and religious biases. For the first time on a tour I found myself tuning out a bit, so there are not a lot of notes to go with Ted’s pictures.

A marae (below) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. The term also means cleared and free of weeds or trees. Marae generally consist of an area of cleared land roughly rectangular (the marae itself), bordered with stones. In French Polynesia, most marae were destroyed or abandoned with the arrival of Christianity in the 19th century, but the place where these marae were built are still considered tapu (sacred) in most of these cultures.

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From the site of the marae, where it started to rain and I got soaked, we detoured to the Restaurant Bar du Musee Gauguin for a glass of mango nectar. The restaurant’s location on a serene lagoon sheltered by a reef is truly sublime – exactly what I’d pictured Tahiti would be like.

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Our third stop was at the Vaipaha Water Gardens, where Bernie’s expertise really showed. He knew what every plant and flower was, and could tell us all of their uses, beyond just being beautiful.

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There was a lot of red in the garden today, although that is not always the case when other flowers are in bloom. virtually all of the flowers and many of the trees found in French Polynesia were brought here – from Southeast Asia by the first settlers, and then from Australia and even Europe by sailors, explorers., and colonizers.

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Our last stop was at the black sand Taharuu Beach, where I felt that I “needed” to put my feet in the Pacific and was caught unawares by the surf.

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Tonight we had another destination dance performance: “O Tahiti E”. To say it was incredible would be an understatement.

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As if a beautiful tour and an amazing show were not enough, we also had a lovely dinner in Manfredi’s.

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We could have ended the night watching Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific under the stars, but we were just too tired – and full – to move beyond our stateroom, where I put together today’s notes before crashing.

Bora Bora tomorrow!