Brief stop in French Polynesia…

So when I was working out the travel logistics with the AirTreks person, it turned out that we had to stop over in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia on the island of Tahiti. “You know,” she confided, “it won’t cost you anything extra to spend a couple of days there…”

So it was not anywhere we had planned to visit, but if we needed to make a stopover, clearly we should check it out!

The flight from Hawaii landed at 10 pm. Traditional Tahitian dancers entertained us with live music as we made our way through customs. I thought about what a nice welcome that was, and what a contrast from the stern and institutional feel of arriving at O’Hare’s international terminal. We headed to the Tahiti Tiare, which TripAdvisor had described as a Polynesian Motel 6. “I just got us a cheap hotel for two nights,” I explained to Declan. “Cheap? How cheap?”

“Eighty dollars a night.”

“That’s not cheap!”

“It’s cheap for Tahiti…”

And it was a bit of a Motel 6, but it was splendid to walk around the main street, checking it all out. So very many people had traditional Polynesian arm tattoos. I started reading about it at http://www.zealandtattoo.co.nz/tattoo-styles/polynesian-tattoo-history-meanings-traditional-designs/

So many women (and many men!) had a single flower tucked behind an ear. I thought that maybe it was something that they just did for tourists, but lots of schoolgirls wore flowers behind their ears, people walking to work, our taxi driver. When we went on our snorkel trip in Mo’orea, Declan tucked his flower behind his left ear. “Who’s your girlfriend?” Clem asked him. Luna and Clem were a Dutch/French surfing couple who had moved to Mo’orea two years ago (“much better weather than Holland!). If your flower is worn behind your left ear, your heart is taken; if the flower is worn behind your right ear, you are single. Sort of like a tropical claddagh ring, I thought.

Papeete was dilapidated mid-century modern architecture and traffic jams, but the island of Mo’orea was absolutely breathtaking. Jagged green mountains, overwater bungalows ($1500/night), transparent aquamarine waters. Driving to the place where Mermaid Adventures picked us up, it was all just coconut trees and huts: no big stores, no chain restaurants, just stunning tropical beauty. We did a four-hour boat trip with Luna and Clem; we snorkeled in shallow waters with grey reef sharks (small and numerous!) and stingrays, and then in the coral garden with parrotfish, clownfish, and a giant school of convict surgeonfish. Luna had a Go-Pro camera, so she took underwater photos of the fish and of us; it was really nice to see some very healthy coral. (“Chasing Coral” is a very depressing documentary about the mass destruction of coral reefs due to warming ocean temperatures. Half of the Great Barrier Reef is dead, according to 2018 National Geographic).

When we returned to the hotel to pick up the bags we’d left in storage, we ran into Gary, the nice man from Phoenix we’d met on the plane. He’d taken a driving tour of Mo’orea, and seen all kinds of cool waterfalls and ancient Polynesian stone statues. But we will have to wait until next time…we have to catch that 3 am flight to Rapa Nui….

Marlon Brandon’s “Mutiny on the Bounty” was apparently filmed in Papeete and Mo’orea; one of the local mountains had its name changed to “Bali Hai” after the filming; I will have to check it out!

Polynesian tattoo parlor in Papeete..