3/23 TP and Moorea/Tahiti review-part 3

I think I left off the last day on Moorea. We returned to the ship and then it sails over to PPT for the last night. There was a dock strike so we weren't able to go right in to the normal dock, some of the people with early flights had to be boated in. But by the time we woke up in the morning we had moved over to the normal dock area. We had breakfast and then had a porter come and take our bags. Since we were going to Moorea that morning we did NOT tag our bags, but kept them in the room with us. The porter not only took our bags off the ship but for a nice tip we gave him took them all the way over to the Aremiti ferry for us (2 minute walk). The bags go in a metal box here and will be unloaded on the other side. We had vouchers for the ferry that our TA had gotten but you need to exchange those for tickets at the ticket booth. Get round trip tickets here so you don't have to do this again in Moorea.

When packing we discovered we had left our camera bag in the rental car we had hired the day before in Moorea. We had the camera but not the bag and the bag had our chips in it with all our pictures. Thus the first thing we planned to do when we got over to Moorea was go back to that rental agency and see if they had the bag. When we were disembarking from the TP and put our cards in the exit dinger, a statement came up "you have a message". We waited for the security people to contact the purser's desk to see what the message was. They made some calls and then said "oh, it was nothing". So we left, got on the ferry to Moorea.

When we got to Moorea, Blanc Blanc from Albert's Tours picked us up. We told him of the situation and he immediately drove us to the rental car agency. It was then we discovered that the rental agency had sent the camera bag to the ship on a tender the night before while it was still in the Moorea bay. No one from the ship contacted us the entire night, and as I said, our "message" the next morning when we were leaving was dismissed. So now here we are on Moorea on a weekend and our camera bag is still on the ship! Blanc Blanc knew TP's local contact in PPT; they were closed for the weekend and there was no way to get ahold of the ship, but since he knew this guy personally he got him on his mobile phone. To make a long story short, they got the bag off the ship and flew it over to Moorea, and Blanc Blanc personally delivered it to us that night! We gave him a reward but I think he would've done it for free. Thus, we cannot say enough about Albert's Tours; they went above and beyond. I am going to write up Blanc Blanc in the Maruuru Award in the Tahiti Beach Presse.

Anyway off to the Moorea ICB and our beach bungalow along the lagoon. It was nice. That day we just kicked back, read, swam, etc. Ate at Alfredo's that night; they pick you up. Good meal, about what you'd expect in FP--$120 for two.

Next day was Sunday and we had booked Dr. Poole's dolphin tour. He picks you up at your hotel dock. We only got to see dolphins for a short time because they were on the move but we learned a lot, and ended up going around the entire island by boat, with some water stops. He and his boat driver were great. Recommend this if you want to learn about dolphins, turtles, sea life, etc. But remember there's no guarantee you'll see dolphins so you have to take that into consideration. We like being on the water so for us it wasn't a big deal but there were some in our boat who would've rather given up on searching for them and just gone snorkeling. He only does the tour on Sunday and I think Tuesday so book in advance. Our TA did this for us with the local tour agency.

Next day Monday and we also kind of kicked back. Some TP friends who were in Tahiit rented a car and came over. We drove around with them and had lunch at the Sunset restaurant again at the Hibiscus hotel. Ate dinner that night ala carte at the ICB.

We decided about this time we were missing the ship! Service and the camraderie of our new friends we met and had dinner with every night.

On Tuesday we had decided to rent a car and then go do some shopping. We always buy a wood carving in the South Pacific, every trip. We got a great carving from the Green Lagoon gallery. Picked up a few other things. Went to the grocery store and got lunch food. Then went to the Sheraton to hang out at their beach and snorkel. They make you park across the street and walk in if you're not a guest but don't be intimidated by doing this, you can go hang out on their very nice beach. The snorkeling here was fantastic, lots of fish hanging out underneath the OWBs. We even saw rays here, more wild ones than on the ray feeding tours and some BIG fish.

Back to the hotel and packing since we decided to take an early ferry over to the Tahiti ICB the next morning, which was Wednesday. That night, our last night in Tahiti, we did the Tiki Village dinner and show on Moorea. It was fantastic; do not miss this if you like Polynesian dancing and culture. The dancing was great.

Got up and took the 8:00 ferry over to PPT. We had rented a room for the day back at the ICB, actually we had to pay for overnight but I"m a premier member of the Intercon so we got it at a discounted price. They put us in a nice lagoon room and got us a room when we got over which was around 9 a.m. which was very nice. They were really good to us.

Took Le Truck into PPT to get the last minute shopping done, then back and hung out at the Lotus pool all day. Lots of Europeans there that day; lots of topless European women! Enjoyed relaxing our last day in Tahiti.

Then off to the airport at 8 for our 10 p.m. flight home. We had upgraded to business class on the way home. It was totally full as was first class which suprised me a bit. Then transfer in LA and back to Seattle.

Loved the TP and would do this trip again in a heartbeat. I'm sure I"ve missed lots of things here, any questions I'll try to respond. C