Travelling Home

I know – after that fun post on the O2 Diving you thought you were rid of me. Well one more Blog to share then I am on the plane home tonight from Papeete, capital of Tahiti, where I am now.

On Monday, after the dives Sunday, we tried to cram in some final site seeing. This was after we stripped my bed for the laundry and pulled out Bill & Sharon’s new Origami Kayaks. They folded up into about 4 foot x 4 foot x 1 foot in a packsack stored under my berth, waiting for me to leave. They unfolded as you see above.

We then decided to head into town and look at another grocery store, check the post office for local cash (we were running low on Polynesian Francs). No luck on the Francs and the store was closed until 3pm so we decided to hike up the ocean side to see a massive “lighthouse” that looked like a pyramid.

Along the way two small dogs decided to tag along. Keep in mind that on most islands we have been on the dogs are never leashed and seem to run in packs – we assumed the dogs knew what they were doing. It was a long hike up to the lighthouse and we kept expecting the pups to turn around, but no – they were having a great time bounding over the rocks, wading in the tide pools, chasing the crabs (which moved very fast).

When we got to the pyramid lighthouse we discovered it was build in 1857. There was a rusted metal ladder on one side that had broken away from the structure so it was no longer possible to climb to the top.

We decided to start heading back as the store would be open and walked out to the “main road” to head back to town. Were were going to walk the 2 dogs – now thoroughly lost, back to the area where the joined us. The atoll is only 2 roads wide at any point and often only 1 road runs down the lagoon side of the land strip.

This is when we found out the two dogs had been lobotomized and both had a death wish. The first truck that went by, off they ran barking and jumping at the tires. OMG – we were going to be indirectly responsible for the death of someones dogs! Needless to say this stretch of road ran to the airport and was the busiest we had seen. When the next car came and the scene repeated we knew we were pooched! For the next 10 minutes each time a car or truck came we would call the pups to us and Bill would grab one, me the other, and we would pick them up or hold them in place, then when the danger passed, off we went again. The problem was the dogs were getting cagier and it was getting harder and harder to keep them from becoming road kill.

The next “crossroad” we came to (there were only 3 or 4 along the entire 45min stretch, I volunteered to take the pups across to the beech away from traffic and get them home. Best laid plans! Bill and Sharon continued down the main road and confessed later that they “heard the commotion” when a pack of 5 dogs raced out from a home along this crossroad to check out me and the two pups. In broken French I managed to explain to a very beautiful, elderly Polynesian lady that the dogs were not mine, that I was trying to get them home as they followed us up the beech when walking. One of “my pups” had run half way back to the main road in fear, but I managed to get it to stay, picked them both up and carried them past the 5 dogs. The lady escorted me along (with he five dogs as escort) as the next house had “fenced off the access” to the beech, so she showed me an opening and my two charges and I continued on. I got them home safe (a group of about 4 houses and no one was about). They insisted the adventure was not over and tried to follow me but my strident “Arret” or “Assez vous” finally worked. I avoided all dogs and petted none for the balance of day!

We had a fabulous goodbye dinner at the Havaiki Lodge, which was the most “upscale” in the area – great food and fine – my parting gift. Although Bill never let me cook, I could buy dinner!

The next day I headed out, thinking this was my trip home, only to find I was the advance scouting party for Papeete on behalf of Turtlebones.

So I checked out the marketplace – lots of fruit, veggies and fresh fish. I am quite enjoying Papeete – good food (expensive), lots of shops. I had a great time getting a haircut (gift for my wife) as the barber’s English was worse than my French. I actually enjoyed practicing. Often people used to dealing with tourists just say “speak English”.

I wandered to the Marina and talked with Franco who informed me that the small boat marina took first come, first served each day, and there was an anchorage relatively close by as a fallback. The harbour has everything from massive cruise ships to French Navy. I am directly across from the Ferry terminal where ferries run out to the other islands each day.

When I had booked my flight from Fakarava to Papeete and discovered I had 2 nights here (only flights 4 days a week from Fakarava), I though I had been brilliant jumping onto Expedia and book a “Cabin by the Sea at Kon Tiki Hotel” I thought it was brilliant that I would get to stay in one of those cabins on stilts here. It mentioned “shared washroom” but I assumed that made sense as you could not run plumbing out. Who would believe my luck!

OK, don’t hire me as a travel agent.

The cabin reference was to a boat, and my cabin is about the same size (bed is smaller) than on Turtlebones. I discovered that the area above my bed is actually a “bunk” for the room next door, and listened to two younger folks actively express their affection!

So time to finish packing, check out from the hotel and wander the streets for my last day in French Polynesia. All in all, a perfect trip!