Sunday in Tahiti

[caneable]

Funny how things suddenly dawn on you... It suddenly struck me that our full day in Papeete would be on a Sunday. Presumably the market is shut? If you want to take advantage of the market facilities without dragging your luggage all round the place, is it generally OK to board the ship and then go off again into town? That probably sounds like a stupid question, but in my previous four cruises I've been more than happy to embark and just wait for sailing. This cruise doesn't set sail till the next day. So how easy is it to jump ship back into town on the first day?

[Friscorays]

The market is within easy walking distance of the port. I would do as you suggest: get yourself embarked and then take a look around town when you feel like it.

 

One web site I looked at had this to say as far as hours of operation:

 

"Open daily from 5:00 am to 5:00 pm, the best times to see it are always early in the morning, especially on Sundays, and also at around 4:00 pm daily when the local fisherman bring in the fresh fish." I think the market actually may close early on Sundays though, around 9 or 10 am.

[caneable]

Thanks Friscorays. As the ship is in port overnight there's a fair chance of getting into town early Sunday and looking around. At least I can check hours on the Saturday beforehand and avoid disappointment one way or the other.

[Toto2Kansas]

A few years ago our last day in Papeete was on a Sunday. By noon (actually earlier than noon), the market was closed up with very few vendors there. In fact, almost everything except one small store we found was locked up tight. That one little store did more business in that one day then probably in the entire week following as many passengers were looking for something to do and a place to pick up a few last minute items. ;)

 

It takes about 10 minutes (walking slowly) across the street from the pier to get to the market, just a hop, skip and a jump from there. :D

[caneable]

Thanks Toto and my apologies for not acknowledging earlier.

[aussiecruiser275]

One piece advice I was given is that try avoiding 4WD tours on the Sunday in PPT, app a lot of the locals also go out and somewhat distract from the natural scenery etc. So we scheduled our 4WD for a Monday. Hope that helps.

 

However the market is a buzz on Sunday more so than on some other days......go figure.

 

Cheers

Malcolm

[caneable]

Hi Malcolm

Fair point about crowded Sundays. As we're staying on at Papeete for 4 days post cruise we've decided to save our circle tour till then, as well as giving ourselves a chance to get back to Moorea on the ferry service for another day. On the Sunday we'll probably have a wander around town. I found a decent map and commentary from Frommer's guide when I googled Walking Tour in Papeete. It's nothing shattering but it does run fairly adjacent to the cruise dock area.

My google adventures also sent me scurrying for info on tides in Rangiroa. Found a good site at www.tide-forecast. It only does 7 days ahead, but could be useful nearer the time if folk want to check high tide times to catch the dolphin "show".

Lastly, for those people looking for something different to do at Rangiroa, I did get a thread from a contributor MVPBoylon (or something like that) who commented favourably on a free bus to a pearl farm (and yes, we all know why it's free) that leaves from the dock area. I'm struggling to find where that reference is, but if I locate it I'll pop back on a little later!

And on a different note Malcolm, you might look out for pigs flying over the Harbour Bridge tonight as I was actually cheering an Aussie win at Lords earlier today!

[caneable]

Ha! That didn't take so long did it? I got the tip for the Pearl Farm shuttle from a review on a family website. The address is www.thepreismans.com. Click on the Tahiti button and you get a considerable photographic record of their cruise and the reference to the Pearl Farm is towards the back end. Having never been in FP I found it really interesting.

Ah well, it's there if it helps

Best wishes

Steve