Dawn Princess Grand Pacific Cruise.

[Gaznjo]

thought I would shares some of Ross's emails with you ...

 

hi there world cruises, an up date on the last 4 days in Tahiti and like i said WOWWW,

the 1st day was Pepeete here Helen had organised a land tour for us with, Patricks Adventures,

(not the same Patrick as Bora Bora) it was an all day tour(appox 9hrs) and it was great,

all of us had a fantastic time and if you want to do a land tour here this is the one

there were 8 of us in the back of a 4 wheel drive ute on padded bench seats we went 1/2 way round the island and into the center of it where we went right up into the mountains a lot of it off road and the veiws and scenery were great, being all volcanic islands it is just all mountains and valleys so steep and there are waterfalls everywhere at lunch time we stopped at a small waterfall, appox.5-7mts. with a pond at the bottom and went swimming we had to walk 100mts up the track then down to it the last bit down to the pond was a bit tricky, he had a rope set up as a handrail, the water was abit cool at 1st but was very refreshing, could jump off a rock 2 1/2 mts high into the water or walk to the bottom and slide in, spent about 45mins there then walked back to where cars were parked and sat in the stream or on the rocks under large trees and had lunch a very plesent way to enjoy lunch.

for lunch he stops at a bakery in town and you buy your own.

there were 2 utes on the tour and it says on the info about the tour that we stop at the falls

for a swim but 6 of the other people in the other ute diddnt bring anything to swim in and a couple of them had a grumble about how long we were in the water for, while they had to wait around their problem not ours lol

we then continued up the mountain, i think it was about 800mts, with Patrick stopping every so often to

tell us about the views and history and also to pick some of the wild fruit for us to taste.

for the 1st half of the tour, one of the ships tour was following us but they were only doing a 1/2 day tour so didnt go to the waterfall for swimming or up into the mountains,they missed the best part, but when we stopped for a look around and for Patrick to tell us something the ships photographer came and recorded him and put it in the reflections dvd, as usual ours cost US$80 for the day and the ships was $120 for 1/2 day

the next day we were all so tired from the tour but we still had 3 shore days to go.

the next day was Moorea

[Gaznjo]

Moorea, we had nothing planned for here so when we got off the tender we had a look at all the tours offered on shore and it was a toss up between another day in the back of a ute going around the island or doing a water based one with stingrays, sharks and coral,but thought the island would be pretty much the same as Peepette so the water won out. here it was US$50 for half day and US$10 extra for lunch if you wanted it

our 1st stop was the stingrays and sharks and wowwwww standing in the water with all the rays swimming around you was very different lol and a bit scarey at 1st they come right up to you and a couple of times when i went to put my feet down on the sand there was one right underneath them yikesssss.

and then a couple of meters away in the slighty deeper water the sharks were swimming around, every so often one would swim between us all but the dont seem to take any notice of us at all, just there to get fed next was to the coral and small fish which was good but not quite as colourful as i was hoping for then onto the island where we had lunch of BBQ chicken and salad and pineapple plus juice and local beer didnt like that to much. also ran into our table and tour friends Helen and Tony over there overall it was another great day in paradise.

[Gaznjo]

Raiatea, here we had a snorkeling tour with Mata Tours that i had arranged over the net it was a full day tour with lunch. there were 12 of us and we were quoted US$100 each or 9500pfc but when we got to dock he tried to charge us US$120 cause of dollar change over the last 5 months since i had booked it but this was sorted out and still only paid US$100.

again it was the stingrays, sharks and coral, but was still different to the day before,1st it was to the stingrays where it was funny to watch the people who had not done it the day before, knowing what it was like from yesterday

we also got to feed them if you wanted to, if you rub the bit of fish on top of its head it will keep following you and you can get them to come right up on to your chest, to feed them you hold a bit of fish underneath them and they will come and suck it out of your hand, one lady got a bit of a bite from one on her arm, we all joked that not every day you

you get a hicky from a stingray lol

we then went to where the sharks were and this was quite different than yesterday as this was around coral and as well as the sharks there was also lots of colour fish around, water was only chest deep and looking from on top all you could see was the sharks but under the water you saw all these colourful reef fish along with the sharks

and like yesterday the water was so clear and blue just like you see on post cards and holiday brochures

then it was on to do some drift snorkeling through the coral, here we walked along the shore a couple of hundred meters then got into the water and just drifted back toward the boat the coral was more colourful than the day before then onto the we then continued on around the island to where we were to stop at a pearl farm but it wasent opened, that saved me some money lol, next we went to a vanilla bean farm it was interesting

then it was onto the little island for lunch and an hour and a half of just swimming around. a great way to end day 3 in Tahiti

[Gaznjo]

Bora Bora, here we had a 1/2 day snorkeling tour,US$60, with Patrick, there were 12 of us in our boat and another 12 from the ship in another boat, neither of us had Patrick as our guide as he was taking a 4 wheeldrive tour that day our guide for the day was a very funny and happy guy who said his name was Freedom as he had that tattoo'ed across the back

of his shoulders and therefore you could always see his name

our 1st stop was at the sharks, this time we went outside the reef to open water which was about 10meters deep but still very clear and no trouble seeing the bottom again there were plenty of small colourful fish with the smaller(appox.1meter)

sharkes closer to the surface but on the bottom were the larger sharks around the 2 meter size a few times the guides would dive down near the bottom with some food and get the larger sharkes to come up abit, also here there was a yellow submarine

cruising around right near us.

next it was back inside the reef and on to the stingrays, when we first got there a group of about 40 japanese were there

in the water with them and a quite funny to hear all the squealing coming from them as the rays swam around and through them lol

our guides were very good here with the rays,Freedom got one ray and had it upside down in his arms cradleing it like a baby then giving it a kiss lol and taking it around so you could rub its tummy, the other guide grabbed on to one either side of its

head and got it to take him for a ride.

then it was off to the coral and fish again it was different to the last 2 days as this was in about 3meters of water

while not as colourful as the day before when we did the drift it was still very good.

you will really love this tour.

after this tour 8 of us took a trip to Bloody Mary's where we had just the one drink and took a few picks then it was back to catch the tender back to the ship, by now it had started to rain so was a good time to end the day

now here is how rumors start on a ship, when i jumped into the water at the coral i bumped my elbow on the side of the boat and it made a loud bang and when i surfaced Les and another person were looking over the edge to ask if i was alright, i looked up wondering what they were on about as i hardly even felt anything, later that night before dinner 2 people from the other boat asked Tony if i was alright after cutting my head open with a lot of bleeding from when i jumped into the water so funny

i was tempeted to wrap a large bandage around my head for today haha

on all the islands you got past these resorts where they have the huts with the thached roofs and built out over the water

with the palm trees on the shore line and the water so blue and clear, like i said before just like the postcards and travel brochures it is paradise

[Gaznjo]

just a quick email to let you know that there has been a large out break of severe sickness on board grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,

one that is so huge that it has struck all 2050 passengers, but strangely none of the crew.

it all seemed to have started yesterday at appox 2pm when the last tender arrived back from shore.

people then realised that there are no more ports to be visited and then the out break started to happen, people all over the ship, on deck, in the dinning rooms and their cabins, were suddenly hit by this strange sickness, they are even thinking about quarantining the ship and getting security to meet us when we arrive in Sydney. and the name of this sickness is

 

DEPRESSIONthe reason for the security is not to keep the affected passengers onboard but to drag them off when we arrive

tis a very sad time indeed.

only 3 more sea days boohoo :(

[p_toasty]

Phew Packetau you had me worried, we get on in 3 days and when i saw your post i thought OH NO!!!

 

But its only depression so thats ok, i thought it may have been something sinister ha ha..........

 

We are looking forward to our 12 nights to the South Pacific, but not as excited i bet, as some of the lucky ones who get on after we do for the world cruise - lucky ducks.

 

What is the entertainment onboard like if you dont mind me asking? :D

[Gaznjo]

Phew Packetau you had me worried, we get on in 3 days and when i saw your post i thought OH NO!!!

 

But its only depression so thats ok, i thought it may have been something sinister ha ha..........

 

We are looking forward to our 12 nights to the South Pacific, but not as excited i bet, as some of the lucky ones who get on after we do for the world cruise - lucky ducks.

 

What is the entertainment onboard like if you dont mind me asking? :D

 

I can only go by what the others have written... by the sounds of it the resident band haven't been too good!!