*Live* from the Eurodam - Hawaii/Tahiti/Marquesas

[seamist]

 Maohi Nui pics:

[seamist]

Tonight’s menu and pics:

[seamist]

We say goodbye later to Bora Bora😔 and tomorrow arrive in Raiatea.  The activities on board:

[FlorenceItaly]

Sounds like and looks like a fabulous, memorable day!  Best wishes to the passenger with the shark bite, yikes.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Your tour in Bora Bora sounds wonderful.

 

Glad no one had an encounter with a shark.

 

Can't wait to see the pictures.

[Purdey16]

Glad you had a lovely day in Bora Bora  it looks like paradise , you were brave with the sharks and you came back with all your fingers and toes hope that person who got bitten is recovering well , snorkeling is what we like to do too it's so relaxing looking at all the beautiful fish have fun at your next stop

Sandra

[seamist]

Another wonderful day in the South Pacific!  We toured with Julian of Arii Moana today and was fabulous.  Another tour group I can highly recommend.  https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g309691-d9869732-Reviews-Arii_Moana_Tours-Raiatea_Society_Islands.html

 

This is another $150 per person all day tour includes lunch.  We went to the Coral Gardens, Vanilla Plantation, Lunch on a motu, and a visit to the Pearl Farm.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the Coral Gardens drift snorkeling, and DH just loved it, however it was a bit shallow, could have used a few more feet of water.  So......in future if we were to repeat this tour I would invest in some sort of body glove type scuba attire that covered you from ankle to neck to protect against the coral.  We did fine and only one snorkeler suffered a cut, and was enjoyed by all, and the cut was so minor one little bandaid fixed it.  A few went back and drifted through twice, but once was enough for me.

 

On to the Vanilla Plantation where we got to see how vanilla is grown, harvested, and packaged and got an excellent tip on how to store the pods or beans.  Since my daughters had both told me they wanted some vanilla beans that was my excuse to buy some!  So when I get home in they go into a mason jar with lid and a small amount of rum or vodka at the bottom of the jar.  According to the plantation owner this is how you store your beans - they won’t dry out and will last 10-15 years with this method!

 

Then off to the motu for another Tahitian lunch of fish salad, tomato salad, breadfruit/tofu casserole, a chicken currey, rice, and another coconut chicken type dish.  And let us not forget the rum punch!  It was a beautiful sunny day, hot again, until we were in the middle of our lunch then it rained a bit.  We were under cover so we just ate away and watched it rain.  Then it was time to move on to the Pearl Farm.

 

While it was fascinating to see how the oysters are seeded, and all that goes into black pearl production, at the end of the day this was a stop to get you to buy pearls.  And I was disappointed (but not unexpected) to see that they were not any less expensive here than anywhere else really.  I still think the Tahitian Pearl Market is a better value JMO.  

 

Another great day.  Pics to follow.

 

 

[seamist]

The Coral Garden on Tahaa

 

[seamist]

Le Vallee de Vanille on Tahaa

[seamist]

 Motu lunch and Pearl farm

[seamist]

Tonight’s menu and pics:

[seamist]

And we are  now on our way to Moorea.  On board activities:

[cruzin4us]

Awesome pics!!  Thanks for sharing them1

 

I gotta say though....the food looked way better in Bora Bora than what you are being served on the ship.....Just sayin' 😜

[Purdey16]

Seamist that looks like a tour I would like to do the food all looks lovely and it all looks so clean around the area too as for the vanilla tip I will use because I use a lot of vanilla pods and vanilla bean paste which is very expressive back here in England , I've saved your link to the tour for future reference when we eventually get to that side of the water keep enjoying your holiday 😎

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love the detail of your tour and all the pictures.

 

Great job.

[Lido deck main]

11 hours ago, seamist said:

The Coral Garden on Tahaa

 

Just beautiful.  We are snorklers too, we have been to both here and Bonaire and I agree South Pacific is hands down much better.     The clarity of the water is so nice.     I also appreciate you posting daily activities and your food pictures.  All great.  

[seamist]

Today in Moorea we did a Lagoon Excursion with Albert Transport - https://albert-transport.net/tours/lagoon-excursion/. We started off with yet another snorkeling with the sharks and stingrays.  This time the sharks appeared bigger!  I think I’m about done with the whole shark thing - lol.  Then we moved on to another private motu for lunch and a time of either relaxing by the beach or more snorkeling over the coral.

 

For lunch we had another Tahitian meal of fish salad, barbecued fish and chicken, rice, and fresh fruit of pineapples and bananas.  And more rum punch!  They entertained us with demonstrations of different ways to wear a parea (ladies and men), how to open a coconut, how to Tahitian dance, and there was a small Tahitian band.

 

All in all another good day.  Albert’s for the most part was good, a bit disorganized here and there (forgot the snorkeling gear for those who didn’t have their own and had to go back and pick some up), late getting started as all their buses were being used for tours and they had to go get a boat, etc.  So this tour group is not first on our list this particular trip, but their price was good and we had a good time, so would probably use them again.  Following are some pics:

[seamist]

Tonight’s menu and pics:

[seamist]

We have left Moorea to a beautiful sunset and have now arrived in Papeete, Tahiti.  Activities on board:

[J4NEC]

On 3/25/2019 at 2:41 AM, seamist said:

Just back from Patrick’s tour, but no pictures as of yet, the DH has to download and what not.

 

Oh MY is all I can say.  I would give this tour 5 +++++ stars it is that good.  First I would like to say that the water in Bora Bora is amazing.  It is like jumping into a swimming pool, crystal clear, and blue, and neither cold nor hot, just perfect.  I had long told people that my #1 pic for snorkeling is Bonaire.  I can’t say that anymore.  Bonaire just dropped to #2 and Bora Bora is now #1.

 

We left the dock right on time to the strumming of the Ukelele and arrived at the area for snorkeling with the Black Tipped sharks.  I was a bit nervous as just prior, after arriving on the dock from the tender the Security Ship’s Officer Doug (Sorry have no idea what his last name is) told everyone to be careful with the sharks.  One of the Eurodam’s passengers was bitten by one on a private tour yesterday (Yikes) required 25 stitches and lucky to still have his foot (double yikes).  So I was a bit nervous for sure!  But I had no issues just kept my hands and feet close to me (lol) and sent mind telepathy out (I don’t taste good, too salty!).  😬🙈🙀

 

Turns out they didn’t bother me and I didn’t bother them and it was a good day.  On the way to our encounter with the sting rays we had a bit of trouble with the outrigger canoe’s engine - Patrick’s crew are top notch - another boat arrived and stayed with us until they got it running again all the while entertaining us with the Ukelele.  Then off we went to our encounter with the sting rays and yep - more sharks!  The only downside was the number of boats around there - I think I counted 15 including a couple of big ones from HAL’s excursions.

 

Next off we went to the coral garden and did some routine snorkeling in pristine water with gorgeous fish.  Then off to the private motu for an authentic Tahitian lunch.  WOW.  We had striped fish (similar to sailfish) and Wahoo barbecued on the grill, the suckling pig, pineapple, grapefruit, bananas, breadfruit, taro, pumpkin poi, plantains, a raw Tahitian fish salad, a spinach/coconut/chicken dish and I’m sure I’ve forgotten something.  To wash it all down was water, Tahitian beer, red or white wine available.

 

Following the lunch Patrick performed for us his flame performance or dance which no way would you catch me doing that I can tell you!  Throwing a flaming baton into the air and even using his feet.  After this the 3/4 day crew left to head back to the Eurodam but the whole day crew then took a hike to see the reef on the other end of the motu and then we spent a thoroughly enjoyable time swimming out in the middle of this beautiful ocean in the shallow water.

 

I can’t recommend this tour enough if you ever visit Bora Bora.  Please check out Maohi Nui!

Am really enjoying reading your blog.  The snorkelling sounds amazing, if slightly freaky, how do you ‘be careful’ with the sharks and not get bitten?!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you enjoyed your tour even though you had a bit of a rocky start.

 

Great pictures.

 

That whiskey chocolate torte looks so yummy -- I could eat that for breakfast right now.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, J4NEC said:

Am really enjoying reading your blog.  The snorkelling sounds amazing, if slightly freaky, how do you ‘be careful’ with the sharks and not get bitten?!

 

I did this tour with Patrick a few years ago..  The sharks “know” him and he has lots of bait for them so that they are very content with what he is giving them.  He assured us we would be safe and we were 🙂 

[seamist]

6 hours ago, J4NEC said:

Am really enjoying reading your blog.  The snorkelling sounds amazing, if slightly freaky, how do you ‘be careful’ with the sharks and not get bitten?!

Pretty much what Kazu said.  The guides are feeding them.  I figure if they are getting food elsewhere they’ll leave me alone!  Also I for sure keep my distance.  But supposedly the black tips are not aggressive anyhow and is very uncommon for anyone to be attacked by one.  A lemon shark, or gray shark, etc. is an entirely different story and no way would I be in the water with one of those!!

[seamist]

Thank you all for the lovely comments!  So far has been a great trip.

Edited March 27, 2019 by seamist

[whogo]

 

That picture of Moorea is a South Pacific classic. Someday I will see it for myself. Is there a prettier island view anywhere? Thanks for your live reports, seamist.