A dull and dreary Sunday, low clouds and constant rain; one doesn’t associate such weather with French Polynesia, unfortunately though the prognosis is that it’s here to stay for a few days..  Even Bora Bora would appear to be much the same.  Oh well, we win some and lose some……….

The other cruise ships have departed and now we have a view of Papeete itself.

Looking west

A wet morning; the pier and passenger walkway

We managed to take a wander ashore in the evening.  We had a lovely meal in a local hotel’s restaurant and very nice it  was too.  One seldom has the opportunity to relax for a while, my position is a 24/7 responsibility, however Gerd looked after her and today, by way of recompense, he’s going diving for a couple of hours.

Dennis, Chief Electrician, Karen, moi, Irvana, Grace

I mentioned yesterday about our approach to the port and, knowing by now that some of you enjoy the ‘technical’ aspect of our voyage, I downloaded 2 screen shots of the maneuver. 

The track from the north-west, towards the ‘gap’ in the reef and then the magenta ‘own ship’ track around the container berth, followed by a ‘pirouette’ before backing in.

A magnified section of the turn and backing alongside

We leave here at 5 p.m. (we are 2 hours behind the west coast; 5 from the east; 10 from U.K. and 11 from Holland).  Having taken fresh stores; ‘visited the fuel station’, (500 metric tons of Heavy Fuel oil, or approximately 140,000 gallons) 😉 we have a 150-mile voyage towards Bora Bora, an island surrounded by a reef and certainly one of the most beautiful places on earth.  I post one of my ‘library’ photos as, (as much as I hope I’m mistaken), the sun might not be shining tomorrow.

‘Stilt’ hotel rooms

Vaitape