Raratonga - 24th of July
Well after another sea day we arrived in Raratonga, another wonderful tropical island created by a volcano. The trees and such on this island are HUGE. Anyway.. our tour wasn't until the afternoon so we went for a little walk in the main town - had lots of familiar brands/etc (ANZ, Westpac, etc) - this place actually had a hardware store and a supermarket! so it's one of the more developed places we've visited so far!
The tour was great, glass bottom boat ride out to one of the many coral lagoons they have - the water was crystal clear and there were tons of fishes/etc. We seem to be rather lucky with our tour guides, we had the best in the group with us on our boat. The guide even jumped in the water with some bread (much to the fishes delight) and encouraged a LOT of fish to swim up to the glass bottom boat!
They then set up a beachside BBQ lunch for us and while they were cooking things we had a demonstration on how to husk a coconut.. and then a lesson on 10 of the 300 (alleged) ways to tie a sarong.
The guide mentioned that we were only the third cruise ship that had been able to actually put people ashore here this year - usually the weather makes it difficult for the tenders to ferry people in. Even the Captain commented on it - saying that the weather was the 'best ever' that he'd seen at this port.
Anyway - heading for Papette in French Polynesia now.. sea day tomorrow.. then we have three straight days of shore excursions.
The tour was great, glass bottom boat ride out to one of the many coral lagoons they have - the water was crystal clear and there were tons of fishes/etc. We seem to be rather lucky with our tour guides, we had the best in the group with us on our boat. The guide even jumped in the water with some bread (much to the fishes delight) and encouraged a LOT of fish to swim up to the glass bottom boat!
They then set up a beachside BBQ lunch for us and while they were cooking things we had a demonstration on how to husk a coconut.. and then a lesson on 10 of the 300 (alleged) ways to tie a sarong.
The guide mentioned that we were only the third cruise ship that had been able to actually put people ashore here this year - usually the weather makes it difficult for the tenders to ferry people in. Even the Captain commented on it - saying that the weather was the 'best ever' that he'd seen at this port.
Anyway - heading for Papette in French Polynesia now.. sea day tomorrow.. then we have three straight days of shore excursions.
Comments