Tahiti Cruise--Day 5 (Rangiroa)

Day 5—Rangiroa (January 31, 2015)

Before going to sleep, I’ve been opening my curtains wide for the little bit of moonlight (we’re at sea so I’m pretty confident there’s no one out there peeping in) and when I get up in the morning it’s usually still dark.  This morning I woke to sunlight!  OMG, I slept in until almost 6:00am.  Since I had taken a shower the evening before, I was quickly out on deck enjoying a morning cappuccino and watching as the ship entered Tiputa Pass, the largest pass (more of a narrow channel) in the center of the islands of Rangiroa. 

Rangiroa is the fourth largest atoll in the world and has more than 240 motu (islets) separated by more than 100 hoa (small channels).  The islands are a ring of coral that has built up along the rim of a volcano that had sunk into the ocean.  Our ship dropped anchor in the center lagoon, Paio motu, of what would have been the crater of the volcano. 

There isn’t much to do here other than snorkel, scuba dive, or hang out at the beach, so we hadn’t planned on doing anything at all since we aren’t really beach people.  When I was doing research before the cruise, I had read there was a free shuttle to a pearl farm, so we decided to check it out.  We took the tender to shore and sure enough, there was a small bus with the name of the pearl farm written on it. 

We boarded the bus and were “crowned” with a headband lei made from braided palm fronds with a beautiful hibiscus flower tucked in.  It took about 15 minutes from the pier driving along the only paved road and crossing several small “bridges” linking the islets.  Several times we could see both the large lagoon where our ship was anchored on one side, and the open ocean on the other—the islands were that narrow.

When we arrived, we were guided to benches, with a covered grass-thatched roof overhead so we were in the shade, where we learned all about pearl farming.  One oyster can be “seeded” three times in its lifetime and the pearls are harvested at 5 years, 7 years, and 9 years old.  It takes 2 years to grow a pearl, and the oyster can’t be seeded until it is 3 years old.  We were told that the new pearls had to go to Tahiti where the government would then grade them and provide the appropriate certificates and return them to the pearl farm where they can then be sold. 

We then walked a few feet to where they were harvesting the pearls from the oysters, and watched while one of the men pried open a large oyster just a centimeter wide, and very carefully pulled out a black pearl, then insert another “seed” to create a future pearl.  We watched him do this three times and the pearl he removed was passed around for us to see—it really was fascinating.

Next, we were taken into an air conditioned store where we were shown different pearls and told about the different grades and, of course, all the pearls, both loose and in settings were available for sale.  We were shown one very large pearl—it was huge (as far as pearls go), that was valued at $10,000!  (They didn’t pass this one around.)  There was no pressure to purchase anything which was really nice since we had no intention of buying anything (in fact, I deliberately left my wallet and credit card on board the ship so I wouldn’t be tempted).  One lady was busy selecting all the pearls from the loose pearls available and the pearl farm would drill and string them for her into a necklace (at well over $150 per pearl, that was going to be a very expensive necklace—enough to pay for another cruise).  The shuttle then took us back to the pier where we boarded the tender back to our ship.

We arrived back on board at noon, and went to the buffet for lunch.  Afterward, my Dad and I sat on their balcony while my Mom lay on the couch in their cabin to read (and of course fell asleep).  I told my Dad I would see them at dinner, and went up on deck where I ordered a cherry blossom, a blended drink with rum, cherries, pineapple juice, and coconut milk.  It was ok, but I probably won’t order it again.  (I sure miss the “Mile Island” drink that Mile made for me the times I sailed on the Caribbean Princess, the Star Princess, and more recently, the Golden Princess.  Too bad he isn’t on the Ocean Princess, but I know he and his wife are working their last contract and will soon be headed to New Zealand and their new life there.)  Guess I’ll just stick to pina coladas in the future.

My Dad and I were on Deck 11 forward on the open deck to watch as the ship left the lagoon and headed out to sea.  The captain had announced that they would have to increase speed through the channel as we would be fighting a current, and that the ship could roll so if we were walking around, we should be cautious.  The wind up there was really strong and made it difficult to take pictures, but we managed to get a few as we cleared the channel.  Then it was time to get ready for dinner.

Our waiter welcomed us back and said they missed us the previous night.  I told him we didn’t care for the menu.  Apparently, quite a few of the passengers had ordered off the “available anytime” side instead of opting for the 50^th Anniversary menu.  I had a Caesar salad and the prime rib, which was very good.  For dessert, I had the orange Grand Marnier soufflé with vanilla bean sauce, which was excellent!

After dinner, we went to the casino for a little bit, before heading back to my cabin at around 9:30am.  Tomorrow was a sea day—yay!