October 5, 2018
When I was a kid growing up in Manhattan, my brother and I used to watch a show called Adventures in Paradise on black & white television. It featured Gardner McKay sailing a beautiful wooden sloop around the South Pacific Islands. There were scenes of magnificent lush tropical islands, beaches, and lagoons – all in black and white! So, I’ve wanted to visit Tahiti and the Polynesian Islands and see them in color ever since…..
I have to admit that it was very exciting to see land after being at sea of 5 days and 6 nights. In the brilliant sunshine and cloudless sky, the water was an amazing shade of blue. The ship steamed ahead toward the million year old volcanic island of Tahiti.
We went out to the bow of the Golden Princess to watch her thread her way through the narrow space between channel markers. It looked like the ship was wider than the distance between the buoys.
With the assistance of several tugboats, the behemoth crept into the commercial harbor and docked at the pier in the center of Papeete, Tahiti.
A group of Tahitian musicians greeted us on the dock:
Of course, Papeete was much more developed with modern buildings and heavy traffic on the streets. It didn’t look at all like the “Paradise” of my childhood television images. But it was warm and tropical and covered with flowers and pam trees.
We signed up for an excursion so we could see a little more of the island than just the capital city. Our guide, Sally, was a middle-aged Australian woman who visited the island for “a couple of days” thirty-one years ago, “and never left.”
We visited the lighthouse which was designed by Robert Louis Stevenson’s father and also saw the monument dedicated to Captain Cook erected on Venus Point. The beautiful tropical volcanic island had black sand beaches and clear blue water. Huge billowing clouds covered and uncovered the mountains all day.
Back in town, we had a delicious lunch of fresh fish at a sidewalk cafe called Le Retro. Later we found the post office to mail postcards and we explored Papeete. A large covered market sold fresh produce to locals and had souvenirs for tourists.
The Golden Princess stayed in Papeete overnight because our next port of call was the island of Mo’orea, just 12 miles away. We were scheduled to leave at 5:30 AM so the passengers and crew made the most of their time in port.
The sun set over the commercial port with the mountains of Mo’orea in the distance.
After dark, about a dozen food trucks set up in the parking lot just behind the ship. They set up folding tables and plastic stools and sold crepes, pizza, chow-mein, fish, burgers, fries, etc. Loud music helped give a party atmosphere as passengers joined local Tahitian families for an lovely outdoor supper.
It took 60 years, but I finally made it to Tahiti – an adventure in paradise!!!