15th February
Papeete – Tahiti
This morning we arrived at the beautiful
island of Tahiti and berthed in the middle of town.
As we got off the ship we were welcomed by
the local “pop group” and our guide for the day, Mieva.
We drove along the coast to a local beauty
spot and the only lighthouse on the island, which certainly lived up to its
name.
As we drove along our guide, Mieva, told us
the history of her family, who owned the valley and waterfall that we were
about to visit. This history dates back
to the seventeenth century when human sacrifices were performed on the island
and land was given to the families that offered
family members for sacrifice. She
was quite emotional whilst telling her story, but was proud to welcome visitors
to her home and “back garden”. After a
short walk we saw the 200 foot waterfall.
Beautiful. We the drove back down
the valley to view the famous Arahoho blowhole, where waves forced themselves
through a tunnel in the rock and water and air spurt out of the cliff face, in
fact it nearly blew Geoffrey off his feet when he stood in front of it.
We then drove back along the coast to the
home of James Norman Hall, who was the
author of Mutiny on the Bounty. There we
met his grandson who gave us a little family history and insight to his
grandfather.
After our enjoyable tour and a quick lunch
we strolled into town to the local market, where Doreen discovered a specialist
pearl shop and she spent a happy hour sifting through thousands of pearls of
different grades, finally selecting one to be made into a pendant.
A beautiful island, beautiful people, all
in all a very pleasant day.
No comments:
Post a Comment