Day 37: Papeete, Tahiti - Cats And Dogs and Fish

 



So much for a tropical paradise. It's been raining cats (chats) and dogs (chiens) for the last 36 hours, likely continuing for the next day or two. We're still working through the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Nat and his baby brother. All excursions have been canceled - even the super boring bus tours as some of the roads have mudslides! 

However, we didn't come to Tahiti just to sit on the boat. John made an early morning exploration of the town, scoping our bars, banks, pharmacies, and gift shops. Based on that, we ventured into Papeete for lunch - found a bar and ordered some of the local Hunano beer, plus sampled some excellent swordfish and sashimi red tuna. Yum. Then in the evening, we dragged two other couples back out into the rain for a 5-minute walk along the waterfront to the Meherio Tahitian Bistro.

Read on for our standard geography lesson. Tahiti is the largest of the Windward Group of Society Islands in French Polynesia. It sits pretty much in the center of the Pacific, and the nearest large landmass is actually Australia (not New Zealand - trivia question, there..). The island is divided into two parts and resembles a baby's rattle. The thinner handle bit is Tahiti Iti with 4300 ft Mont Rooniu in the middle. The bigger part is Tahiti Nui, dominated by 7352 ft Mont Orohena. Both are thankfully old and dormant volcanoes dating back 1.7m and 0.3m years, respectively. Each section of the island is now almost totally surrounded by coral reefs. The Society archipelago has a similar history to the Hawaiian islands in that the oldest island, Maupiti, dates back 4-5 million years., and each successive island to the southeast is younger. Bora Bora, another popular tourist destination, is 3.5 million years old, whilst Moorea is only 1.8 million years old.

Tahiti was originally settled by Polynesians about 500 AD, who still comprise most of the population. The remainder consists of Europeans and Chinese (i.e., they celebrated the Year Of The Dragon this afternoon). The island was its own kingdom util annexed by France in 1880. It's still a French Overseas Territory, and the most prevalent language is French. Although the currency is XPF - Pacific Franc Exchange, at about 110 to a US Dollar.

Tomorrow is an end-of-segment day in that some passengers leave and others board the boat, plus it's the Superbowl. So, although it's being shown in the theatre, we're hoping to find a friendly bar downtown. Go Chiefs!!

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