Report on Week 3 - January 18 – 25, 2008  (Nuka Hiva, Marquesas Islands to Bora Bora, Society Islands (both island groups are part of French Polynesia)) After eight glorious and busy days at sea (Week 2), we anchored off Nuka Hiva, in the Marquesas Islands, on Saturday, January 19.  The Marquesas Islands have a population of 7,100 and are one of five main island groups that makeup French Polynesia (the others are: the Society Islands, the Australs, the Tuamotu Archipelago and the Gambier Archipelago).

Nuka Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas Islands and the main city and capital is Taiohae.  The island offered dramatic views and unspoiled natural beauty to see, if you were lucky enough to find a native with a 4WD vehicle (the ship offered no pre-planned tours).  We jumped at the opportunity to join two other couples and away the six of us went, up the mountain and down the other side, with a driver who spoke only French and Tahitian.  We had a great day and saw about all there was to see.

On Sunday morning, January 20, a sea day, we participated in a 5K On Deck for the Cure walk, sponsored by Holland America, to raise money for breast cancer research.  It was nine laps around Lower Promenade and we both made it, along with about 200 other passengers!  The highlight of the afternoon was joining 40+ other football fans in the Sports Bar where one passenger (a Packers fan) had his personal computer and was checking www.nfl.com, every five minutes, to get updates on the NFC Championship game.  Every time a new update came in, he’d read it to the crowd gathered around him, as there was no TV satellite communications to the ship that day.  Just for the record, the New York Giants earned a trip to the Super Bowl by beating the Green Bay Packers in OT, 23 – 20. I think the Giants have a great chance to beat the Patriots and spoil their perfect season.

On Monday, January 21, after passing through the Tuamotu Archipelago, an area which consists of 80 atolls, we arrived in Papeete, Tahiti.  Tahiti is the largest island in the Society Islands and in all of French Polynesia.  After a successful and fun morning snorkeling trip, we ventured into the city of Papeete only to find it dirty, terribly expensive and overall depressing.  Paradise it’s not and we were glad to leave it all behind and shove off for Moorea, Tahiti’s “little sister”, a little more than ten miles away.

Moorea is a child of ancient volcanic activity, like other Polynesia Islands, where steep crags cast a dramatic silhouette against the dual expanse of sea and sky.  The island is shaped like a butterfly with its wings spread and the one main road (well paved) runs completely around the island at sea level.  We took an all day ship-sponsored tour in order to see it all, including the magnificent views from the highest point, Belvedere Lookout.  The road linking Belvedere with the coast forks in one direction to Pao Pao, the main city, and Cook Bay (named after Captain James Cook) and to the other to Opunohu Bay, the setting for most of the scenes from the 1984 film The Bounty, with Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson and Laurence Olivier.  Many of Moorea’s beaches are lined with hotels, but by no means all of them.  Islanders are proud of the fact that they have resisted unbridled development, like some of their neighbors.

Wednesday, January 23, we anchored off Bora Bora, an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands, 162 miles northwest of Tahiti.  The island is surrounded by a lagoon and fringed by reefs.  Over the last few years, seven high-end resorts have been built on the motus (small islands) surrounding the lagoon, creating problems (as described by our tour guide) including a shortage of fresh water, sewage issues (not sure where it all goes), inadequate roads on the island proper (more potholes than roads) and piling garbage.  The tour guide gave credit to the Americans for building the roads, airport and dock area, during WWII, as the island was used as an Allied fueling station.  It appears that no maintenance or upgrades have taken place since and the island is in desperate need of a master plan for future development.  While novelist James Michener described Bora Bora as “the world’s most beautiful island”, we’re sure it’s not the case today.

Of the three islands - - Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora - - only Moorea retains some of the feel and look of what South Pacific paradise might be, due to careful development and attention to the environment.  Perhaps in the future, all three islands will regain a balance between nature and responsible development, but only time will tell.

Thursday & Friday (January 24 & 25) were spent at Sea – enroute to Apia, Samoa.

PP Georgiana and Nick Ide