Home away from home on Regatta’s passage to Polynesia Nov 2018

[rloke]

Not a lot of coral but enough to harbour quite a number of fish...

[rloke]

More examples of fish varieties...

 

 

[rloke]

Couple more....

[rloke]

Couple of parting shots before heading back to Papetoai...

 

The hotel concierge secured a taxi for us for $25.

 

 

[rloke]

And thanks to our shipmates, Linda and Bill, for helping to take a photo of us while the sun was still shining...

 

 

[DeeniEncinitas]

Great report!!! Read it all and must say lovely couple. We did the same cruise on PG and sure enjoyed it!! Thank you so much for a wonderful blog!

Denise😊

[wally_bushy]

Enjoying your review

What camera are you using for the video of the underwater scenes. They look much clearer than my videos.

Could be the age of the equipment😉

[rloke]

On 12/2/2018 at 9:02 PM, DeeniEncinitas said:

Great report!!! Read it all and must say lovely couple. We did the same cruise on PG and sure enjoyed it!! Thank you so much for a wonderful blog!

Denise😊

 

It was indeed a fantastic cruise...

[rloke]

16 hours ago, wally_bushy said:

Enjoying your review

What camera are you using for the video of the underwater scenes. They look much clearer than my videos.

Could be the age of the equipment😉

 

A compact underwater camera that we got a few years ago. It was the Panasonic TS30...and what helped tremendously was the calm conditions. Nothing that caused cloudiness in the water and I was able to hold the camera relatively still.

[rloke]

Disembarking was a breeze. We had selected 8am and was assigned a tag of “blue 1”. 

 

Had a nice breakfast at the Terrace Cafe and then headed down to Baristas for one more excellent double espresso...didn’t get off the ship until around 8:30 or so as we saw a lot of our newfound friends and chatted and bid farewell plus safe journey. Also chatted a bit with the excellent crew members that we got to know well as well...

 

Finally swiped our cards one more time and got off Regatta...and easily located our luggage waiting for us in the tent next to the terminal.

 

See you again Regatta...hopefully in the near future...

 

 

[rloke]

We next headed to our budget hotel, the Sarah Nui...met lots of fellow shipmates there checking into their day-rooms as most have flights later in the evening.

 

About a 10 minutes walk to the hotel from the terminal. Most of the walk is along a nicely paved walkway...until reaching the roundabout at Rue de Bovis. Crossing the roundabout was ok as most drivers would actually yield to pedestrians.

 

The room at Hotel Sarah Nui was surprisingly nice and spacious. Seemed like it was recently renovated (we were given room 312).

 

 

[rloke]

The pedestrian walkway along Blvd Pomare...

[rloke]

Sarah Nui room...the bathroom was large and the shower enclosure alone is bigger than Regatta’s bathroom...just kidding...maybe... 😉

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by ipoh

[rloke]

Next adventure would be a private snorkeling tour with Captain Benoit. We were to meet him at Marina Taina. And since we had time to kill, we took the bus there. The red-white West going bus (more like pink as the red paint seemed to have faded) cost 200 Francs per person and it was about a 25-30 minutes ride. The bus stop is located near the corner of Rue 22 September 1914 and Ave Marechal Foch in front of the Vodafone store.

 

[rloke]

Captain Benoit took us north from the marina and sped past the Intercontinental Resort and the airport. After 5-10 minutes on his speed boat, he anchored in the clear shallow blue waters and showed us his playground which he fondly refer to as the Coral Valley. Pretty decent snorkeling here as well...

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by ipoh

[rloke]

Couple more videos...

 

[rloke]

Had dinner at one of the roulottes at Place Vaiete next to the cruise and ferry terminals. A lot of Asian influenced dishes...generous portions of salted fish fried rice and poisson cru coco...

 

 

[rloke]

One final look at our home away from home for 16 days...till next time...