On one of our first days on board the m/s Paul Gauguin (again an artiste who buried his whole being in his private world and who led a very restless and fraught life in the islands of French Polynesia and the Marquesas) we enjoyed breakfast on the balcony of our stateroom (fancy name for cabin), with the ship having dropped anchor during the very early morning. I mused that we were in a kind of revolving restaurant as the ship slowly turned on its mooring, giving us a gradual 360 degree view of the islands we were to visit that day, plus others. What a fabulous way to wake up!
Later that day, I joined the excursion to the island of Rangiroa, to visit a black pearl farm (which these islands are famous for) as I had always planned to buy some unset pearls to take home. Fascinatingly the pearls are indeed cultured, but there are apparently no ‘natural’ pearls growing these days legally. There are some countries (our instructor told us which ones) that still collect them illegally, but many hundreds of oysters are destroyed trying to find the ones with a pearl of great (and sometimes of any) price.
Need I say I did buy some unset pearls from the farm, and had them set in some very pretty silver pieces they had on hand. They are not high class only B or C and they are irregular in shape, but they are gorgeous. At least I think so.
The lifeboat was employed as tender boat to the shore today, and a fit looking guy floated idly on his outrigger waiting for the tender to start off to the shore. Amazingly, he caught the wake of the tender, and followed us all the way to the shore, then back again but gave up half way and dived into the water to cool off.
I had planned to go to the Que Bola magic show last night but I must still be jet lagged because I practically fall asleep about 2.30 every day… Two-thirty-itis I think it’s called. Luckily there is a shortened version in the piano bar at 6.30 tonight so I plan to catch that before dinner.
Wow the service on this ship is fabulous! You don’t have to wait long for an order, maybe five minutes, or ten in your cabin, and on deck they constantly ask if you want another drink or anything else for that matter. There is a high percentage of Filipinos in the staff, as well as Croatians interestingly, and they are so willing to please and have ready smiles. Some of the wait staff joke with the passengers, and I wonder how many times the bartender was asked if everything was under control, although he was always ready with a witty reply and an ice cold glass.
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