Saturday, March 18, 2017 Huahine (HUH)- Lunch in Fare and Snorkeling

We had breakfast at the Pension Meherio. The fruits today, served along the usual baguette, were mango and local grapefruit (which has more of a mild and sweet taste than American grapefruit).

It was pouring with rain all night. April didn’t sleep well due to the nagging stomach pains and cough that she has been fighting off. Bill still has a horrible cough. We sat at the breakfast table and talked to Teps, the owner and two of the other guests.

We went back to our room to work on the blog. When the rain let up, we walked to town and tried to explore Fare a bit more, but after having lunch at the Huahine Yacht Club again (fish burgers and fries for April and cheeseburger and fries for Bill), we found that the whole town was shut down with the exception of the supermarket.

It was eerie how clear the streets were, as it was only 2 p.m. and at this time in Victoria, where we live, there would be lots of people out and about shopping on a Saturday.

We picked up a few supplies at the Super Fare Nui market and walked back along the beach to the pension.

Shell pots for plants outside the Huahine Yacht Club.

The outside of the Huahine Yacht Club.

So delicious.

Fare on a Saturaday afternoon was deserted.

We idled our afternoon away at the pension, as we both felt wiped and April was still having some stomach pains. After a rest, we dressed in bathing suits and went to the beach.

We then walked up to where the lagoon narrows next to the pension (walking towards the beach we turned right and walked up the beach about 10-15 minutes until the reef was close to the shore). We took the GoPro Hero 5 with us and we drifted in the current that took us all the way back to the beach near the pension.

We were snorkelling near to sunset and we saw many different types of fish. It seemed as if it was feeding time and the fish were very plentiful (sunset is around 5:30 p.m. around here). We saw the sulfur yellow coral again and this time knew that it was called fire coral (from our tour), and that if you touch it, it makes you burn. We gave it a wide berth, but admired its beauty all the same.

April saw a reef shark hunting for dinner in the lagoon a short ways away from where we were snorkelling. We were not in the mood to get closer to him, since we just had our fill of sharks the day previous at the feeding.

The current became quite strong and April was distracted by filming the beautiful fish on the GoPro. At some point, Bill and April became separated. April ended up way out by where the yachts moor, as usual, while Bill was near to the dock, closer to shore.

While April was out there, a beautiful leopard ray (also called an eagle ray) came into sight and majestically flapped by her. She was filming with the GoPro, but it is always hard to capture things underwater no matter how good they are. When April tried to follow the ray a little, it suddenly sped up at jet speed and disappeared into the darkening waters. April had only ever seen leopard rays in aquariums before and they are even more beautiful in their natural habitat with their spots standing out in the darkness picked out by the sun glimmering towards the bottom of the ocean.

April looked for Bill, becoming scared that he had become injured or lost. She found him waving at her in the far distance near to the shore. She swam into meet him and we swapped tales (Bill had seen a lovely clump of sea anemones with clown fish). We had swam for about an hour.

Leopard ray at 4:20 of this video.

We felt the first drops of rain as we dried off. As we walked back to the pension, it really started raining. As we showered, it poured with rain outside.

We had a local grapefruit from the market and worked on the blog. We finally posted the first day of our trip. We have noticed that internet is definitely not as fast here as it is in Canada (not that that should be a surprise, as Canada has some of the fastest internet in the world).

Teps told us that the woman who was going to deliver from her roulette to pension that night was unable to do so that evening, but he had made arrangements with the yacht club for them to pick us up (they usually don’t pick people up, but Teps gave them some kind of sob story about how it was raining and April was pregnant). We weren’t thrilled that we were going to be eating there once again not six hours after we previously eaten with them, but were happy arrangements were made. Plus, there are not many options for meals in Fare.

One of the yacht club employees picked us up at 7 p.m. and drove us to the restaurant. We had mahi mahi with vanilla sauce, green beans, and fries. We shared a large bottle of water with dinner. The water at our pension is drinkable from the tap, but it never gets cold, so a cool bottle of water in a restaurant is lovely on a hot night.

Dinner at the Huahine Yacht Club.

Rather than get a ride home, we walked the short distance back to the pension along the beach. We looked up at the plentiful stars, including the Milky Way. We tried the chocolate and coconut ice cream that we had bought to share a desert earlier and had some fizzy water that we had bought from the store earlier (Teps lets us use the fridge and freezer at the pension).

We felt wiped before 9 p.m.. There’s something about swimming and a very early sunset to make one want to retire early.

Friday, March 17, 2017- Huahine Nautique Excursion/ Nautical Tour of Huahine with Motu Picnic (HUH)

Today, we had breakfast at the pension—baguette, butter, jam, with cantaloupe, and tea. There were no leprechauns to be seen around the pension, perhaps they were kept away by the kitten or they were hiding in the lush, verdant, green foliage that surrounds the Pension Meherio, including the fragrant Tiare de Tahiti (also known as Tahitian Gardenia) bushes.

We were picked up around 9:00 a.m. to go to the Huahine Nautique tour offices to start our excursion or tour of Huahine. In the jeep we met a French Canadian man who was also doing the tour. There were people from other accommodations going on this tour. Bill forgot his credit card, but they said that we could pay after.

The boat, which is an outrigger power boat leaves from the dock there. We started the tour in a circle of the island of Huahine in the boat while the bilingual female guide pointed out some of the aspects of Huahine to the mostly French group, along with a couple from Germany.

We had done the exact same tour nine years previous during our honeymoon. The tour still included the key component parts of snorkelling in coral gardens, visiting the only pearl farm on the island, a motu picnic, and a shark feeding which is euphemistically called ‘visit to a living aquarium’ on the promotional materials (we were surprised by the shark feeding during our first tour, but not this time.)

Our first stop was near to the Huahine Royal Resort that has overwater bungalows, as it is located in the area the locals call the coral garden. Naturally, this is not the only area that is good for snorkelling in coral, however, this is a spectacular spot for viewing coral and tropical fish. We were allowed about 30 minutes to snorkel in this area, but we could have stayed for hours. We saw different fish in the coral gardens than we had seen in previous days.

The Huahine Royal Resort has overwater bungalows. This is where we stopped to snorkel.

We climbed back into the boat and continued to circle the island. We saw a sea turtle while we were on the boat.

We saw such sights as the bridge that connects the large island of Huahine (Huahine Nui) to the small island (Huahine Iti), the most important body part of the god Hiro for his bride on Huahine (see photo and video below), and the stunning natural beauty of the green high mountains meeting the turquoise lagoon waters.

In the distance one can see Hiro's most important body part according to the tour.

The island of Huahine is very lush with interesting cliff faces.

We stopped at the Huahine pearl farm next. Annoyingly, there were no bathrooms at the pearl farm, which is on a platform in the middle of the lagoon. The tour is not particularly well set up for those who are pregnant, need a bathroom regularly, or who hydrate. We browsed the display cases at the pearl farm, viewing both their loose pearls and some of their creations, such as necklaces and earrings. We thought that it looked like there was a lot less selection than when we had been there nine years ago and we asked the owner’s son when the next harvest would be. He told us that he was not sure, because they were very low on oysters (they only have about 5,000 in the lagoon right now, when they would normally have about 50,000, because they are waiting on a shipment of oysters from the Tuamotus). We were stunned by the increase in price, of even the loose pearls, especially because many of the pearls were either baroque, circled, or didn’t have a particularly spectacular lustre. We did not purchase anything. As we were getting back into the boat, we were given a half of an oyster shell as a souvenir. While this was very beautiful, it is not exactly a black pearl necklace.

It's hard to believe that the lagoon waters on Huahine are actually the colour that they are. The whole island looks photoshopped. It's impossible to capture the exact colour of the water on video or in pictures. It has to be seen to be believed.

Next, we navigated to the motu (islet) where we would be having our picnic lunch. It was the same motu we had visited the last time we took the tour. The motu is so beautiful with a white coral sand beach giving away to the turquoise waters of the lagoon.

It is the perfect area to float around while a delicious lunch is prepared and the palm trees sway languidly. While everyone watched a demonstration of how poission cru, a local raw fish dish is prepared, April continued to cool off in the water, as it was extremely hot out, and she had already seen the demonstration on our previous tour.

We ate lunch at picnic tables by the water. There was more variety of dishes this time than the last time. There was poisson cru, which we didn’t have, as April was pregnant, and we can’t risk food poisoning, cooked chicken, saffron rice with corn, a variety of tropical fruits including coconut, watermelon, Tahitian grapefruit, pineapple, and local bananas. There was also salad, cool drinks, and baguette.

The motu where we had a picnic lunch was the same one as 9 years ago and still breathtakingly beautiful.

Immediately after we finished eating, we were back into the cooling waters of the motu to relax until it was time to leave. Bill fed some of the fish that had joined us with a chicken bone and the little fish cleaned the bone of any remaining meat. One of our fellow excursion participants, a friendly fellow from Quebec, snapped this photo of us in the water.

This motu in Huahine is paradise found.

After about two hours on the motu, we cruised back around the island. We saw a large stingray off the side of the boat.

We stopped near to where our pension is, but out by the reef at a platform. We knew this time, that ‘living aquarium’ meant shark feeding and we were looking forward to seeing beautiful sharks and the accompanying lagoon fish. It poured with rain as we arrived and while we were there. Less than half of the tour participants went into the water for the shark feeding. We don’t know if it was just because they were just chickens or it was just a general aversion to getting wet from being rained on while being submerged in ocean water. Whatever it was, they missed a great show.

The black tipped reef sharks were already waiting to be fed before Claude even entered the water with his bucket of fish guts. Naturally, we were the first two into the water again, Canada has a reputation to uphold. The accompanying fish from the lagoon who are always there with the sharks are so gorgeous and abundant. We had our GoPro Hero 5 with us and filmed the entire shark feeding. I suppose when people view the footage of the sharks coming within a foot of us, they might think we have a few screws loose, but the reef sharks were much less aggressive than the little yellow fish that kept nibbling at us, thinking that we might have something to feed them. Plus, reef sharks never really attack humans and are so beautiful to view up close that it’s a shame that most of the tour group missed this experience.

7

On the way to the dock, by the pension where we were being dropped off, the guide taught us a couple of new ways to tie a pareo (the wrap that women in Polynesia wear in many different ways as a dress and cover up). The guide also pointed out the four mountains overlooking the town of Fare that resemble a pregnant woman lying down, face towards the sky. One mountain was her face, the second her breasts, the third her belly with external naval from being pregnant, and the fourth her knees.

We were dropped off at the dock by the beach at our pension, and walked back as we chatted with the fellow from Quebec who was on the tour. The tour operator said that they would come by later so that we could pay for the tour. We were back at pension around 4:00 p.m., so the tour took about 7 hours. It was a really nice day and good value.

For dinner, at about 7:30 p.m., we ate at the pension again. Teps cooked a lovely dish of chicken, carrots, beans, onions, in a Chinese style sauce, with taro root on the side (this is a starchy root vegetable that is used in similar ways as a potato by Polynesians). After the delicious dinner, we were surprised when the American staying at the pension said that he had picked up some different slices of cake from town that day for us to share. Who doesn’t want to be surprised by dessert? The five of us in attendance polished off the cake in no time.

The conversation at dinner was very interesting between the guests. The mother cat and her kitten were present to receive any scraps that could be spared. We felt tired at 9:00 p.m., after being in the water swimming most of the day, so we retired to our room.

April has been fighting cold-like symptoms the last couple of days that seem suspiciously like Bill’s cold. Bill’s cough has been improving, but still sounds awful. April felt very sick to the stomach that evening, but can’t figure out what made her feel sick, although we suspect eating late and pregnancy are the culprits. 

Sunday, March 12, 2017 – Rediscovering Papetee

We have returned.

Our cab dropped us off at the Hotel Sarah Nui. The jolly cab driver entertained us as he drove us into town by singing at the top of his lungs to local ukulele-filled Polynesian music on the radio. We also learned that he was from the Marquesas islands, had taken a Tahitian wife, and had three girls and two boys. He had a Marquesan wooden necklace that he showed us and when he dropped us off he showed us a beautiful carving he was working on that was sitting in the back of his Dacia Logan.

The Hotel Sarah Nui is a small hotel located near to the centre of Papetee (the capital of Tahiti). We chose it for its close location to the harbour, where there is a square where the Roulettes (food trucks) come to serve dinner at night and for its walkability to the local market.

We tried to check in when we arrived at the Hotel Sarah Nui, however we were not able to check in yet as it was only about 7 AM local time (currently French Polynesia is 3 hours behind Pacific Daylight Time, as French Polynesia does not observe daylight savings time, which created confusion for our sleep deprived brains as daylight savings time took effect the same day we arrived). Check-in time for this hotel is 1:00 PM. Our room was not yet ready. So, we stored our bags with the hotel, brushed our teeth in the lobby bathroom, and left the hotel to wander the Sunday streets of Papetee.

We were shattered from the series of three flights, not sleeping much overnight on the third flight, and by the complete change in locale. We had obtained a map from the hotel, however, it was unnecessary, because it was very simple to walk to the harbour front. We stopped by an ATM by the hotel and tried to get more money out, as many places do not accept credit cards, and some of our accommodations that we will be staying at later in the trip only take cash. It proved to be almost impossible to withdraw money from this ATM either. It would only allow us to have a small amount of cash out on one of our cards, like the other ATM (but not doubt the bank fee will still be high).

We first walked to the tourist office, which is located along the harbour front. The office was not yet open, however their washrooms were, which April was very thankful for. After, we went to the local market. As it was a Sunday, the upper floor of the market (which has most of the non food related items such as souvenirs), was not open. We were able to browse the produce stands, however, and we bought some lovely little local bananas to eat (a bunch of about 10 was about $1.00).

Moorea in the background.

Dramatic skies.

We stopped by a patisserie that we used to go to during our last trip to Papetee. We had a croissant, and pain au chocolat and an Orangina. We also bought a piece of cake to eat later to belatedly celebrate April’s birthday. We tried out a couple of ATMs on our way back to the hotel and continued to have no luck withdrawing cash.

Mmm mmm pastries.

We returned to the hotel and fought to stay away sitting on couches in the lobby. We still had hours to kill before check-in. Bill called one of our banks to ask them why we were having trouble withdrawing money (we were afraid they had seen the strange locations we were trying to withdraw from and had frozen our accounts), but they knew we were in Tahiti, as we dutifully put notes on our accounts in advance of leaving, and they said there shouldn’t be any issue. We were confused, but had heard that sometimes ATMs run out of money in French Polynesia and as it was Sunday, hopefully we would have more luck tomorrow.

We ordered a couple of cold drinks and two Margarita pizzas from the hotel’s snack bar for lunch and ate them as we waited for our room to be readied. 

At noon, the check-in clerk told us that our room was ready. We proceeded to our room, unpacked a few things, so that we could have a shower, had a shower, and went for a nap. April’s feet were very swollen from the three flights, which is a common pregnancy symptom.

There was a street racing course set up on the streets by our hotel, and for a few hours there were deafening motorsport noises that pierced our ear drums as we drifted in and out of consciousness.

After our rest, we walked from the hotel to the bank machine by our hotel to try and get money out again. We then walked down to the harbour front to Vaiete Place to see what the Roulettes had to offer for dinner. We ended up having pizza. It wasn’t as good as the pizza we had had last time we were at the Roulettes in 2008, but it was still pretty good. We had cold drinks with our pizza and watched the sunset and the beautiful stars come out.

 

It was a very warm and humid evening with the sky going dark just before 7 PM. We admired the full moon rising as we returned to our hotel to get an early night’s sleep in advance of our flight to Huahine the next morning. 

August 10, 2016- Checking Out of the Grand Hotel Central Barcelona, Private Car Service from the Hotel to BCN, Duty Free, Air Canada Rouge Premium BCN to YYZ, Air Canada Premium YYZ to YYJ

This morning we woke up exhausted after not enough of a sleep. We packed.

When we checked out of the Grand Central Hotel Barcelona, we asked about their private car which was advertised in our room. They said that it could take us to the airport for 30 EU (a taxi is 35 to 40 EU normally the front desk woman said). We hired it and were whisked out the door with our bags by several staff.

As we drove to BCN, the lovely driver, Alex, told us about his time in the Spanish Navy and the many countries that he had lived in. At the airport, he took us to the right terminal and then left his vehicle and carried April’s bags and took us to a screen, determined where we had to check in, and then took us to the check in place. We’ve never had service like this before. The hotel may have rough spots like its room service, mattresses (at least in our room), the weird perfume, and street noise, but the service and location make it probably almost impossible to beat.

We had checked into our Air Canada flight online the night before, but we had to show our passports for verification and hand over our two checked bags to an agent. The lineup was not long. The woman took our two bags and put a priority tag on them (we think it’s because we ended up in Air Canada Rouge Premium, either through some upgrade because of Bill’s status, or because that was what was left).

We went to the VAT office to get the receipt for the scarf that April bought stamped to get the tax back (it was put on her credit card at the department store in their duty free office, but if you don’t get the receipt stamped at the airport and then send that to them, they reverse the credit card refund). There was quite a long lineup to get this stamp and we contemplated whether or not it was worth it in the future. We think that unless you're spending a lot of money or you don't mind standing in long lineups, it's probably not really worth it. We didn't spend that much money, so we don't really think that it was worth it. After the form from the department store which resembled a receipt was stamped, we were directed to put it, in the envelope provided, in the box at the end of the line.

We then had to go through the exit visa line. We asked the airport employee directing the lineups which would be faster, EU or non-EU, since sometimes non-EU moves faster. She said it was a gamble, but probably EU, so we took that lineup with April’s Irish passport. The lineup moved quickly and after we were out we went to the duty free shop to spend our last few Euros.

We then found the area where our gate was located, had a late breakfast at a café, and then went straight into the priority boarding lineup for zones 1 and 2 (there is no zone 1 on this flight and we were in zone 2 at the front- shi shi shi baby).

Only two seats side by side in the premium section of Air Canada Rouge. And the seats are bigger with more leg room.

Neither of us has ever been in priority before. In Air Canada Rouge Priority premium it is only two seats at each window and two seats in the middle. They are larger seats and have more legroom. You are given a welcome bottle of water and a drink before take off. We also were given a pack that contained an eye shade, earplugs, and socks.

We left almost 30 minutes late from Barcelona, heading for Toronto first (almost a 9 hour flight). We would have a layover of about four hours, before catching our second flight to Victoria in Air Canada Premium seats (so since it's Air Canada and not Rouge, there would be a business class in front of us, then the premium section, then coach). The second flight, YYZ to YYJ, is about 5 hours.

After takeoff, for the first snack with a drink, we were given a drink in a real glass or mug. The meal was served on porcelain with metal cutlery and a drink in a real glass. The food seems somewhat fancier, though still an airline meal.

The view out the window leaving Barcelona.

Real glass and porcelain.

Our main meal.

Silverware with the Air Canada logo on it.

We were given an iPad each for entertainment. April watched a couple of episodes of a TV show. Bill played some video games on the iPad.

For the duration of the flight, Bill and April fought to stay awake to try to get back on Pacific Standard Time. Bill dozed once for about 20 minutes, while April worked on the blog on Bill's laptop. We worked on choosing pictures for the blog to post later. We listened to a Harry Potter audiobook on Bill's computer, sharing a set of microphones.

Towards the end of the flight, we ate a "sandwich" which was more like a burrito in a cardboard box heated up. All in all the food on this flight wasn't that bad (certainly better than Delta last year).

The flight was actually quite rough at many points and we were both glad that we're not nervous flyers. The seat belt sign kept going on as turbulence made the plane bounce through the air high in the sky. But we arrived safely.

In YYZ (Toronto's Pearson International Airport), we did not have to meet our bags, as they would go through to Victoria themselves, but we did have to clear customs (paper forms still). At  one of the kiosks, April's passport would scan (N.B. her Canadian passport- Canadians are supposed to enter and exit Canada on their Canadian passport even if they are dual citizen of some other country), but Bill's brand new 10 year one wouldn't.  We tried again. And again. We asked for an airport employee. She tried it at several other self serve kiosks. It didn't work. We were not impressed as Bill's passport is one of the new 10 year passports that cost more, while April's is an older five year passport. The airport employee finally routed us into the Nexus lineup (Bill has a Nexus card). An agent said it was fine that Bill's passport didn't scan (it seems to be not unheard of). He marked up our customs form and sent us on our way. We then had to clear another lineup to hand in our marked customs form.

After, we walked towards the connecting flights signs, branching off from those meeting baggage. We followed the confusing signs to find our gate area (others were lost and asking for directions, not  good signage). When we left an elevator, in our gate area, we discovered that we had to clear security again (we did this in Barcelona already and had been stuck inside two airports and a plane ever since).The airport employee told us that the next floor up had more doors so it was better, so we went up another level. We were able to use the Nexus lineup (Bill has a Nexus card, but April doesn't, nonetheless they allowed it). The Nexus lineup took quite a while (not as long as non-Nexus though, those lineups were massive). April went through screening first and of course set off the alarm that indicates that extra screening is needed. The agent ran off to grab the special paper to rub on April's hands and her belly to check for explosive making trace residue (ah is good to be back in Canada where April is targeted at almost every single airport screening she goes goes through). Not unsurprisingly, no traces of explosive making were found and we moved on to find our gate.

By the time we found our gate, we were feeling sick. It was far past bedtime back in Spain and we had been up a long time already. There wasn't much to choose from to eat in the area, so we had sandwiches from Tim Horton's and a couple of huge cups of steeped tea (stay awake!!!!!!!). We also had some chips (the salt is so much more pronounced in Canada than Europe. We really do have a love of salt here). We worked on the blog and fought to stay awake.

We boarded our flight from YYZ to YYJ (Victoria, BC). We were a little late leaving. When the plane took off the noise was very strange and Bill and April cast several nervous glances at each other, wondering if the plane was going to make it (when we had boarded the flight, the technician was telling the flight attendant that it was an old plane that was very fragile, great).

Let's get this flight over with. We're tired.

This flight was about five hours. We were in the first row of the premium economy section, behind the poorly drawn mini curtain over the top of the business seats in front of us. We were assigned to aisle and middle. No one showed up for the window seat which we were pleased about. It's three people across in the premium economy section on an Air Canada flight. In the first row of premium where we were seated, the middle person has no pocket in front of them (there are only two seats in the business class rows, but three in premium) and their screen is a pull out one from the seat arm. We don't really understand how Air Canada can charge more for these seats. Yes you get a free sandwich and snack, yes there's a bit more leg room, yes you're almost first on and first off, but for the amount more that they charge (when you're not assigned or upgraded for free), it seems kind of disappointing (or at least it is especially for the person in the middle of the first premium row who doesn't get a normal tray table, entertainment screen, or seat pocket).

Plus, there were only two bathrooms at the back and one at the front of the plane. We were screened off from business class by a curtain, so we had to walk all the way to the very back of the plane from almost the front to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately, the flight attendants were blocking the aisle most of the time on the flight, so eventually they just sent April up to business class, where the flight attendant there warned her that the seat belt sign was on and she would have to use the bathroom at her own risk. Don't worry about it, buddy, I can handle myself in a bucking airplane toilet. Better that than having an "accident." And it was a very rough flight. One of the roughest we've ever felt in a bigger plane (besides that previous flight, which was also really turbulent).

We fought to stay awake, listening to Harry Potter for a while, but then both drifting out and missing most of the chapter, drool dripping out of our slacked jaws. We tried to drink more caffeinated beverages and lots of water, but it was no good. It was nearing our normal wake up time in Spain and we had still not slept. We had almost been up 24 hours by the time we neared home (other than Bill's 20 minute nap and the few stolen moments on that flight).

The views coming into Victoria were gorgeous and we were relieved that we would be in bed soon with our kitty, Lamont.

Mount Baker was visible above the clouds.

Mt. Baker with the faint outline of Ranier in the background

North Saanich at sunset.

We met our bags at the Victoria Airport (they were priority tagged, so they were some of the first out). Both of our bags arrived, which we were very happy about (better than our honeymoon night where we arrived at our destination, but neither of our suitcases did. Funnily enough, the exact same thing happened to April's sister on her honeymoon night).

We took a taxi home, then took our car and drove to April's cousin's place to pick up Lamont. Lamont was very pleased to see us and we drove home with him yowling his displeasure at the car ride.

Lamont knows how to show his displeasure.

We were home, with our kitty, and the trip had all in all been good. Success. Oh, and we won't be taking a cruise ever again.

And now we sleep. . . .