These pictures of Moorea are almost surreal. The two traveling families relocated from their beach rental to this guest house in the mountains. Needless to say, French Polynesia has become a popular tourist destination. Once considered impossibly remote and exclusive, now families from all over the world can afford to vacation there.
Back in the the mid-1990's, we took a cruise through French Polynesia and the Cook Islands on the World Discoverer. We flew from Seattle to Los Angeles to Tahiti, where the cruise started.
Near
Papeete, Tahiti, I remember touring the Gauguin Museum on a dripping wet and hot day. We looked at reproductions of his paintings, the originals fortunately removed from the tropical climate long ago. Everything seemed very exotic in Tahiti.
It was the trip of a lifetime. Our small ship could maneuver into tight harbors and narrow channels. It had inflatable dingies that took us to remote shorelines, atolls,
beaches and tiny islands along with the expedition naturalists.
The World Discoverer docked on Bora Bora
A happy time for us, but no happy ending for the World Discoverer. In April 2000, the ship struck an uncharted reef near
the Solomon Islands. The
very same German captain and crew we had a few years earlier were praised for heroic and professional actions during the
crisis. There was plenty of excitement, but no injuries. I remember the serious
"abandon ship" practice drills we had on our cruise, which must have
paid off.
I'd like to go back to the South Pacific, especially the Cook Islands. But sometimes it's better just to keep your happy memories. When you return to a special place after a long absence, you tend to spend your time comparing the present to how it once was. I'm sure it's just as beautiful, but with many more tourists.
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