On Our Way Back to Tahiti

Our cruise is almost over and the ship is on its way back to Tahiti. Here, Moorea is the dark island in the foreground and Tahiti is in the sunlight in the background. They are only 10 miles apart.


Here is a map of our wonderful cruise. Tahiti is the large island on the right, the other Society Islands are to the NW of Tahiti, and the two Cook Islands are 600 miles to the West, on the left side of the map.


Here are the actual distances we covered. A nautical mile is equal to 1.15 miles.


While we were cruising back to Tahiti, we went up to the top deck for the Captain's Farewell Party.


As usual, drinks were included in the cost of the cruise. (Tips too!)

The big camera belongs to a Korean film crew doing a show about the ship. So if you happen to be watching Korean TV, you might see me.


Michael, the cruise director, introduced some of the crew.


And here's the Captain. On this ship, the Captain is very visible and engaging. Wait a minute - who's driving the ship?

The young lady between the Captain and Michael is the head of the ship's Tahitian dancing, singing, entertaining group, Les Gauguines. She is quite a singer, as you can hear in the next clip.



This is an original song - it's hard to hear the lyrics, "Farewell to m/s Paul Gauguin."


And then off to dinner, where there was another wonderful dessert.


And then to the evening show. Wow! They saved the best for last. This is a professional dance troup and band from Tahiti. The dancing, and the costumes, were out of this world!



I really liked this dance. What DO these guys wear underneath? I took a movie so I could carefully analyze it...

I know my friend, Bagpipe Bob, would say, "Nothing is worn underneath - everything is in perfect working order!"



To be fair to the male readers of the blog, here is one of the women's dances. Notice how the keep their heads perfectly still. (I know that's what you're all looking at...)


After the show, there was time for pictures. I picked this guy. His expression for photos was very different from the smiles he wore during the dance.


Phil picked lots of women to be photographed with, and a couple guys jumped in.