February 11 - Papeete, Tahiti

This morning was a lagoon and swim tour.  It wasn't much, but the views of Tahiti and across to Moorea from the boat were wonderful.  I think I finally got a picture that shows the gorgeous water.  We swam at a couple of spots in the wonderfully warm water.  As we were leaving, the local police boat came by and had a conversation with the skipper about the number of people on board.  The notice said it was licensed for 30 passengers and 5 crew.  We had 18 and 3, respectively, clearly visible so not sure what all the conversation was about.   Anyway they left after a bit, but did follow us to the next spot and hung around.  Michael says they were  waiting for a payout - 😏

The Intercontinental Hotel

Finally got the beautiful blue water and Moorea

The gendarme checking the boat

This is a turnaround port where some people got off and others got on.  We are so excited that my sister, Jan, and brother-in-law, Tom, joined the cruise today and will be with us to Singapore.  Unfortunately, their check-in to the cruise was a bit more strenuous than ours.  Because of the new regulation about not allowing anyone to board who has been in China within the last 30 days, every page of every passport had to be checked - twice.  That meant delays.  The staff had a photocopy of the different visas to look for and apparently there are a fair number, so the whole process took a long time.  This is the first time they've been through this, so it didn't go as smoothly as would have been hoped for.  But they got on and we were able to spend a bit of time visiting in their cabin while they awaited their luggage delivery.

Then we wandered up to the Observation Lounge and chatted with new passengers Gerry and Frank from Melbourne, Australia who just boarded.  They are a hoot like most of the Aussies that we've met over the years.  I'm sure we'll see more of them.

Dinner was the 4 of us at Compass Rose where we introduced Jan and Tom to Sugi, one of our favorite waiters.  It was a long day for all of us and we have another early tour in the morning, so off to the cabin.