We arrived in Honningsvag on August 9th and had never been to this town before.  It is as far north as you can get in mainland Norway.  We had set up a tour to hike to North Cape through Viator at this port stop.  We left with a small group of 6 in a van through the northern countryside of Norway.  It seemed like you could see reindeer on every hill side just wandering around.  Our first stop was Skarsvag which is the northern most fishing village in the world.  Although cod is the primary fish caught in this area it is well known for the king crab fished there.  We were also amazed to see how many reindeer just ambled through the town blocking traffic and just meandering around.  We boarded a zodiac boat here for our trip to where our hike would start.  As we approached our drop off point, we looked up at the large, intimidating cliff in front of us and wondered if we would be able to make it to the top.  We were being dropped off at the same starting point that many kings and queens had take to climb up to North Cape.  We assumed that if they could hike up the steep cliff face in their gowns and formal clothes, we should be able to do it in our shorts and t-shirts.  We had picked a great day for this hike and the weather was warm and the sun was out.  For those of you that don’t know, North Cape is the northern most point of Europe on the mainland.  No other stretch of land in mainland Europe is any further north and it was deemed to be an adventure back in the 1600’s and 1700’s for many of the wealthy people, including kings and queens, to venture to this unique place.  This certainly would have been a very adventurous port stop for a cruise back in those days with those small wooden ships!  As we pulled up to the small dock, we saw 3 reindeer just grazing around the area.  Our guide said this was very unusual for them to come down this far.
 
After a short discussion down at the bottom we began our trek up the mountainside.  Although it was steep, the trail was well made.  At the top there were 21 trail cut backs to make it up the steep grade.  At times rocks were loose and you had to choose your footing carefully.  For those of us who didn’t like heights, we didn’t look down too much and leaned a little closer into the side of the mountain.  We took several stops, and everyone seemed to be doing well.  It wasn’t a long hike in terms of distance, but it was a demanding hike in terms of elevation.  We eventually made it to the top and made a sigh of relief.  The views along the way were very scenic and it was such a beautiful day to just enjoy the sights.  We still had a mile or so walk to North Cape, but it was an easy walk through the moss and lichen covered rocks over reasonably level ground.  When we got to the visitors center our guide bought us a glass of champagne to toast our success and gave us a certificate to acknowledge that we made it up this unique trail in the same tradition of past kings and queens.
 
Outside the visitor’s center is a globe that commemorates the spot as being the most northern piece of land in Europe.  It was a nice place to take a picture to commemorate our success in making it there.  Our guide did tell us that people had later discovered there was a small peninsula that you could see below this point that was a half mile further north than Norh Cape, but no one wanted to talk about that.  Also, outside the visitor’s center there are 7 bronze castings created from drawings of 7 children selected from different countries around the world.  The drawings were meant to depict how children of different cultures can work together.  This project is now called Children of the Earth and awards a substantial amount of money each year to an individual or group who promotes the quality of life of children in today's world.  This is certainly a worthwhile place to visit if you are ever up in this remote area.


Regards,
​Sharon and Greg

We had been to Tromso, Norway 6 months before and it looked very different without snow on the ground.  In fact, it was such a nice day we were shorts on our independent tour to visit a fjord.  Our guide took us to the other side of the island, across the water and then we went down one of the popular fjords in the area.  The scenery throughout the tour was impressive.  Shortly after we started the tour, we saw some local people skiing in skates (long inline skates used with poles).  This evidently is a summer activity to stay in shape when winter approaches and you want to be in good shape for cross country skiing.  We also caught our first view of Norwegian Reindeer early in the tour.  We found 3 reindeer over in a little field off the highway.  Most people got out of the vehicles to take pictures of these reindeer who were just grazing on some of the grass.  We stopped at many scenic stops where we took pictures.  The guide was a professional photographer and took pictures of us along the way which he has recently sent to us.  Along the way we stopped at a beach and was surprised to see people going into the very cold water.  The guide said it was the most people he had ever seen at the beach.  This was a very warm day for Norway!
 
About halfway through the tour we hiked up top to a beautiful scenic overlook on the fjord.  There the guide served us some coffee or tea and gave us a local cake served in the area.  It was a nice little break.  In this area our guide pointed out to us some cloudberries that were growing.  These turn out to be rather expensive berries because they are difficult to pick and collect.  They are sort of orange in color and have a sweet but sour taste to them.  Evidently, they are in high demand.  During our trip we also saw what looked like almost a team of people doing this cross-country skate training.  We also passed a few fish farms in the fjords.  This is a big business in Norway where they have 3 to 5 netted areas floating in the fjord where they “grow” salmon.  These netted areas can be over 100 feet in diameter and 150 feet deep.  The fish start off as small baby salmon and are nurtured to mature salmon ready to be harvested.  This tour was nice to give a different perspective of the area than we had seen 6 months before.
 
After the tour we took a 2 hour walk around the city before our ship sailed away.  We walked up to the main street of town and took a few pictures of the Tromso Cathedral which is a fairly new looking building.  After walking through a few stores, we headed towards the harbor to look at some of the nice ships docked there. It is a very pretty city and very enjoyable to walk around.  Right before we returned to the ship, we looked up and saw what looked like hundreds of seagulls on the tops of the roofs of some of the buildings.  They make a lot of noise and have their nests just nestled into the gutters.  Some buildings put up wire barriers to keep the seagulls away.  It was another enjoyable visit to Tromso and hopefully we might come back again some time.  We had a great sunset as we left Tromso (although the sunset was at 10:30PM).

​Regards,
Sharon and Greg

We arrived in Lofoton, Iceland on August 7th with a boat tour planned for the afternoon.  We headed off the ship in the morning just to see what was around.  At the end of the port was a bike rental place and Sharon was ready to go out exploring the countryside.  The bike rental shop provided us a beach to go see, and set the location into our google maps app on the iPhone.  Off we went and 20 miles later we made it back!  Sharon biked 20 miles and Greg biked only 19 miles, having to walk the bike 1 mile up the hills that the bike rental shop said were not along our route!  It was an extremely picturesque bike ride with mountains in the background and lakes and streams in the foreground.  We biked through fields of fireweed which was a tall beautiful purple flowers abundant in the area.  We saw many quaint farm houses along the way along with people camping all around.  At the beach areas you either found large sites with RV’s parked or campgrounds with tents everywhere.  When we arrived at the beach we were directed to, we walked along the beach and were amazed how many people were running in and out of the frigid water.  There were some large rocks along the beach, and we decided to climb up one to have our picture taken.  Unfortunately, there were barnacles all over the rock and Greg’s knee got cut causing the blood to create a dark red stain on his pants.  As we were walking back to our bikes a camper happened to notice the blood and offered a little first aid.  He had iodine, bandages, and tape.  He patched Greg up and we were off again back to the cruise ship along a different route to see new and different places.  It was a nice bike ride and certainly we got some good exercise! 
 
After arriving back to the ship, it was time for out boat tour excursion.  It was a nice hour-long boat tour along the coast providing some interesting information on the area.  The tour ended at a nice fishing village where we spend a half hour walking around taking pictures and visiting a few shops.  It started raining shortly before we got to the village but fortunately, we had brought along a few umbrellas and many people were envious of our foresight.  The fishing village was enjoyable and then we headed back on buses back to the ship.  We thought we might stop at a few places along the way back, but we just headed back to the ship.  It was a nice tour but a little long for just a short walk around the fishing village.
 
Lofoton was a nice place to visit but we are not sure we would need another trip back there.  

​Regards,
Sharon and Greg

We arrived in Narvik, Norway on August 5th with no specific tour plans.  We decided to just walk into town, although it was Sunday, and we knew there would not be much open.  After walking through the small downtown area, we continued walking to the other side of town and found a small, wooded area with a trail.  We walked up a small hill on this trail and saw a small boat harbor on the other side.  We eventually found our way down to the boat harbor and looked around the area.  There were many nice boats, but the harbor water didn’t look too nice with algae on the water around many of the boats.  At the end of the harbor were 4 small buildings that appeared to be places to sleep.  We assumed these might be for visitors who were passing through the area.  Outside the harbor, the shoreline was area covered with seaweed.  I few hours later along this coast the tide would come in and you could not see any seaweed.  It was amazing how far in the tide came.
 
On another pier near the harbor, there were 4 or 5 fishermen throwing out long lines out to the sea far below.  We have no idea if they caught anything.  At the same pier an old boat was loading up with a crew of divers.  As we walked past the pier, we found another trail that ended up going all the way along the coast providing us some great views of the sealine and mountains on the other side.  It was a beautiful day, and we wish we had had our shorts on.  This hiking trail occasionally would come back into small neighborhoods in the town.  We eventually walked through one of the neighborhoods and walked over to the nearby stadium.  It was a nice stadium with artificial grass and a good-sized grandstand on one side.  A little further into town we came across Narvik Church which was impressive.  As we walked back to the ship some military vehicles passed us with many of the soldiers waving at us.  It turned out they were US Marines on maneuvers with the Norwegian army.
 
In the afternoon after our walk, we had a Viking tour that wasn’t much more than a visit to the War Museum.  Although our guide was extremely difficult to understand with his strong accent, the Museum was clearly marked with many signs in English.  There were a few interesting things we learned about Norway and the war.  It is where the Allies had their first victory against the Germans in World War II.  When Germany invaded Norway and started marching North, Allied troops landed further north and joined the Norwegian army to defeat the Germans and push them further south beyond Narvik.  The citizens of Narvik cheered the Allied soldiers when they marched victoriously through the city after kicking out the German army.  The Germans were ready to surrender when the Allied force decided to pull their troops out of Norway and put them someplace else that they felt was more strategic.  Within a week after the Allied forces left, the King of Norway surrendered to the Germans and allowed the German army to move back north and recapture the land.  Within 2 weeks after the Narvik citizens had cheered the Allied forces, the people saw the Germans move back in a take over their city.  How depressing that must have been to the Norwegian citizens.  There were a few other interesting stories about Norway and the war in the museum.  We eventually went back to the ship and said goodbye to Narvik.

Regards,
Sharon and Greg

After a relaxing sea day, we arrived in Geiranger, Norway.  This is a small town of a few hundred people down a pretty fjord in central Norway.  This type of fjord is what Norway is known for.  These fjords were created thousands of years ago when glaciers slowly moved towards the ocean cutting deep gouges in the earth that became these fjords. 
 
We had booked an optional tour with Viking at this port to do a hiking trip.  This was tender stop where a small boat takes you from our cruise ship to the city.  Typically, you tender because the city doesn’t have dock space but in this case a Celebrity cruise ship beat us to the only available dock, and it was a much larger ship needing the dock more than we did.  When we arrived on land our guides were ready to take us hiking.  Since this was a hike with a lot of elevation the guides decided to take us up to the Geiranger Church to make sure everyone could make it that far before heading up the mountain side to the farm we were going to.  The church was a unique octagonal structure with a cemetery around it with a great view of the harbor.  From the church our small group 12 continued marching up the side of the mountain.  There were many pretty views of the town below and our ship.  We kept climbing up the rocky paths until we got to the top where there was a small farmhouse with an overlook of the town below.  This farm also had some llamas that we could take pictures with.  After a short rest we began our hike back to the town below.  As we walked down, we could see many of the beautiful waterfalls this area is known for.  We stopped at a cultural museum a little over halfway down and said goodbye to our guide.  This allowed us to spend more time walking the rest of the way to the harbor and taking some pictures.  There was a very nice walkway with many steps going down along a beautiful running stream/waterfall.  At one point we found a rock in this fast-flowing stream that almost appeared to have a face carved on the side of it. 
 
At the bottom it was amazing to see all the RV’s and campers in the area.  This was a very popular place for people all throughout Europe to come to and spend some time in the mountains and fjords.  It was such a scenic area.  Many of the houses had grass roofs which we were told provided good insulation for the houses.  We were also told that at times they put goats up on the roof to eat some of the grass before it got too tall.
 
Shortly after getting back down to the bottom where we are started from, it was time for our second tour of the day which was a bus tour.  The bus first stopped at a look out point to see the Seven Sisters Waterfalls.  These were 7 small falls right next to each other, falling hundreds of feet down.  Across the fjord from the Seven Sisters is another larger fall which is supposed to represent the guy who asked each sister to marry him but was rejected by all of them.  The traffic at the overlook was a mess with many buses trying to drop off and pick up people along with cars and RV’s stopping to look.  Too many people for such small area.  From this lookout point the bus took us further up the mountain area to a lake that was very nice but much colder.  We were high enough up that there were many areas that still had snow and ice on the ground.  As we came back down, we made one more scenic stop to overlook the town and fjord far below.  It is a very beautiful area to drive around or hike.

​Sharon and Greg

Well, we are off on another long cruise to visit Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and Canada on the Viking Saturn.  This is a 28-day cruise we are doing with Leo and Jo Sanchez.  Linda Beaubien and Laurie McCullough are joining us on the first 14 days of this cruise.    All 6 of us flew out of Atlanta on August 1st, arriving in Bergen, Norway on August 2nd.  We had been to Bergen exactly 6 months earlier when we did the Northern Lights cruise in February.  Bergen is a great city to just walk around.  It is a beautiful city with many colorful buildings outlining a very scenic harbor area.  On the day we arrived we took a walk around the harbor to keep us awake.  After long transatlantic flights that arrive early in the day, we are firm believers in not taking naps but stay awake until bedtime (although in may be a somewhat earlier bedtime!). The weather was great with temperatures in the low 70’s.  After struggling through the 90’s in Atlanta for the last month, this was a very pleasant change.
 
A short distance from where the Viking Saturn was docked is the Bryggen area.  This is a UNESCO heritage site where German merchants arrived in Bergen back in the 1300’s to make Bergen a significant trading port in the area.  The German merchants created the Hanseatic League and owned a large portion of Bergen which was established in the 1200’s as a major Norwegian port for trade.  The Germans traded cereal for fish stock which was very valuable back in Germany and other European countries.  Bryggen has been damaged by many major fires over the years and its appearance today stems from when it was rebuilt in the 1700’s.  Whenever repairs are required today, they must be made with the same materials and used in the same manner as they were back in the 1700’s.  Repairs go very slow, and it takes years to restore buildings.  Today Bryggen buildings are leased to today’s merchants, and you can buy clothing, souvenirs, bakery goods, food and many other things in these shops.  It is certainly a worthwhile place to visit and check out some of the shops.  Make sure you walk behind the 8 large shops in the front because there are 64 buildings that comprise of Bryggen which are in back of these shops.
 
As you continue around the harbor you will see a Hanseatic Museum that was created for you to learn more about Bryggen.  At the end of the harbor are several fish markets that have turned into restaurants where you can enjoy the fresh catch of the day.  There are many ferries in the harbor that go anywhere from short hauls to some of the nearby island to other ferries that take passengers 5 hours down the fjords to Flam.  There are many tourist boats also that will take you around to see the sights along the coastline.  Also docked in the harbor were a few world class sailboats and a very strange looking boat called the Hydrolicer which delices fish in fish farms (something new to us).  On the far side of the harbor, you can get some great pictures of the beautiful store fronts of Bryggen.  The Radison has built 5 more buildings that resemble the original Bryggen store fronts and use them as part of the hotel which is behind these buildings.

This is our final blog from our Tahiti trip in April where we stopped for a second time at Bora Bora and Nuka Hiva in addition to visiting Maui and Honolulu.
 
Our return trip to Bora Bora was enjoyable with a fun day snorkeling and jet skiing around the island.  Our guide was a very talented native from Bora Bora who was a cross between Maui and Tarzan.  He had a physique like Maui from the Disney movie but dressed in a loin cloth like Tarzan.  The girls absolutely loved him and the other women from our cruise ship that saw us on our return were very envious of the tour we took!  We made 2 stops for snorkeling where we saw many more Black Tip sharks and some beautiful coral reefs with pretty, tropical fish swimming in and out of the coral.  In between stops our guide played the Ukulele and sang while telling us stories of his island.  We stopped at one of the Motus to have a very tasty lunch of fish and chicken with some great tropical side dishes.  After lunch we took a jet ski tour around the island.  It was one of the most exciting jet ski tours we ever took because of the fast speeds we were at flying around the island while trying to avoid the waves that might knock you over.  It seemed like the jet skis were in the air as much as they were in the water as we sped across the waves.  It was a great tour to end our final visit of Bora Bora, but we know we will be back in the future!  Sharon is already planning a return to the islands to see the baby whales during breeding season and has found a guide that will allow you to swim with the baby whales as the mother looks on carefully.
 
Our final stop in French Polynesia was a stop at Nuka Hiva.  While Greg went to the island to get better internet to send out some blogs, Sharon and Lisa walked around the port to see what was there.  When we first got into the port, we saw some of the crew buying some large fresh tuna from some of the fisherman to bring back on board our cruise ship.  We were having Polynesian night the following day and watching them cook this fresh fish in front of you is a real show.  Lisa and Sharon walked all the way to the other side of the port and found a beautiful resort that they would like to stay at some time in the future.  Although we didn’t do much at this port this time around, it was a beautiful island to watch as we sailed away from the French Polynesian islands on our way to Hawaii.
 
In Hawaii we first stopped in Lahaina in Maui and took an Uber to Whalers Village which is a very nice mall to walk around and shop.  The mall itself is located on the beach where you can spend the day sunning yourself or just enjoying the waves.  It was a little overcast when we were there, and we had spent plenty of time in the ocean after our trip to French Polynesia.  Instead of going to the beach we elected to have a drink and appetizers at one of the many beachside restaurants in the area.  We then went back to Lahaina to do some shopping at the many interesting stores in the area.  Before going back on the ship, we stopped at our favorite restaurant in the area – Kool Kats.  This place has some great hamburgers, and the fries and onion rings shouldn’t be missed either.  We didn’t need to have dinner back on the ship that night.
 
Our final port stop was in Honolulu where we had an overnight stop.  Greg was excited about this stop because he had arranged to play golf with his sister at her golf course, which is one of the nicest on the island.  A few former presidents our members there.  Unfortunately, it was a rainy day and after driving over to Greg’s sister’s place it was decided to cancel the tee time and instead drove around the area a while before picking out a nice seafood restaurant to have a nice lunch.  Later in the day we walked from the cruise port all the way to Waikiki Beach and back to take a few sunset pictures.  A nice 15 mile walk to stay in shape.  The following day we rented a car and drove up to the North Shore of the island taking pictures and watching the surfers up there.  We stopped at the Dole Pineapple farm on the way back took their tour.  We also had some of their pineapple ice cream which was good.  We always enjoy our visits to Hawaii, and it is always nice to catch up with Greg’s sister and brother in law.
 
The trip back to Los Angeles was uneventful.  We were able to relax and enjoy several sea days.  This was the first time we had cruised with Oceania, and everybody seemed to like this cruise line.  They are known for the food and that did not disappoint.  The ship is a little older and the cabins are not as modern as the newer ships.
 
We leave in a few weeks for another cruise where we go to Norway, Iceland, and Greenland.  We have several cruises booked through early 2025.  Here is a list of where we are going in case you see anything that looks interesting to you.

• Norway/Svalbard/Iceland/Greenland cruise in August
  • Broken into two 14-night segments
• Canada/New England cruise in September
  • No staterooms available on ship
• Greek Isles/Mediterranean cruise in October
  • No staterooms available on ship
• Vietnam/Singapore/Bangkok/Hong Kong cruise in January 2024
  • Two back-to-back cruises available
• Wonder of the Seas Caribbean cruise in February 2024
  • Over Winter Break in Fayette County GA
• South America/Panama Canal cruise in March 2024
  • Distinctive Voyage
• Kenya/Masai Mara Safari in July 2024
  • Very limited availability
• Viking Christmas Market River Cruise in December 2024
  • Group rates available
• Amazon/Brazil cruise in January 2025
  • Miami to Rio de Janeiro on Oceania
• Transatlantic/Cape Town cruise & Safari in February 2025
  • Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town on Oceania
• French Polynesia/Hawaiian Island cruise in April 2025
  • Distinctive Voyage

If anyone wants to join us on any of these cruises, please let us know.
 
Regards,
Sharon and Greg

Well, our first 10-day French Polynesian cruise is over and we say goodbye to 10 of our friends and family members as they go back to Atlanta.  Seven of us continue for 17 more days to Los Angeles as we visit a view more stops in French Polynesia and Hawaii.  After going off the ship with our friends that were leaving us, the other 7 took a taxi to a resort on the west side of the island where we are being picked up by Kali to take us on a tour of the island.  Kali was one of our previous guides when we were doing some pre-cruise tours and had taken us around Tahiti in jet skis.  This time he was taking us around in a nice motorboat that comfortably fit all 7 of us.
 
Initially we headed a little south to avoid some rain on the other side of the island and once again watched some of the spinner dolphin swimming around while asleep.  Kali was somewhat angered by one of the French guides that was driving his boat too fast towards the dolphins.  He said that some of the new French guides did not show enough respect for the island and its wonderful wildlife.  Kali is a native Moorean who wears his tattoos proudly and maintains many of his native traditions.  He is one of the people on the island that would prefer their independence from France.
 
After the rain clouds moved away, we headed east to the other side of the island.  We went right past our cruise ship and went by many cargo ships in port.  One of the ships, the Aranui 5, was unique in that it was both a cruise ship and cargo ship going island to island dropping off supplies while entertaining cruise passengers around the French Polynesian Islands.  Along the way we passed some sea caves that you can crawl from one side of a narrow peninsula on the island to the other side.  We were told though that the passage requires you to crawl in spots on your hands and knees and can be a bit claustrophobic (definitely, not for us!).  After about an hour or two of going around the island we came to Pointe Venus which is at the end of Matavai Bay. 
 
Pointe Venus was where Captain Cook arrived in 1769 when he was chartered to calculate the distance between the earth and the planet Venus.  This promontory in Tahiti was one of the places he put an observatory to take his measurements.  Pointe Venus is also where the Protestant missionaries came ashore 28 years later to make their mark on the French Polynesian islands.  They forbid people to worship other religions, to speak other languages other than French, and told the natives they were no longer allowed to have tattoos on their bodies.  Kali explained to us the religious significance of tattoos and how you got your first one as a teenager in a temple with a special ceremony.  After you received your tattoo, you paraded around the tribe to show off your new tattoos.  Tattoos in French Polynesia are very sacred and tell your whole life story.
 
Pointe Venus was a nice place to walk around.  There was a black sand beach all the way around the promontory.  We had some great views of the Tahitian mountains across Matavai Bay.  The girls found a nice shopping area there and each one of them bought some sarongs which they later wore on the ship.  There was a large lighthouse on the point, and the whole area was a very popular place for people to visit on the weekend with families everywhere having a good time.  When we were done exploring, we went back to the boat and Kali fed us some fresh fruit he had prepared.  Pineapple, coconuts, bananas, mangos, and papaya were the primary fruits that grew plentiful in the area although they also had passion fruit and bread fruit along with a very unusual looking red ball fruit called lychee.  Kali showed us how he cut and prepared the pineapple and mangos in a unique way.
 
We headed out on the boat again back to where we came from.  Along the way we passed some floating bars which are rented out to groups to have parties out on the water.  There are many of these floating bars with thatched roofs floating around the Papeete lagoon at least a half mile off shore.  On this day we saw one group of guys in one and a group of just girls in another.  There was one floating bar that just seemed to have several families having a good time.  It was just another way for people to get out on the water and have a good time.  We stopped near one of these floating bars to do a little snorkeling.  It is amazing how shallow the water is in this large lagoon that surrounds the island and how many fish and coral reefs abound.  We went by the Hilton on the way back and thought we saw a few of our group sitting around the pool enjoying a few drinks before they headed out very early the next morning.  Kali didn’t take us back to the resort but instead took us right to the cruise ship.  We stopped almost right under the bow of our ship and climbed up some steps to get up to the large pier.  What service!  It was another great tour, to start our next cruise.  Not too many port stops on this cruise but a lot of sea days to relax after we had been so busy the last couple of weeks snorkeling, riding ATV’s, bike riding, and doing so many other things.
 
Just a few more blogs to go to finish this wonderful adventure!

Regards,
Sharon and Greg

At long last we arrived in Bora Bora our favorite place to snorkel in the world.  This was an overnight stay which allowed us two full days to enjoy this wonderful island.  It is also one of those perfect atolls with motus and barrier reefs around the whole island.  The lagoon within these reefs has many different areas to snorkel and dive to see a wide variety of different fish life and coral in the crystal-clear water.  Unfortunately, about 20 years ago a red tide invaded Bora Bora destroying the coral and fish life on the South Barrier Reef.  As the reef continued to improve another phenomenon impacted the southern reef again 3 years ago.  This reef damage was caused by a significant water temperature increase to 90 degrees Fahrenheit for 3 consecutive days. This again significantly damaged the reefs and killed off much of the fish life in the area.  Although we saw some of this impact most of our snorkeling trips were in different areas.
 
We first snorkeled in an area to search for Manta Rays which are much larger than sting rays and can have a wingspan of 15-20 feet.  After almost giving up we finally spotted a Manta Ray in some deeper water but was hard to see at that depth.  We later found one swimming at a much shallower depth and we swam with him for a while before he went deeper.  They are very impressive creatures and are extremely graceful in the way they swim.  As we were getting out of the boat our guide, Fabian, found a small octopus and tried scaring some of our lady snorkelers but they didn’t seem to be very squeamish.  A few of them even allowed the guide to put the octopus on their heads so they could get some pictures of themselves.  They did say they weren’t that fond of the suction on their necks from the tentacles. 
 
Fabian then took us to another popular snorkeling spot called, you guess it, the Aquarium.  Our 3rd different “aquarium” snorkeling area in the French Polynesian islands!  It was a very nice area though to swim around and see many fish and coral.  We even saw a moray eel that popped out of his hole to show us his teeth.  In the sand at a depth of around 30 feet, someone had written “I LOVE BORA BORA” in clam shells.  We saw this 10 years ago and they keep it in good shape for the snorkelers to see.  We stayed there over an hour enjoying all the fish and coral.  Just another world class snorkeling area in the French Polynesian Islands!
 
We were then dropped off at Bloody Mary’s which is probably the most famous restaurant on the island.  It has rustic tables and stools with a sand floor throughout the restaurant.  It is covered by a roof but some of the sides are open to the outside.  The moderate temperatures on the island allow this type of open-air restaurant.  They have several nice menu selections, but we always seem to get hamburgers there and they are excellent.  It is even better when accompanied either with one of their nice rum drinks or the local Hinano beer.  If we hadn’t already had reservations, we would not have been seated, because they were booked for lunch and only takeout was available for anyone else that walked up.  It is a very popular place that you must try if you go to Bora Bora.
 
We were scheduled to go on an ATV tour after lunch, but it started to rain.  It was heavy rain that was really making the roads and paths muddy.  After some discussion with the ATV people, we were able to move our tour to the next day when we were hoping it would be much dryer.
 
We headed back to the port but before taking a tender out to the ship we walked around the area looking at many of the shops in the port area.  All the women look at the black pearls here since the South Pacific is where they come from.  After stopping at several jewelry shops, Sharon finally found a necklace she really liked with 3 black pearls of different shades.
 
When we got back on the ship, we found out they were doing a Polynesian dance that evening in our ship’s theater.  We decided to go to it and were very glad we did.  It was an excellent show with many young dancers from Bora Bora.  They put on an excellent show that everyone in the crowd loved.  After the show we were able to take pictures with the dancers and everyone seemed to really enjoy it.  We actually felt that this was a better show than the one we paid for in Tahiti.
 
The following morning, we got up and went ashore again to meet our guide Fabien.  This time he took us to a shipwreck near the barrier reef.  There was a strong current swimming out to the reef but effort paid off because it allowed us to look at some very unique coral formations.  Some of these were bright red and different from what we had seen at other sites.  The shipwreck was interesting to look at also with the fish swimming all around the wreck.
 
From the wreck we headed to another snorkeling site that was between two motus (islets).  Once again you got to see an assortment of different fish and coral.  Even when you jump off the boat to go snorkeling, you never know what you are going to see.  Each site the guides take you to is a brand-new experience and a set of new memories you will never forget.  Even though Sharon’s underwater case allowed her to get some great photos of the fish and coral, the pictures really don’t do justice to what you see when you snorkel in places like this.
 
After our snorkeling trip was over, we were dropped back off at the dock to ride the ATVs.  We were picked up in vans and taken to the ATV shop where we received some minimal training and headed out to see the island.  The first half hour on the ATV was a trip around part of the island on its perimeter road.  There were some nice views of the beaches, boats and motus.  When we got to the other side of the island, we went off road to get to the top of one of the mountains in order to see some better views.  Once again, we had some great views a long the way but nothing like what we saw when we got to the top.  We were given some time at the top to take some pictures and get an explanation of where we were at and what was all around us.  After taking our photos we went straight down the rocky path to the road below – and we mean straight down at a 45-degree angle with the person in the back holding on to the front person to avoid going over the top of them when we hit the large rocks along the path.  It was exciting both up and down the mountain.  On the road we continued our journey around the island and eventually stopped at another viewing area where our guides gave us some fruit and snacks.  The place we stopped happened to be the house of the owner of the ATV company who had a nice house in a great location.  It was another great view of the island below.  From there we went back down to the road and completed our entire circle of the island on the perimeter road.  The ATV company took us back to the port after our tour.
 
Although all our excursions we had taken were independently arranged and all private for our group of 17, the pricing was extremely good.  We heard horror stories from people on the ship who took cruise line arranged tours and paid double what we paid for tours that were only half as long.  There were some people that had booked ship excursions that were not able to get them due to a late itinerary change made by the ship.  We were able to work with all our suppliers and do everything we had originally planned.  We always tell people it is better to find good third-party tour suppliers than to take the ship’s excursions but so many people just don’t want to take the time to do that.
 
We got back on the ship and saw one last French Polynesian sunset and our ship took sail to Tahiti where 10 of our group were getting off.


Sharon and Greg
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​Our 1st day in Bora Bora - our favorite island! Swimming in an aquarium inside the Lagoon which is inside a ring shaped coral reef and small islands (called an Atoll). Followed by lunch at Bloody Mary’s!

​Day 2 in beautiful Bora Bora - Unbelievable views from Mount Popoti of Bora Bora on ATVs!

We arrived in Raiatea ready for our next French Polynesian adventure.  This was the first port other than Papeete where our ship docked at a pier versus having to take small tender boats to shore.  Once again, we had a pre-arranged an independent tour for our group of 17.  Two boats were ready for us when we got off the ship.  They took us on a nice boat ride along the coast of Raiatea over to one of the surrounding motus (small islands on the perimeter of the atoll).  From this area we had a great view of Bora Bora where you could see Mount Otemanu rising tall from the center of the island.  We were to visit Bora Bora the next day, one of our favorite places in the world to snorkel.
 
Our guides took us to a single snorkeling spot that they called the “aquarium”.  There seem to be a lot of aquariums in the French Polynesian islands, but it really is an apt description of these snorkeling areas.  It is absolutely like you are swimming in a fishbowl with fish swimming all around you in crystal clear water.  The boat drove up to the motu as close as it could get in the shallow water and then we waded to shore in knee deep water.  We walked a short way on land to the spot where our snorkeling trip was to begin.  This snorkeling area was unique because there was a narrow gap between two coral walls where you could snorkel between and watch all the sea life on the coral walls on each side of you.  There was a constant current helping to push you along as you observed all the colorful fish and coral.  It only took 45 minutes or so to snorkel down this narrow channel between the corals, but our group took their time in amazement at everything they were seeing.  We were supposed to take two passes down this channel, but we took an extra hour at the end of the channel just observing the schools of fish and pretty coral.
 
Sharon had bought a special underwater dive case for her iPhone before we came on this trip.  We had used plastic waterproof pouches in the past, but they tended not to allow you to actuate the buttons on your phone when you were underwater.  Sharon’s case was much more substantially built and had a membrane type surface over the phone display that allowed the key presses to work.  Although she had used it a few times on our previous port stops on this trip, this snorkeling trip was its first true test and it worked great.  She was able to get much better pictures of the fish and coral than anyone else in our group except maybe the people who had GoPros.  We had given our GoPro to our daughter-in-law Kat who was with us.  She has not sent us her pictures yet, but we are sure she got some great pictures also.  Several people in our group plan to buy this same underwater dive case when they get back home.
 
It was another great snorkeling trip and a nice boat ride back to the ship.  When back on shore we had time to do a little shopping at some of the local shops in the port area.  They were cute shops with thatched roofs.  We also went to the pharmacy and food store there to get a few supplies before getting back on ship to go to our next destination.

​Sharon and Greg