South Pacific Eclipse Cruise, MV Discovery
April 3, 2005 (day 1)
Left San Francisco 9:00, arrived in LA 10:30; left LA 14:00, arrived in Tahiti 19:00 (8 hour flight). I didn’t realize Tahiti was only a little farther than Hawaii. It wasn’t too long or tiring a flight after all. Tahiti is only three hours behind California time, and since Daylight Saving Time started the morning I left, the difference seemed even smaller.
The plane’s maintenance crew had to replace a wheel in LA, so we were an hour late taking off. That meant we missed seeing much of Papeete. It may have been just as well, since people from the Eastern US were pretty tired and anxious to board the ship. Papeete is an interesting town by day, but there’s not much to see or do at night.
Our tour guide tried to promote some shore excursions for Moorea [our island stop for day 2], but by the time we reached the ship, the travel office had already closed. I didn’t plan to sign up for any special tours anyway.
Since my bag had not yet been delivered, I decided to have the late night dinner even though I wasn’t particularly hungry. The food was unexceptional, but I happened to sit with some interesting folks who are also eclipse veterans. As a matter of fact, they had also sailed with me on the Canberra in 1973 [my first eclipse cruise] and on both Marco Polo eclipse cruises I took part in. We shared many recollections of past trips and learned of another surprising coincidence. They live in a small town in Maryland about 10 miles from where I used to live in Delaware. Some strange force must draw eclipse-chasers together!
I made an effort to go to the sale-away from Papeete. It turned out to be a non-event, however. Because we didn’t get under way until midnight most people had already gone to bed because of the time change. Only a few diehards watched the ship silently leave port.
No bells or whistles to add excitement, but I was glad I was able to take a quick look around with camera in hand and not too many passengers on deck. I was impressed with the overall look and feel of the Discovery. She has the same classic lines, teak decks and stylistic embellishments as the Marco Polo, my favorite cruise ship. Here’s a brief tour and some initial impressions.
The lights of Papeete never disappeared beneath the horizon since our destination, Moorea, was only 10 miles away!
The Lido deck is on top between the foremast and funnel. Its pool and buffet are popular for daytime activities. It would be an ideal place from which to observe the eclipse, but I’m not sure if its sliding roof opens all the way.
Picture galleries and other artwork adorn many of the public areas.
The entertainment areas and bars make effective use of mirrors to increase the apparent space.
It took some searching, but I finally found the Internet Center [from which I’m uploading this journal]. They only have six terminals, and there may be a lot of online competition from this tech-savvy group of passengers.
That’s all for today. Tomorrow we stop at Moorea, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Tahiti.