Jan 23rd , 2023 Day 21 of 128

Raiatea, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Good Morning from Raiatea in the Society Islands in French Polynesia. Can you believe we have been on the ship for three weeks today? 21 days we have been sailing around the world, covered many miles, and experience several different countries already. And we have so much left still to come. It was nice to return to someplace we have been before and know we are going to do something different while we are here on the island. I started my morning in the gym and watched the ship pull into the pier. This is an overnight stop so we don’t have to be back on the ship until 3:30pm tomorrow. I hope some of the shops and restaurants stay open late for the crew. Most of them don’t get off shift till after 10:00pm and that is when they get the opportunity to go out and just enjoy life. After the gym Megan and I made it to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. We hadn’t been there in a few days and it was nice to see everyone and show them our photos of what we have been up to the last couple of days. We didn’t have to meet our excursion group until 10:30 so after breakfast we opted to get ready and then venture off the ship on our quest for Dr. Pepper. We went to three separate grocery stores and had no luck. Megan did find some cookies and a glue stick that she needed so all was not lost. We got back on the ship to meet our excursion group and then got back off the ship. Today we took a 25 minute bus ride to the Anapa Pearl Farm. French Polynesia is home to 500 pearl farms and pearls are the second largest industry in the islands. Tourism is the first. This particular farm has leased 2 acres of “land” and they set up a structure out on the ocean where they headquarter the pearl production. We were taken through and actually saw the entire process from start to finish of how they grow the cultured pearls. The gentleman we saw fertilizes 300 oysters each and every day. It takes two years form the time they are implanted until they can be harvested as pearls. After we learned about the pearls we were able to put on snorkel gear (third day in a row) and actually go out and snorkel among the rows of growing oysters. The water there was eerily deep and after a short time we venture to the other side of the Pearl shack where there is a coral reef filled with beautiful fish, corals and many other sea creatures. It was beautiful to see all the wildlife swimming along with us. After we finished our snorkeling we went back into the shack and Megan and I each purchased a necklace from the Anapa Pearl Farm. Nothing like buying a pearl from the source. Right where it was implanted, grew and was harvested. It makes the necklace even more special to me. Before we headed back to the ship we inquired to the Pearl Farm owner, Sunny, if she knew where we could find a Dr. Pepper. She referred us to a store right by the pier that specializes in “things from America”. We found Kirkland brand products from Costco, kinda funny, but no Dr. Pepper. So our quest continues. We spent the rest of the afternoon resting, doing homework, crocheting and eventually getting ready for our 5:00pm dinner seating. This evening in the Main Stage they showed a romantic movie called Love Affair. Lots of big name actors and actress in it. It was a love story about falling in love on a cruise ship and ironically (or not so ironically) Raiatea is the scene of part of the movie and I would guess it was filmed here or in Tahiti. I will have to look into that. All in all a good day. We are both tired from our three days of activities. And tomorrow holds one more in store for us before we have a run of sea days once again. Sending you love and Hugs from across the seas from our little tropical paradise. Enjoy the photos from today.