When we woke up this morning, it was with the depressing knowledge that tonight would be the last night on board the fabulous Azamara Onward. What a fantastic cruise we had had, in some of the most remote and least-known islands on the planet.
We didn’t really do much today. We contemplated going ashore in Mo’orea once again and maybe finding a beach where we could swim, but then it would have meant walking around and coming back to the ship wet, or at least slightly damp. We therefore just decided to stay on board today and enjoy a nice relaxing day on a relatively quiet ship.
We went up to Deck 10 to do our morning nautical mile, aware that it was the last time we would be doing this. Afterwards, we ate in the Windows Café as usual, sitting by the window so we could look out at the seascape, the mountains of Mo’orea rising up nearby, and further away on the horizon, the bulk of Tahiti looming up in the early morning light. The Onward would sail for Pape’ete at three o’clock this afternoon.
There were no talks scheduled for today, which was classed as a ‘shore’ day, so we just spent the time pottering around and making a start with our packing. Then I took my laptop into The Den and caught up with some of this blog; there was certainly plenty to write about! 🙂
Around 11 o’clock we went out on deck and stood at the railing, watching the orange liberty boats going to and fro. Then we made our way, as usual, to the Pool Bar to enjoy a couple of beers before lunch. As it was our last day, we decided to have lunch in the Discoveries Restaurant, and I enjoyed a sumptuous pastrami and cheese sandwich, accompanied by crisps and coleslaw. It was washed down with a glass of crisp rosé wine.
Afterwards we returned to 6030 and enjoyed a 30-minute post-luncheon power nap before returning to the upper deck to watch the liberty boats being raised in preparation for our sailaway at 3.00pm. Then the Onward gave a loud blast of her foghorn, which made everybody jump, and she slowly started moving out of Opunohu Bay. Bye bye Mo’orea – what a lovely time we had had there yesterday.
We then returned to 6030 to get showered, shampooed and changed. Then we just spent some time relaxing in our cabin, reading, watching TV or playing “Plants vs Zombies” on my phone. 🙂
Afterwards we returned to the top deck to watch the progress of the Onward towards Tahiti and it’s capital, Pape’ete (which is the capital of all of French Polynesia). Now most people (ourselves included before this cruise) would see it written as ‘Papeete’ and pronounce it how it looks “pah peet”. However, as it’s French, it is actually pronounced over four syllables “pa-pe-eh-te” and we had now become used to hearing it pronounced that way (and saying it like that ourselves).
Around six o’clock we went, once again, to the Discoveries Restaurant for dinner, as we hoped to have some time later on to spend ashore, as we would remain in port overnight. We had a window table for two, and it allowed us to watch the Onward‘s arrival into Pape’ete.
Once the ship had docked for the evening, we looked out of the window with interest. The city was far more commercialised than we had expected, a busy dock with cranes and industrial buildings and a dual carriageway that thronged with traffic. Despite tonight being our last night on the ship, it wasn’t the last evening of our holiday, as we would be spending all day tomorrow and tomorrow night at the Intercontinental Tahiti, a fabulous 5-star resort at the beach in a place called Fa’a’a which was very convenient for the airport.
We had been notified that our packed cases had to be outside our cabin by the ridiculously-early time of 9.00pm, so we decided to go ashore straight after dinner, find a bar, have a beer and get the ‘feel’ of the place. We’d leave the rest of our packing until we got back. Before we left the ship, I used the wifi to consult Google Maps and see where the nearest bar was. 🙂
We made our way down to the gangplank and set foot ashore, enjoying the balmy, tropical night air. Another passenger vessel was tied up opposite the Onward, but we didn’t recognise the logo on its funnel so we don’t know which cruise line it belonged to.
We crossed the road and exited the dock via the empty cruise terminal, then we headed towards the street indicated by Google Maps. Finding the bar, which was called “Bora Bora Lounge”, we went inside and found a vacant table. The place was doing a lively Friday evening trade. A drinks menu on the table showed a selection of local beers, so we each ordered a bottle from the barman who came to our table.
We sat there and enjoyed the cold beer, which was darker than a lager and had a distinctive malty, hoppy taste. We didn’t have any of the local currency with us, but luckily they took contactless payment, so Trevor just used his phone. Then we decided we had better return to the ship, finish our packing, and put the cases outside the door.
The show in the Cabaret Lounge tonight featured a musician and comedian called Steve Morris. He was quite funny, but the American sense of humour is quite different from the British one, and jokes and anecdotes that had the audience falling about with laughter went over Trevor’s and my heads.
Afterwards, we went up to the Living Room for the last time, and enjoyed more of the complimentary drinks while we listened to the resident band. It was around 11.30pm when we returned to 6030 and we set the alarm for 6.30am tomorrow, before settling down for our final night on board the beautiful Azamara Onward