The alarm awoke us at 6.30am, and we hurriedly dressed, checked all around cabin 6030 to make sure we hadn’t left anything, then hefted our rucksacks onto our shoulders and made our way up to the Windows CafĂ© for a good breakfast. Trevor was feeling a bit under the weather and we both hoped he wasn’t going to be stricken with dodgy guts, as I had been last week.
The Windows CafĂ© was noisy and crowded, and littered with the holdalls and rucksacks of those, like us, who were disembarking today. Other lucky passengers were staying on board either to do the next section of this 180 day voyage, or to continue the whole world cruise, which wouldn’t see them return home again until July!
After breakfast, we headed for the Cabaret Lounge to await the call to disembark. When the announcement came for “all those who are going to the Intercontinental Hotel Tahiti” to proceed to the gangway, we shouldered our rucksacks once again and went down to disembark the ship to be shown the way to the mini-bus which would be taking us to the hotel, which was only four miles away. As we walked past the Onward, I couldn’t resist taking one more photo of her.
We entered the cruise terminal to identify our cases, then proceeded with them to a waiting mini-bus, where the driver placed them in a large boot. We had another couple to wait for, and we sat in the air-conditioned comfort of the vehicle, drinking from a bottle of cold water. Presently the other couple arrived, and we set off for the 15-minute journey to the Intercontinental Hotel & Spa Tahiti.
The hotel was lavish, a large beach front resort offering just about everything you would need without ever having to leave it. As it was only 9.00am and our room would not be ready until much later, we checked in and were given a day-pass to enjoy the pool and lagoon and other facilities while our suitcases were placed in storage. However, we needed our swimming things out of the case first, so we retrieved them before the bell boy stashed them away in a large, shelved room. The friendly guy on reception then gave us the wifi password and said he would send a WhatsApp message to tell us when the room was ready.
I couldn’t wait to slide into the cool water of the natural lagoon, and went to the Ladies to change into my cossie and matching sarong. As Trevor still wasn’t feeling great, he said he would just remain in the hotel lobby for the time being, making the most of the comfortable chairs. I therefore went to the pool area on my own, and found a sun lounger under the shade of a large parasol, after showing the pool staff our day pass and telling her we would be staying at the hotel tonight.
I then went to the natural swimming pool, which I noticed had no ladders. Stepping into the ankle-deep shallow end, I was delighted to see that it was just like going in the sea, the water getting deeper as I stepped towards the other end of the pool. Soon it was deep enough to swim, and I turned my face up towards the sun, and enjoyed the feel of the cool water; this was sheer bliss.
Afterwards, I dried myself off with a huge yellow pool towel, and put my sarong on over my cossie. I decided to take a walk and explore the grounds of the hotel. As well as the swimming pool, there was a turtle rehabilitation pool, where sick or injured sea turtles were brought to be cared for until they were fit enough to be released back into the wild. I could see some of them swimming around slowly in the crystal clear water.
The resort was set among gorgeous manicured lawns with lots of palm trees. There was a golf course, tennis courts and a marina, where you could either hire a boat or go out with a guide, swimming, snorkelling or scuba diving. I also came across the famous “over water” bungalows and wondered how much they would cost; it was costing us 600 quid just for one night’s stay in the main hotel complex!
As I returned to my sun lounger, my phone pinged with a message on WhatsApp – our room was ready. 🙂 I found Trevor exactly where I had left him, and we both walked to reception and picked up our key cards for our ground-floor, garden view room.
The room was very large and was lovely, with a nice big bathroom and double-doors leading out to the bright garden, where you could sit out at a table and two chairs. We were actually quite tired, however, after our early start, so we decided to have a power-nap on the comfortable bed.
Afterwards, we felt we could use a beer, so we went along to the (predictably-named) Tiki Bar and I enjoyed a cold Hinano beer; Trevor had a brandy and ginger to try to settle his dodgy tum. We enjoyed our drinks so much we had another one each.
We then had another wander around the hotel’s extensive grounds before deciding to take a walk out and see what was in the vicinity. However, the resort appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, there was nothing within walking distance apart from residential dwellings.
We just spent the day pottering around, enjoying our gorgeous surroundings. Around five o’clock, we decided we were quite hungry and one of the hotel’s restaurants was open, so we went in and were shown to a table; the waitress took our drinks orders and handed us a menu each.
I ordered chicken Caesar salad (you can’t go wrong with a good Caesar salad) and Trevor ordered a Polynesian seared tuna salad. However, when the salad came, the warm chunks of tuna, which had been marinated in a sticky sauce, were practically raw, so Trevor left most of them so as not to exacerbate his already dodgy guts.
Afterwards, we returned to the Tiki Bar and ordered some more drinks. As it was after 6.00pm now, the bars and restaurants started filling up, so I went out near the lagoon and sat and watched the sun go down. It was absolutely stunning; the dark silhouettes of the palm trees reflected on the surface of the water and outlined against an orange sky.
Once darkness descended, we were treated to a performance of Tahitian singing and dancing, similar to what we’d seen on the White Night in Mo’orea. We could hear the sounds of the crickets and other night creatures, and occasionally the “chak-chak-chak-chak” cry of a chit-chat, or Malaysian house gecko. We like chit-chats, not only because they are cute, but because they eat mozzies! We knew there was one just outside our hotel room doors, because we had heard him several times. 🙂
We returned to our room fairly early, around 10.00pm. We had a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and we wanted to be sure of a good night’s sleep. We had another early start, as our mini-bus was due to pick us up to take us to the airport at 5.40am.