Kelly Trips and Tours

Orana (yo-rah-nah) which means hello. We hope you've enjoyed joining us via our last blog.  This is our last full day here in Tahiti and all good things must come to an end. A few other Polynesian words we've learned: Maururu (mah-roo-roo, thank you), Maeva (mah-yeh-vah, welcome) and, Nana (nah-nah, bye/see you later)   Tour guide Tracy picked us this morning for our tour of the west side of Tahiti. Joining us was a mother (Maria) and her 3 delightful children (Connie age 9, Tomas age12 and Philippe age 15) from Chile.   Our first stop was a scared site where the early Polynesians held special ceremonys and community meetings.  This is one of the guards at the entrance to the site.    It's raining plumeria!  We all got silly and started throwing plumeria up in the air.      Further back into the site was the large meeting place.  Much happened in these sites and the red wooden posts were put...

This morning we disembarked our home away from home - the Oceana Marina. Now that we are on our own, Bill arranged a personal tour guide who had a 5-Star rating on Trip Advisor.  No money up front or even a credit card, just bring USD or Polynesian Franc and pay in cash after your tour. Sure enough, at the exit from the ship luggage area (of course we traveled as usual, carry on only), Unique Tahiti Tours owner/operator Tracy Thomas was waiting for us as advertised in her beautiful red van. Since we could not check into our hotel until 2 pm, we booked her for a 1/2 day tour of the east side of Tahiti - the rainy side of the island. Our first stop was the Chinese cemetery. On Tahiti you must be buried in a cemetery. The island does not allow cremation, but if you have a home which already had a burial site on it, you can bury your relatives there. We saw that on the other islands, where relatives were buried in the front yard. This Chi...

Yesterday, which was Saturday, we had another unique experience. An experience we forgot to include in the blog: our tour guide feeding tuna to the ells! This kittens are not afraid of the ells - they want to get some of the tuna as well. Brave little guys!

Today is our last day of our beautiful French Polynesia cruise.  We are sad to see it end, but our last stop is the island of Huahine, one of Polynesia's best-kept secrets and the most picturesque of all the islands.  There are rugged mountains and lush forests with small villages dotted around.  It is definitely undeveloped and undiscovered.  Our ship cruised into the bay between the two islands that comprise Huahine. Once anchored, the tenders went into operation.    Views from our balcony.           Our excursion today was a tour of the island in a 4X4 truck.     We stopped at a small garden for an orientation of our tour and then we walked across the bridge that connects the two islands.  The main island (big island) is known as Huahine-Nui and the smaller island is known as Huahine-Iti. These two make up Huahine, which is known as "The Garden Island". Our local tour guid...