BritLan: Tahiti....

October 3, 2011

Well, we arrived in Papetee, Tahiti this morning and when all of the guests got off the ship we started a Full Barrier Clean because we’ve had so many guests get a gastro-intestinal illness called the Norovirus or the Norwalk Virus. It’s pretty common on cruise ships, especially long cruises like the one we’re on right now. This makes me worry a little bit for the rest of my contract, but hopefully we won’t have to deal with it in later cruises. So basically we had to use this special chemical to clean everything on the ship, every crew member had to clean their area and it took several hours. Not too fun!!

Anyways, we were able to get off the ship around 1pm, but it was kind of rainy and cloudy—not like how you’d expect Tahiti to look! But, we braved the elements and a bunch of us got off the ship and wandered around the city. Everyone was very happy to have me with them because I was able to speak French and translate things and ask for directions and whatnot. Of course all of the shopkeepers and such pretty much speak some form of crude English, but, one woman was elated to have me speak French at her! She even asked me if I came from France, mwahahaha.

Now I’m back on the ship, I have to work in 45minutes, but, I thought I’d do a quick blog, shower, and then go get some food! Tomorrow we are going to a nearby island—Moorea—and I think we are going to try to go snorkeling. Hopefully the weather will be nice and sunny! After that we hit Bora Bora and then it’s 5 more sea days and then an overnight stay in Auckland, New Zealand! We also cross the International Date Line on our way to New Zealand so we are going to go to bed on the 7^th and then wake up on the 9^th!! October 8^th will not exist for us…crazy!

Just got home from work and a midnight snack with the guys, the show tonight was pretty cool—Tahitian Dancers, so basically Hula Dancers but much cooler. It was inside so they didn’t have fire and flames and such, but, it was pretty cool nonetheless. I talked to a couple of the guy dancers and some of the musicians in French and that was entertaining.

Here are some photos from the trip so far!