Tahiti | 2005

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From the moment we stepped onto Air Tahiti in L.A. with its brightly colored tropical interior with flight attendants to match and calming island music playing in the background, our heavenly experience began.  The flight attendants handed each of us a tiare (a small, white, fragrant flower with a scent similar to jasmine or gardenia) which we soon learned to tuck behind our ears.  When we arrived at the airport in Pape'ete, Tahiti, also know as "the island of love," we were greeted with just that; love in the form of live musicians and tiare necklaces very similar to a Hawaiian Lei.  After a short bus ride from the airport, we boarded our floating photo workshop and home for the week on Radissons M/S Paul Gauguin Cruise Ship.  We were greeted once again with song and ukulele by a handful of beautiful Polynesian women singing traditional music.  After being led to our cushy rooms, dinner awaited us in L'Etoile, the main dining room of the ship, where delicious wine and a three coarse meal were served.  I knew I was in heaven when I tasted the local moonfish entree and it melted in my mouth.  After another glass of wine, desert arrived and our ship slowly pulled out of its port where it had been docked in the capital city of Pape'ete.  We were then ushered to the top deck where after dinner drinks and entertainment flowed from under a starry, balmy sky.

The ship traveled 120 miles northwest throughout the night to our first destination, the Island of Ra'iatea. Our group met officially that morning over a continental breakfast and Mentor Photographer Henry Diltz's first slide show presentation. After lunch we were treated to an hour of festive traditional Polynesian music and dance on the top deck surrounded by beautiful ocean views where the trekkers shot away at their first colorful subjects: Polynesian men, women and children dancers dressed in traditional colorful costumes and musicians playing native drums and string instruments including beautifully carved wooden 8 string ukuleles.

In the afternoon, we took our first tender (a small boat that shuttled us from the main ship to the islands) to Ra'iatea and explored the main village by foot gathering images of churches, flowers and some locals.

Our first full day in Tahiti got off to an early start at 7:00 am on Monday with breakfast at Le Grille, an airy, open restaurant on the top deck of the ship.  Despite the fact that there were 3 other restaurants available, many of us chose Le Grille for almost every meal with it's casual atmosphere, great staff, tasty food and amazing views.  After breakfast, we had the opportunity to photograph the picturesque "arriving island views" of Taha from the deck in the early morning light.  And then Mentor Photographer Steve McCurry presented his slide show for the trekkers in the ships' elegant Grand Salon Theatre.  We headed from the slide show to the Motu Mahana. (Motu's are tiny islands, often private, off of the main islands.)  This particular Motu is owned by Radisson and is exclusive to the ships guests.  We took a tender for a (delete extra space here) day at the Motu Mahana Beach complete with a Barbeque Picnic and pina coladas served straight from freshly opened coconuts.

Many of us brought our snorkeling gear and underwater point and shoot film cameras provided by American Photo.  Super snorkeling trekkers Susan and Carl  had waterproof housing for their own point and shoot digital camera and got some great underwater images.   The Motu Mahana Island was so small that you could walk around it or swim around it in under a 1/2 hour.  This provided for many photo ops from various vantage points including images of the Motu from the 80 degree clear aqua water and images of the water from the Motu all set against the backdrop of Taha's towering lush green volcanic mountains.

After our BBQ we gathered on a tender and headed to Taha, "the Vanilla Island," where several 4X4 open white safari jeeps were provided for us with our own personal driver/tour guides.  Our guides' name was Ivan who was full of life and very knowledgeable.  He called himself "Ivan the Terrible" but we called him "Ivan the Wonderful!"  Ivan navigated us through the muddy and rocky volcanic mountain drives and vanilla plantations with brilliant ease while spouting a culturally informative and often humorous narration.  His expertise ranged from demonstrating how to open a fresh coconut to an explanation of how vanilla beans are grown and harvested on Taha.  We made several stops along the way capturing great images of the varied flora and fauna and several peaks with panoramic views of Taha and the surrounding islands.   Later that evening after a fine dinner at Le Grille, we had group reviews of the trekker's previous work.  (The staff was really generous about letting us use the space after hours for the reviews and it became our regular meeting place for reviews every night for the remainder of the trip.)

The following morning, our cruise ship arrived in Bora Bora (just 23 miles west of Taha) and dropped anchor.   We headed out to Bora Bora on an early morning tender to meet our driver and bus for an Island Tour.  The bus took us to scenic look out points and through small villages where we made several stops at local vendors selling goods out of their homes including hand painted pareus.  The women who ran the pareu shop that we stopped at demonstrated how these beautifully colored sarong type cloths are made.   It only takes a couple of minutes to hand dye the white cloth and then they hang them to dry outside.  We got some great shots of the hundred or so pareus hanging and swaying in the breeze as they dried.  After lunch back on the ship, we had the afternoon to ourselves.  Some of the trekkers chose to stay on Bora Bora and roam around the main village of Viatape while others decided to take a tender to a Motu off of Bora Bora where Radisson has a small private beach.  This beach was simple, beautiful and quiet.  We walked and snorkeled around one side of the island where the sand by the edge of the water was so white and soft and fine that it felt like wet clay.  I sat here for a while gazing across the blue-green water at Bora Bora feeling the complete tranquility of being in such a peaceful, beautiful and remote place.
Our 2nd day in Bora Bora was a free day for the trekkers to explore on their own whether it be an excursion with Radisson, a walk through the village shopping at the various vendors or exploring the island.  A few of us decided to take an early morning helicopter ride over Bora Bora.

At 9:00 am we (Mentor Photographer Steve McCurry, Trekker Jamie Jackson and myself) were airborne and flying over what is hailed as "the pearl of the Pacific" and "the most beautiful lagoon in the world."  Bora Bora is stunning from land and sea, but from the air, it is absolutely breathtaking.  I didn't have a moment to be scarred about flying in a helicopter for the first time because the views were so thrilling that I was afraid to blink for fear that I would miss something.   I was shooting away on video as Steve and Jamie snapped away on their cameras catching aerial shots of the multicolored lagoon and reefs, manta ray and turtles.  At one point we climbed to the highest peak of Bora Bora, called Otemanu, where we hovered for a moment to catch shots of a cave near the top of this lush green volcanic mountain.   After our helicopter ride, we lingered at the port where there were an abundance of local merchants to photograph selling their goods.  After lunch back on board, the afternoon was free.  I decided to go back to the Motu from the day before.  I thought "it's my last day in Bora Bora possibly forever, better enjoy it."  So a few of us went to the Motu and kayaked and snorkeled the afternoon away getting some great underwater and kayaking photos.  The hours flew by and soon it was time to catch the last tender back to the ship for a busy evening.

First, we met with everyone for a special sunset cocktail party for our group on the Captains Deck hosted by the Captain, the Cruise Director and the Hotel Director.

Then we were off to the Grand Salon Theatre for another slide show presentation by Mentor Photographer Henry Diltz open to the public.    You could hear people in the audience reminiscing as Henry showed many pictures of the famous musicians and bands he has shot over the years.   As Henry showed his photos and spoke about them with humor, warmth and sensitivity it became clear to me that this is the very reason why his photos evoke those same qualities.   His personality exudes

those qualities which he so generously shared with all of the trekkers during the week.  We ended the evening with a group dinner in L'Etoile followed by reviews of the trekker's best 5 images in Tahiti thus far.    Super supportive 8-time trekker Sandy Kaufman was very generous and complimentary of her fellow trekkers work often blurting out with excitement; "OOHH; That's wonderful!  It looks like a painting!!" (We love you, Sandy!)

The following morning our ship dropped anchor in Moorea's Cook's Bay, one of 2 glorious bays marking the floor of the ancient crater created by this islands extinct Volcanic peaks.  We toured the island by bus passing numerous pineapple fields as we climbed the steep incline to Belvedere.  This glorious overlook boasts dramatic views of Mt. Rotui draped in clouds while splitting the 2 bays against a background of varying hues of blue water and reefs reaching out to the sea.  You can understand why we chose to take our group photo here!    Later that evening we had a special group dinner in La Veranda, an exquisite French restaurant on the ship.

Our final day in Moorea began with the 3 hour Dr. Poole's Dolphin Watching Expedition.  We went almost half way around the entire island on this small boat with Dr. Michael Poole himself.  We learned about the reality of a Dolphin's life in the wild while taking a picturesque boat ride bordering the reefs where we saw many dolphins surfacing.   They were very challenging to photograph for 2 reasons:  First, they surface for only a couple of seconds at a time, sometimes twice in a row if you are lucky and then it's at least another 5 minutes before they resurface.  And secondly, they change their coarse underwater constantly, so you have to be on the lookout from every angle of the boat to catch them resurfacing.  Being a very amateur photographer myself, you can bet that this is where I learned the importance of shutter priority. 

A few of us also caught some great shots of surfers from the boat since we were so close to the reefs and the crashing waves where surfers take small boats out to find the best surf.  The remainder of the afternoon was to ourselves.  Most trekkers prepared their photos for the final slide show that evening, while others took advantage of the Paul Gauguin's hospitality for one last day.  I decided to take a tender to the island and took a leisurely 20-minute walk into the town to do some last minute shopping.   I didn't bring my camera with me for the firsts time and was sorry to have missed some great shots of the local people.

During our last day in Tahiti, we managed to squeeze in one last excursion after docking at Pape'ete.  It was bit of a culture shock coming back to civilization when we hit the busy streets of Tahiti's capital in our tour bus that whipped us around the island first through a very colorful and charged political rally in the main square, then to a stop at the infamous black sand beaches and then for a short hike to the  waterfall.   Soon it was time to bid farewell to our tropical photo expedition in the pineapple and coconut center of the world so far away from home.  Many people asked me if I would come back, to which I answered, "in a heartbeat!"