Westysclan World Cruise 2023

We arrived to a beautiful sunny day in Tahiti. We had already booked a Circle Island Drive shore excursion for our time in Tahiti, fortunate as I am still on restricted walking!

Our drive took us anticlockwise around Tahiti Nui. Our first stop was the grottos at Mara’a. From here we went to the Watergardens at Vaipahi.

Our next stop was the Musee Gauguin. No longer a museum – it is a restaurant with a wonderful view over the water and was our refreshment stop.

After our refreshment stop we continued our circuit of the island to Arahoho blowholes. Unlike our blowhole at Blackmans Bay, this blowhole is formed by a lava tube. On the sea side it was a typical looking water spout – although because of the wave direction we only got to witness a ‘shy’ blow.

On the land side was a more unusual blowhole. It was where the air was expelled like a NYC subway vent. It was quite loud and the air came out with force. We were told that sometimes crabs get blown out – but none today.

A real bonus of our blowhole stop was the opportunity to see whales blowing and breaching in the water off the blowhole.

From Arahoho we travelled to Venus Point. The dark clouds that had been rolling in over the sea finally caught us here.

Our last stop was at a scenic lookout but the rain was falling quite hard by now and what I am sure would have been lovely views, up in to the mountains and out across the coast line, on a sunny day were obscured.

The bus dropped us back to the ship and it was a short walk over the road to the local market. It was close to closing time but we had enough time to grab a cache and check out some of the stalls. Of course all the tropical flowers were beautiful! We had passed heaps of road side stalls selling fresh fruit and veggies during our bus trip and I was keen to check some of the less familiar ones out more closely. Unfortunately that part of the market was done by the time we got there. Urubamba will remain my favourite market experience for this trip!

After a bit of a wander through the main part of the city we headed back to the ship for me to put my leg up. We spent a lazy afternoon on the pool deck drinking cocktails and watching the hustle and bustle of the harbour before a folkloric dance performance and lovely sail away.