Tahiti, 8-25-2017--Papeete

By David

On Thursday morning, after a teary good by to Minimus, we made the short flight to Tahiti.  

Our first stop was Pension Fifi, right across from the airport.  It's the closest thing to a bargain in town.
Above is the pleasant sitting room... 

...and patio, and...

...the welcoming crew overlooking the street below.  The mutt on the left is ever vigilant and barks at everything.  On the right is Mr. Laid-back.

The next morning we took the bus into downtown Papeete to see the sights we missed when we were here with David's illness.  Our take on Papeete is that there are just two memorable sights.  One is the no vehicle, pedestrian only waterfront park. 

This is, at least among sailors, the once-legendary quay along Papeete's waterfront.  Now, it's been replaced with security-gated docks and mega cruise ships.

The other sight worth seeing is the market.  These flowers greeted us at the entrance.

A view of the market from upstairs.  All manner of produce, crafts and tourist happy crappy are for sale.

Dancing for the cruise ship tourists.

Papeete town hall.  One of the few colonial-era buildings left.

Near the market we ran into Chuck, the retired doctor who took an interest in David's case back in Nuku Hiva and gave him a thorough check-up there.
Like so many sailors we met along the way, Chuck and Karen have been dealing with one system breakdown after another.  As we've noted before, a popular saying is that cruising is doing expensive repairs in paradise.

Tahiti's image notwithstanding, too much of its main city, Papeete, is like this--uninspiring concrete buildings along streets clogged with noisy traffic... 

...and shops selling endless happy crappy.

After downtown, we stopped at a popular marina where many long-distance cruisers congregate.  Many of them we no doubt knew but they were at anchor and we had no dinghy to visit them in.
Moorea in the background.

Meanwhile back at the pension, Minnie waits for us.