January 28, 29, 2025
First of all a correction to my write up about Pitcairn Island. One of my readers pointed out that from the 43 people who live on the island, 35 of them are direct descendants from the Bounty Muteneers and 8 are not. Thank You.
This morning we made a stop in Papeete, the Capital City of Tahiti. The population is approximately 300,000. We started the day with a stroll through town and a visit to the local market. We walked back to the ship around noon to prepare ourselves for the afternoon program.
To give you a little bit of the history of today’s program. Before we left Canada Carol tried to get an appointment with a dermatologist to check out a spot on her skin. We were unsuccessful in getting an appointment. Meanwhile she managed to book an appointment with a dermatologist in Mesa Arizona, as we had a short stay over there during New Years before we boarded our flight to Florida. The doctor took a biopsy to be sent to the lab. Unfortunately we didn’t get the results back after we had left on our cruise. The results were positive and it had to be attended to in
a month. Our first thought was that we had to fly home. Our next option was to have it dealt in Sidney Aus. The doctor on the ship was unable to get anything lined for Australia. The closest appointment he could get was in March, this was no option because we would’ve sailed past Australia.
in February. A few days before we docked in Tahiti, the ship’s doctor informed us that he managed to get us an appointment with a dermatologist in Papeete.
That afternoon we set off on foot to the doctors office in Papeete. After getting in the doctor’s office we realised that we didn’t speak French and they were speaking very little English. If it wasn’t for Google Translate, it could have been very difficult. The doctor examined Carol and was not able to do the surgery today. After we told him that we wouldn’t be home till May, he offered to do it the next day. The Doctor said if we would come in at noon the next day, he was willing to do the surgery at his lunch hour. We gladly took the appointment, as it was our only chance to get it done or fly home.
The ship was scheduled to leave the next morning at 4:00 AM. Now our next task was to embark the ship today and arrange for a hotel stay for the next 2 nights. We also had to arrange for a flight to catch up to the ship in Raiatea. After we had arranged all of that, now the process started to get our passports from the ship. This was quite the process, as it had to be approved by immigration. Finally by 10:30 that night we received our passports and departed the ship with just our backpacks. The port agent offered to drop us off at the hotel
The Kon Tiki Hotel was a pleasant surprise, a very modern place to stay in a great location. After having breakfast at the hotel, we departed for the doctor’s office. The doctor and his nurse were ready to do the procedure right on time. The procedure took approximately an hour. After we left the office, we had to catch a taxi and deliver the biopsy sample to the lab at the hospital. After the drop off we returned to our hotel for a little rest. That night we had a light dinner and went to bed early.
Cheers
Cor and Carol
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