New Zealand is in the middle of nowhere. It truly is far from everything. Even Australia is a few hours plane ride across an ocean. Fortunately, the area it is closest to happens to be the tropical countries in the South Pacific—among them Fiji, Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, and French Polynesia. Truth be told, this is pretty convenient when you want to a nice relaxing vacation.
We had always wanted to visit the Marquesas, a chain of islands that is part of French Polynesia. Why? First the exotic allure—remote islands populated with indigenous people. Plus the fact that this is where Paul Gaugin settled after leaving France in pursuit of the perfect place to express his vision and to live a life of the savage. His paintings of the native people of Hiva Oa captured my imagination. When I was a teenager, I would tell my mother I was going to live in Tahiti and maybe visit Marlon Brando. (I was very imaginative and a girl can dream).
French Polynesia is as its name suggests—a part of France. The population is a mix of French and indigenous Polynesians. As is true of any society with that mix, the non-Natives have the money. This leads to the desire by many Polynesians to be a bit more independent from the federal government, if not to become an independent country. The problem is several fold. The first is money. France provides over 50% of the funds necessary to run the country. Of course, France also makes a ton of money from tourist fees and taxes and does not want to give that up. The second is that the French population and even many Polynesians like it the way it is. The third issue is that France just does not want to talk about it. Not even a little. So it is doubtful that there will be any meaningful change anytime soon. Everyone just carries on and hopes for the best.
To visit the Marquesas is tricky. They are some of the most remote islands in the world. While they are part of French Polynesia, which is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, they are very far from Tahiti and difficult to get to. Yes, some of the islands have airports, but they are small and getting a flight is not the easiest or in some cases the safest. You would also have to pick which islands to see. Island hopping would be difficult at best. The next best way to see more than one island is by boat of which there are few options.
When we say we went on a cruise, most people imagine those giant moving cities of 5000 passengers, with nightly entertainment, unlimited food buffets, pools and whatever you can imagine. That is not what we were on. There are many types of ocean cruises. Luxury cruises that no reasonable person can afford, the “cruise ship” cruise of thousands of people going port to port stopping at cities or tourist spots to look around, and then there are expedition cruises, which is what we usually go on. Expedition cruises are small, with a few hundred people whose goal in life is to see wildlife, to hike, to swim and dive and snorkel, and generally engage in nature activities. There is no entertainment on board but the ocean and nature, whatever that may be. There are usually lectures to keep people occupied for days at sea.
We found a company with a ship called the Aranui. This ship did not really fit into any other those definitions. It is a cargo ship/tourist ship hybrid. They deliver cargo around the islands and take about 200 guests along for the ride. While they load and unload, we go off to see the island. Because they are delivering cargo, they stop at many of the islands, meaning we didn’t have to pick and choose. This seemed to be the perfect answer. But it was not an expedition cruise and it was not a pure tourist cruise. So we had the odd circumstance of half the passengers acting like they were on a Royal Caribbean ship while the other half thought we would be going with National Geographic. It was neither and it was very confusing.
I can summarize the trip thusly – we ate too much (three course lunches and dinners) and we drank too much (happy hours cocktails while listening to ukulele music and, as the French do, wine with lunch and dinner). The guests on board were largely French, either from French Polynesia or from France. The crew was also French which made communication with guests and crew somewhat spotty. The food on board was okay, lots of meat, and fish but kind of bland. Given it was a French ship, we expected better. We did get crepes for breakfast so that was something favorable.
The islands were beautiful, they smell of tiare and vanilla. The people were extremely kind and sweet. We enjoyed visiting each island and getting our fill of island life. Listening to groups singing Polynesian ukulele songs is just heaven for me. We even took ukelele lessons and learned some Polynesian songs. We enjoyed it but there were issues.
We were completely over-scheduled from early morning excursions to dinner being over late in the evening. We had no time to ourselves, leading to sleep deprivation and sheer exhaustion. The on-shore excursions were a mix of cultural activities, like craft markets and dance shows, and simple driving tours around the island. Usually, the ship was docked in the harbor, and we had to take a boat to the island. From there we piled into SUVs driven by local guides, most of whom spoke only broken English. The cars were stuffed with three full grown adults in the back seat and one in the front. It was very uncomfortable as we drove up and down mountain roads with hairpin curves and little in the way of crash barriers.
For those who cared to there were short hikes. In the afternoon. if there were no excursions there were lectures and various activities. We started skipping these due to the need for at least a short nap. I kept asking the guides if they were trying to kill us. Of course, they had to have been sleep deprived too. Many people on board were sick, coughing and sneezing, which lead to my getting sick and then Matt getting sick. Ships are just giant petri dishes. By the time we got home, we were sick, exhausted and beaten, and were in need of a vacation from our “vacation.” But, hey, we still visited the Marquesas.
A Yank Among the Kiwis 