Tahiti

 The view coming into Tahiti was amazing, the mountains are rugged, the water so blue, the sky full of clouds.

We decided to tour the perimeter of the large part of Tahiti--nobody lives in the interior, but I bet there are crazy cool places to visit--next time!!

 The tour lasted about four hours and we could see the ocean the whole time. The city wasn't impressive--a lot of graffiti, old run down buildings, and garbage. But we stopped at some interesting places like the fine black sand beaches,

and a very tall waterfall,

and the Paul Gauguin museum,

and a fern grotto, very cool. Inside is a great pool of water "where the mermaids swim".

And of course, you can't leave Tahiti without checking out the Tahitian pearls. Not all of them are black, however. We had a little pearl inservice at one of the jewelry stores. I liked this piece (it didn't have a price tag), but the opening didn't fit my omega so I had to leave it in the store. One of our traveling companions did buy a single pearl necklace for the bargain price of $500.00.

We had a wonderful time! Princess Cruises did a great job (we didn't crash). We enjoyed the sights, the food, and the people!