As for the 4x4s, they are not that bad, but you have to use your own judgement--it's a very "hands-on" trip, periods of jostling where you have to work to hang on. But it's slow-mo, not break-neck speed.

And since you're sitting sideways in the back of a jeep, motion sickness is another issue--if I go on one of these again, I will definitely pop a bonamine pill first.

The 4x4 portion of the river trip on Raiatea was quite tame, as I remember. The one on Bora Bora was the worst, jostling-wise.

I didn't realize you sit sideways. I really have a problem with motion sickness. That isn't good!

Yeh, the ones I've been on were all Land Rovers with benches in the back, down each side. But, there's always one lucky passenger who gets to sit with the driver, so maybe you could be that person!

One of my favorite things to do is rent a scooter (from Alberts at Cook's Bay) and tour the island of Moorea on our own. There is only one road and it is very easy. The scooters give you the freedom to stop where ever you want and go see the resorts and see the Dolphins at IC Beachcomber. There are some breathtaking places to stop along the road. We have also taken scooters up to Belvedere twice with no problems whatsoever. The scooters have a little storage compartment so you can take a towel and stop at the public beach by the Sofitel Hotel. You can also stop at the little shops around the island. It only takes a couple of hours to drive the whole island. My other favorite thing to do is to stop and have a drink at the outdoor bar at Club Bali Hai on Cooks Bay. It is a gorgeous view and their hot dogs are the best! We have felt very safe on the scooters (they don't go very fast), but I would not recommend driving them at night.
Sally

Sally, Did you have to worry at all about someone stealing the scooters while you were away from them? Can they be locked?

Sally, that's good to know. And you've not found it particular dangerous? You share one scooter?

That sounds like just the ticket for us.

Wendy/Mounds - Yes, my husband and I shared one scooter. I don't recall worrying about someone stealing them - I'm sure Albert's can advise you of it. We didn't find them particularly dangerous at all, we are pretty careful. They give you helmets to wear. It is just so great to have the freedom to stop and see everything as you go! I would also encourage you to go on your own to Belvedere - it is so cool! Moorea also has these little weird looking 2 seater "fun cars" - I'm sure you will see them on the road. But there are lots of tourists out with various rental vehicles. The circle road around the island is pretty flat and a 2 lane road. I would do it again in a heart beat. My husband and I have rented them the last 2 times we were there. If you were staying on the island and needed transportation at night - then I would definitely rent a car. But during the day you should be fine.
Sally

PIPsters - Here is a very handy site which has time for cities all over the world, including Papeete:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock

Rats, it did not copy as a URL. Oh well, it is short and easy to enter manually. To find the time for Papeete, click on Australia/Pacific in the Time Zones section at the top of the page. Then, when you click on Papeete, you get options including sunset and sunrise times (on May 21, PIP Day, sunset is at 5:32 pm). This whole world clock site is a great one to add to your Favorites. I use it all the time at work. Much easier than trying to add sixteen hours to Pacific time to try to determine whether I will be waking someone up when I call them in Singapore. Have fun.

Cheers, Fred

Well, maybe it will copy as a URL. Here is the one for May sunsets/sunrises in Papeete:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclo...=sun&month=5&year=2005&day=1

Here is the one for the world clock for Australia/Pacific (Marcie, lots of Austalia and New Zealand cities here):

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/custom.html?continent=australasia

And here is the one for Papeete:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=278

Fred

Just read this thread. I'm not going on PIP but...Cindy and Wendy, remember you can always cancel a Radisson excursion with 24 hour notice. We usually pick the excursions ahead of time and change as we need to. Only once did they not receive the choices we faxed to them before the cruise. It worked out anyway. Now you can choose them online. Just document in case you have a problem.

Editing to say, this is Kim:

So much to take in :rolleyes: I can hardly decide what excursions I want to do! After reviewing everyone's suggestions, here is our wish list: (addtl suggestions appreciated!) Prices were taken from the 3/26 itin.
Raiatea: Clear Kayak Safari to Motu Ofetaro/ $54pp, 4hrs, PM. Clear kayak taken across the lagoon to the Motu, swimming, lots of fish. I didn't see anyone mention this, I think this looks fun. Anyone??
Taha: What do we do there? Relax??!!
Bora Bora: I was stuck on doing the group waverunner excursion (if we have enough participants), but, just ran across this: Fun Cat Tour/$225pp,31/2hr,AM 1st day, PM 2nd day. 2hr ride, two-seater w/bimini top & cooler, goes to the Motu, snorkling. Seems to be the same type of tour as the waverunners. Anyone interested?? Probably won't be as rough as the WR since it's a little boat. We've been on these before, fun. And I can't handle being on the back of a waverunner, makes me ill. I'll have to have my own. So, this would actually be better for us. I think it sounds like a blast!
Still interested in the WR tour, no ATV's for us, John doesn't like them :(
The other two I'm interested in, is the Shark & Ray feeding $79/AM both days; and maybe the Aqua Safari. But, I noticed they offer that in Moorea also. So, maybe we'll do it there, so each day won't be jam-packed.
Moorea: Definitely will do Sally's suggestion of renting scooters for the day. Actually, probably will rent one of those little 2-seater cars, get all our shopping done, see Belvedere and tour the island. On the other day, I'm undecided between:
Dolphin trip, Dr. Poole/$95, 31/2hrs PM
AquaBlue Underwater Walk/$79, 30min. underwater.

So, I still have some narrowing down to do. I would love to do a group excursion with everyone. I mentioned the funcat since some of you seemed to not be so keen on the WR excursion. I like either one equally. My only preference would be to do it in the afternoon. Just because I happen to have cruised with some of you and KNOW that I won't be able to resist the late night shenigans :D :D :D and get up at a decent hour.

OK, this is a very late response to hrprof's question, but I just got around to reading this thread. The Bora Bora lagoon night dive is an actual night dive. When I did it in January 2004, I skipped dinner to go on the dive and caught a snack on my return.

One nice thing about that particular dive is that it is the same site as the morning dive that day. So, if you go on the morning dive and also the night dive, you see the same place with daytime active life and nightime active life.

george

I knew this was my kind of group!!!!

Maybe I missed it, but how much does it cost to rent the scooters on Moorea? (Sounds like fun)

Ah yes...

Tinker Kimmi is wise for her years.

Afternoon excusions are best! OK, we get to FP rarely, but so do we get to party with friends like these. :banana: I want to do it ALL!!!!

Hmmm .. how about BOTH the waverunner and the funcat excursion? Cheers, Anne

WARNING. Those little two seater car/scooters look cute but they are VERY bumpy and there is often a fuel smell from the engine behind. Take a Towel with you to sit on to be kind to your rear end if you do one of these. They ARE cute and they are fun but you need to be aware of the bumps and the smell. Maybe they have improved them since our last trip but that is the way they were. You cant really go far with them - trying to get around the island would be a bit difficult they dont go very fast.

Tahaa - John and Kim you dont do anything except snorkel, canoe, eat and enjoy yourself. No excurison on Tahaa the day at the beach is perfect. I will be under my umbrella, with a BIG hat with a BIG tee shirt with periodic dips in the ocean to keep cool. To me this is a "heaven" day.

My two main excursions will be the Jeep Ride in Bora Bora and the Michael Poole Dolpin watch.

Here's what Pacific Andy over at tahiti-explorer.com says about scooters on Moorea:

On Bora a scooter is fine but in Moorea I wouldnt even think of them anymore. Many years back I use only rent scooters on Moorea but in the last 5 years no way. Traffic moves too fast, the road curve all different ways, the roads are not smooth and have big bumps, your looking at something and vere off into gravel or grass and lose it. The list goes on. [... graphic accident description deleted...]

Maybe we'll try it on Bora Bora instead. It's only about 20 miles around.

Okay, so I suppose no scooters or the two-seaters in Moorea.....Maybe rent a car???? I'd like to shop a little, see the island, but not be stuck on a tour. John falls asleep the second we sit down inside of an a/c'd coach. Maybe some of you veteran FPer's can lead us around? ;) ;) and we will do the Dolphin's the other day. We'd still like to do something in Bora Bora on the water. Anyone up for the WR's or the FunCat's?
Other than that we will be sitting on the beach with a cocktail :pass: trying to pronounce Tahaa and Raiatea correctly :rolleyes:

Kimmi,

I meant to get back to you sooner re: the FunCat's. I hadn't paid any attention to that excursion before. But it sounds really good. I like the part about neither person having to be behind. And it sounds like a slower, calmer pace which appeals to me. It did mention at the end you have a chance to go faster for those that want to. Tom & I think we would vote for that one as a group.

You made me laugh about trying to pronounce the Tahitian words. I'm having trouble too :D Of course, after a few tropical drinks will we care?

Wendy, every time I think of scooters in a tropical location I think of the movie "The Deep" where they were on a scooter being boxed in on the narrow roads by the bad guys. No scooters for me :D :D

Ngaire, the Tahaa Motu Mahana does sound like heaven and plenty enough fun and relaxation for the day.

Donna, thanks for the advice about booking now and maybe canceling later. Can't go wrong that way (unless you forget to cancel in time :) )

Freddie, I assume you are the "Fred & Pat" who are going per our PIP list? I have not had the pleasure of "meeting" you yet on the board. I see your cabin is 702 and we'll be in 706, almost neighbors!! Looking forward to meeting you and Pat in person!!!

I think Fred and Pat are in 723 because we are in 623 and I was teasing them that I am bringing my broomstick to knock on the ceiling when it gets too wild up there! ;)

I was looking at the RSSC website and I saw we can book our excursions on March 22nd. :D

We had dinner tonight with veteran PG'ers. They liked the snorkel and ray feeding excursion. They are busy kinda people and this was too sedate a cruise for them. They did mention that they had a good time when they took a zodiac out and went water skiing and as they put it "a bunch of old guys got it up" <img border="0" alt="[c]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" />

We'll that won't be our kind of activity. So I will be with Ngaire under the palm tree with the big hat and T-shirt and a coconut filled with a nice cool drink in it and a good book. After we snorkel and swim and walk around a bit.

Too many choices. Are those Cat things like the little pedal boats? Those are fun and good exercise. We need lots of exercise to combat all that good food on board.

Ah decisions, decisions.

Well gee, I think this destination lends itself to as much activity as you like, really. Unless you are an avid fitness junky--they have a walking track, but you can't jog on it (at least only at certain hours I think), and the fitness centre is small, as is the pool.

But, you can be out there riding bikes and hiking and sail-boarding and kayaking, let along swimming, snorkelling and diving.

Kathy, the FunCat's I believe are little jet boats (impellers). You sit in them like a small little sports car and they have a steering wheel sometimes. Some look similiar to the peddle boats you mentioned and some are more enclosed, like a "real" boat. Here's an example of some:
www.craigcat.com

Kimmi - last summer we rented a car (stick shift, with A/C) from Avis at the dock at Cook's bay on Moorea for 4 hours. We drove all around the island and made several stops including the Belvedere. The cost was sixty some dollars. We pre-ordered box lunches from the ship the previous day and ate them during our stop at the Belevedere.

Thanks Kathy. I think we will do that, play it by ear and just rent a car. I have to narrow down some of these excursions! Too many interesting ones to choose from.

Kathy Z, I like your idea too. The one thing I learned on our Navigator cruise was that by the end of the cruise we were all excursioned out. We spent the last port day just taking a relaxing, short stroll in the little town by the pier. It was perfect!! Renting a car would allow us to go at our own pace. I saw you mention before in another post about the pre-ordered box lunches and thought it was a great tip!

Kimmi, I took a look at the CraigCat site. It looks like a lot of fun!!! I love the way you just sit down in a relaxing position - like a lounge chair!!

Cyndi - Yes, indeed, we are Fred & Pat. But we are no longer in 702 (although I did like the idea of that nearly private forward hallway section - no traffic). Rather, we are now in 723, which was bequeathed to us by Marcie when she switched to the world tour. In either case, we also look forward to meeting you.

By the way, even though this is not the Packing List thread, can anyone verify for us that "reef shoes" are like Tevas?

Since we will be on a B2B, like Wendy, we will not feel pressured to try to fit everything in on the first week - we plan to spend lots of time in the water snorkeling and pretending to be whales (and, sadly, being quite likely to be mistaken for such), wandering around the islands (maybe rent a car on a couple), and generally staying away from noisy things like Jet Skis, which we don't like on the water where we live and therefore cannot in good conscience use in another set of islands.

Cheers, Fred

Freddie:

These are reef shoes (Mine are black) and I have spotted them in past years at Target:

A bunch of us got them at WalMart for DDD last year. As I recall they were about $4. Cheap enough to leave behind...

Those are very cute. Mine are just old dull black as well, tried to get a pretty colour, but they were out.

These work much better than Tevas, by the way, because you can swim in them without the water dragging your feet. They often do instead of fins if you are just poking around with your snorkel.

Some sort of footwear is required in the water, since there are dangerous things lurking at the bottom like stonefish, sharp coral, and slimy things like sea cucumbers.

Hey Fred, so you are the other back-to-backers! I agree with you about the jetskis, and taking it easy, since we have twice around to do what we like.

Fred - Sorry to lose you as "neighbors" on the port side, but understand you grabing Marcie's 723 on starboard. You'll have a great view. Looking forward to meeting you & Pat too! Lucky you, joining Wendy on the B2B. The ONLY negagive I can find in B2B is more decisions to make :D :D

I love those pretty colored reef shoes, Kathy. Maybe if I start looking now, I can find some. If we get closer to spring, the pretty ones will surely be all gone.

Good words of advice about all the things lurking on the bottom Wendy. Thanks!!!

Cyndi, All of the stores are getting the reef shoes & bathing suits out now. HURRY!!!!!!!!!

Mounds - thanks for the warning! Good thing I don't need too much encouragement to go shopping :D :D

When it comes to bathing suits, I was hoping to lose a few more pounds first ;)

But the new suits are appearing gradually on the Land's End site, which is where I buy my suits. I think I'll be realistic and pick one out in the next few weeks!

Oh and another thing--I've been thinking about the prescription lenses for the snorkelling mask. Not sure it's going to work in my case, since I wear bifocals. To see things close up, *and* at a distance, I would have to have bifocal lenses, either in contacts (which I have never had), or in the mask, which would be very expensive.

So, given that I'm not that blind really, I may just stick with the usual, which means one thing less to carry. Or, I may just try a *small* correction in each eye--I'm going to the optometrist in a week or so, I'll ask him.

Wendy,

You could try "Mono Vision" where the dominant eye is for distance and the less dominant eye is under corrected so you can see up close. So you use your left eye for distance and your right eye for close up. When I had lasik surgery, that was what they did for my correction, although I had a bad reaction and I wear a reading prescription to see distance with one eye.

Right, I've read about that, and I know it's common for people who have had lasik. Did it take a while to adjust to? I wonder how it would work with lenses. Will ask the doc.

I did something today I haven't done for more than 20 YEARS...

I bought a bikini :eek: !!!

When I showed it to my S/O he said "Well, what are you going to do about your thighs?"
I replied "If I wear this, everyone will be too busy staring at my stomach to notice my thighs!!"
(Good logic, huh?).

Of course it may never make the final cut into the suitcase...

Wendy, I was thinking the same thing this morning about the bathing suit. I have one I have yet to wear (too tight!!) As much as I'd love to finally fit in it, I was thinking I better go get one that fits now - just to be safe. I have another one that fits fine. But I want at least 2.

Kathy, since I wear bifocals, too, I am now wondering about the RX Mask being a problem.
Tom has had the lasik done on both eyes. Now he has to use reading glasses. That would drive me crazy. I have mono vision with my contacts (one for reading and one for distances) and I love it. I don't have to be bothered with reading glasses. I can't bring myself to do the lasik yet.

As an alternative, I have questions about the disposable lenses. I have gas permeable lenses (dinosaus, I guess) and have never had the disposable lenses. If you were to wear those snorkeling and tossed them after, is there still a chance of eye infection? Would that be very expensive to go thru a bunch on the trip?

Suzanne, way, way too funny!! You are so thin - if you are having troubles, what hope is there for the rest of us!!! Again - so, so funny <img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" />