November 4, 2008 - Puka Puka, Tuamotu Islands
What a change of scenery today from the lush and hilly Marquesas.
Puka Puka, like the rest of the Tuamotu Islands is a coral atoll, which means that it has little elevation. The island looks like what you would picture of a tropical island in the middle of nowhere – palm trees, white sand beach and clear blue water.
Puka Puka Island
The welcoming we get at each island is spoiling me. Although each place is different, there is typically a musical greeting, often drumming. It is really great to be zooming into shore on the zodiac and hear the drumming as we approach. We also always get leis, which are also different. This time, the leis were made out of a nut wrapped in colorful fabric separated with ribbons. The little girls that were giving them out were doing a good job of matching them to people’s outfits. And there is always dancing. The style of dancing from the Marquesas to the Tuamotus is also different and I’m getting a good feel of the culture in the different groups of islands as we travel around. Today, the young girls performed and some of them were as young as four. I took some video and it was too cute.
One of the dancers
The food tasting at each location is also spoiling me. Of course there are the tropical fruits, but some islands also put out local favorites. Today, I had a huge plate of poisson cru, which is the raw fish marinated in coconut milk and lime that I like so much. Here, they had also added some shredded papaya…yum. Now I have to back up and define “plate” for you, as the plates here are very different than we have at home. On all of the islands, if you want a plate, you get a leaf. Here is a photo showing me holding two plates…one empty and one full of the yummy fish that I promptly ate after the photo was taken.
I also had a chance to wander around the island. The island is filled
with palm trees because they have a large copra export. Copra is
dried coconut meat that is then pressed into oil. This oil is used to
make cosmetics, soap, candles and even margarine. Here is a photo of
the drying coconut meat.
making copra
In the afternoon, we went snorkeling just outside the island on the
fringing reef. There were many small fish and I am getting better at
identifying them in the water. There are still so many to learn, but
I feel more confident now than at the beginning of the cruise.
Ornate Butterflyfish
After dinner, John led us in a sing-along. It was great – he played
the guitar and led us through a number of different folk songs and
sea shanties. When that was over, we had an early birthday
celebration for me, which culminated in the staff and a few
passengers up on the top deck stargazing. There were so many stars
and I wanted to sleep up on deck, but around 1 am I went to my real
bed for some more comfortable sleep.
Puka Puka, like the rest of the Tuamotu Islands is a coral atoll, which means that it has little elevation. The island looks like what you would picture of a tropical island in the middle of nowhere – palm trees, white sand beach and clear blue water.
Puka Puka Island
The welcoming we get at each island is spoiling me. Although each place is different, there is typically a musical greeting, often drumming. It is really great to be zooming into shore on the zodiac and hear the drumming as we approach. We also always get leis, which are also different. This time, the leis were made out of a nut wrapped in colorful fabric separated with ribbons. The little girls that were giving them out were doing a good job of matching them to people’s outfits. And there is always dancing. The style of dancing from the Marquesas to the Tuamotus is also different and I’m getting a good feel of the culture in the different groups of islands as we travel around. Today, the young girls performed and some of them were as young as four. I took some video and it was too cute.
One of the dancers
The food tasting at each location is also spoiling me. Of course there are the tropical fruits, but some islands also put out local favorites. Today, I had a huge plate of poisson cru, which is the raw fish marinated in coconut milk and lime that I like so much. Here, they had also added some shredded papaya…yum. Now I have to back up and define “plate” for you, as the plates here are very different than we have at home. On all of the islands, if you want a plate, you get a leaf. Here is a photo showing me holding two plates…one empty and one full of the yummy fish that I promptly ate after the photo was taken.
I also had a chance to wander around the island. The island is filled
with palm trees because they have a large copra export. Copra is
dried coconut meat that is then pressed into oil. This oil is used to
make cosmetics, soap, candles and even margarine. Here is a photo of
the drying coconut meat.
making copra
In the afternoon, we went snorkeling just outside the island on the
fringing reef. There were many small fish and I am getting better at
identifying them in the water. There are still so many to learn, but
I feel more confident now than at the beginning of the cruise.
Ornate Butterflyfish
After dinner, John led us in a sing-along. It was great – he played
the guitar and led us through a number of different folk songs and
sea shanties. When that was over, we had an early birthday
celebration for me, which culminated in the staff and a few
passengers up on the top deck stargazing. There were so many stars
and I wanted to sleep up on deck, but around 1 am I went to my real
bed for some more comfortable sleep.
posted by Lori @ 4:38 PM
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