R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 142

Fun Photo Friday — Papeete Favorites Part 1

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Papeete Pilot Boat

We’ll conclude our tour of Papeete next week.  Until then, below is today’s Papeete gallery of some of my favorite photographs from this excursion.  Click on any of the images to enlarge and bring up today’s gallery slide show.

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation Tagged: Crown Princess, cruise vacation, French Polynesia, Fun Photo Friday, Papeete, photography, R. Doug Wicker, South Pacific, Tahiti, travel, travel photography,...

Port 9 Papeete — Around town and the Marché de Papeete

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Papeete Mairie (City Hall) — Modeled after the Royal Palace

Walking the streets of Papeete affords the photographer with much to capture.  The image above in the Mairie, or City Hall, and it was modeled after the old Royal Palace, which was demolished back in the 1960s.  Here’s a close-up of the tiled roof, cupola, and colonial-style dormers:

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Papeete Mairie (City Hall)

There were some pretty interesting automobiles about, as well.  Here’s a car barely larger than the diminutive scooter parked...

Port 9 Papeete — Along the shore at Pā’ōfa’i Gardens

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Outriggers and Mo’orea (in the background)

If you thought the distance from Bora Bora to Mo’orea was short, the trip from Mo’orea to Papeete was about the distance of a marathon race.  It’s less than 20 miles/17 nautical miles/32 kilometers as the seagull flies from anchorage to dock.  Yep, no tendering here.  In Papeete you walk straight off the ship into the heart of town.

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Nanuu Bay marina

Hang a right onto Boulevard de la Reine Pōmare IV and within a very short walk you reach first Place J...

Fun Photo Friday — Mo’orea Favorites Part 2

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Mount Tohivea

The most outstanding feature visible throughout much of the tour would simply have to be Mount Tohivea.  You’ll notice that I had a bit of an infatuation with capturing it with the ever-changing mist swirling around its features.  You’ll notice several more such shots in today’s Fun Photo Friday gallery below.  Many thanks to FranckyFranck Tours for making this such a wonderful outing.  Next week we hit our last stop before returning home on this 28-day cruise, Papeete.  Until t...

Port 8 Mo’orea — Looping around the island

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Angry surf

Our journey around the island of Mo’orea continued late into the afternoon.  One photo stop included a charming little church in Ha’apiti on the southwestern shore.  This is the Sainte Famille Catholic Church:

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Ha’apiti Sainte Famille Catholic Church

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Ha’apiti Sainte Famille Catholic Church

Ever wonder about tropical French Polynesian real estate?  On Mo’orea it appears to come with some really great views and a heck of a green yard:

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Mo’orea real estate — Not a bad view!

Panoramic sh...

Port 8 Mo’orea — Tropical garden and vanilla bean plantation

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Mo’orea mountains

We continued high into the mountainous interior.  Our next FranckyFranck tour destination would be a tropical garden which also contains a vanilla bean plantation.  Along the way we stopped several times to spot various fruits and other flora, such as these pineapples:

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Mo’orea pineapple

And we also saw along the way a soursop tree:

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Soursop

At the tropical garden/vanilla bean plantation we were treated to a vibrant display of colorful flowers, as well as a tasting of various...

Air Force begins testing the new C-17TG (Tiny Globemaster)

The 512th Airlift Wing at Dover Air Force Base begins testing on the new C-17TG (Tiny Globemaster): [image error]

C-17TG next to the full-size version

Filed under: Aviation Safety, Humor, R. Doug Wicker Tagged: April Fools, C-17, humor [image error]

Fun Photo Friday — Mo’orea Favorites Part 1

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Lava Sculpture

Here’s today’s Fun Photo Friday gallery of Mo’orea favorites (more to come next week):

Filed under: Fun Photo Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation Tagged: Crown Princess, cruise vacation, FranckyFranck Tours, Fun Photo Friday, Mo'orea, photography, R. Doug Wicker, South Pacific, travel, travel photography, vacation

Port 8 Mo’orea — An emerald wonder

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Stunning Landscape

As much as both Ursula and I enjoyed our Bora Bora Maohi Nui tour with Patrick, the beauty of Mo’orea simply overwhelms any comparison.  And the tour with Francky and FranckyFranck Tours was absolutely stunning in the vistas.  Like Patrick, Francky is quite the character.  He’s witty, funny, informative and fun.  Here’s his steed upon which he transports his guests:

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FranckyFranck 4×4

There is a lot to see and do on Mo’orea, so we spent the better part of the entire day tour...

Port 8 Mo’orea — Climbing High

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Crown Princess in port

We left Bora Bora in the Crown Princess’ rearview mirror on Tuesday, November 3, with a scheduled departure time of 9:00 p.m.  Why so late?  Because we had less than 180 statute miles/155 nautical miles/290 kilometers to sail to our next destination.  The next morning we reached our next port of call Mo’orea,  French Polynesia, and, unlike Bora Bora, a former part of the Kingdom of Tahiti.

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Mount Tohivea — Highest point on Mo’orea at 3,960 feet/1,207 meters)

Like that cr...