TRAFFIC JAMS IN POLYNESIA
By Bob Van Leer

  (PAPEETE, FRENCH POLYNESIA, Feb. 26, 2003) - Our first stop in French Polynesia was the capital, Papeete, (pronounced paah-pay-eh-tay) located on the island of Tahiti. This a bustling city of 69,000 residents and 4000 French soldiers, according to the ship's Daily Program.

  French Polynesia as a whole has 170,000-180,000 residents of which 70% are Polynesian. The size of the city, complete with traffic jams, is not what we associate with South Sea islands. Papeete is the capital of French Polynesia and the island of Tahiti accounts for almost a quarter of the land mass of French Polynesia.

  We were to visit two islands in the Society Islands archipelago, Tahiti and Bora Bora, about 250 miles northwest of Tahiti, out of the 115 islands and atolls that make up French Polynesia. Tahiti was not what we thought we would see in Polynesia. Somehow traffic jams and large cities are not what we were expecting.

  After docking in Tahiti, Betty and I took a bus to downtown Papeete. The bus had three wooden benches for seats and the vehicle's shock absorbers had long since died.

  Incidentally, the crewman with a ruptured appendix that caused us to cut short our stay at Pitcairn Island and make a high speed run to Tahiti survived the trip and was later reported okay by the captain. An ambulance met our ship at the dock and when the crewman was wheeled off the ship he was able to give a small wave.

  Downtown Papeete is a mixture of old and new buildings and not looking real prosperous. Prices of everything are high as everything has to be brought in. One of our lecturers said when atomic bomb testing by the French here was halted in 1996 French scientists and support crew left and there was an economic recession.

  We took a 4-wheel drive tour of the island that included a visit to Green Canyon, a forested bowl in the island. We were on the rim at 1200 meters high. Our guide told us there are many wild boar on the island and there are hunting areas and seasons.

  Some are for conventional rifle hunting but there is one interesting sport of hunting only with dogs and a "machete", a double-sided knife about a foot long. After the dogs bring a boar to bay, the hunter approaches it from the front and a stick in the neck from the top, properly done, brings the boar down. These are not small animals. Our guide said the record boar was 375 pounds. The technique is reminiscent of bull fighting.

  Vegetation is lush here. Our guide said there are 6000 types of vegetation of which only 2500 are indigenous. One type of introduced vegetation is the African tulip tree which is covered with gorgeous red blossoms and dresses up the landscape. But another introduced type is a large shrub that has shiny, curled leaves and its local name is "Tahitian cancer".

  Overnight we traveled to Bora Bora, which is what we envisioned for Polynesia. It is a beautiful island surrounded by a reef. The colors of the ocean water are striking, from a deep blue in the deeper water to a creamy-colored blue on the shallow reefs. Part of the filming of the movie, South Pacific, was done here. It has a population of 6000 according to our guide, Rapa.

  We took another 4-wheel drive tour, this one on tracks that can only charitably be described as roads. In some places the roadbed was over large boulders and in others mud holes which our Land Rover barely made it through. Rapa went down one short pitch with a grade I'd estimate as about 60-70%, or pretty close to a free-fall. We visited a gun emplacement to protect the island left over from World War II. The weather is hot and muggy and inside the jungle canopy it is worse.

  Our ship's program said in 1942 the island became a central fueling and staging base for the U. S. Navy. " Operation Bobcat brought 60,000 troops through here leaving behind ship landing and loading facilities, guns, an airstrip and a number of half American children".
According to our guide, there is some tension between the islanders and the French administration. The French want to emphasize everything French, teaching that language in schools, but not English. But most of the tourists come from the U. S. and 80% of Bora Bora islanders work in some phase of the tourist industry. To get a perspective, after the tour I asked our guide, Rapa, where he went on vacation.

  His reply, "To Los Angeles to take the kids to Disneyland". We left Bora Bora Thursday evening and will be at sea for four days before reaching our next landfall, New Zealand, more than 2000 miles away.