Ah Tahiti! The blue ocean, the lagoons, the waterfalls….

But then Tahiti or French Polynesia has its drawbacks: people speak French here and close everything on weekends. Not that we have anything against French – some of our best friends are French. Just that I (i.e. Chuck) have difficulty speaking French. [Note from Deborah…Deborah is bilingual, and becomes more fluent in “le francais” as she drinks wine.] As for the weekend closing, it might not have been such a great deal except for the fact we were there on the weekend.

And now for those who need some serious information: Tahiti and Her Islands have three time zones (greedy, aren’t they?). The country spans 5 million (Yes, FIVE MILLION) square kilometers with a population of just 245,000 (greedy, aren’t they?) mostly Christian and have as many as 120 islands (greedy, aren’t they?). In fact, they think every country is an island. The entertainers greeted us people “From the island of Canada!” And, believe it or not, Tahiti has many Mormons, although we are not sure if they practice polygamy openly.

Remember the Mutiny on the Bounty and Captain Bligh? It all happened here.

The first day Deborah and Chuck bought some gifts, before they closed everything for the weekend (at 12 noon on Saturday).

While Deborah lounged around the pool, Chuck decided to explore the island. He saw sharks in the aquarium, waterfalls in the mountains, but no Gauguin paintings in the Gauguin museum (which for some reason, they seem to call Gauguin Musee). Yes folks Gauguin loved Tahiti, he lived here and, alas, died here at an early age of 55.

Tahiti is nice, but too commercialized. I (Chuck) may come back here, but not so keen. Deborah agrees that Tahiti, while scenic, is not worth the very long flight and expense the island requires