The Big City
13 July 2007 | Papeete, Tahiti
Morgan MacKay
Arriving at the dock in Papeete, I was greeted by a few other cruisers that helped me get the boat secure to the dock and pointed me in the direction of the immigration and Port Captains office. By about noon, Mostly Harmless and it's sole crew member where officially checked in. The customs agent, Alfred was a great character and pointed me towards the pub across the street. "Les 3 Brasseurs" is Papeete's brewpub situated on the main strip overlooking the busy port. Needless to say, I spent a small fortune there over the next week. ~10 bucks for a beer and ~15 bucks for a salad.
Papeete has just about everything you could need in a port city; I found the people friendly, the city clean and the food fantastic. Although I've never been to Europe, it had a very European feel. The prices for food, services and accommodations I'm sure rival downtown Paris. Everyone speaks French, within the first 24 hours, my high school spoken French was coming back amazingly fast.
I spent my first few days, cleaning the boat, catching up on sleep, sitting in my hammock talking to fellow cruisers, tourists and locals on the boardwalk. Vanessa, my girlfriend and crew member was scheduled to fly in the evening of my third day there.