Rapa, Australs – 31 March 2019
Today was our second of two laundry days while on the Aranui. As long as we left our laundry bag outside our door by 8 am, it would be cleaned and pressed by the evening. After close to two weeks on a cruise, it’s great to have someone else launder your clothes for you. We did, however, have to wash our own underwear and socks the night before during our Polynesian night as they do not launder those items for you on the Aranui.
We only had a few hours on shore today in Rapa before it would be time to go. There was a “Le Truck” bus and Aranui barges shuttling people to Ahurei village from 7 to 7:45 am for those that did not want to walk to the village. Many Aranui passengers had dressed in clothes appropriate for the Sunday church service and were at the Protestant church by the 8 am start time. We all had experienced the music of the islands and had heard about the strong and powerful worship music these Polynesians would sing on Sundays and we were not disappointed.
Sitting in the church building as the men sat near the front and the women near the back section was an unforgettable experience. Perhaps the men and women sat in sections based on which part of the harmony they sung but I could not tell because the room just seemed to vibrate with the powerful melodies, chanting and harmony. There were no hymn books for people to sing from but everyone seemed to know the songs. One lady in the congregation would start the song by giving the starting note and then everyone else would quickly join in for the remainder of the song. I would highly recommend anyone going to French Polynesia participate in a worship service in order to have a complete experience of the Polynesian culture which is very centred around God and powerful music.
We had a little bit of time before we had to be back on the Aranui by 10 am. We wandered around the Plaza for a short while watching the locals head home dressed in their Sunday best before going back to the ship. At the Pier, there was a building with locals selling their hats and handicrafts. They had also prepared a large table of local fruits, berries and other items from the island for us to taste. The best was the fresh raspberry juice that complimented the local tastes of the island.
The Rapa soccer team performed an encore performance of their songs and dances from the day before. They will be joining us on the Aranui for the next few days as there is no airport on Rapa and they were going to compete in a soccer tournament in Papeete, Tahiti.
Finally, it was time to say goodbye to this beautiful and hospitable island. It was a memorable stop on our long journey. The rest of the day was at sea. We again had lots of sea to cover before arriving at our next Austral island. Following lunch which was all served at once for all passengers at noon, I presented a video to the passengers of the various drone clips I had filmed during the cruise. I was able to do this in both French and English for all passengers. It was great to see a compilation of the islands we had visited from a very different perspective.
At 3 pm, the second version of Mel Gibson’s “Mutiny on the Bounty” was presented in the Lounge. I decided to skip this and instead had some relaxing time with a few others. At 6:30 however, I was at the Raivavae briefing to prepare myself for the last stop of our voyage. It was an informative session but as the Aranui staff were also new to Raivavae, there were plenty of things left to surprise. We had a leisurely evening while any people spent the evening at the bar starting at 9 pm for the last of 5 Aranui band evenings presented during the cruise.