Incredible Cruise:Day 1- Tahiti

My spouse and I took a cruise of the Society Islands Archipelago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_Islands
It was an absolutely incredible  experience.  Everything was so beautiful and breathtaking.  I was mesmerized by it all.  Needless to say I took a lot of photos with my point and shoot camera and my cellphone.  Even though I didn't used professional equipment I still got some decent shots that to me are artistic and could be used to make a painting of.  When you're in such beautiful surroundings its hard to get a bad image.

On the first day we flew into  Papeete, Tahiti. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahiti
When we got off the plane we were greeted by this dancer and was  serenaded by these musicians as we were going through customs.  I could tell I was definitely not in the USA.  It was so nice to be greeted like that.  I just wished my cellphone would have gotten a better picture.  My camera was buried in my carry on since I didn't think I would need it since we were traveling at night.

  There we spent the day at the Intercontinental Hotel until we were ready to board the Cruise ship - Paul Gauguin.   We got there as the sun was coming up.

 As the sun rose it got lighter.

 Oh whow!!

  Within seconds it went from being this dark to this. I couldn't get over how fast it changed (same spot as the second image). Needless to say it was breathtaking to watch this sunrise.  I knew I was definitely not seeing something I normally would see.

If you look closely you can see some crabs on the black rocks. Bottom left and mid picture 3 over from left.

I saw these birds and wondered if they could have been related to the finches Darwin studied in the area.

I thought these roots were so intricate and the ay they went into the rock.

This just really made me realize I was not at home and in Tahiti.  It was just as I imagine it would be.

It was interesting to see how they made the roofs.  How they simply folded the branches over and then layered upon layered them up to the top. 

I just thought this vanishing pool was neat to see. 

I had to remind myself that it was fall and not spring in this area.  The coconuts were ready to be harvested.

This was a view from the ship as we got up on deck.

There was a  reception before we took off.  In the background it was raining and if you look really closely over the blue shirt you can see a faint rainbow.  Seeing that rainbow made me realize that this was going to be a good trip.  It seems like rainbows always bring me good times when I see them.

Later this was the sunset as we started to cruise away from Tahiti.

Rockhounding term to learn today is:  Archipelago
An archipelago is a chain of islands.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archipelago
They are connected by a common hot spot.  The oldest and smallest islands are the ones that are farthest away from the hot spot.  The hot spot stays in the same place but the plates move and you can tell the direction of the plate movement by the ages of the islands. 

We were on our way to  Huanine
I do want to thank my spouse and the group that made this all possible.  You know who you are - THANKS.