This cruise follows the usual format of sailing at night, with landside activities during the day. We arrived at our first island right after breakfast. Some intermittent showers kept the morning cool.
Debarking immediately, I joined my shore excursion to tour the island on a “Le Truck”. This vehicle, which could be likened to a school bus on steroids, had wooden benches to seat ~30 on probably a 5-ton chassis. We piled in, Francophones in the front with their guide, and Anglophones in the back with ours. It worked just fine.
Our guide, a local gent with extensive experience in local social anthropology, proceeded to give us a 4-hour crash course in everything remotely connected to French Polynesia (ancient, historical, and modern). As a first day orientation, this was well-timed.
(her hair starts on the right edge of image)
We stopped at a vanilla farm. Vanilla is a major cash export and, as you might suspect, much less expensive than at home. I was amazed at how extensive and labor-intensive the processing is.
After more stops for local history we returned to the ship. It had been a full day!
After dinner the onboard troupe treated us to an amazing show of Tahitian dance. The photos just don’t do justice I’m afraid.
Kitsambler's Journeys 
Congrats, Happy, Happy and travel safely,
FM