Rick's Note:

As one can gather, Tahiti, or 'French Polynesia' if you prefer, is smack dab in the middle of nowhere.

My daughter Sam is a PhD candidate in Anthropology, so I asked her to show off.

Where did the Tahitians originate from?

Sam answered they came from Taiwan. 

And the Hawaiians came from Tahiti.

Rick Archer's Note:

In March 2018, Marla Archer took 16 guests on a trip to Paradise, also known as Tahiti.  We were gone for 16 days (March 4-March 20).  The 16 people on the trip were as follows:

Rick and Marla, Kyle and Yvette Guidry, Dale and Jackie Morrison, Jim and Cindy Hudson, Tom and Elaine Holthe, James and Vickie Wright, Joe Brenner and Sandy Murray, plus two ladies, Mary Burns and Diane Youngblood. 

A major highlight of the trip was spending two and a half days at Hotel Intercontinental, a luxury hotel on the island of Tahiti with a direct view of the island of Moorea 10 miles across the water.  

As one can gather from the picture above, a big part of the hotel was built out from the shore.  This new extension included a stunning lagoon stocked with exotic fish.  Behind the lagoon were a series of honeymoon bungalows.  This extension was a very beautiful area to explore.  To be honest, the hotel grounds were so vast and exquisitely landscaped, I really had no desire to explore the island of Tahiti.  I had my paradise right before me... with air-conditioning too.

Nevertheless we took an evening boat ride around Tahiti to see the sunset.  Alas, there were clouds.  So much for the sunset.  Fortunately Dale Morrison kept us well entertained with a series of jokes.  His favorites were lawyer jokes...

What is the difference between a catfish and a scum sucking bottom feeder?  
One is delicious and the other is a lawyer. 

What do you call 500 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?   A good start.

Incidentally, Dale is a lawyer himself.  I have never quite figured out why, but lawyers seem to love telling lawyer jokes. 

Fortunately, I had a good lawyer joke of my own to share with Dale.  I am happy to report that he liked it.  My joke is at the bottom of the page, but you can read it now if you wish. 

I have always wondered why these islands are referred to as the Society Islands, so I decided to figure it out.

According to Wikipedia, here's the answer.

The Society Islands includes a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It is, politically and legally, part of French Polynesia.  The archipelago is believed to have been named by Captain James Cook during his first voyage in 1769, supposedly in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands.  However, Cook himself stated in his journal that he called the islands Society "as they lay contiguous to one another."

The Society Islands are divided into two groups:

Windward Islands (Îles du Vent):
Mehetia, Tahiti, Tetiaroa, Moorea, Maiao

Leeward Islands (Îles Sous-le-Vent)
Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa, Bora Bora, Tupai, Maupiti, Mopelia, Manuae

These islands may have been discovered by the English, but they ended up in French hands.  Today it is called 'French Polynesia' because France is in charge.  The islands became a French protectorate in 1843 and then a colony in 1880.  They have a population of 235,295 inhabitants (as of 2012). 

So what do you suppose the French did once Tahiti fell into their lap?  Send the military and build forts?  Oh, heck, no.  Why bother with that?  Instead they sent over Paul Gaugin, a famous French artist.  Once Gaugin began sending back paintings of gorgeous bare-breasted Tahitian women, French men flocked to the island in droves.  

We all remember the Joni Mitchell song about how they ruined Paradise with Parking Lots.  It turns out priests can be just as effective.  Once the priests saw how much fun those immoral French men were having, naturally they had to send some priests over to put an end to all this heathen activity.

If there was one sour note on this trip, it was the undercurrent of resentment felt by the Polynesian people over years of European interference.  In a manner similar to the American Indian, the entire way of life of the Tahitians was altered.  In Tahiti, the British and the French have taken turns imposing their laws, their religion, and their language for the past three centuries. 

For example, the nerve of some English explorer to rename the Tahitian islands as the 'Society Islands'.   It's like, what gives you the right to show up and tell us what our name is?

Obviously the same thing has happened in Africa and Southeast Asia as well.  However, it is one thing to read about it, another thing altogether to 'feel it'.  This was the first time I have ever traveled to an area where I could see first-hand the damage done to the pride of the indigenous people.  I cannot imagine the humiliation of being forced to surrender one's culture to outsiders. 

Fortunately, on a more positive note, in recent years the Tahitian language and history has been reintroduced in the school system.  This is a major step in the right direction.

Trivia question:  What are the Sandwich Islands? 

From what I gather, there are 118 islands in all.  Besides the Windwards and the Leewards, there are the Marquesas Islands including Nuku Hiva, an island we visited.  Then there are the Tuamotu Islands, including Fakarava and Rangiroa, two other islands we visited.  Oops, change that.  Fakarava and Rangiroa are not technically 'islands', but rather they are atolls. 

So what is an Atoll?  An atoll is a donut-shaped island... it has a big hole in the middle.  The coral of the atoll often sits atop the rim of an extinct seamount or volcano which has eroded or subsided partially beneath the water.  The lagoon forms over the volcanic crater or caldera while the higher rim remains above water or at shallow depths that permit the coral to grow and form the reefs. For the atoll to persist, continued erosion or subsidence must be at a rate slow enough to permit reef growth upwards and outwards to replace the lost height.

In the old days, atolls were used to test nuclear weapons.  Fortunately we've gone beyond that.  These days the lagoons inside the atolls are excellent places for scuba diving and snorkeling due to the abundance of fish and shallow waters.

Trivia question:  What is the most famous atoll in history?

While some of the places we visited were Atolls with giant holes in the middle, other places had a giant volcano in the middle.  Then some places had a little bit of both.  Bora Bora, for example, had a volcano plus a well-defined coral reef which ringed much of the island.  This explains why Bora Bora is so popular as 'The Place' to see all kinds of fish. 

Trivia question:  Name a group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are mostly atolls. 

Our gang did extensive snorkeling at Bora Bora.  Believe it or not, several intrepid members actually swam with the sharks.  First of all, our guide had the sense to feed the sharks first.  I thought that was a nice touch.  Our sharks were not as large as humans and they stuck to the surface of the water.  Once we saw these sharks were not particularly threatening, everyone relaxed a bit.  However, there were some really big sharks deeper down.  No one had any interest in getting close to those guys.  They looked hungry.

Trivia question:  What are the three corners of the Polynesian Triangle?

With the exception of the island of Tahiti, there was little in the way of modern development on any of the islands.  If there was a two-story structure on the remote islands, I didn't see it.  The islands struck me as what Hawaii looked like before commercial development.  That said, the standard of living in this area seemed high.  Not only is there is plenty of land available for homesteading and agriculture, if you're hungry, go find a fishing pole.  The Tahitians I saw seemed well fed. 

Trivia question:  What does Rapa Nui mean?

Our time on board the Oceania Marina was spent primarily on four activities: eating, drinking, playing trivia, and dancing. 

Our group absolutely dominated the dancing.  The ship had their orchestra play from 5-7 pm.  When our group danced, there were 100 people watching, but rarely did anyone dare join us.  I think they were intimidated at being seen next to us.  However, since no one bothered to take a picture to illustrate this odd situation, I have no way to show how weird it was to be out there alone.

Currently here in America, it appears that social dancing has reached a real stand-still, especially when it comes to the art of Formal Dancing.  Other than members of Marla's travel group, virtually no one on the ship had a clue when it came to Formal Dancing.  These guests were extremely well-heeled travelers.  Given these people have the money to afford this type of cruise, one would imagine they would also wish to acquire the sophistication of Formal Dance.  What better way to enhance the romantic opportunities of their vacation?

Instead, everyone but us stayed glued to their seats.  Our group had the floor to ourselves every Happy Hour throughout the two-week trip. Meanwhile, 100 people would sit in the lounge drinking their Martinis and watch in consternation.  It was all rather sad.

One woman came up to ask where we all learned to dance. After the discussion got rolling, she said whimsically, "You all make it look like so much fun. I wish I could get my husband to dance."

I replied, "Unfortunately, a guy cannot learn this kind of dancing on the spot.  This is something you have to prepare for in advance."

She replied, "I know and so does my husband.  He said if he had to do this cruise over again, he would have taken dance lessons. But I guess it's too late now."

This Tahiti trip was the 41st trip organized by Marla.  She and I discovered right at the start that partner dancing and cruise trips go hand in hand.  That is why this trip was an eye-opener for me.  If Marla and I could figure out how valuable 'Dancing' is on a cruise ship, why can't anyone else?

Apparently the rest of the world hasn't figured out how pleasurable it is to dance with one's partner on these trips.  This suggests to me that in modern society, Formal Dancing is pretty much a lost art.  One need look no further than the seat-bound Tahiti guests on this ship to surmise this.

A word to the wise.  Since many of us have reached the age where we like to travel, I have a suggestion... if you plan to cruise in the near future, take some dance lessons.  They are bound to pay off during your trip. 

However Country-Western is not going to cut it.  Many of the dance floors don't have enough room to travel anywhere.  On many cruise ships, the dance floors are small.  Consequently, this is why I developed a preoccupation with learning more about 'Small Floor Formal Dancing'.  This style of dance includes Swing, Foxtrot, Waltz, Rumba, Cha Cha and Slow Dance/Nightclub.

A major takeaway from our adventure to Tahiti was the camaraderie among our group.  We got along so well that we turned into one big happy family.  If you would like to know more about our trip, I have an excellent suggestion. 

Five men - James, Kyle, Dale, Tom and Joe - went to a considerable amount of trouble to post their favorite pictures from the trip on the Internet.  I highly recommend you visit Tahiti 2018.   There are over 200 pictures posted.  These pictures absolutely bring our trip to life.

And now for the Trivia questions.  The Hawaiian Islands were once referred to as the 'Sandwich Islands', named by James Cook for the Earl of Sandwich back in England.
 

The most famous Atoll in history has to be the Bikini Atoll.  The name for the bikini design was coined in 1946 by Parisian engineer Louis Réard, designer of the bikini. He named the swimsuit after Bikini Atoll, where testing on the nuclear bomb was taking place. Now the word 'bikini' came to signify a much different kind of bombshell.
The Maldives is a South Asian country located in the Indian Ocean.  Lying southwest of Sri Lanka and India, the country consists only of small islands.  It is a chain of 26 atolls.
The Polynesian Triangle is a geographical region of the Pacific Ocean with Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island at its corners. Tahiti is at the exact center with Samoa to the west.

I will conclude my story with two anecdotes. 

By and large, our group did very well at Trivia.  We were definitely one of the three best teams, but we did not dominate.  Due to some stiff competition, we won some of the time, but not all of the time. 

One day, one of the husbands indicated that the men were the main reason our group was doing so well.  Bad move.  In a huff, the women left and formed their own team.  To the considerable embarrassment of the guys, the women beat the guys handily. 

The other incident still makes me laugh. 

Eight of us were dining in a very dark Japanese restaurant and some of the food was unfamiliar to us.  Before I continue, I should add that we were all in a bit of 'Happy Hour Fog' from a flurry of two for one drinks. 

At one point, the server brought us each two items... endamame beans and what looked to me like a bowl of wonton soup.  The soup was clear and there was a large white noodle in the middle of the soup. 

I ignored the wonton soup at first.  But when I glanced at it again, in the gloom, the white noodle seemed larger.  I assumed it was my imagination, but when I looked at it a second time a minute later, it seemed even larger.  But I wasn't sure because it was dark and because I was... well, I'd rather not say.

In my case, since I was so unsure what to do with the soup, I avoided it.  However, one lady was braver.  She got out her fork and knife and attempted to cut the noodle in half.  To her consternation, the noodle fought back... it refused to be cut!

Flustered, the lady asked the server how to eat this noodle. 

"Uh, ma'am, that is a moist towel to use when you finish your endamame beans."

Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name for Easter Island.  The island is currently owned by Chile 2,000 miles away.

The island got its European name when Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen first encountered it on Easter Sunday in 1722. 

Hundreds of years ago, an advanced seafaring civilization called Rapa Nui built 887 giant monuments. 

The Easter Island statues, 'moai', are enormous stone figures placed along the coastline as if surveying the island's interior lands. The largest statue weighs 90 tons and stands 32 feet tall.

One of archaeology's greatest mysteries is what happened to the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island. 

In addition, what is the story behind these statues?  The statues are so massive their origin remains a mystery.

Along with Stonehenge and the Pyramids, the sheer size of the statues makes people wonder if alien technology was responsible.