Life on the Aranui

"There is in the nature of every man, I firmly believe, a longing to see and know the strange places of the world.  Life imprisons us all in its coil of circumstance, and the dreams of romance that color boyhood are forgotten, but they do not die.  They stir at the sight of a white-sailed ship beating out to the wide sea; the smell of tarred rope on a blackened wharf, or the touch of the cool little breeze that rises when the stars come out will waken them again.  Somewhere over the rim of the world lies romance, and every heart yearns to go find it.” Frederick O’Brien, “White Shadows in the South Seas”, 1919

We've sailed the high seas, seen the world's most beautiful islands, scuba dived in a Rangiroa "pass" among sharks and manta rays, but what really makes the 2 week journey on the Aranui unique is the lifestyle aboard ship and the wonderful people you meet. On board, there is no fancy dress; t shirts, shorts and flip flops is the outfit of choice. Women never wear high heels and men never wear fancy dress shirts. Getting dressed up for dinner means you put on a Hawaiian shirt that may or may not be pressed 

All the crew members have been so nice to us. As opposed to regular cruise ships, where the crew are mostly cold and impersonal, the crew of the Aranui goes out of their way to be helpful and friendly. Many of the crew know your name...see if that happens on a ship with 2,000 passengers. Some of my favorites crew members...

The Captain...don't know his name, but this picture says it all. 

Moana...from Ua Pou, is a man of many talents. He's a waiter in the restaurant and we often see him carrying 8 or 10 plates at once. At each meal he wears a different amazing necklace, made out of boars' tusk, goat teeth, pig teeth, goat horns or horse molars. He has about 8 of these necklaces and most of the animals he has hunted himself (except the horse, I would guess). He's also a great dancer and although we didn't see him dance on this trip, we saw an old movie with him doing the Ua Pou Pig Dance. And he is also a tattoo artist and did not only Amy's and my tattoo, but the tattoos of at least 5 other passengers.  He is also a heck of a nice guy and I consider him a good friend. 

Mana...the main entertainer on board, Mana is a slender young man, who wears many hats on board. He's a Tahitian dancer, a musician, a hat maker and a good singer. He has an infectious smile and always seems to be having fun. He's the leader of the Aranui band and invited me to play along with them even though I rarely played a Tahitian song in my life. He teaches a Polynesian dance class and taught us all how to make palm leaf hats.

Steven...a gentle Marquesan man with a soft voice, he's a great ukulele player and was showing me some very difficult chords high up on the fretboard that I hopefully will learn someday. He often does our evening briefing of the next days activities, speaking english in his beautiful French/Marquesan accent. Here he is strumming a ukulele...

Jacob...the local "Adonis" on board, Jacob is a very handsome Marquesan, about 6 foot 4 inches, and very well built. To say that about half of the female passengers have fallen in love (or at least in lust), would not be an understatement. 

Tauata...one of the cargo guys, Tauata is a ukulele player in the Aranui band and is always showing me what chords to play. He is also one of the men who helps us onto the barges. 

Teva...the local re-re, he is a very nice waiter who kind of dresses like a man during work hours, but who gave a dance performance during Polynesian night in a lovely dress with two ladies. She has a beautiful smile and is always cracking jokes with the passengers. Here's Teva with Ouiza...

Yo Yo...the legendary Aranui bartender, Yo Yo is always dressed just in a short pareau and has quite the beer belly. He has a big bone fish hook around his neck and has long hair in a pony tail. He has a great smile and mixes some tasty drinks. 

Mareva...a nice lady receptionist who will help you with anything you need. One of the great Aranui ideas was if you ran out of cash at a craft shop, them Mareva would be there with cash to loan you until you got to an island with an ATM. 

Willy...one of the engineers and a member of the Aranui band. He is by far the best Tahitian ukulele player I have ever seen and is all up and down the fretboard, strumming at light speed with a guitar pick. 

Jorg...a German Guide who has been on the Atanui for 6 years, Jorg was our guide for most of the trip. Although not a professional anthropologist, he knew his stuff when it came to explaining all of the archeological sites we went to.  He was also a font of information when I asked him questions about life in the islands, like how was it possible, in these little isolated communities of less then 200 people, to keep the gene pool clean. The answer; sometimes it wasn't and there are several cases of mental retardation among other things. 

Michael Koch...the resident anthropologist and lecturer, Michael is a self taught German man who has lived throughout the South Pacific for over 30 years. He has lived not only in French Polynesia, but in Fiji and Somoa as well. He has helped with many archaeological digs and restorations. His lectures on board are interesting and insightful. 

There are many other crew members who are great with the passengers. Many of the most popular, especially with the ladies, are the big tattooed cargo guys who help us into the barges. 

The Passengers...we've met many interesting folks from all over the world. 

Christine and Helene...two French  Quebec ladies are traveling together because of a connection at a spa in the quebec countryside near Sherbrooke where Amy's dad is from.  We met them in the line for the Air France trip to Papeete, as we saw their Aranui luggage tags. They are a lot of fun to hang out with and we have most of our meals with them. Both Christine and Helene have traveled all over the world, as have many of the Aranui passengers. 

Dieter...a 70 something gentleman from Munich, Dieter was the first person we met on the Aranui as he was sitting at a table on the back deck while we were still docked in Papeete. Dieter is on a 5 month trip around the world and from here goes to the USA and then to South America. Dieter was the third person on board to get a tattoo, a really cool band on his lower arm, as he saw mine and really liked it. He told me before he was on the Aranui, never in a million years would he have thought he would have gotten a tattoo. He's handsome and eligible and another popular man with the ladies. 

The Snow Family...a large group (I think 12) of family members traveling around together. They seem to be constantly partying and consuming copious amounts of alcohol and are always having a fun time. Two of them, Michael and Michelle, have the suite next to ours and they have a daily cocktail party at 6:30 pm. They are all very gracious and inviting and always make you feel at home. It's great to see actual family members having a great time traveling together. 

Henri and Denise, a French couple from Lille, Henri is a real character and is always joking around. They are some of the very few French folks who actually go outside their comfort zone and hang out with us foreigners. 

Collin...born in New York, living in Los Angeles, and with a heavy British accent, Collin is one of the true characters on board.  He reminds me of the person who says, "If you don't have anything nice to say about someone, come sit next to me". We had lunch with him a few days ago and I'm pretty sure he drank an entire bottle of white wine all by himself and as various passengers would stroll by he'd invariably have a snide, but hilarious comment to make about them. He talks about his kids a lot and about how happy he is spending a large part of their inheritance on this trip.  Collin is on the left. 

The Maui Folks...Sue, Dart, Cindy and Doug...4 folks from Maui, who are traveling around the South Pacific together.  It seems like a lot of Hawaii residents like to visit other islands, even though I think if I lived in Hawaii I'd most want to visit the Swiss Alps or maybe the Sahara Desert...just for a change of scenery. But they are having a great time traveling around together, having just got off the fancy, schmancy Paul Gauguin cruise ship before the Aranui. From here they're off to New Zealand. 

Ouisa and Alexandra...two young women who hang out together a lot. Ouisa is from Algeria, speaks not a word of english and has an infectious, beautiful smile. She's very pretty herself and a bit "Rubenesque". Alexandra lives and works in Tahiti, as she is with the French army and is a secretary. She has some beautiful tattoos that suit her well. 

Frank and Jeanette...two Aussies from Sydney. Frank is a very funny guy and has that wonderful Australian way of being. A former teacher, they now own a Bed and Breakfast in Sydney. I tried to talk Frank into getting a tattoo, but he would have none of it. He did, however, get one of those stick on versions for Polynesian night. 

Thomas and David...two guys who met on this trip and hang out together due to their mutual interest in hiking and photography. They are both world travelers. Thomas, from Norway, has worked for various oil companies and for Siemens and has lived in many locales around the world. David, an American, retired at a young age and travels around the world mostly with his 13 year old daughter. He has traveled to ore 60 countries with is daughter.  Here's Thomas...

Conrad and Alice...a nice couple from Seattle, they are another example of world travelers. Conrad has the look of a veteran Navy man and I also tried to talk him into a tattoo, but again, he would have none of it. I told him his grandkids would think that was the coolest thing that grandpa got a tattoo and he said that was the problem and they would want to get one themselves!