We arrived in Papeete in time for the Puddle Jump Party. We checked in and got all of the information we would need for the next three days and for the first time they had a booth from Whangarei, New Zealand. We met Fraser Foote who owns Northland Boatbuilders.  He was a big help to us in understanding what we should be looking for in a Marinas and Lift out services, he also gave us a brochure of Whangarei which will be a big help in choosing a marina since we rarely have a fast internet connection to do research. We need to book a spot for Sea Mist by August or all of the slips will be filled.

 

 The organizers did a brilliant job with the entertainment and food.  We also got to participate in the Puddle Jump Rally. We started Friday evening being escorted by the wandering mistrals playing ukuleles and guitars to City Hall.

 

 

Our wandering mistrals on the quay, taking us to City Hall, this must happen quite a lot as the locals didn’t even take a second look…

 

 

 

The City Hall has a French colonial style architecture, nice way to start to our weekend.

 

 

 

This band used percussion instruments, the to’ere, the fa’atete, pahu and pahu tupa’I rima.

The food disappeared rapidly, nothing like a bunch of yachties to clear a table laden with food in less

Than five minutes, – this is their

 

 

 

 

 

5^th year of entertainment and cocktails, so they know what to expect.  

The food was really good but you had to get in there fast, the shrimp were the first to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw the same group of dancers, they changed their costumes according to the dance they were doing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The women are wearing Le Pareo or the Pareu a sarong worn mostly in the aparima dance.

 

The costumes will change with the dance, the picture above shows off the costume; they can only be made from plant fibers using traditional colours only.  The   or grass skirt is made from the bark of the Hibiscus, the  is a belt and as you can see they use see they use sea shells, especially the black pearl shell and seeds. The i’I are the tassels.  We have been very lucky to see the four different types of Tahitian Dance, the  is where both men and women dance together or separate, this is a very popular dance,  where a story is told with the hands, the is very popular the women swivel their hips and the men move their legs in a scissor fashion and the this dance came from Tapa making gestures.  The  s a real crowd pleaser, the way they move their hips in such a lively fashion is mesmerizing and there is so much energy being exuded. The men move their legs in a scissor fashion, I believe this style of dancing is used in the as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This beautiful young woman  used her hands to mime a story. The dancers also told stories during the Pa’o’a dance.