February 23, 2019
Mom and I sailed along the only navigable river in all of French Polynesia during our shore excursion today here at our second port of call on our 12-night Oceania Marina cruise through this vast French territory in the South Pacific. We also spent an hour on a pretty islet full of white sand and palm trees.
Raiatea, population 12,000 and land area 65 square miles (similar in size to the District of Columbia), is the second largest of the Society Islands after Tahiti, where Mom and I spent five days prior to sailing yesterday to Moorea Island and onward today. Raiatea means “faraway heaven” and “sky with soft light.” It’s the homeland of the ancient Polynesians and the most sacred island in the South Pacific.