Noordam in Raiatea
Holland America Noordam docked at the cruise ship port in Uturoa, Raiatea, an island in French Polynesia 146 miles northwest of Tahiti and just under 29 miles southeast of Bora Bora. The dock is right in town with no barriers between the port and anything else as is common in most ports. You do of course have to show your ship card to board, but there are no security gates or anything to pass through first.
view of the dock and a bit of the town from the ship
At nearly 65 square miles, Raiatea is the second largest of the Society Islands, significantly smaller than Tahiti which is just over 400 square miles. Raiatea is a green mountainous island with waterfalls and hiking trails. Its reefs are popular for snorkeling and diving. The name means distant sky or sky with soft light. It was considered a sacred island and has petroglyphs and other historical remains.
port at Raiatea
Just off the ship there’s shops in an area made to look like a Polynesian village. Also a meeting place for shore excursions from the ship. There are some more modern buildings at the port too. Most are shops or restaurants, but there’s also a tourist center where people can book last minute excursions.
tourist center
The visitor’s center offered pretty much everything the ship had to offer in that port with various snorkeling or lagoon tour options or tours to pearl or vanilla farms.
statue at the port
The area near the ship also has some ponds with purple flowers, grassy areas, and some statues.
flower in a pond at the port
There were a couple people with signs offering random last-minute tours, but most last-minute activities were found in the tourist center. I had planned on booking a snorkel excursion there, but the weather forecast for the day of our visit was horrible. We managed to walk around town a bit before it started to rain, but shortly after we got back to the ship a major downpour came and it rained pretty hard on and off for the rest of the day so we just stayed onboard out of the rain.
fruit market
The area surrounding the port has a lot of tourist shops, but it also has several grocery stores, a fruit market, a pharmacy, and other shops more geared to the area’s locals. You can get some medications without a prescription there for a lot less money than what they cost in the USA. You have to go to the actual pharmacy though. The grocery stores don’t even carry stuff like Tylenol or Advil.
one of the Polynesian buildings at the port
Excursions from the ship included drift snorkeling the coral garden, a boat ride to a motu for a picnic and visit to a vanilla plantation, a land and sea tour visiting the vanilla farm and pearl farm, a pearl farm tour with snorkeling, a bus tour to highlights of the island, catamaran tour to the pearl and vanilla farms, kayaking, a river ride in a motorized outrigger canoe, and an island tour on a Le Truck island bus.
map of Raiatea
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