Island-hopping Aranui is a South Seas classic

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Aranui passengers climb the gangway from the shore boat during a trip in August. A newer Aranui will be launched in November, able to carry 200 passengers. Bob Krauss If you go ... Cost: Dormitory-style cabins with a bathroom down the hall are about $2,000 for the 16-day voyage. Cabins and suites with private bathrooms range from $3,250 to $4,500. Prices include three meals daily with wine. Where to board: In Papeete, Tahiti. A round-trip fare from Honolulu to Papeete on Hawaiian Airlines is $727 (or $664 for seniors) for travel through December. Information: www.aranui.com. Operated by Compagnie Polynesienne de Transporte Maritime; its U.S. office is at 2028 El Camino Real So., Suite B, San Mateo, CA 94403; (650) 574-2575 or (800) 972-7268; e-mail cptm@aranui.com.

The Aranui chugs along at 15 knots, a little faster than the Mauna Kea, queen of Hawai'i's interisland fleet at the turn of the 20th century. Like the Mauna Kea when she called at Kaunakakai, Moloka'i, or Kailua, Kona, the Aranui sends passengers ashore in whale boats at most of the tropical ports she touches.

Meanwhile, her tattooed crew unload groceries, oil drums, machinery and furniture on a battered barge for the trip to shore, and bring back sacks of copra and noni, maybe a horse and goats, to be hoisted on the ship by crane.

It is this colorful participation in South Sea life that makes the cruises of the Aranui among the most popular in the South Pacific. Reservations should be made at least six months in advance.

The comparison with steamer trips in Hawai'i 100 years ago takes many forms. As with Hawai'i then, in the Marquesas now it is easier to travel by water than overland. Cliffs rising from the sea, turrets and spires spearing the sky all make spectacular scenery, but they also make transportation between Marquesan valleys difficult.

There are miles and miles of unpopulated coastline today as there were in Hawai'i then. Like the little landings in Hawai'i called Napo'opo'o and Miloli'i and Ho'okena, the landings in the Marquesas have Polynesian names like Hane and Hatiheu and Vaipaee.

For each village at the landings, the arrival of the Aranui means boat day, a chance to sell lauhala hats, seed lei, carvings, pearl-shell jewelry and fresh vanilla. At the Tuamotuan atoll of Takapoto en route to the Marquesas, you shop for black pearls.

People from Hawai'i will be impressed by the abundance of stone temples and tikis still in place. Development hasn't paved over the culture. In the old days, dancers from different tribes performed competitively on the tahua (temple). Today, dancers perform on the same sites for Aranui passengers.

As in Hawai'i, the Marquesan dancers wear ti-leaf skirts. Their traditional dances are very similar to our kahiko.

The big difference is language. Everybody speaks Marquesan and French. Hardly anybody understands English. However, Marquesan is similar to Hawaiian. "Ka-oha" for "aloha," "hei" for "lei."

The money exchange isn't too hard to figure out: One hundred francs is worth a little less than a dollar.

Accommodations on board the Aranui are comfortable and adequate. There are dormitory-style bathroom-down-the-hall rooms, and cabins and suites with private bathrooms, as well as decks and a pint-sized swimming pool.

The Aranui serves a tasty table. Your dining partners will most likely be French with a sprinkling of Americans, Spaniards, Poles, Germans, Italians and Australians.

The 2 1/2-week voyages touch at a dozen different exotic villages. If you want to, you can go ashore almost every day. In the course of those day trips, you may eat two Polynesian feasts, ride a horse over a mountain, scuba dive, hike cliff trails, bask on a beach, explore ancient ruins and attend lectures on the South Seas.

Passengers in the old Aranui climbed down a rickety aluminum gangway to the shore boat. The new Aranui, scheduled to sail in November, will lower a ramp from the stern off which passengers can step into the boat. The passenger list will go up from about 75 to 200.

The landings are in picturesque bays where the waters are calm. The oldest passenger on a recent voyage was 82, the youngest about 12.

There's steerage in the rear of the ship, a big, unfurnished room, where mostly Marquesan passengers sleep on mats spread on the deck. The fare is much cheaper, but you have to get off at one of the stops in the Marquesas. That's because steerage is intended as cheap, local transportation between Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands, not for pleasure cruising.