A very rough day at sea today and hopefully it will improve before we reach Rarotonga. We have been experiencing heavy tropical showers and very strong winds, so strong that when we finally managed to get our walk in at around 6pm we were the only two people on the promenade deck for our entire 2 mile walk!
Today’s lecture was on space travel and we learnt about the efforts of private enterprise to both replace NASA and send tourists into space. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is offering a trip into space for $250,000!
Sunday April 17, 2016; Another Missed Port of Call!
I awoke at 6:30am to see our arrival at Rarotonga and when I went on deck and almost fell over due to the high wind I knew straight away that we would not be going ashore! The Captain did launch the tenders, but they were being thrown all over the place by the high seas that it would have been next to impossible to take any of us to shore. Unfortunately, they did have to do a medical evacuation of one passenger and she’s now en route to Australia for treatment.
The Captain took the ship on a scenic cruise around the Island so we were able to get some photos and then we set off for Raiatea, where we have been able to schedule an earlier arrival of 9pm tomorrow evening instead of early Tuesday morning. It’s a docking port so we should be able to step onto dry land!!! I imagine there will be a long queue to get off as soon as we arrive just to feel terra firma!
Captain Paul did a talk today on Charles Lindberg and Beryl Markham, the first to fly the Atlantic from West to East and East to West, respectively.
Monday April 18, 2016; Another Day at Sea
Not much to report, but we did get into Utorea around 9pm. It’s a very tricky entry into the port, the entry through the outer reefs can only have been about 200 yards wide and once inside the lagoon we had to make lots of maneuvers to avoid the many reefs!
This has been a very rough day with winds gusting to gale force for much of the day. I took a video of the swimming pool on deck 9 and it was more like a wave pool!
Tuesday April 19, 2016; A Day on Terra Firma in Utorea
Well we finally got to set foot on solid land after almost nine days on the ship. I even took a photo of our feet to prove it! We decided to walk around the town both in the morning and afternoon to get a feel for the place as opposed to trying to organize an island tour. In the morning we went to the right side of town and in the afternoon to the left!
Raiatea is considered the cultural and religious home of the Polynesian people so it was the obvious target for the missionaries when they arrived in the islands and set about converting the Polynesians from their polytheism to monotheism and banning such things as dancing, surfing, tattoos, all considered taboo by the missionaries. One of the first missionaries to the Islands was a John Williams (wonder if any relation to Kelly and her family) and he established a church in Otorua that we saw, but were not able to enter. We did manage to get into the local catholic church that had some very nice stained glass windows.
During our morning walk we had frequent heavy rain showers, we are being plagued with a persistent trough over the islands and a tropical storm to our west that is pulling up large amount of moisture over the islands! We did find a small park where local children were swimming and we thought that we might come back in the afternoon to swim there if the weather improved! On our way back to the ship for lunch we enjoyed a traditional Polynesian show on the dockside and got some good pics for the trip album.
In the afternoon we did manage to find a road that took us uphill into a new subdivision development and we found a lot, #18, that would be perfect to buy as it had a wonderful view out to the reef and beyond. Though I could not imagine how much it might cost to build there as all materials for construction would have to be imported, unless one wanted to build a traditional Polynesian dwelling!
After lots of walking we returned to the ship and we set sail for Bora Bora where we will spend two days on the island. We are really looking forward to our time there.
Wednesday April 20, 2016; Bora Bora Day 1
We awoke to find ourselves at anchor in the lagoon at Bora Bora. We had arranged with the gang to meet at 10am to get on the tender for the short ride to shore. Once on land I quickly sought out the local shuttle to Bloody Mary’s and Matira Beach and we set off for the short ride to Matira Beach. Our plan had been to get there and then take a short walk to the Sofitel Resort and purchase a day pass for a day’s stay at the resort. As it turned out the bus stopped at the Intercontinental Hotel at Matira Beach and I noticed that they also sold day passes! I asked if it would be OK if 13 of us did that and they said yes, so we spent the day there. This is the resort on Bora Bora where Jonathan and Courtney stayed on their honeymoon to French Polynesia.
We had a pleasant day at the resort, swam, slept, had lunch and then swam again before moving onto Bloody Mary’s. The resort is quite pricey with the overwater bungalows costing around $1000 a night, and that only includes B&B! We spoke to a young Australian couple on their honeymoon and they said that the weather on the previous two days had been so bad that they couldn’t leave their room and the rain was so heavy they couldn’t see the shore from their bungalow!
Bloody Mary’s is an island tradition and has been frequented over the years by many famous people. We stopped there on our way back to the ship for a late afternoon drink. Couldn’t quite see what the attraction is, but we did enjoy our G&T’s!
Got back to the ship as the heavens opened again and this put a damper on any plans to go back to shore that evening to check out Le Truck food kitchens that set up when a cruise ship is in port.
The Wind Spirit that we saw in Raiatea has also joined us in Bora Bora, she must just be on a cruise around French Polynesia.
Thursday April 21, 2016; Bora Bora Day 2
We met up with the gang (minus Connie & Rick) at 7am to catch an early tender to shore to meet up with our lagoon and lunch tour, the Patrick tour, that Pat and Chuck Gibson recommended. We got to shore around 7:30am and were met by Patrick’s daughter and as we were now just 11 she suggested that we all get on the first boat available. That turned out to be piloted by Alex and we set off with him around 8am.
Our first stop was at a location where you swim with sting rays and black tip sharks! We had only been underway, perhaps 10 minutes when the heavens opened up again and by the time we got to the rays & sharks we were all soaked before getting in the water! I should mention here that Alex was dressed in a traditional Pareo and so it appeared little else underneath. One or two of the ladies thought that there was no clothing underneath, but it turned out that he had on something that the Chippendales would be proud to wear! Needless to say the ladies’ spirits were high the rest of the day as they cast their eyes in Alex’s direction!
We had a great swim with the rays and sharks which are attracted by the squid that Alex fed them with. The rays have no fear of us, but the sharks left us plenty of room and we did not have to worry about them. This was a very different experience to stingray city in Grand Cayman as the rays were banging into us as we stood in the chest deep water. By now the rain was taking on monsoon like qualities and visibility was so reduced we could no longer see any land. We all reboarded our boat to make our way to the coral gardens for snorkeling, but the engine would not start!! Convinced that we would be swept out to sea the mood amongst the group changed and although Alex did get the engine started, it looked like our sightseeing was over as Alex fought his way around the island to get us to the Motu for lunch. I should add that not only was it pouring with rain, but we were also “enjoying” a lightning and thunder show as well! Luckily, as we made our way around the south end of the island the weather cleared and we were able to anchor and snorkel at the coral garden, which by chance was just offshore from the Intercontinental resort of yesterday. Jill had a great time snorkeling, but I had to perform a rescue of one of our group who panicked when she inhaled some water and then needed help out of the water into the boat. While we were snorkeling another boat from Patrick’s company turned up, but it was empty! We figured out that the other boat and its guests had probably aborted because of the monsoon and that we were lucky to have been able to get underway early!
After snorkeling we moved onto the Motu where a traditional Polynesian lunch had been prepared for us. Alex explained that Polynesian law allows each family to own land on the main island as well as land on the reefs/motus that encircle the main island. The motu where we had lunch is owned by Patrick’s family. Lunch of pig, chicken and various vegetables had been cooked in an underground oven that had been going since 5am that morning. A fire in a pit is prepared and lit and is used to heat up lava rocks that are then covered by a grill, the food is placed on top and then covered with bamboo leaves and then hessian sacks and left to do its thing! We helped uncover the oven and then enjoyed a very hearty lunch before setting off back to the tender dock. On the way back we saw a hotel that Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson funded, but never came to! It’s called the Bora Bora Condominium. Then we got to see one of eight canons left behind by the US Army after WWII when 2,000 GI’s were stationed on the island to fend off any approaches by the Japanese.
We got back to the tender dock with plenty of time to spare before we needed to return to the ship so a pearl shopping opportunity presented itself and Jill with some help from Judy was able to find a really nice bracelet and some earrings.
Friday April 22, 2016; Pape’ete, Tahiti
Well an unexpected change in our itinerary and we find ourselves docked in Pape’ete instead of Moorea. I had arranged a rental car for today in Moorea so had to get that cancelled. We will be going to Moorea tomorrow and from there setting sail towards Nuku Hiva, our last port of call before San Diego. We suspect that the change is due to the ship needing supplies and perhaps some maintenance work. (Did later find out that the ship had been advised that there would be very bad weather in Pape’ete the day we were scheduled to arrive and that the captain was concerned that this would have impacted delivery of supplies and maintenance activities. In fact the weather in Pape’ete the day after we left was terrible with street flooding where we had walked the day before.)
Based on our concern about getting off the ship in a timely fashion when we return to San Diego I spent time on the phone with AA this morning rescheduling our flights home to the day after we arrive in San Diego. It has been fairly expensive to do so as we had non-refundable tickets so it has cost us the change fee of $200 each plus a fare difference. I am not sure that the AAdvantage rep gave me the best deal, but I was anxious to limit the length of the phone call due to its high cost, $3/minute! I’ll look into that when we get home and if it’s worth it will send a letter to AA. Also booked us into the Doubletree hotel in San Diego for the night we are staying over. Jill said that by us doing this we have now guaranteed that our friends will have no problems getting onto their flights!
We disembarked and went for a long walk around the town, forgoing any round the island tours. We walked along the front through a very nice park and found memorials to the atomic blasts in the Pacific by the French, a memorial to a recent air crash in the islands and one to the recent autonomy of the islands. The park stretched for probably a mile and was full of places to sit as well as play areas for children, a really nice city water front facility.
On our way back to the dock we went into the city a couple of blocks and stumbled across a Pearl Museum, where we spent quite a lot of time learning about pearls through the ages and how they are now cultivated in the islands. The pearls of French Polynesia are unique as to their color, black! I took lots of photos in the museum and will come back and update this section when I get home with more info on the history of pearls. The store associated with the museum had some impressive pieces for sale, the most expensive I saw was for a string of pearls for $250,000!!! Needless to say, they stayed in the store when we left! Then into the main downtown area and into the local market where local tradespeople sell everything from flowers to crafts to fruit, vegetables and fish. A very eclectic place indeed. Jill did a little more shopping in the market and found herself a very nice single pearl necklace, she says that’s it now, we shall see!
Our overall impression of Pape’ete after walking around was not particularly favourable, the city is rundown and in need of a great deal of TLC!
Also anchored in the harbour is the Wind Spirit, which is clearly following us around and a sailing ship the Tenacious, out of Southampton and owned by the Jubilee Sailing Trust. She is a beautiful vessel and is must be great fun to sail on her.
After dinner we enjoyed a great Polynesian show on board featuring music and dance of the islands and then, based on a recommendation from some neighbors we went back on shore to sample a crêpe at one of the many food trucks that set up shop on the dockside in Pape’ete every night.
It was all aboard at 12:30am and then we set sail across the channel to Moorea which is readily visible from Pape’ete.
Saturday April 23, 2016; Moorea
We awoke at anchor in stunning Opunohu Bay, the sun was shining and it looked spectacular. We decided to slow roll getting on a tender to the shore to let the rush dissipate and made it to shore around 11am. As I noted above we had arranged a rental car on Moorea, but for yesterday! I checked to see if any were available, but none were until the afternoon, so we decided instead to take an island tour. As we boarded the bus for the tour it started to rain and did so, off and on for the 3½ hours of the tour! We did stop at a couple of good scenic overviews on our trip around the island, saw a Jack Nicklaus designed golf course and stopped at a distillery and sampled some of the local brews, that made the weather better instantly! The highlight of any tour in Moorea is the Belvedere, a scenic overlook high above Opunohu and Cook’s Bays, however, when we arrived there we couldn’t see anything! Jill and I decided to get out of the coach anyway into the pouring rain and as if by magic the clouds parted and we got to see the view down into the bays. We clearly saw our ship and we could also see in Cook’s Bay the Wind Spirit, which is definitely following us!
There wasn’t much else to see and do after the tour around the dock so we returned to the ship for a well earned lunch and then nap!
As we sailed away from Moorea we said that if we ever come back to French Polynesia, this is the island that we will stay on!
Sunday April 24, 2016; A Day at Sea
Not a good night for yours truly as something I ate yesterday decided it wanted to get out of my body as soon as it could, if not faster! So today for me was spent mostly in the cabin recovering and I only ventured out for a little something to eat later that evening. Jill did catch a talk on tomorrow’s port of call, Nuku Hiva as well as talk on Polynesian culture.
It sounds like it might be quite difficult to get ashore tomorrow as there is only dock space for one tender at a time! However, if we make it we’ve heard about a nice hotel about a mile from the dock where for the purchase of a drink at the bar you can use their swimming pool, sounds perfect!
Monday April 25, 2016; Nuku Hiva
What a staggeringly beautiful sight when we awoke at anchor this morning. The bay where the ship is anchored is surrounded by high cliffs and hills covered in lush vegetation, probably the prettiest anchor location so far!
We went down to get our tender tickets just after 10am and received Red 17; we saw Frank and Ginny and the rest of gang and they had Blue 29, but they had been waiting since 9am! They eventually got ashore around 12pm and then we settled down for our number to be called. We finally boarded our tender at 1:45pm and set foot on land at 2:15pm! We just hoped after all that time that it would be worth the wait!
We decided to set off for the hotel, about a mile away across the bay, hoping that perhaps some of our group would be there as we had mentioned it to them that morning. On the way we stopped another couple returning to the ship what there was to see and they mentioned a church and a Marea as well worth looking at. Well the church, catholic, was stunning, built from many different types of rock and filled with the most amazing wood carvings. The Marea is a reconstruction of an ancient religious site, but very interesting in its own right.
We carried on heading towards the hotel, but although we could see it we couldn’t work out how to get there. Then we heard loud voices and realized that it was Frank and Ginny at the hotel shouting for us to come up and pointing out the way to get there. What a find, an infinity swimming pool beckoned, as did a beer or two and we spent a very pleasant hour there before setting off for our walk back to the dock.
The weather on Nuku Hiva was probably the hottest and most humid of the whole trip and I suspect that many people found it very uncomfortable. Additionally, the tendering operation was most unsuitable for anyone with any mobility issues as getting on and off the tender at both the ship and dock was difficult even for me. I cannot imagine how the crew managed to get the disabled passengers on and off and with the size challenged ones it must be impossible.
The captain did come onto the PA system later to apologize, but it seems to me that the issues we faced must be the same on every stop here, so they should strongly dissuade some passengers from disembarking or find an alternative stop in the Marquesa Islands with better facilities.
Tuesday April 26, 2016; Day 1 of 6 on Return to San Diego
Sunny day, seas calm, lecture about the Shuttle program and efforts to save it. Jilly was a little under the weather today, but we did manage to walk 4 miles today and beat our daily target of 10,000 steps.
Crossing The Equator
Today we enjoyed the ancient ceremony
of turning Pollywogs into Shellbacks! A Pollywog is someone who has
not crossed the equator on a ship and a Shellback is someone that
has. Crew members were humiliated by being covered in food coloring
and then either told to bake in the sun or jump in the pool! It was
all good fun.
Monday May 2, 2016: Arrival in San
Diego
We docked in San Diego before 6am and
by 6:30am they were announcing that non-USA passport holders should
present themselves in the Vista Lounge. This carried on until just
before 9am when passenger disembarkation started. (All non-USA
passport holders has to clear immigration before anyone could
disembark.) Because we were no longer in a hurry to get off the ship
we had chosen the 10am to 10:30am disembarkation timeframe and when
that was announced we had a very straightforward time getting off the
ship, collecting our bags, clearing customs and finding a taxi to
take us to the Doubltree Hotel. In fact it was so efficient that we
thought we could have caught our original flight and so no doubt did
our taxi driver because he was almost at the airport when I reminded
him that we were going to a hotel! We all had a good laugh about
that!
We had to wait for a room to become
available at the hotel, but even so we stood on our balcony and
watched the 11:10am flight to Charlotte take off!!
We then set off to walk around San
Diego visiting the Gaslight District first and then the waterfront
and finally Little Italy where we found a nice restaurant for dinner.
Then back to the waterfront to wave goodbye to the MS Westerdam as
she set sail for Vancouver and more adventures for the passengers on
board.
We had an early dinner and then went to
bed early as we have an early start and long day of travel tomorrow
back to Raleigh.
No comments:
Post a Comment