Day 75

       

It is our last sea day and last day aboard the Amsterdam for some time. We have signed up to do the last half of the world cruise in March 2015 so we thought we wouldn't be on another ship for another year. Today, the last day on board, we decided to sign up for the Voyage of the Vikings in July 2014. We have wanted to do that cruise at some point but knowing that our port lecturer signed a contract to do it in '14 cinched it. She is excellent in giving us the information we need for a successful port day. The trip will take us round trip Boston, stopping in Iceland and Greenland, etc, turnaround in Amsterdam. It should be an excellent one. It is only 35 days. :) We had been planning to drive to Alaska next summer. Guess that will wait until another year. 

The energy on the ship changed once we left our last port. People are almost giddy! I guess it is from anticipation of what comes next along with anxiety of not knowing if everything will fit into our luggage! (Or it could be the abundance of free alcohol we have been given in the last few days!) We have been collecting addresses of friends we have met, hoping to see them on a future cruise. With HAL it is highly likely. We are on this ship with at least a dozen people we met on the world cruise in 2009 plus more that we recognize. It becomes almost like family after being together for so long. Some people have to go from our wonderful days in Polynesia to snow! I am very glad we are not in their shoes. Many on the ship have packed their bags and are having them shipped directly to the world cruise which leaves in January. I can't imagine taking a 75 day cruise then less than a month later getting back on for 4 1/2 months! A lot of people do it though. 

During this cruise 2 men have methodically refinished every railing on the 3 double stairways on the ship. That is 8 or 9 floors of railings! They look really nice now with a natural luster rather than the shiny finish they had before. They are refinishing the benches on deck also. While walking for my last time today I had to wear a jacket the entire 3 miles! That is a first. I started with a jacket several other times but had to remove it after a lap or 2. I guess that part of our welcome home. The ocean is a dark slate grey and looks cold. During the voyage many times the water was warmer than the air!  We saw it change colors too. In the islands it is either many shades of blue or turquoise. In Japan it was many shades of green, very pretty and different. 

HAL has about 2500 Filipino employees fleet wide. We have many on our ship. When the typhoon hit the Philippines many were personally affected. The ship immediately created a fund so we could make financial donations on our shipboard account. They held a silent auction with items done in the water color and craft classes. People were fighting over some of the craft jewelry! You could also bid on a night in a suite including dinner and breakfast. That went for several hundred dollars. The 5k which usually goes to a breast cancer fund went to the typhoon relief this year. Mel and I both participated. In all our ship with 900 passengers raised $27,000! That was amazing. 

Our bags are pretty much packed. We still have a few incidentals to put in before we go to bed tonight. We have already put 12 bags/boxes out to be taken. It was a lot of packing! It will be interesting getting off the ship as we have 3 carry on size bags, Mel's model boat from Majuro and 2 large baskets from Manila. We also have the storyboard from Papua New Guinea which has to be carried pretty much by itself. It is large and heavy. Our steward can help us to the gangway, we are on our own after that. Wish us luck! Good thing we are driving home. 

I know that several of my friends and a couple of family members have been reading this blog. Other than that I have no idea who is "out there". If you have been reading would you please drop me an email letting me know what you think?! I would be very interested in hearing from you. My email is kchew3 @ aol .com. Thanks!

 

Taiohae, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

       

Whew, our last port! It has been an outstanding cruise but I think they saved the best for last giving us 5 days on various islands in French Polynesia. It was really fun to snorkel every day for 4 days in a row seeing different things each day. It is definitely an area we would return to. 

We had to go thru immigration showing we had indeed returned to the ship after Moorea, so we weren't on one of the first tenders. We had made arrangements with another couple to grab a cab to see the island. There are not many vehicles on Nuku Hiva so we were hoping they were successful. When we arrived at the pier, they were no where in sight. I looked for a driver and was able to find one. The man said his wife would drive us. They had a small sign with info about their tour. He was going to drive someone to the airport. We had 3 medical evacuations there! Two of them would fly out via medivac, the other was mobil. Wonder what the problem was? They would have to fly back to Papeete before heading to the states. Scary to think one more day we would have been in the middle of the Pacific with no evacuation possible. There had been people getting off the ship for medical reasons at most ports but thankfully no deaths this trip. 

The wife ended up driving to the airport so we had the man. He spoke little English which was a disappointment. Hers had been very good. But one of our friends, who are from Canada, spoke passable French, so we did ok. Nuku Hiva is very mountainous. There is not a lot to see other than beautiful views. We started up the mountain stopping to take pictures at a couple of spots, then headed down the other side. There was a small village on a river there with a large park type area that had many tikis. It had been some sort of ceremonial area with 3 buildings and raised areas. 

               

We headed out from there just as about 10 vehicles carrying a HAL tour group arrived, good timing. We were again climbing a mountain, this one on the other side of the bay. We went about 10 minutes when we came upon trees across the road. They were trimming them back for some reason. You would think they might have waited for a day that a ship wasn't in! We turned around. We missed 2 archeological sites, one with a pit where they used to keep victims before they were sacrificed. Our friends had heard that a German tourist had been killed and possibly canabelized just 2 years ago! He had gone off boar hunting with a guide and never returned. Since we were unable to see those sites our tour was now 2 hours instead of 3. Our last stop was the beach on the nearby bay. The sand on this island was an unattractive brown unlike the beautiful white sand beaches we had seen elsewhere. There was a small market set up there for all the tours that would arrive there that day. The carving on this island was very fine and rather expensive. They had a lot of jewelry made of seeds. 

Back in town our driver dropped us off at the craft market, just next to the pier. There was also a market on the pier. We ended up buying a carved paddle which is quite large so headed back to the ship to drop it off. We had lunch on the ship since we were there then took the tender back to shore. 

        

 

There were only 2 sights to see in town, the cathedral and museum. The museum was all the way on the other side of the bay. We decided to walk. Nuku Hiva is the island closest to the equator which we had visited on this trip. It was HOT! We walked slow, crossing back and forth across the street to find the most shade. Along the shore were many tikis, some very old, many quite new. It was an interesting walk. The cathedral was off the main road a couple of blocks. It was built in the 70's, so quite new. There was an almost medieval gate near the entrance. The church was a quite modern building filled with beautiful carvings. It was worth the walk to see it. There was a statue of the pope in the garden with tikis on each side of it which I found interesting. The carved pulpit was especially beautiful. 

                                                                          

We continued on to the museum. It had been started by an American woman who sailed to Nuku Hiva with her husband several times before they stayed 32 years ago. It was in a small building behind a restaurant so kind of hard to find. It had only one room with another room full of carvings for sale. We met the woman who founded it telling her she was a legend. We had been told about her on board. 

                                

We headed back to the pier this time walking along the beach. We passed by 3 small children playing in the water naked - nude beach! We were hotter than we'd been before which was amazing. It was incredibly hot in a lot of the ports! We made it back to the pier in about 30 minutes stopping to take a few pictures along the way. We went thru both craft markets very slowly to decide what we were going to buy. We settled on an intricately carved tiki, he is very cute. We were back on the tender headed to the ship at about 4:00. It had been a very hot day!

Later, around dinner time I started feeling nauseous. We ate in the Lido since I didn't feel well. I then went to bed. I ended up in bed all day the next day, which happened to be Thanksgiving. I think the sun just did me in. I did have Thanksgiving dinner, cranberry sauce, turkey and stuffing, just like at home (only not as good), then went back to bed. I was fine later but wow, that was some reaction to the heat. Now we just have to pack and be ready to get off the ship soon. 

Avatoru, Rangiroa, West French Polynesia

It took us almost the entire 60+ days of this trip to remember how to say the name of this place! Avatoru is the name of a town on one of the islands. Rangiroa is the name of the atoll. An atoll, from what I understand, is the old rim of a volcano. It has filled with water which makes up a lagoon in the middle. Rangiroa is one of the largest in the world. There are just 2 cuts in the ring which ships can pass thru. They are not very wide so it was interesting seeing how we maneuvered thru one. 

Mel made reservations for us to snorkel here in early Sept. He emailed to confirm and see how many they could take about 2 weeks before we were to arrive. No reply. There were several people who wanted to go with us but not hearing from the operator we hesitated confirming with anyone else. Finally with less than a week before our arrival Mel received an email. The guys computer had been broken and he'd had to go to Papeete to get it fixed! He could take 7 in one boat plus 8 more in another. Mel started leaving messages for people but the timing was bad---we would be off the ship for over 24 hrs in Moorea. It ended up working out fine and on the morning of our arrival we had 16 ready to go on the pier at 8:30, with another guy just showing up hoping he could go too. We got in the boat for 6 the other 11 piled into the other boat. Each boat had a driver and a helper. 

As soon as we took off they put all our bags up front to keep them dry. That should have told us something! It was an hour ride to the other side of the lagoon in very rough water. We were sprayed with water while we bounced around for that hour, not very enjoyable. Once there they dropped us close to shore then took us between 2 islands to snorkel. At first it looked so barren compared to Moorea. There was no foliage like Moorea had had. It was very Brice Canyon like, all browns and things sticking up. But all those things were living coral, a lot more than any other place we'd been. And all the coral was full of clams, we had never seen that many. A lot of fish too, it was very nice snorkeling. This was the first snorkeling experience for one of our friends. She floated on a noodle while one of the guys pushed her around, it was quite funny. I did tell her that she started at the top in the snorkeling world, not to expect it to be like this at other places! 

             

               There were many types of coral in various formations and colors. 

       

                                     The different colored clams fascinated me!

After about an hour in that location we walked along the shore to the reef. The shore was a mixture of sand and volcanic rock. The reef was very dramatic lava shapes. The guys told us we were going to the jacuzzi. There was a pool next to the reef with very warm water. It was enjoyable. We found some sea creatures, namely 2 different types of urchins, which we took turns holding. There was also a sea snail which is this long, ugly thing with a bunch of tentacles up front. We had seen them in Moorea also, but never before that. 

       

We then headed to another island for lunch. We walked quite a distance thru water. It was a good thing we all had water shoes on as some of the rocks and coral were jagged. We were quite the group slugging thru the water which at times was chest deep. I had collected some shells so had to keep my hands above water. To took a good 20 to 30 minutes to cross. 

Once on the island the guys had brought all our bags onshore which was a relief. I needed my sunglasses! There were 2 long tables set up for lunch. We were served family style. Maybe we were just hungry after so much activity in the morning, but that food was delicious! They served a type of dirty rice, mahi mahi, chicken and coconut milk ceviche. The best was the coconut bread, I could have eaten a lot of that. They had a grill there as well as a couple of small buildings where they kept their stuff. It was nicely set up. 

After lunch they fed the leftovers to the sharks! There had been about a dozen small black tip sharks circling around just off the beach. One was only a foot long, very cute. They attacked the food putting up a splash right in front of us. I decided to sit down in the water to watch. At one point 2 came and took a bite of my feet at the same time. I barely felt it but it sure surprised me! Another lady in our group thought it looked like fun so she joined me. 

We boarded our boats for the hour ride back. Once on the other side we went thru the pass to find the dolphins. We saw 4 or 5 of them but for only a short time. Because of the current running thru the pass, in or out depending on the tide, the waves were huge! Interesting being out there in a small boat like that. We headed back to what they call the aquarium. There is a sand bar/island just past the pass in the lagoon. We got out of the boats to snorkel again. They were feeding the fish so there were hundreds. Mel threw some food right on my legs so I had dozens of fish all around me as well as on top of my legs. They were so close it was hard to get a good picture. 

The aquarium was beautiful with huge coral and hundreds of fish. We could see why they called it that! 

              

We finally returned to the pier. It was 4:00, all aboard was at 4:30. We had no time to see anything on the island but we sure had seen a lot in the water! This atoll has the only south sea winery as well as the largest black pearl farm in the world. Guess we will have to go back. 

       

           The pass we went thru with the sand bar in front. The aquarium was just in front of that. 

Moorea, French Polynesia Day 2

       

When I opened the curtains in our bungalow on Sunday morning there was our ship! It was different seeing it like that from shore. I finished the crepe from last night then went looking for Mel. He had been sitting with Al and Christian in the restaurant. We both just had coffee, they actually didn't charge us for it! That was nice but it wasn't as good as my Nespresso lattes I'd been having in our cabin every morning on the ship. We headed out to the pier to pick up our friend. He was walking off the tender just as we walked down to the pier, perfect timing. We spent a bit of time at the market on the pier then went back to the hotel to snorkel. Don was as impressed by it as we were. We spent well over an hour in the water then had to clean up and check out. 

                                                         

                 The blue things pull in if you touch them. They are part of the coral!

        

We had lunch at the hotel, Don's treat which was nice. I again had their ceviche, this time with fish. It was delicious. 

        

We sat around for a bit watching the water. Mel and Don were done in the water so I went back in by myself. It was so beautiful I could have spent several more hours out there. I spent just about an hour then got dressed. I wanted to use the free Internet in the lobby for a while before returning to the ship. Al and Christian were doing the same. We got in a taxi at about 3:30 and were back at the pier shortly after. While the rest headed back to the ship, I did more shopping on the pier. They had some beautiful things, most with beautiful prices! I did not buy much. We were back on board and unpacked well before dinner at 5:30. It had been a wonderful experience in Moorea. I think it is the best of the islands in Polynesia. 

         

Moorea (Papeete, Tahiti) French Polynesia

       

                                                        Sunset from our deck. 

The ship arrived in Papeete at 8 am. We had been here before so decided to catch a ferry to Moorea and spend the night there. The ship would be there the next day. We were hoping to catch the 8:30 ferry so we raced to their pier which was fairly close to our pier. By the time we decided which ferry to take, it was too late for the 8:30. The 9:15 ferry was a faster one so we ended up arriving in Moorea 5 minutes before the other one! It also gave me a chance to go back to our pier and check out the market. We had arranged with another passenger and his nephew to share a taxi to the hotel once we reached Moorea so we were traveling with them. We arrived in Moorea at about 10:30. I asked a security guard at the pier there if there were rental cars available. He said at the hotels. So we found a taxi and took off. There is only one road that goes around the island so easy to get around. We were at the hotel by 11. 

I made the reservation at the Hilton almost a year ago. We had seen the over-the-water bungalows in Bora Bora on our last trip. It seemed like the ultimate thing to do. I had been looking forward to this our entire trip and it did not disappoint! When we arrived our rooms were not ready so we rented a car to see the island. The first place I wanted to go was a juice factory. I knew it would close at noon since it was a Saturday, so we headed there first. Mel designated me as driver which allowed me to stop whenever I wanted. The factory itself was closed but their shop and tasting bar were open. We tried a lot of things including their special fruit punch (with alcohol), coconut and ginger liqueurs, and some fruit juices. We ended up buying a bottle of vanilla rum because the bottle is beautiful! We bought a couple of other items also. Not usual for us to drink that much let alone before noon! 

We started back around the island road. The one road going into the interior was up to a lookout point called Belvedere. From there we could see the 2 inlets on the island, Cook's Bay where our ship would be and Opunohu Bay. It was a beautiful view. It would have been nice to see it with our ship there too. The hotel had told us a about a nice place to stop for lunch so we did. It was a small building with a kitchen with most of the tables out under trees and by the water. It was packed. We were asked if we had reservations, ah, no. We had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. Then we had to wait another 15 to order then 30 for the food to come! But it was delicious. I had their version of ceviche done with coconut milk and shrimp. The guys all had steaks. It was all worth the wait. We saw our cabin next door neighbors there. They took a message back to the ship for us for a friend. He was going to come to the Hilton the next day to snorkel. We wanted to let him know that we had rented a car and would pick him up. It worked out well. We next stopped at a small shopping area then a Cultural Village. There was supposed to be old buildings like the original Tahitians lived in as well as a nice shop and dancers. When we arrived there were some guys standing around out front. They said there was going to be a wedding there that day. We walked thru the shop which had nothing of interest, then went out to see the buildings. There were 5 young women dressed in typical dress of the islands complete with coconut bras! The guys got a kick out of posing with them for a picture, especially the young one. I think Mel enjoyed it too. 

             

We stopped at a grocery store to see what they had. Al and Christian bought beer for the hotel. Then headed back to the hotel. By this time it was about 3:30, we had gone all the way around the island. 

Back at the hotel our rooms were ready. They took us out on a golf cart as it was quite a walk with a small suitcase. Our bungalow was almost at the end. It was beautiful! They had laid out single bougainvillea flowers on the bed and on top of all the rolled towels in the bathroom. There was plexiglass under the coffe table to watch the fish from inside. From the manager we had a bottle of champagne on ice and a box of 8 different flavored macarons, yum! We immediately put on our swimsuits and went out on the deck. It looked like a lot of rocks in a sandy area, not very exciting.....but when we went in with snorkel gear all the rocks were coral full of beautiful fish! It was even better than in Bora Bora. We snorkeled for over an hour right off our deck seeing so many types of coral, some of it HUGE, and fish that we hadn't seen before, it was a lot of fun.

             

                                  Mel standing by the ladder to our deck. 

After getting cleaned up we found Al and Christian to go to dinner. The Hilton was having a special Tahitian buffet that night but for $100 per person, we decided to pass. We had passed by a nice looking restaurant so went back there to eat. We found out later that people seldom go there anymore which explains why we were the only ones there the entire time. It was an experience! The owner/waiter/cook (?) spoke very little English. He carried 2 boards with the menu written on them for us to see. Mel tried to take a picture of them but he quickly turned then around, no pictures. Strange. He tried to tell us what it said but we didn't understand everything. Three of us ordered mahi mahi which seemed safe.  Mel ordered the fresh fish of the day which we only knew had bones. It turned out to be mostly bones! It took him a long time to eat it. The owner asked us how our parrot fish was, we ordered mahi mahi. He said oh yes, I mean the mahi mahi. Not sure what we ate. It was good though, not excellent. We passed on dessert to go back to the crepe bar at the Hilton. 

              

                                                We think the red guy is Mel's boney fish. 

The crepe bar is at the intersection of the 2 docks with bungalows. They served both savory and sweet. They also had a lot of lights on below them and fed the fish, which were mainly sharks! Most were black tip sharks like we had swam with before there was one huge one that was a nurse shark. This was a few dozen feet from where we were swimming this afternoon! I had a chocolate coconut pineapple crepe which was huge! I gave part of it to Christian and had enough for breakfast the next day. I also had a Chi Chi drink which was basically a piña colada made with vodka, very sweet and very good. It was a great ending to a wonderful day. And it was nice to sleep in a bed that wasn't moving and no engine noise for one night. 

       

Bora Bora, French Polynesia

         

We were in Bora Bora once before for 2 days so decided to just have a relaxing day at the Hilton Hotel where we knew there was good snorkeling.  We were off the ship by about 8:30. This was the first port in the entire cruise where we had to tender in. Not as easy as just walking off. There is a market at the pier so I walked thru there for a few minutes. After the primitive islands we have been to, everything seemed to be very expensive. I left Mel in the shade at the pier and raced down the road a bit to a Chinese supermarket. I had remembered that they had better prices than the tourist places for vanilla. I had to buy some vanilla powder for our granddaughter. I also found some nice Tahitian cookies in tins so bought one. On the way back to the pier I stopped at a couple of tourist shops. The same cookies were 3 times the price so I ran back to the supermarket to buy more. I also bought some vanilla shampoo which is wonderful. 

Back at the pier we met with another couple to go to the Hilton pier. Their hotel is on one of the outer islands. While waiting, the manager of the Hilton was dropped off in his private boat. He then returned and rode the same boat as us, back to the hotel. He was a very friendly Frenchman. 

We arrived on the island at about 11. We immediately got in the water with our snorkeling gear. They have coral and a lot of fish right off the beach. It was a nice day of snorkeling. The manager came over to talk to us while we were eating lunch. He asked our names when we told him that we would be staying at the Hilton in Moorea. Wonder what surprise he will have for us? For lunch Mel and I ordered a seafood plate for 2. I think it would have fed the 4 of us, it was enormous. There were a dozen grilled shrimp, 2 different kinds of seared tuna, an entire deep fried fish and one fish that was very fishy tasting, which we didn't eat. Other than that one piece, it was delicious. 

                                              They look like ghost fish!

              

                                                 This guy followed me for a long time. 

We went back in the water for a bit then used their outdoor shower to get rid of the salt and get dressed. We took the 4:00 boat back to town. They took us right to our tender pier which was nice. We hopped on a tender and were back on board by 4:45. It had been a nice, relaxing day. Nice when we don't have to race around trying to see everything in one day!

       

On Our Way Home

In less than 2 weeks we will be in the port of Long Beach hauling our luggage off the ship for the last time. We can tell the cruise is almost over because the ship keeps running out of things. The fresh pineapple which I have had for breakfast every sea day is long gone as are the mixed nuts in the bars. There are only peanuts now. The major change was in the cookies. All of a sudden they just weren't as good anymore. I finally asked about them and was told that they ran out of the frozen cookie dough so were making them from scratch. Whoever the baker is needs a new recipe! They taste like they have no brown sugar. Probably just as well, the others were very tempting. 

We do still have some wonderful ports. Four days in a row at 4 different islands in French Polynesia should be wonderful. Then after another day at sea yet another FP island. Then we will have 6 days at sea to pack. I can only imagine what our cabin will look like during that time. We have a lot to pack! 

I think this has been the smoothest cruise we have ever been on. The roughest area was between Vancouver and LA! Our captain has done an excellent job of keeping us safe even if it did include a couple of disappointments. He has avoided the many typhoons that have wrecked havoc in Southeast Asia this fall. Skipping Yap and heading straight south to avoid Typhoon Hayain was a very smart move. That one was devastating for the Philippines, where we had just visited. 

We have been healthy on this trip also. Other times we have gotten the colds that went around the ship. Early in the cruise there were people hacking like crazy in the lectures and shows. Then it calmed down a bit. We had a lot of new passengers get on in Hong Kong and Singapore. Again, hacking all over the place. We have been very lucky. Toward the beginning there seemed to be an ambulance at every pier also. We know one couple who got off in Shanghai. He had had a heart attack. He was in the hospital in China for a week before returning to the states. They do not provide food in the hospital so his wife was having to bring some to him. Couldn't have been very easy in a strange city like that. We haven't heard of any deaths this trip. When we had the smell in our room there was a rumor that it was a decaying body that hadn't been found for days. Amazing what people will say. Stewards are in our rooms daily and that smell would have been a lot worse if it had been a body! We kept asking but they always say they are looking into it then hope people will stop asking, as we did. 

HAL hires Indonesians for their stewards and wait staff. They have a school there for training as well as one in the Philippines for the bar staff. The Indonesians put on a cultural show for us today. It wasn't perfect but was very entertaining. The room was packed which was nice. The show is usually at 11 pm, too late for most passengers including me! Our steward and table server were both in it. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. On a long cruise like this we get to know those who serve us quite well. The Amsterdam is headed to dry dock in San Francisco after we all debark in LA. We have invited Hasto, our steward, to a day of sightseeing. Hope he will get the time off. 

Passengers are starting to hand out cards so we can stay in touch. If we continue cruising on HAL I have no doubt that we will see some of them again. Some of the people take long cruises like this every year, or even 2! It is an entirely different society than we'd known before. We have just under 300 days on HAL. Most of our table mates have over 700. There are people onboard with over 1000! I don't think we will ever reach that level. I would rather watch the grand kids grow up.