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. 

Pago Pago, American Samoa

         

We once again decided not to take a private tour with 50 people and left the ship to find a taxi. There was a large market on the pier but we had decided to get a taxi and do that later. There were people lined up at the entrance to the port with signs saying bus tour or taxi tour. We went to the first man in line and asked how much for the day. He said $200. We offered him $100 and kept going back and forth until he agreed on $120 for 6 hours. We had a list of the places we wanted to go, starting with a craft market. He headed off to the left (there is only one road around the harbor, a mountain goes up beyond that), from what little we knew, thought he was going in the wrong direction. Not a good start. He didn't appear to understand what we were saying, great, we got a driver who doesn't speak English! He finally stopped at a house. He said it was where he lived. An older man came out and was looking at our list trying to explain it to him, I assume. We took off again, passing by the port going in the opposite direction. Since no one seemed to know where the market was, we said we would start at the National Park Visitor Center. I knew we were going in the right direction from a map I'd seen. I finally saw a sign for the center and had him turn around. Not only did he not speak English but he didn't know his way around! The ranger in the center was very helpful but did not speak Samoan. Another Samoan ranger came out of the office and explained at length where we wanted to go, giving him a map with marks on it. Gau kept saying he was confused, very strange. We left the center headed to the park. Within about 5 minutes Gau started asking for more money. That was the last straw, I was pissed. I told him to turn around and take us back to the port NOW! He said no, that it was ok and kept driving. 

Pago Pago had a tsunami in 2009. We asked Gau if he had been there. We were driving up a steep hill to the other side of the mountain and island. He said he had taken his kids up that same road to escape the wave and had been very scared. His English was getting better. We continued down the road to a beautiful bay on the other side. Then we followed the road along the shore, up to a beautiful view point then down again to another bay. There were small villages at each of the bays. There were National Park signs along the way with hiking trails posted. It was just a viewing drive, pretty country. We headed back the way we had come stopping at the top of the mountain to take pictures of the harbor. Our ship is very small almost dead center in the picture above. During this drive Gau gave Mel a betting form to fill out for him, a $5 card to pick the winning football teams! The Samoans are very proud of the Samoans who play football in the US. He was wearing a 49er cap. The Samoans in general are very large people. 

               

Back in town we passed by the huge Starkist plant. Gau told us he had worked there for 14 years until he had to quit and stay in a hospital for 6 months due to lack of sleep. I had a feeling he'd had a breakdown and his confusion in the morning was from drugs, maybe Prozac?, and his mind was now cleared since they were wearing off. Who knows, but his English had definitely improved, whew! He said that Starkist employs 700 people who work different shifts 24 hours a day. It smelled as we passed by. He said it does not smell inside. 

We stopped at a market we had seen on our way our of town. I think it was the one we had been looking for in the first place. It was full of clothing and fabrics, few carvings. We didn't buy anything and were out of there in 10 minutes. 

The place we wanted to visit the most was a Marine Reserve we had read about. It has over 200 types of coral and is supposed to be a great place to snorkel. The ranger had told us to go to the Ocean Center at the other end of town, it was in their jurisdiction. The center was a modern building at the end of town. We asked about the reserve and found out that it was a long drive plus a hike to the water so probably not something we could do in the time we had left. That was a bit disappointing. But the women who worked there told us about another bay that had good snorkeling and not as much turbulence as the harbor. One of them was Samoan so we had her tell Gau where to go. We asked her to tell him where to shop for crafts while she was at it. Nice to have help from others. 

       

There was a park next to the bay. We parked and put on our gear. We always snorkel with swim shirts, I also use swim shorts, to protect our skin. I started wearing water shoes but switched to fins when I realized there was quite a current. It wasn't the best snorkeling but we did see quite a few different kinds of fish and coral. There were a lot of sea cucumbers! The most beautiful were the 2 bright blue starfish. I had a fish decide to examine me and came within inches of my mask several times, it was really funny. We swam for about 45 minutes then headed back to the car. 

We went to the 2 stores looking for crafts without any luck. I did find some nice shirts. One that I bought was made in Fiji! I had looked for one there without finding anything. Funny that I found what I wanted in Samoa and less expensive too! Gau asked if we would like to go to a waterfall. We tried to get an idea of how long it would take to go there then back to the port. He said it would depend on how fast we walked. We finally figured that we would have time so decided to go. We didn't know what we were in for! 

         

We parked at some small apartment buildings. The path started out as a nice grassy road. Then we entered the jungle. The path was now about a foot wide going around trees and rocks. We could hear the stream then saw it. Gau stopped at the side of the stream and said we had to take our shoes off to cross. I told him I was fine walking thru the water in my sandals. Mel hesitated because it would be hard to put his shoes back on with wet feet. Gau said "I'll carry you!", and had Mel put his arms around his neck and across the stream they went. It was so funny, we were cracking up. This guy was strong. He just walked with Mel on his back as if it were nothing. By the time we had returned to the car, he had carried Mel about 4 times as well as hauled us both up rocks like we were light as feathers. I am not sure if we would have made it without him. He had definitely redeemed himself from this morning! And the falls were beautiful with a small pool at the base. Mel didn't swim but I did. The water was quite cool. There were quite a few fish that looked a bit like perch. They were from 2" to 12"! I was glad to have a mask so I could keep an eye on them. They seemed very curious about me and kept coming up so I could almost touch them. 

On the way back to the port we saw some rescue people out in a bay. There was a boat out past the reef as well as 2 jet skis. We stopped to see what was going on. A portion of a whale had washed up onto the reef. They were trying to pull it out to sea. It was already pretty decomposed. I can only imagine the smell. They didn't want that smell so close to shore. Interesting sight. We stopped back at the Ocean Center to watch a 15 minute film on Samoa. We invited Gau to watch it with us. American Samoa is a very beautiful country. 

We arrived at the pier at almost 3:30. We gave Gau $160 since we had been gone for more than 6 hours and he had done a good job in spite of the rough start. He was very happy. It had been a good day. We shopped the large market on the pier until almost 4:30, all aboard time. We found there what we had been looking for all day, crafts. We made a few purchases then went onboard. We would definitely come back to this place. There is a lot more that we would like to see. 

Lautoka, Viti Levu, Fiji

       

Fiji must have a violent history because most of the carvings offered for sale were war clubs, war knives and cannibal forks! They also had kava bowls which were used during ceremonies. It is a liquid narcotic! Some of the tours were offered some to taste.  The people who tried it said it numbed their lips and tongue. Only the chiefs used the cannibal forks, they were the only ones allowed human consumption. We bought a fork then saw this one on the shelf. It had just been brought out from the back. I took a picture then we bought it. It was the only one that came with a stand. 

               

Fiji was the first port where we didn't plan well. Mel arranged with another couple to try to get a boat to snorkel first thing in the morning but I wanted to visit a garden that closed at noon. We ended up going to the garden first thing then meeting the others at 10...which left us no time to do anything but the garden. Oh well, can't see everything in every port. 

             

The Garden of the Sleeping Giant was started by actor Raymond Burr. He was an avid orchid grower so wanted a place to showcase his collection. It is called what it is because it is on the side of a mountain referred to as the sleeping giant. It looks like one from the distance. We grabbed a taxi on the pier and took the 30 minute ride out to the garden. The first walkway was under a net for shade and had pots of orchids on both sides. It was really beautiful. After the orchids was a pond with water lilies. The trail wound around up the hill, most of it a boardwalk. At the top there was a rope across the path. I went under it for a ways and saw that another couple who was ahead of us had gone that way so we did too. Unfortunately it was closed because it was slippery and Mel fell twice. Not good. The first part had sand on the boards to make them less slippery. Fortunately Mel was not hurt, just one scrape on his back. 

 

It was extremely hot and humid walking thru that place. When we got back to the entrance we were given cold fruit juice to drink, thought that was nice. We headed back to the ship. 

We were in our cabin at 10:10. The other couple didn't contact us until 10:30. They had had no luck in finding a place to snorkel. The beautiful pictures everyone sees of Fiji are taken on the outer islands and it is a full day trip to do that. So at 10:30 we really had no plans. We took the ship's shuttle into town. There is a famous store called Jack's that sells anything and everything from Fiji. We were told not to buy there and instead buy in the market where crafts were a lot less expensive. We walked thru Jack's then headed to the market. Unfortunately it was Sunday so the market wasn't open. Nor were most of the stores in town. The few that were open were selling fabric and Indian outfits. Most of the businesses in Fiji are owned by Indians. We did go to the supermarket to look around. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was quite busy though. 

Back at Jack's, we picked out a number of carvings and shirts. They had brought in a lot of extra people to help out which was nice as the place was packed with people from the ship. No where else to go! We got back on the shuttle and were on the ship for lunch at about 1. It was very odd being back that early on a port day. I decided to walk on deck. First time around a lady was looking over the rail. There was a sea turtle swimming right beside the ship. That was nice to see. But they were doing  maintenance on the deck so we had to walk back and forth rather than around. After a mile I gave up. I went back to the cabin and told Mel there was something I still wanted to buy at Jack's so we went back on the shuttle for more shopping! This time we were back on board at 3:30. All aboard was 4:30. It wasn't a very successful day. 

After dinner we were just about to pass thru the reef that surrounds the larger island. We went out on deck to see the waves breaking on the reef. Behind the ship were about 10 tiny porpoises playing in our wake! They were jumping it or just jumping and doing flips in the air. That was fun to watch. Next port we will have better plans. 

Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanauatu

        

We were in Luganville during our world cruise in 2009. It was pouring rain, that's pretty much all I remember. We were hoping for better weather this time. We arrived at 8:00 am in beautiful sunshine. We were going out with a different group at 8:30 so had 30 minutes to shop the market on the pier. At 20 after Mel came to get me, they were all together and ready to go. Bad start with a new group but they didn't seem too upset, we just got in a nice new 12 passenger van and off we went. 

We did a quick drive thru town, stopping for a minute to look at the market then headed out of town. This was a snorkeling tour so the first stop was at a beach at Million Dollar Point. It is called that because after the war millions of dollars worth of equipment was shoved into the ocean there. The water was a bit cloudy and the sun was behind some clouds so visibility wasn't the best. It looked like an underwater junk yard with few recognizable items. We did see 2 cannons. We found out later that further down the beach was a tank, that would have been interesting to see. The pictures I took are pretty much all the same color except for a burst of color like the red coral and blue starfish. It was an interesting place to snorkel. 

    

Next we went to one of Santo Espiritu's 3 Blue Holes. These are beautiful pools on a river of some sort. The water actually felt cold after the warm ocean. There was a lot of alge on the rocks where we entered the water. Other than that the water was crystal clear and beautiful. There were no fish and it was quite deep so not much to see. But it was refreshing and a nice swim. 

         

Some time ago a Brittish man purchased a large piece of land which includes the land around a beautiful bay. He has coconut trees and a lot of cattle as well as a small restaurant on the beach. He eventually wants to add cabanas for visitors to spend the night. We drove down a steep drive to the restaurant. We first went swimming. There was nothing to see other than the bottom strewn with dead coral. I did see one fish about an inch long. After swimming we ordered lunch which was made with fresh seafood. It was delicious!  

That was our last stop so we headed back to town. The others wanted to be dropped at the beginning of the market on the pier. Mel and I had the driver drop us at the food market on the other side of town. I wanted to get a picture of something I had seen at the market, BATS!!! Right beside the road one woman was selling bats. I asked if they eat them with no reply. As you can see from the picture, the people of Vanauatu were not as friendly as those in the Soloman Islands. 

The bats were priced differently, I assume by size. Someone at our table had seen a program showing them being deep fried and eaten whole. Yuck!! I think it was the most unusual thing we have seen in a market and we have seen a lot of markets!

We continued down the Main Street in town. We found 2 different craft coops but they had mostly clothing. They had a few carvings but nothing like we had seen in other ports. I did find a lady sitting on the floor behind a counter sewing with a hand cranked machine. It was old and looked very uncomfortable to be sitting and sewing like that. 

There were few other stores of interest. Most were Everything stores which we have seen in most of the islands of the Pacific. We reached the road to the pier which had booths set up full of colorful fabrics and dresses. We looked at everything since we still had more than an hour until all aboard. We did buy one carving but not much more of interest. We were back in our cabin over an hour before sail away.