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. 

Honiara Hosts Largest Cruise Ship!

That was the headline in the Solomon Island paper today. The story was under a 1/3 page size picture of our ship. They were thrilled to have us there and went out of their way to show us a good time. We had never had a send off with hundreds of people on the pier before. Some said it was thousands!  Our taxi driver had asked if they could go of the ship with us when we stopped for lunch. Too bad we couldn't take them. I guess if everyone could do that it would become a security nightmare. The Solomon Islands have dealt with a lot of political problems in the past so had very little tourism. I think they are hoping that this will be the beginning of something. It was HAL's first time there. 

It was cooler today with a nice breeze and overcast. Hope it is sunny for our stop tomorrow. We are snorkeling again. The seas have been reasonably calm for the entire voyage. That is quite amazing considering the different paths we had to take to avoid typhoons! Only once did they tie the deck chairs down and deliver ginger and green apples to the front desk. That is what they give for sea sickness. Not once have the barf bags appeared on every railing. I find that rather amusing, probably because I don't get seasick. Hopefully it will stay the same for the remainder of our voyage. We will be home in less than 3 weeks!

Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands

                                    

We decided to go off on our own today rather than stick with the group with the private tour. Someone on Cruise Critic had written up all of our ports before we left so we had a list of things we wanted to see, from WWII and not. We were off the ship by 8:10. They had maps on the pier which showed where the craft markets were. We went to an ATM first as we had been told that they would not accept US$. The market closest to the pier was a ladies market. They had mostly clothing and jewelry. The one stall that had beautiful carvings had no prices. We went back to them 3 times to get prices. We ended up buying one item from them and a mask from a different vendor. From there we started walking to the National Museum where there was supposed to be crafts for sale also. A man started walking with us and asking about where we were from. He told us he had a stall at a craft market which turned out to be very large, across the street from the museum. They had beautiful carvings but they were also very expensive. We are used to paying a few dollars not $100. We started to look at the native people carvings, a man and a woman decorated with shell bead jewelry. They came in all sizes. We bought a couple of things then went to the museum. 

       

The National Museum was in several buildings around a garden. They had large totem like statues in the garden from different south sea islands like Fiji and Easter Island. Inside were artifacts as well as some information about the war in the Solomons. In back there was a stage with native dancers. They had different ones scheduled for all day. We visited the store there then went to look at the crafts at the entrance. Mel talked to the men taking admission there about getting us a taxi for the day. A man named John called his brother who drives a taxi. While we were waiting for him to arrive we ran back across the street to take another look at the carved native couple. John went with us. I think he was afraid that we wouldn't go back. In the mean time the lady selling the couple at the museum had lowered her price in half. It was tempting but we decided to see if we might find something else that we liked better. 

The taxi arrived and we got in. It was like the lights went out. He had his windows so shaded that we could barely see out, not ideal for sightseeing. But we were kind of stuck so just went anyway. We'd been told he had A/C also but that was barely functioning. It was again very hot. We headed out of town to the east. Our first stop was the airport! Turns out it is Henderson field and has a lot of history from the war. Next to it is a cemetery where a lot of servicemen are buried. Each headstone had a tree next to it so the area was full of trees in perfect rows. 

From there we took a very rough road to the top of a hill. This was Bloody Ridge where a famous battle took place. On the way back down we stopped at a table by the road where they were selling old Coke bottles. There was a small village just off the road. All the villagers came running to see us at the road while we headed straight back to the village! There were some very cute little kids. One older lady with a big blonde Afro told us that they were her grandchildren. Everyone said hello and had big smiles for us. All the people we encountered were very nice. We then went to a carving school. They had some beautiful pieces but the prices were very high so we continued 

                                                                     

We had told one of our table mates that we would be back around noon to get into our swimsuits and get our snorkel gear. We asked our guides to wait for 30 minutes and when we came back we would bring them lunch. We found Don and arranged to meet at the gangway. I made 2 sandwiches and got a lot of cheese and cookies. Back at the room I remembered that I also wanted to take apples so went back up to the Lido for them. They had pears also so I grabbed 2 of those too. Our guides had never eaten an apple!  I was glad that I took the effort. I tried to explain to them that the pears would be better in 2 or 3 days. Within 30 minutes they had eaten everything including the pears and about 10 cookies! I guess they were hungry. 

We read on our list about a research center that is trying to save the giant clams. Figured that would be interesting so headed there first. After about 40 minutes we were wondering where we were going. The list had said it was 14 miles. Well, we finally found it but it looked like it had been closed for years. There was a river nearby with women washing their clothes. The old cement tanks were now being used to dry clothes, there was clothing spread out in most of them. Now we headed back the way we'd come to go to a WWII War Museum. The entrance fee was $15 and it was just an open yard filled with old planes, guns, etc. not very exciting but I guess Mel and Don enjoyed it. 

       

 

It was finally time to go to the beach. I had seen the sign on the way out but couldn't remember where it was. We had traveled a long way out of town. We finally pulled in to the right area. They wanted an entrance fee of $7 per person which I thought odd. We paid then went in. There was an old, rusted ship sticking out of the water a ways away so we walked to that. We all got in the water. It was warmer than the air!  But it wasn't very clear so the visibility wasn't great. That was disappointing. I didn't want to get near the ship until Mel did. Turns out it was covered with all kinds of coral, many different colors and shapes, just beautiful. Of course I'd forgotten to take my underwater camera so no pics. Mel did take movies. The wreck was acting like a reef so when you got near it the water would pull you closer. I thought it was quite creepy swimming around an old ship but when Mel passed over the side, I did too. Now we could see the deck of the ship below us, creepy. The fish and coral were beautiful though. 

John told us it was time to go so we got out of the water and packed up our gear. It was about 3:30, all aboard was at 4:30. Then the car wouldn't start! He fussed with it then went to talk to a group down the beach who were there with 2 trucks. They were going to try to jump the car but the cables they had were about the size of a regular power cord. Did not look promising! I said we should start walking to the road to hitch a ride and if they got it started they could pick us up. It was getting close to when we needed to be back at the ship. Then we went back to ask the truck driver if he would take us to town. He said no. Not sure how it came about but then he said he was going to town now and we could go. So we hopped into the back and off we went! We gave our taxi guys about 3/4 of what we had agreed on. They were not happy but they could have made us miss the ship and now we needed to pay this other guy. I felt bad but oh well, we were on our way. Mel and I were cracking up, Don did not look amused. I said to him that he didn't look very happy. He replied "I am happy inside!"  Too funny. (His wife told us that she never knows when he is enjoying something either.)

So we are in the bed of a truck bouncing along and it stops. Driver had to buy some betel nuts. Next stop was to get gas, guess we are on the milk run. When we leave the cover of the gas station it is now raining, just what we need. Of course we were still pretty wet from swimming so it was not a big deal. Stopped again to unload whatever I had been leaning against in the back. Next stop was to drop off the last guy then the driver comes around and asks "Where are you going?" We said to the ship, no comprehension. Big boat, still nothing. I tried the museum which would be close enough, nada. He finally said "the port", yes! More bumps and traffic and we pulled up at the gate to the pier at 4:10. Don headed straight for the ship. I told Mel that we still had time to go to the nearby market to get a mask for Dorothy. She had asked us to get one, no more than $20. I quickly went to the market while Mel took pics of a statue for the Coastal Watchers.  I asked the price of a couple of items, still too high. I went to another table and realized that the woman speaking on the loudspeaker was now saying a prayer. The minute she said Amen, I asked the price of the masks. $12, perfect. Bought it for Dorothy and headed out of there. Just outside the gate to the market a man came up to us and said he had our dolls. Huh? Then he said little people. Have no idea how he found us but it was the guy from the large market we had gone to in the morning and he had some native people carvings. We didn't buy them in the morning because they were over $100. He offered them to us for $50. We countered with $40 and bought them. They are a bit smaller than the ones we had really liked, with a bit less detail but for $40 they were not a major investment. How the heck he found us.....  He had had them wrapped in a sheet and didn't want to give that up so I had him put the woman carefully in my bag and I just carried the man. I told him I was taking a man home from the Solomon Islands and they all laughed. 

Finally on the pier there were hundreds of people waving goodbye and watching the native dancers. Ours was the largest ship that they had seen in 13 years! There were also about 200 passengers on deck 3 watching all the activity. As we pushed our way thru the crowd they started yelling at us, it was quite loud and funny. The people actually just parted when they saw that there were passengers trying to get thru. The officer at the gangway said we still had 4 minutes so were not late but, we were the LAST people onboard. They took up the gangway as soon as we passed. It had been a GREAT day!

Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

       

  

We visited a different port in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 2011. We felt like it was the most primitive place we had seen in the world. We had purchased a number of carved items. Toward the end of the day vendors were asking to trade our towels for masks! Of course they were the ship's towels but we did do a trade. This time I packed one suitcase full of old, mostly disney, beach towels to trade in Rabaul. Since Mel and I couldn't possibly carry that many towels, I gave two to each couple at our table to use to trade as well as 2 to each of our cabin stewards for their kids. They were both thrilled. Mel decided that we should have a contest to see who did the best trade, more on that later. 

The sail in to Rabul was quite dramatic with live volcanoes on the shore. Rabul was virtually destroyed when the most active one erupted and dumped up to 8 feet ash on the entire area in 1994. Most of the buildings collapsed under the weight. The government moved the residents further from the volcano to a town called Kokopo. The ship arrived at 8. We were off it at 8:05. Our tour didn't start until 9 so we were able to be the first to the vendors set up just outside the gate. They had just put blankets down by the side of the road. It was HOT! Most of the people had caps, beaded necklaces and fabric. There were few carvings. We were disappointed. We finally found a man just unpacking who had more unusual items. Turns out he was from Madang where we had been the last time. We bought a sculpture and a mask from him then headed back to the ship to unload. While Mel waited for me outside, I ran up to drop off our items. We had been outside for less than an hour and I was already drenched in sweat. We had asked several people if they would trade for a towel with no luck. I ended up giving one to a cute little girl. I went back to take a picture and she had it wrapped around her in that heat!

       

When I went back down the gangway I saw Dorothy from our table looking a bit confused. I asked her where George was. He was already sitting on the gangway, just waiting to see what they would be doing. He is 92. From just off the ship all you could see was a warehouse. You couldn't see how far the walk to the gate was or where the vendors were. I told Dorothy that it was about the same distance from the gangway to the warehouse as it was from the warehouse to the gate so they headed out with me. I told them that one vendor in particular had unique items and took them to him. They did very well with their purchases, more later. 

Mel and I went back to the gangway to find our tour. We had 3 twelve passenger vans this time. We were to have 11 stops. Our guide was a young woman named Eve who was charming until she lifted her arm. Inside the air conditioned van at that time, when she put her arm across the back of the seat in front of us, which she did frequently, I wanted to gag and get off immediately. Guess they don't have the same hygiene as we do. Our first stop was the Volcanology Observatory on top of a hill overlooking the town. We saw the ruins of the old place later, now totally covered by ash near the base of the volcano. There was a nice view of our ship with the volcano in the background. 

Next we headed to the hot springs. We passed thru a wasteland of ash with only a few weeds peeking thru. At some points the road had been dug out so there were cliffs of ash on either side of us. Almost to the hot springs our van got stuck in the stuff. We all got out and the guys pushed it out without too much trouble. The hot springs were on the shore of the bay, not sure if it was truly fresh water coming up or just steam warming the bay water. It reminded me of Yellowstone. There were a lot of vendors set up there, assuming groups from the ship would be coming out that way. Unfortunately they were unfamiliar with the US$ so prices quoted were dollars but usually the amount they wanted in Kina, their money. If something was 10 Kina they would tell us $10 making the item very expensive. Ten Kina was about $4. They did not make very many sales. 

In the same area was the old airport, now covered in ash. We stopped to see an old Japanese aircraft that had crashed during the war. There wasn't really much to see. But there were a few vendors. From there we headed to Admiral Yamamoto's Bank. He was the architect for Pearl Harbor and had spent time in Rabaul. We went down some stairs to an underground area. I kept looking for a vault or something, couldn't figure out the bank aspect. It finally dawned on me that Eve had meant bunker. Made a lot more sense. There was one small round room with maps on the ceiling and walls which Yamamoto had used. Pretty interesting. Next to the bunker was a museum which had few artifacts and a few photographs. 

We headed back towards town and went to a memorial plaque to the city of Rabaul from the war years. It was the site of a sunken war ship which was not visible from shore. We did get a nice view of our ship. Wherever we went it seemed like there were kids everywhere. As soon as we arrived at this location about 10 little boys appeared eating fish roasted in a banana leaf. None of them were more that 7 or 8 years old. There were very happy and playful. We took many pictures of them by themselves and with us in their group. All the people we encountered on this island were very friendly, always saying hello or good morning with big smiles on their faces. 

Our next stop was the Japanese barge tunnel. We have seen tunnels built by the Japanese in many of our ports, memories of WWII. This tunnel had 5 barges in it so was quite large. They had built rails to move the barges into the tunnel to hide them from the allied troops. Of course now they are totally rusty and falling apart. One of our guides daughters was at the tunnel with some of the vendors. We took a few pictures of her which Eve asked us to email to her. She probably doesn't have a camera to take them herself. The girl was 3 years old chewing on a piece of fresh coconut. She started screaming as we were leaving. She wanted to go with her mother. 

We drove for about 30 minutes to the town of Kokopo. It was a much larger town crowded with people. The market looked very nice. Wish we had had the time to go. We went to the Historical Museum. There were a lot of old military items sitting in the yard including guns and tanks. Inside were a few artifacts. There was a piece of a plane that had it's name and mascot painted on it, the Naughty & Nice. 

Someone in our van asked if we could stop for water. They also wanted to buy some beer. Eve went inside to see if they would take US$. She told us to come on in. We were taken to the office in back where they would give us Kino, 2 to 1. We declined. The exchange rate was almost 2.6 to one. 

The most beautiful place we visited was the Bitapaka War Cemetery. There are many servicemen buried there, most from Australia. The Australians provide for the upkeep of the place and it was very nicely landscaped. I especially loved the huge banyan trees at the entrance, covered with vines and ferns. 

The Cemetery was our last stop so we headed back to Rabaul. We had the driver drop us at the market which was very close to the ship. The most common item there were betel nuts. The people chew them which turns their teeth red. Someone was told that they relaxed them, someone else was told that it keeps them awake so we aren't sure what the affect is but there sure were a lot of them! I asked the price of a couple of things and it was always the same problem, same amount in US& as Kina. I decided to go to the bank and chance some money. There was a line of about 30 people inside so I used the ATM. It will be interesting to see the exchange rate when we get home. Now armed with the correct money, we returned to the market where I bought a blouse. These native dresses and such are kind of amusing. Not much money so fun to buy. We ran into Eve on the street. She had been looking for us as we had left our umbrella in the van. I had actually left it on purpose assuming someone would return it to the ship. It was a ship's umbrella. We gave it to her. She also returned a HAL water bottle carrier which we returned to the rightful owner that evening. She then said she would take us around and bargain for us so we had a free guide for the next 30 minutes or so. We had given her 3 HAL pins for her kids and a towel not to mention a nice tip.  I guess she liked us! We wanted to buy a bottle of beer for a friend so she took us to the "beer store". That was pretty funny. They would not sell just one bottle, I had to buy a 6 pack.

At the market by the pier I had asked the vendor from Madang if he had any storyboards for sale. I had wanted to buy a beautiful one in Madang but Mel said no. We had been told that Palau, our next port, was well known for storyboards so better to buy one there. Our ship did not make it into that port, so no storyboard. This time I was on a mission to find one. We had told him that we would be back in the afternoon if he could bring them to the pier. He brought 2 and they were both outstanding. One was totally 3 dimensional with natives and animals coming right out of the wood, really beautiful. The other was more traditional with a nice border around it, we chose the latter. It was a tough decision though, they were both beautiful. But the seller would say so many Kina then double the price in US$. We should have just gone and gotten more Kina. We settled on 250 Kina or $100. He was not happy with that amount saying the bank would only give him 200 Kina so I gave him an extra $20. I didn't want to walk away with him feeling like this American couple had cheated him. 

                

I know, why do we want that? But the carving is amazing and it is a wonderful reminder of PNG. 

We carried everything back to the ship, drank a lot of water then went back to the market at the pier. I still had Kina to spend. I bought some cloth. Mel was going to buy a cap but they were not very good quality so we decided to keep the few dollars worth of Kina. In Madang we had never even seen a Kina! At most of the places where there were vendors throughout the day there were little boys dressed in native garb with a towel or something on the ground in front of them to collect the $1 per photo. I handed a towel to one such little boy. I think he was very confused. They were all very cute though. 

           

We took our sculpture to dinner to show everyone but 2 couples were not there. One we knew about, the other just didn't show. After, the one couple that was there returned to our cabin with us to see our purchases. Then later Dorothy came by just all excited to see what we had bought and to show us what she had bought. There had been quite a few masks that looked almost mass produced, almost identical. Like us, Dorothy had found very unusual pieces. The best one she only wanted to pay $15 but the seller insisted on $20. They finally settled on $15 and a towel. I think Dorothy wins the contest as the other couple we talked to forgot to take them and the other couple doesn't really buy very much although they could surprise us tomorrow night. Everyone we talked to really enjoyed their day in Rabaul, both on and off tours. It was so different from any other place we had been. I received a nice thank you note from Dorothy thanking me for walking them to the market. She told us it was the best time they had had on the cruise and were telling everyone the same. It is a lot harder to get around when you are older. Dorothy says that old couples holding hands are not romantic, they are holding on for dear life! :)

Our Non-Port Day

       

Our table had been plotting for weeks as to how we could get another raspberry cheesecake like we had on my birthday. The next birthday in the group isn't until December 20 so that wouldn't work. We decided we would celebrate an anniversary, or maybe all of our anniversaries! The captain would be providing wine on the day we missed Yap as an apology, so that was the day we chose. Dorothy told the server supervisor that we would be celebrating all of our anniversaries on that day so needed a special cake. All the ladies dressed in our Hapi coats from Japan for the celebration. We have gotten a lot of use out of those jackets. They have even been used as formal on formal nights. It was a fun evening although the cake wasn't as good as mine had been. This one looked like they put raspberry jelly on top. Mine had had a raspberry sauce and was delicious. It was a nice evening. 

It seems like we get a lot of alcohol on board. We have had 3 bottles of champagne and a bottle of wine in our cabin.  I can't even remember where it all came from. We take a bottle to dinner once in a while to share with the table. Others do the same. None of us are big drinkers so one bottle serves 6 easily. Two usually don't have any. We can change whatever we have for another wine if we want. We usually change the red or champagne for white. One night I asked for a white zin. Our wine steward who is way too pretty for a guy, served the wine. When I tasted it it was not what I liked. I looked at the bottle and it was rose. He told me they were out of the "house" white zin that we could trade for. Hmmm, maybe he should have told us before he served it? Strange. And of course some nights we get wine from the captain for some reason or another. We had it for missing Okinawa also. I know some passengers just love the free wine nights but aren't as happy about it the next day. We also have 4 bottles of liqueur in our cabin which was one of our amenities when we boarded the ship. Those will go home with us. I know someone will drink it! 

And speaking of alcohol, our travel agent held cocktail parties this evening, one at 4:30 for the early diners, one at 7 for the late diners. It was an open bar. You would think these people had no money the way they were grabbing the drinks. One lady brought her sports bottle to fill while another filled an ice tea size glass 3/4 with vodka, then to the brim with Kalua. Then they went back to the second party to do the same thing again! I did have 2 cosmos which is WAY more than I usually drink. Mel and I both went away with cans of diet Coke for our cabin. It was interesting to say the least. 

Six days in a row at sea is too many. Everyone is eager to get off in Papua New Guinea tomorrow. After that we will have 1 or 2 sea days between ports. The remaining of this trip is going to go by very quickly after this. 

Corrigedor Island, Philippines (Manila)

Corrigedor was very important in WWII as it sits at the entrance to Manila Bay. Excursions to go there are somewhat difficult because of the timing of the ship's being in port and it's distance from the city. We had heard of one cruise where the Capt actually arrived into port early to enable passengers to go. Since we were in Manila for 2 days it wasn't as much of an issue but would be cutting it close. If you go with a ship's excursion no problem since they will always wait for you. On your own is another story. Early in this cruise someone had called asking if we wanted to go on a private tour. I had written down the info and mentioned it to Mel but we never did anything about it. As we got closer to Manila, Mel's desire to go there increased. We had lost the info on the private tour so Mel asked around the ship who was running it. Turned out to be a couple we didn't get along with very well but Mel called to say we were interested. The tour was full but we would be put on their waiting list. Someone on their tour offered to let Mel take her place but the couple running it said no to that as they had a waiting list. So Mel started looking to go on his own. I was less than thrilled about that as the risk of missing the ship was quite real. The ferry coming back from the island arrived in Manila at 4, ship sailed at 5. If something happened with the ferry, he would miss the ship. I wanted him to just go on the ship's tour which was $229, I would stay in Manila. He didn't want to spend the money, he would go on his own. A few days before we arrived in Manila the couple called and said they had had a cancellation, were we still interested! Whew! We were now set. They had a group of 35. I don't think the ship would leave that many people plus we had discovered that we would be using the same ferry as the ship's tour so were pretty safe. The private tour cost us $77 each. Amazing what the ship charges for tours!

We met on the ship at 6:15. The leaders were very organized giving us written itineraries and schedules saying they would not wait for anyone not there at the scheduled time and you would be left behind, no refund. Of course we didn't get off the ship until almost 6:45 so it wasn't really an issue. We got on our bus and took the 20 minute ride to the ferry terminal. HAL had 2 bus loads of people on their tour. We boarded the ship then waited about 45 minutes to leave. We could have slept a lot longer. We were finally on the way at about 8:30. They showed a film about the war during the 1 1/2 hrs it took to get there. I dozed most of the way. Fortunately the seats were almost like airplane seats and quite comfortable. 

Once on the island we all got onto our own bus/trolley. It was open at both sides of every row so getting on and off was fast. There were a total of 6 of these things going to tour the island that day. 

       

We made many stops for pictures. There were ruins of barracks, many memorials and many big guns to look at. We made a lot of stops! 

The most interesting to me was a small island that the US forces had carved to look like a battleship sitting in the harbor! There were a total of 5 islands in the area, Corregador was the largest.

Hard to see the detail but the "ship" island is sitting off in the distance to the left of the gun. 

We stopped for lunch at the small inn on the island. It was buffet and quite good. We were there for about an hour then started off again. We visited an old lighthouse and more memorials, one which had a small museum. Our last stop was the sound and light show in the tunnels. At one time the tunnels on the island had housed a hospital, munitions storage and had even been a hideout for the then president of the Philippines. There were as many as  7000 people in them at any given time.  We entered the main tunnel. There were smaller ones that went off to each side. They started with the lights on then played a recording to start telling of the history of the tunnel. They would have us move forward to the next "event", about 70 of us. They had set up scenes in the side tunnels with bronze people doing what they would have been doing with actual hospital beds, desks, etc. The first 2 were so packed with people that I saw nothing. After that I figured out where to stand so I could see more. In some of the areas they had screens and would show a footage of the actual war. There were about 12 stops, took maybe 30 minutes. It would have been much better if they had just left the lights on and let us look at the scenes as we walked by. But it was what it was, they tried to do something different and interesting. 

The ferry back to Manila left at 2:30, expected to arrive at 4. Many of us dozed off as it had been an early start. Our group very orderly got on the bus and was the first to leave the area. We all cheered to be on our way before the ship's tours. At the pier they would not let our bus thru the gates so while our guide argued about it with the officers, the ship's buses passed us by. We had almost beat them. We had to get out at the gate and walk to the ship from there, about a 5 minute walk. 

There were 2 different bands playing a farewell when we arrived at the ship. Many people were waving goodbye to family members. The pier was more crowded that at any other pier. We were on the ship by our scheduled 4:30 all aboard and had had a long but interesting day. 

I don't know if anyone has been following the world weather but the typhoon we had to avoid thus canceling Yap has hit the Philippines hard. It is the strongest to hit there in recorded history! Looking at the weather map, it passed right between Palau, an island we missed going to in 2011, and Yap, the island we missed this year. It then went straight for the middle of the Philippines which is where Manila is located. Lucky for us that it was several days after our visit. It would have been sad to miss that port also!