December 21 - Not in Alofi, Niue

We were supposed to be in Niue today, but instead we’re somewhere in the South Pacific sailing through a totally calm ocean (the Pacific is living up to its name) at the blazing speed of seven knots on a course heading 274.4° W.  Our stop in Niue was canceled because there is limited capacity for shipping  and a cargo ship was scheduled to be there today.  Since everything on the island must be brought in by ship, it’s understandable to me that a ship carrying cargo would take priority over a bunch of cruise ship passengers.  Instead, we are headed directly to our next stop in Tonga.

Since I last wrote we skipped another port, Aitutaki, one of the Cook Islands, because of rough seas which made it impossible for us to enter through the reef and launch tenders to go ashore. For several days before we arrived in the Society Islands (French Polynesia) we were sailing along the eastern edge of a weather system which caused our rough seas and difficulty getting into a couple of ports.  I think that system has finally moved on because yesterday and today we’ve been sailing in flat calm seas. If this were a sailing vessel we might be becalmed and it is also hotter than blazes outside.

Water, water everywhere!

We did manage to stop in Rarotanga, Cook Islands.  These islands are an independent country in the area called Oceania in the South Pacific and they are in a free association with New Zealand. Most of the Cook Islanders are dual citizens holding New Zealand citizenship as while as from Cook Islands.  The official currency is the NZ dollar. We tendered ashore in Avarua, the capital of the islands.  Rarotonga is the largest of the island group with an area of a little over 26 sq. miles.  It’s volcanic with several tall mountain peaks, all of which are covered with lush vegetation.  Two friends and I tendered ashore and walked around in the little downtown area.  There was a local market selling arts and crafts as well as fruits and vegetables.  Under a little tent there was a four-piece band playing music on a bandstand with rows of chairs for onlookers.  Outside, a couple from our ship began dancing and one of the local vendors was dancing with a chair for a partner.  Just behind that pavilion was what appeared to be an outdoor food court with people having lunch from a variety of food vendors.  We really weren’t tempted because among other things it was awfully hot and humid.  We looked in a couple of the shops and stands but didn’t see anything we were tempted to buy.  We did see a Christmas tree made of coconut husks and decorated with flowers which was very unusual.

This and the next two are views of Rarotanga

Looking down the market street

The coconut husk tree

The little local band

After walking to what appeared to be the end of the town we did find a place where we could take some good pictures of our home away from home.  Feeling hot and sweaty we decided it was time for the walk back to the tender dock and a return to the air-conditioning on our ship.  There is something about intense heat and humidity which is very draining.

Aside from that these sea days have been the typical lazy ones.  I’ve gone to several talks by the guest conversationalists.  I’ve heard about the war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, Australia’s position in the Indo-Pacific region and tales of old sea captains including some interesting old sea shanties.  So far none of the speakers has been able to offer a solution to any of the world’s problems.  Too bad.  I have found it interesting that most of them don’t have any idea of what to expect from the incoming administration.  I’ve heard one who seems to think that Putin preferred the outcome we had in our election and another who said he thought Putin and other leaders would be kept more off balance and thus more cautious with the new leadership.  I’m not an expert like they are, but I tend to believe the latter is truer.  Anyway, time will tell.

I realize this hasn’t been a particularly exciting few weeks as I’ve sailed to new parts of the world.  I should have expected that these tropical islands, many of them little more than atolls or volcanic rocks in the middle of the ocean, are all very similar and all very hot and humid.  I’ve seen them now and I think my curiosity has been satisfied.  Overnight this evening we'll be crossing the International Date Line and December 22 will vanish from our lives.  Tomorrow when I get up I will have been transported to December 23rd and will have lost a day of my life.  Technically we aren't crossing the line until around 9 AM but for operational reasons and to keep our brains from being completely muddled we'll make the change while we sleep.  Regardless of what my watch and devices say I know that what counts is what the captain says the time and day are and that's what I'm going by.  So bye bye from somewhere at 4:30 PM on December 21, 2024.

December 17 - On the Way to the Cook Islands

Since I last wrote we’ve stopped in Papeete, Tahiti and Uturoa, Raiatea for a day each.  We had tropical showers both days and the air was so warm and humid that I felt like I could cut it with a knife.

We were in Papeete on a Sunday and unlike many ports, in Tahiti they didn’t care that a ship was in;  most stores and restaurants were closed.  Even our chef couldn’t go to the market to buy some local goodies because it was only open for a few hours very early.  I hadn’t booked a tour because none of them sounded appealing and I planned to just go ashore and walk around for a while. Had I known that things were closed I might have made different plans, but it wasn’t to be.  I did wander a little and I did find a very nice shop that sold Tahitian pearls where I bought myself a memento of Tahiti.

Downtown Papeete

Across and behind the red car was the shop I found open

The most interesting sights of the day though were the two ships tied up on the other side of the pier from us.  At the end was a massive, sleek black and white yacht (390 feet)  and behind her was a ship I first thought was some kind of coast guard or navy ship.  Not so!  The big yacht was the M.V. Launchpad and the smaller (220 feet) was the M.V. Wingman, both owned by none other than Mark Zuckerberg.  The Wingman is the support ship for the bigger ship and on its  deck were a submersible, various water toys and a tender. Seeing the two has changed how I will perceive any comments made about climate by Mr. Z.  His two vessels are having much more impact on the environment than I could in a hundred lifetimes.  Our captain gave us a little information about the two ships when we were ready to sail.  Evidently just the operational costs of the Launchpad and Wingman come to about $30 million per year!

M.V. Launchpad

M.V. Wingman

This was another interesting ship docked near us.  The back half had balcony cabins for passengers and the front carried cargo containers.  It evidently cruises between the islands bringing supplies as well as tourists.

Sailing out of Papeete's harbor

Yesterday we docked in Raiatea, the second largest of the Society Islands.  Again I had booked no tours because they were once again sun and sand things – just not my thing anymore.   From the ship I could see some of the coral reefs surrounding the island and through which we had to pass to get here.  The contrast in water colors is amazing in the sunlight that we had in the morning. I went ashore to the little town of Uturoa with friends and we did a little shopping.  In the evening we were having a Tahitian dance party on the pool deck and we each found a tropical looking dress to wear.  Once again we had intermittent showers and it was very hot and  humid, not at all conducive to lingering long.  As we walked back to the dock the skies opened up and we just missed being drenched.  

These are all pictures of the water around Raiatea. I loved the colors and can't resist including them.

These are all of downtown Uturoa.

In the evening four of us were all invited to the table of a new conversationalist who came on in Papeete.  He is a fascinating man from Australia.  He was that country’s ambassador to Russia and Germany and a Deputy Secretary in the Australian Defense Ministry.  He also served in his country’s foreign service in the USSR before its demise and he had a number of meetings with Mikhail Gorbachev.  He was a very interesting dinner companion and I’m looking forward to some of the talks he’ll give.  After dinner I went to the Tahitian Party which turned out to not play a single Polynesian song.  That was probably for the best because I don’t think we have many hula dancers on board.  I did do a little dancing and met some new people that I actually hadn’t seen before.  It’s funny how you can be on a fairly small ship with only a few more than 400 passengers for several weeks and just encounter new faces.

We are now on our way to the Cook Islands, about 650 miles to the west of French Polynesia.  We have a sea day and then two days in the islands.  It’s late here so I’ll close for now. Au revoir (since that’s the official language of the three islands we’ve been visiting).

December 14 - Bora Bora

Here we are anchored in the lagoon of the island of Bora Bora.  This island is part of the Society Islands, which are an archipelago in the South Pacific and include  Huahine, Mo’orea, Tahiti, and Raiatea .  We ‘re going to stop in the latter two in the next two days.  The island group is called an Overseas Collectivity of France.  Bora Bora has been inhabited by Polynesian people since at least the 3rd century AD.  The first European to see it was a Dutch explorer and Captain Cook, who sailed around and mapped so much of the Pacific, saw it in 1769.

The larger of the peaks.  It just looks like I imagine Bali Hai would.

Bora Bora lies about 125 miles northwest of Tahiti and is actually an island group.  The main island is formed by the remnants of an extinct volcano which rises to two peaks.  The rest of the group ring a lagoon and are small islands called motus in Polynesian.  The lagoon is formed by the circle of motus, the large island and coral reefs with only one opening into the lagoon.  This morning it took the Quest three tries before we were able to slip through the opening because the seas were very rough and the winds were high.  We anchored off the main settlement Vaitape on the west side of the major island.  

It was overcast and raining all day and that‘s kind of a shame because had the sun been shining I know the colors would have been spectacular. Nonetheless the views were still pretty good.  I had booked a tour that included a drive around the island.  There’s only one road so we just did a circle.  The taller of the two peaks was shrouded in clouds all day but the smaller did make an appearance and it was impressive.  We rode in what was essentially an old school bus with wooden bench seats and a driver and guide in front cab separated by glass.  Consequently we listened to the guide’s narrative through a speaker system which wasn’t always clear, but I still learned a lot.

During WWII the US military built a supply base on Bora Bora and at one time there were as many as 7000 soldiers stationed there.  At least eight large artillery pieces were situated around the island to protect it and the remains of the gun emplacements and some bunkers can still be seen.  Bora Bora saw no combat during the war and the base was closed in 1946.  The airstrip constructed on one of the motus is used today for small planes and private jets of the rich and famous to come to some of the fabulous over the water resorts built on some of the motus.

That brings me to one of the things that made the biggest impression on me as we rode around.  On Bora Bora’s main island the houses were very basic and looked a little dilapidated and sad.  There were wrecked cars around and some houses with tarps on roofs.  I suspect that most of the people who vacation at the beautiful resorts whose photos I’ve seen in countless travel magazines and in movies never make it across the lagoon to see where and how the people who cater to them live.  But that’s true in lots of places all over the world.  

Anyway, our drive took us through the three townships which lie at the feet of the extinct volcano.  Our guide pointed out a number of interesting things.  Because of the size of the island there isn’t room for cemeteries.  So, people get buried in the front yards of the family house in a cement mausoleum.  I don’t think any of our children would really like that very much.  Children begin school at age three and it’s compulsory until age 16.  There are no obstetricians on the island so at the sixth month of pregnancy women go to Tahiti or Raiatea to go through the last three months and to have their babies.  As a result most of the residents weren’t born on the island.  The population is about 10,500 which represents significant growth in the last few years.  That is putting a lot of pressure on the infrastructure.  Electrical power is provided by diesel generators and the fuel has to be brought in by ships.  Fresh water is provided by boreholes around the island and three desalinization plants.  Large population growth clearly can stress those basic utilities.

Under that red roof is what looks like a bunch of cement blocks.  That's someone's grandma's tomb.

We made a stop at a place run by Mama Edna.  We were able to sample some coconut and mango.  The mango was the most wonderful I have ever tasted.  This place also was a source of tie-dyed goods and I bought a very colorful large scarf which reminded me of the colors of a beautiful sunset.  Mama Edna was there with three of her grandchildren and I managed to take what I think was a pretty good photo of her with one little girl.

Mama Edna and granddaughter

As we drove around the guide pointed out the resorts across the lagoon.  There were many, all of them over the water individual bungalows.  We stopped at the biggest public beach where we could take photos of the lower of the two peaks.  I also saw a guy on a very narrow paddleboard moving along and I got some picture of him too.  Along the way we saw breadfruit plants, lots of coconut trees and plenty of flowers. The signature flower of the island is the tiare, a small white blossom with seven  petals and which grows on a bush.  We also stopped at a place where our guide tossed out a few flowers onto the sandy shoulder and land crabs came racing (at least racing for a crab) to pick them up to eat.  They moved surprisingly fast so whatever kind of flower it was (I didn’t hear the name) must be a particularly good treat.

This is what the over-the-water bungalows look like.  This one was on our side of the lagoon.

Even on this cloudy day when I looked across the water I could see the distinct change in color of the water closest to the motus and the reef. 

You can just make out Mr. Crab's white claw getting that pink flower

A tiare flower.  Apparently they are very fragrant

A plump breadfruit 

Mt. Pahia, the second of the volcanic peaks

A paddleboarder

The lovely public beach

We wound up back at the tender dock after a couple of hours and it was pouring rain so I didn’t go back to look at some of the shops I’d briefly visited before the tour.  I figured that tomorrow in Papeete, Tahiti I could find anything I was looking for.  It was a nice day despite the clouds and rain, but I think in the sunshine it would be spectacular.

December 13 - Sixth Day at Sea

Friday, the 13th !  Beware of black cats and don’t walk under a ladder.  Out here in the not so Pacific Ocean, we continue to rock and roll.  The weather has put the lie to the captain’s announcement a few days ago; it didn’t calm down once we crossed the Equator. Today it’s also overcast and I think it’s because we’re on the edge of a low-pressure system moving west.  Hopefully by the time we get to Bora Bora tomorrow and Papeete, Tahiti the next day it will have moved away.

It’s hard to make lazy sea days seem exciting or even worth writing about. But I feel like I should keep writing what is essentially my journal.  Of course we’ve been playing trivia at noon.  Today is the last day in this series and we have a slight lead but that can change with just one question.  I haven’t given away the prizes I won with the last set, so I don’t mind whether we win or lose but I know that perhaps other people do.

I’ve been to a few more lectures.  One by the retired general about the rise of China as a world power and potential threat was very interesting, but once again I don’t think I learned anything new.  I was just reminded of things I’d heard before.  There have been some very interesting talks about using my iPhone to take photos.  If I have some time I need to go over the handouts and experiment with some of the features I never knew were there. 

An interesting phenomenon has occurred on this cruise.  I travel as a Solo traveler, but now my little community of fellow solos has become like a little family.  We’ve sailed together enough and spent a lot of time laughing and having fun and the relationships have changed a little.  We frequently are seated at the same hosted tables when we accept the  invitations.  We’ve had enough shared experiences that we can joke around and sometimes playfully pull the hosts’ leg.

It's later in the day and time for a brief update.  We lost at Trivia.  That's okay; there's always the next cumulative series of days.   Tomorrow I get to see Bora Bora which in my mind will always be Bali Hai.  I know the movie South Pacific was actually filmed on the island of Kauia in Hawaii, but the photos of Bora Bora look a lot like the mythical Bali Hai. So I can pretend I'm there.  Aloha for now.

December 11 - King Neptune is late!

A few minutes ago (it’s 10:45 AM here which my computer is telling me is Hawaiian-Aleutian Standard Time) we crossed the Equator. I looked and there was no line to be seen like the lines that show up on football fields during televised NFL games.  King Neptune is supposed to give permission for the folks who’ve never crossed this line by sea (they’re called Pollywogs).  He’s late in arriving though so the ceremony will have to wait until this afternoon.  I’ll try to get some photos then because it’s always a lot of fun watching people being inducted into the Society of Shellbacks (I’m one of those!).

This is day four of our transit to Bora Bora.  I’ve been to several lectures by the retired general who speaks about world affairs.  Yesterday he had a particularly interesting talk on the growth of NATO and the consequences of that expansion.  Unfortunately,  neither he nor any of the other learned speakers on the ship have any solutions to the problems of the world. (They wouldn’t be here if they did I suppose.)

As I have mentioned our captain is providing us with a little education at noon.  Yesterday he told us about the various bands of latitudes that go around the Earth.  The one in which we are currently sailing is the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone, commonly called the Doldrums.  This is an area about 5 degrees north and 5 degrees south of the Equator.  During the time of sailing ships that was the place where vessels could frequently become becalmed.  That isn’t our problem, but rocking is.  Our leg muscles have been getting good workouts keeping all of us passengers upright as we walk along the passageways.  Two nights ago we had a dance party on deck which got rained out just as it started.  It adjourned to the Club where it was dry but the dance floor was heaving.  I made a couple of attempts at dancing but after getting bumped into a couple of times by a particularly exuberant man (he might have had a little too much to drink and in fairness there was a lot of rolling going on too), I decided it was better to watch than lurch.  The crowd on the dance floor looked like one of those flocks of birds which changes direction in unison.  Actually, it was pretty miraculous that no one lost his balance and knocked everyone over like so many dominoes.

It’s later and King Neptune and his beautiful queen finally arrived at the pool deck to decide if the Pollywogs could enter his realm or if we had to turn around and take them back to Hawaii, or maybe Palmyra Atoll.  He came riding in a dirty laundry cart with his court of mermaids accompanying him and the queen.  I’ve never seen this many newbies before! The pirates guarding them had their hands full, including the Staff Captain’s 8-year-old daughter who was playing her pirate role to the hilt. After judgment had been passed (they were all guilty) and after each had kissed the enormous fish presented to them, the Pollywogs were smeared with colored goop and had to jump in the pool.  I know it sounds silly, but it’s really a lot of fun and it’s a traditional rite of passage on a cruise ship.

If you watch this little video you can see King Neptune, his beautiful queen 😏 and lovely mermaid attendants.

The littlest pirate

                     You can see the nice big fish waiting to be kissed.  Hopefully it won't be dinner tonight.

I forgot to mention that this Christmas tree appeared in my cabin two days ago.  The cabin attendants are wonderful and very creative.

And that’s the big event of the day.  Oh, we had a wonderful day at Trivia! We were the only team to get the right answer on one of the thirty-point questions so we got double points which pushed us ahead.  See if you know the answer.  What kind of Caribbean creature is known as a Mountain chicken?

December 9 - Day Two at Sea and the Mysteries of Palmyra Atoll

We’re on our second of six sea days and of course the usual routine is being followed.  We have some new conversationalists and one of them, a retired US Army Major General, has joined our team.  Three of my friends and I had dinner with him the night we sailed from Kona and we invited him to join us.  Our team is doing okay; we’re in the top three or so with our cumulative scores so far.

Our captain gives informative noon reports and today’s was very interesting.  The closest land to us at noon was a place called Palmyra Atoll. The atoll is the only one of its kind because it’s administered as an incorporated unorganized territory by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, a branch of the Department of the Interior.  It has no permanent population but it does have an unattended airport built during WWII and now owned by the Nature Conservancy. The only economic activity is eco-tourism by donors to that organization.

There are a few mysteries surrounding the atoll though.  During the 19th and 20th centuries there were stories about a Spanish treasure ship named the Esperanza.  Supposedly the ship was loaded with Incan treasures of gold, silver and precious gems and set sail from Callao, Peru on its way  to the Spanish West Indies.  The story goes that it was caught in a storm and lost its masts and then was beset by pirates.  They allegedly loaded the treasure onto their own ship and then headed west across the Pacific to Macao, off the coast of China. That ship also ran into a storm and some stories circulated that it ran aground on a reef at Palmyra Atoll.  No one has ever found the ship or the treasure so who knows.

There’s a more recent mystery though. In 1974 it was the site of a murder and possible double murder of a wealthy California couple.  The couple were sailing on a yacht named the Sea Wind and went missing.  A man and a woman who showed up in Honolulu on the Sea Wind were arrested and convicted for stealing the yacht, but since no bodies had been found they weren’t charged with murder. Six years later a corroded and partially buried chest containing the remains of the missing woman was found in a lagoon on Palmyra.  The couple who had stolen the yacht were arrested for murder, but just the man was convicted after the woman’s defense said she had no knowledge of the murder.  That man served 22 years in a federal prison before being paroled in 2007.  The remains of the wealthy man who owned the Sea Wind have never been found.  A book called “And the Sea Will Tell” was written and later made into a mini-series.

And for a Hawaiian treat here's a video showing a hula Katie and I learned on a cruise to Hawaii a long time ago.  Someone mentioned this song a few days ago and it's been going around in my head ever since. I can guarantee you Katie and I didn't look like this lady when we were taught the dance.

And that’s the story for today.  Aloha until the next time.

December 9 - Hawaii's a distant memory part two

On Saturday morning, December 7th I awoke to a beautiful day as our ship was in an anchorage off Kona back on the Big Island. Three of my friends and I tendered ashore and taxied to the airport where I picked up my rental car, another SUV. I had planned a couple of places to go so we didn’t just wander as we did in Maui.  We headed first to Pu’uhonua o Hönaunau National Historical Park, also known as the Place of Refuge.  Until the early 19th century this place was where a Hawaiian who broke one of the ancient laws (kapus) could flee to and avoid certain death for the offense.  While at the place of refuge, the offender would be absolved by a priest and eventually allowed to leave. In addition to people who had broken laws, defeated warriors could also seek refuge there.

Years ago I had gone to the park and I remembered it as an absolutely beautiful place on the shore on the west coast of the Big Island.  When I’d visited before I had seen a lot of big sea turtles.  I didn’t see any this time but the place was as beautiful as before.  Surrounding the park is a wall made of black lava stone.  Just outside the wall some powerful chieftains lived in centuries past. Within the compound are a couple of Hawaiian hales which are triangular shaped houses open on two sides and constructed with roofs of dried palm fronds.  Inside one hale was a craftsman carving a kii (wooden statue)  In the other was an outrigger canoe and some more kiis and other wooden things like oars and bowls that would have been taken on a canoe  trip.  There is something magical about the refuge where as you walk beneath the palms swaying from the ocean breeze you can hear the waves rolling in against the lava rocks.  The combination of the Carolina blue sky, the black rocks, the sapphire sea, white sand and green palms make for a beautiful picture. I wish I was an artist who could paint the scene.

I know I'm going overboard here with photos, but I want to remember this place.

And I have to add a video now that I've figured out how to upload them.

When we left Pu’uhonua we drove on some one lane roads along the coast on our way to our next stop, the artist colony of Holualoa.  I’d been there years before and remembered a small village with lots of little shops and galleries of local craftsmen and artisans.  It’s still there but unfortunately that evening there was some kind of festival scheduled and so nearly all the places were closed as the owners prepared for the festivities.  There was one shop open and we did a little shopping but didn’t find anything absolutely wonderful.

We traveled on and our next stop was – Walmart!  Among the four of us we had a little list of small things we needed so Walmart seemed like the place to go.  My friend Colleen had never been to a Walmart.  (She’s Australian. What can I say?)  Since it was Saturday and just over two weeks until Christmas as you might imagine it was crowded.  We found the things we needed and before we left two of our group needed to use the restroom.  Stephanie and I waited inside the store by the exit and then we had a unique experience.  People on their way out started stopping and showing us their receipts for their purchases.  We were mistaken for the person who does that like in Costco, Sam’s Club, and obviously this Walmart.  I finally realized what was going on when a man came over with a bag of chocolate chips and showed me his receipt.  I used to joke when my husband was alive that if he ever retired I’d have to get a job as a Walmart or Costco greeter.  Now I have experience!

My friend Colleen on her maiden visit to Walmart. Can you see the excitement?

After we got together again we took off and decided it was time to return the car and tender back to our home away from home.  It was a nice day with more interesting scenery than our ride in Maui.  I would have to say that the Big Island is my favorite.  It has a lot to see and is not nearly as crowded as Oahu.  We set sail in the late afternoon for points south.  We have six days at sea before we see land again.

Here's the video I tried to insert above. Don't know what happened.  Oh well.