2012-1-31 Mal de Mer

Mal de Mer is French for sea sickness. I don’t usually have a problem but the sea picked up yesterday and I began to feel woozy. I have the scopolamine patches so I put one behind my ear last night. It didn’t help much, although they are supposed to work for three days. So, I took the patch off. 

Looking at screens makes it worse so I went for a long walk out on the promenade. I feel better. Fresh ocean air and looking at the horizon is supposed to help if you feel ill. Lying down and looking at a book or a screen makes it worse. 

If the wooziness comes back, I am going to take a meclizine pill and go to sleep. The Indonesian show is tonight at 11 p.m. If I get a nap, I think I can stay up to see it. It’s always surprising and exciting to see someone who cleans your room or serves you dinner get up in front and channel Elvis, for example. Usually, they perform some folk dances and there is always something funny. 

The performer last night was Jeff Trachta who played Thorne in the Bold and the Beautiful soap opera. I never saw that show but he is definitely talented. He got a long standing ovation. His voice is strong and he also does impressions. He worked up a great show. 

We refuse desserts and that set off our dinner partner last night. He tried to talk me into loosening my rules. I told him I will eat dessert tomorrow night which is our anniversary. I do love ice cream and other goodies but I also enjoying wearing the clothes I brought. 

Later: I did take the meclizine but I still did not feel well enough to stay up until 11 to watch the show. We also set our clocks forward so that was an extra hour to put off sleep. I had to go to bed. I am feeling a little better this morning. The ocean is about the same—mild to moderate swells. Bill feels fine. 

Jeff Trachta held an afternoon meeting to talk about his career. He described a dark period where he was very depressed. His therapist was willing to forgo payment until Jeff got his career back on track. Now, he is working on his one man show. The flat images that were projected behind him will be turned into holograms when he presents the show in Las Vegas. So, his presentation on the Rotterdam was a trial run. He talked to us about what worked and what didn’t. No one could come up with constructive criticism so it was mainly a love fest. 

Today is our 43rd wedding anniversary and our waiter says that he is preparing a special meal for us. I tried to talk him out of it but he insistent. I do plan to eat dessert.

2012-1-29 The Menu

The quarantine has ended! We are free, free! I no longer walk around the ship with my hands in the air, as though I were preparing to perform surgery. We are still washing our hands furiously. Hopefully, we will have a clean ship for the new tenants when we reach San Diego on Friday. 

The other day, I was accosted in the elevator by a woman who thought I was a ship officer. She had a complaint, although I never found out what it was. Considering how I was dressed, I could understand her confusion a little bit. I wore a white polo shirt and black capris which is vaguely similar to a ship officer’s outfit. I carried my laptop in a black case which probably looks a little like a briefcase. 

Anyway, she bristled with anger as she said, “What is your job on the ship?” I replied, “I don’t have a job on the ship.” “Yes, you do.” “No, I don’t.” “What do you do on this ship?” she demanded. I said, “I eat.” 

I think the other passengers in the elevator would have laughed if she hadn’t been so obviously angry. Instead, one of them said to me, “You look exactly like my friend, Val.” I think it was an attempt to lighten the mood. I do have doppelgangers all over the world. I must look German as those are the women I get compared to the most. 

I need to buy some casual clothes that look less like a uniform. If I get a chance, I will look around in San Diego. I also plan to call our children, grandchildren, dog and some friends. 

I need to call the Post Office as they will only hold our mail for one month. Last night was another formal dinner. I am happy that I still fit into my dressy outfit. But, there is a problem with the belt on my pants. It has shrunk, probably due to humidity and the sea air. 

I kept my copy of last night’s menu as a memento. Two days ago, I was amused by the Celebration of Fruit Cocktail. There is usually a fruit appetizer on the menu. All the dishes have fanciful names. I told Bill that when we get home, I am no longer serving plain fruit cocktail from the can. From now, I will sprinkle it with something and it will become a Celebration.

There are standard dishes that are available daily which include: onion soup, Caesar salad, salmon with mashed potatoes and veggies, grilled breast of chicken, top sirloin steak and a baked potato with steamed veggies. 

Last night, I had the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail (plump chilled shrimp with cocktail sauce). Bill had the Baby Pineapple Boat (glistening morsels of pineapple and berries, with toasted coconut shavings). Then, I had the Chilled Raspberry Soup (refreshing and creamy smooth, topped with almond macaroon crumbles). Bill skipped the second course. For the entrée, Bill had the grilled chicken. I ordered the Spinach and Goat Cheese Stuffed Quail (pineapple glazed stuffed quail, served with corn smoked risotto, oven-roasted plum tomato and sesame tossed snow peas and carrot). They didn’t mention the gravy which was really tasty. 

One of our companions had the Oysters Rockefeller which he didn’t like. He said could only taste the spinach and cheese topping. Everyone else ordered the Filet Mignon “Oscar” (A filet mignon grilled to perfection crowned with crab meat and béarnaise sauce, served with asparagus spears, grilled tomato and Duchess Potatoes). We usually skip the dessert menu and leave a little early to catch the show or a movie. 

Last night we saw a new comedian/magician who was good but not as good as the last one. The old entertainers got off in Tahiti and we got a new group. Jack Mayberry, the comedian, was soooo good. We are still retelling his jokes. 

The Star Lady and her husband are still on board and giving great lectures. She talked about orchids yesterday and he talked about the eruption of Krakatoa east of Java in 535 A.D. That’s not the one we usually think about. The earlier one changed our world in ways we don’t normally recognize. I started a new book in the series about Precious Rabotswa and the Number One Ladies Detective Agency.

2012-1-27 Nuku Hiva

We were greeted by a young woman with a coconut bra in Nuku Hiva. This time I didn't say anything. 

There were young men playing drums. 

Bill decided not to go on the seven hour tour. Here he is waiting for the vans to arrive. 

The island is substantially different from those in French Polynesia. It lacks the lushness of Bora Bora and Moorea. It lacks the white sand beaches because there is no lagoon surrounding the land. This is definitely not a beach vacation destination.

The land is harsher and the people have an edge to them that was not present in the other islands. 

The area is experiencing a drought. We dropped anchor in a bay on the dry side of the island where the vegetation resembled the San Francisco Bay area where I grew up. There were hills covered with dry, brown plants and dotted here and there with low green shrubs. Not only are the beaches on that side of the island less appealing but they are infested with sand fleas which are also called biting no-nos. 

I got bitten when I was taking the following video of the beach. I was trying to capture the sound of it because it's not a sandy beach. The sound is of small pebbles hitting the sand. 

https://www.facebook.com/sherri.park/videos/3422907565281

Mosquitos are present on all the islands but were not as annoying here due to the almost constant trade winds. I took some precautions but Bill didn’t and he got a mosquito bite. Before we left home, we each soaked a set of clothes in Permetherin. I wore my repellant pants along with crew socks and sneakers. I sprayed my socks and hat with insect repellant, also. 

Yesterday was another gorgeous day. We could have used those trade winds. When the breeze did come up, it was very welcome. It was humid and we were warm and wet all day. 

The native people are just as beautiful as anywhere else in Polynesia. I wish I had taken a picture of two teenage girls riding a horse bareback in town. They could have been Beyonce’s sisters. 

Afterwards, I heard people say. “Did you see those girls on the horse?” There are many horses tied up all over the island. I asked our guide if they use horses instead of cars. He said, “No, they use horses for recreation just like you do.” They also use them to hunt for both animals and food. 

Bananas, mangos and coconuts grow wild in the higher elevations. There were also pigs, goats and cows tied up all over the island. Sometimes there was a horse and no obvious place of residence nearby. Just a horse tied up next to the road. 

The guide said there are wild goats and pigs, also. The human population is about 9,000. There is no airport so this island is much more isolated the others. Our driver was a young woman in her early 20’s. She spoke a little English. We communicated using her English and the French that I dredged up from high school and college. 

Her name was Coo-ah, as best I could tell. She said it means red in her native language. I asked her if she attended school. She said she is out of school and can’t afford to go to college. She said the airfare and tuition in Tahiti are prohibitively expensive. She is one of ten children and her parents can’t afford to send her to school. The airfare is $500 or $600 each way according to our guide. 

At the same time, we were sitting in a late model Toyota SUV with all wheel drive. She said the car belonged to her uncle. We were in a caravan of eight similar vehicles. Her uncle was driving one and so was an aunt. I got the idea that she wasn’t really interested in school. She said she works on a farm growing legumes. 

We traveled extensively over the island but she said we didn’t get near her home or her farm which is located in an interior valley. The infrastructure on the island was meager but it was newer and in better condition than on the other islands. 

The people give the impression of being more assertive and aggressive. They are trying to bring in more income and improve their lives in various ways. This is a large island and we saw a huge coconut plantation covering most of an inlet. Our guide said that the trees are a hundred years old and don’t produce many coconuts anymore. So, they are systematically replanting the trees. They tried to grow teak trees for the wood but the trees were unsuccessful due to excessive branching. The branches somehow affected the quality of the wood and it was too soft. 

Their biggest cash crop now is noni. It looks like a cactus fruit. It is about the size of the palm of your hand and covered with little bumps. I smelled one and the odor is unpleasant. Reportedly, it tastes bitter. They mix the juice of the noni with other juices and sell it all over the world as a health drink. If it tastes bad, it must be good for you, right? 

We stopped at an agricultural college when we were in the mountains of Moorea. There were 300 students attending there from all over the islands. Our guide was a man from Australia who sailed to Nuku Hiva from Ecuador about 13 years ago. He said he sailed alone because no one can put up with him. According to him, there are some French people on the island but they are all social misfits of some kind. 

This is a guide showing an old style saddle. He was one of the crew of the Survivor Marquesas reality show. He came to Nuku Hiva on a boat that sailed from Ecuador in the 1990's and just never left. 

While we were driving, a rooster ran in front of our car and we almost hit it. Coo-ah blurted out, “La France!” She said the rooster was obviously French because it had a death wish. The French are apparently unpopular here. 

Our journey over the mountains of Moorea from one valley to another took two hours each way. There is one road, not always wide enough for another vehicle to pass. That’s not a problem as there are not many vehicles. The road is alternatively paved and dirt with no seeming rhyme or reason. Our destination was Hatti Valley. 

I thought our driver was saying Happy Valley but the guide spelled it for me. We first passed by an overlook where the TV show, “Survivor Marquesas” was filmed. We stopped at three Maraes to look around. The Marquesians call them Pi-Pi’s. One of them was huge and was used for recreation instead of ritual sacrifices. It is still being excavated by archeologists. 

In the year 2000, the Marquesians held a big festival to show off their newly restored maraes. They invited several hundred people from Tahiti and paid their way to the party. They are still paying for it. Of course, the economy tanked and tourism has really fallen off all over the South Pacific. 

When we got over the mountain, the valley on the other side was more verdant. The hibiscus was especially beautiful. After I took pictures of several plants, Coo-ah picked a beautiful flower and stuck it in an air-conditioning vent. 

The Catholic Church got here before other faiths and we visited some old Catholic churches. I took a picture of a Madonna holding the Christ child. The Christ child is holding a breadfruit. The Catholic traditions were seriously perverted in one of the churches were they appeased the natives by allowing them to baptize babies in blood. 

The statuary and petroglyphs show evidence of testosterone run wild. The chiefs had so much power that they killed and ate anyone they pleased. They usually ate the women and children that they sacrificed in rituals. They ate any male enemies they killed in battle in order to absorb their power. 

One of the statues I photographed is so blatantly cruel that I don’t plan to show it online. They also took the time and effort to carve tikis in sexual positions. In other places, I would say this was just playful art. Here, it feels like pornography in stone. 

They held beauty contests for young women but the emphasis was not on the beauty of their faces or forms. I think it’s pretty obvious by now that Nuka Hiva left a bad taste in my mouth. I can see why it hasn’t become a big tourist destination. Their ancestors were truly nasty. And there is evidence that conventional morality is only now beginning to take hold. There are finally prosecutions for incest which was rampant in the past. According to our guide, girls are beginning to assert themselves and object to being raped by their relatives. 

There was cannibalism in Moorea and other islands, too. I think it was the blatant representations in statuary that set my teeth on edge. I was in a sour mood when we came back from our excursion yesterday. Bill says he is glad now that he waited in the car during most of the stops. 

As an allegory, there were large eels in the tiny creek where we stopped to eat lunch. The restaurant worker threw some fish heads in the creek and brown, spotted eels as big around as my arm crawled over the rocks to get to them. The guide said they liked bread, too, so I found a crust and threw it in. By that time, the eels were back in hiding. But the crayfish came out and nibbled at the bread. It made me think of a paradise polluted by disgusting perversions--which matches my general impression of Nuka Hiva.

Here is a video from a tour I took while a guide was explaining petroglyphs:

https://www.facebook.com/sherri.park/videos/3423078609557

2012-1-26 Pest Ship

I just reread my blogs and discovered that Ted wanted to know the name of the hotel manager. Somehow, I transformed that into the head chef and gave him the wrong answer. The hotel manager is Francois Birada. Ted and his wife are boarding the ship in San Diego. I hope they still want to come. 

The captain says the tide of pestilence is receding aboard the Rotterdam but he is keeping the restrictions in place until we have two days with no new illness. He pleads with us every day to wash our hands. He directed us to call the front desk and stay in our cabins if we become ill. He doesn’t want us in the infirmary. He will send someone from the infirmary to see us in our rooms. Room service is available around the clock so that’s no problem. 

Yesterday we ran into one of Bill’s laundry friends and she said she had the illness twice. All of our other friends seem fine. We feel fine. Bill does our laundry at home and on board ship. He calls himself a Laundry Professional because he served in the ship’s laundry for a few months when he was in the Navy. 

My German ancestors sailed to New Orleans about the year 1700 aboard one of the Pest Ships. Half the people died of illness before they ever reached Louisiana. 

I read a book this week about the New Orleans slave uprising of 1811. (American Uprising by Rasmussen). By that time, the French and Spanish greatly outnumbered the Germans in the area. It was the French planters who overpowered the slaves and ended the rebellion. 

I have German, French and Spanish ancestors from the area and am indirectly related to the slaves, too. After I synced up my Kindle Fire over the internet, my library books suddenly became available again. I thought the library books had some kind of encryption and that they would self-destruct when they were due. However, it seems that they stay viable until they regain contact with the internet. Is that cool or what? 

As far as our trip, I have never been aboard a ship that was better managed than the Rotterdam. The crew has been fantastic. The illness caused them to take over positions that they normally don’t do. Our dinner time waiter helped out with the tender duties for example. Some of the entertainment staff served food in the Lido. The staff is super competent on this ship. We have sent our laundry out twice and it was back within 24 hours. That’s pretty quick considering that they are doing all the extra laundry required by the GI outbreak as well as the underwear for 2500 people. The food is routinely fabulous. The Digital Workshop teacher helped to write the new curriculum for the internet classes. The Internet manager has tweaked the connection and it has greatly improved.

Currently, I am reading a book about Isaac Newton, the gravity guy, who had a forgotten career at the British Mint. He solved a monetary crisis and tracked down “coiners”. It is called Newton and the Counterfeiter by Levenson. I love the early history about Newton's math and physics experiments. 

I finished Panicology by Briscoe and Williams. It outlines which modern threats are worth worrying about and which aren’t.

Along with lectures on astronomy, we enjoy the lectures on the places we are visiting as well as birds, sea creatures, climate, and nature in general. A new lecturer is starting today with tips on photography. The lectures are taped and play continuously on channel 27. You can’t tell when they will be aired unless you ask the crew, however.

2012-1-25 Rangiroa

I was able to get on Facebook yesterday. I wanted to check on my friend’s mother as she was near death. She passed away yesterday or the day before. She just turned 106 on New Year’s Day and I guess she decided enough was enough. She left a large number of descendants so it should be a big party. Marj, if you read this, please know that my heart is with you at this time even if my body isn’t. Our condolences to you and your family. 

Bill got bored watching me swim in the pool yesterday and went swimming with me this morning. He hasn’t been in a pool since he slipped and fell at the Murray Pool a few years ago. Only his ego was injured. He’s a great swimmer and it all came back to him. He can still swim the length underwater with one breath of air.

The internet on board ship is getting faster so we must be closer to the satellite. I will try to get on again today. The satellite manager on this ship has really worked to make it faster. Unfortunately, he is leaving the ship in San Diego. 

One of my new friends checked into the Hilton yesterday on Moorea on some kind of Day Plan. She and her hubby used all the facilities and she spent 90 minutes catching up on the internet. We plan to go over to the Holiday Inn in San Diego and ask them if we can use their Wifi while we are there. I also plan to call my friend, Pat, who will be there and see if we can get together. 

We are getting ready to go see a Pearl Farm on Rangiroa.

Later: The Pearl Farm turned out to be a two hour commercial about buying black pearls. I bought a highly imperfect pearl on a decorative piece of mother of pearl for $25 from a vendor on the beach. The necklace is on a piece of string but I will put it on a different chain when I get home. Bill really wanted me to buy something to commemorate our anniversary next week. So I did. 

I am actually trying to simplify my life. But he’s my Honey and once in while I have to humor him. Rangiroa is a huge coral atoll surrounding a lagoon 43 miles across. It consists of a narrow strip of coral about 150 yards wide separating the lagoon and the ocean. It’s a little bit of nothing. There is one paved road that possibly circles the atoll but I’m not sure. Pearl farming is the main business. We saw a very small landing strip about the length of the ship that had a tower and a satellite dish. The few buildings we saw were trailers. 

Bill thought he saw an LDS church in a trailer. There is no sign pointing the way to evacuate in case of tsunami as we saw on other islands. They must go out in boats if a big storm or tsunami is coming. There is no place else to go. (This photo is from the Air France website.)

We only saw a small part of the atoll. It is one of the largest in the world with a circumference of 174 miles. It is the remains of a volcano that gradually sank. The highest elevation is 39 feet. Polynesians have lived here since the 5th century and the Dutch arrived in 1616. So, it's been here awhile. 

As usual, the water is sparkling blue. The few women we saw are gorgeous. A French speaking man (possibly from France) gave us a short lecture and demonstration on how they cultivate pearls. The company has about two millions oysters in process at a time. 

It takes two years to grow a smaller pearl, four years for a larger and six years for a big pearl. The whole process is uncertain and they never know what they have until they open the shell. The pearl I bought is not very round and has marks but I am pretty sure it is real.

Another spectacular sail away. This is one from Rangiroa. 

2012-1-24 Moorea

Another day in Paradise!

Moorea is where the Tahitians go when they want to get away from it all. It’s only 7 minutes by air from Papeete and costs $50 each way.

It is a gorgeous day so I went swimming at 7 a.m. Of course, the sun was up and I had the pool to myself for 45 minutes.

Bill went around and collected some breakfast for us.
We arrived at Moorea at 8 a.m. and dropped anchor so we had to tender in. We originally planned to go snorkeling but twice was enough. 

I really enjoyed the last snorkel excursion. The water was about 15 feet deep so I didn’t worry about hitting the coral. We were on a private tour and got to choose whether or not to wear the safety vest so I didn’t. Bill stayed on the boat and I stayed where he could see me in case I got into trouble.

I had some perfect moments there. The world was totally gone while was gazing at the little fish. I sometimes think about snorkeling when I am trying to go to sleep. We have too few moments like these in our lives. The next thing I knew
everyone else was aboard the boat and calling my name.

We meet new friends every night at dinner and around the ship. We saw some dinner friends on the tender and decided to go on a tour together. They had friends, too, so the six of us went together. 

We settled on a bus tour because Bill would not have to walk and it was air-conditioned. Shirley and Joan are both widows and Joan taught physical education in elementary school so we have a lot in common.

Our next door neighbors on the ship were on the bus, too. They have a son who is about 40 who is in their cabin with them. He has some kind of disability, maybe a head injury.

When we got off the tender, there were two beautiful young people in gorgeous red costumes.

The young woman had on a coconut bra like they wore in the play, “South Pacific”. Before I thought, I said, “Nice coconuts”. She has apparently heard that before as she laughed and rapped on one of them with her knuckles.

People speak French here and we don’t always communicate. We all thought we were on a tour around the island but we headed off to the interior and climbed to the highest point. There was a great view and I took more panoramic pictures.

Many people ride bikes here. They all speak French, too.

This is a map of the agricultural college. Students come from many islands to study here. 

The most interesting stop was an archeological site called a Marae. They sacrificed animals and people there. There are 32 sites like this on the island. 

First, you asked one of the gods for the favor you needed, then sacrificed someone and two weeks later you got what you wanted. I took several pictures. The Marae is surrounded by low rock walls and you are not supposed to go inside the walls. 

There are two hip-high rocks that form a V in the middle of the space. The sacrificial victim knelt in front of the rocks and placed their head in the V to be chopped off. 

The guide also showed us a chestnut tree that was used to communicate long distances. The sound will carry a long way if you beat on it.

I finally saw The Green Flash last night! It wasn’t actually a flash. It was slower than that. It felt like a trick my eyes played on me because I was staring at the sun.

2012-1-24 Moorea

Another day in Paradise! Moorea is where the Tahitians go when they want to get away from it all. It’s only 7 minutes by air from Papeete and costs $50 each way.

 It is a gorgeous day so I went swimming at 7 a.m. Of course, the sun was up and I had the pool to myself for 45 minutes. Bill went around and collected some breakfast for us. 

We arrived at Moorea at 8 a.m. and dropped anchor so we had to tender in. We originally planned to go snorkeling but twice was enough. I really enjoyed the last snorkel excursion. The water was about 15 feet deep so I didn’t worry about hitting the coral. We were on a private tour and got to choose whether or not to wear the safety vest so I didn’t. Bill stayed on the boat and I stayed where he could see me in case I got into trouble.

I had some perfect moments there. The world was totally gone while was gazing at the little fish. I sometimes think about snorkeling when I am trying to go to sleep. We have too few moments like these in our lives. The next thing I knew everyone else was aboard the boat and calling my name.

We meet new friends every night at dinner and around the ship. We saw some dinner friends on the tender and decided to go on a tour together. They had friends, too, so the six of us went together. We settled on a bus tour because Bill would not have to walk and it was air-conditioned. Shirley and Joan are both widows and Joan taught physical education in elementary school so we have a lot in common. Our next door neighbors on the ship were on the bus, too. They have a son who is about 40 who is in their cabin with them. He has some kind of disability, maybe a head injury.

When we got off the tender, there were two beautiful young people in gorgeous red costumes. The young woman had on a coconut bra like they wore in the play, “South Pacific”. Before I thought, I said, “Nice coconuts”. She has apparently heard that before as she laughed and rapped on one of them with her knuckles.

People speak French here and we don’t always communicate. We all thought we were on a tour around the island but we headed off to the interior and climbed to the highest point. There was a great view and I took more panoramic pictures.

The most interesting stop was an archeological site called a Marae. They sacrificed animals and people there. There are 32 sites like this on the island. First, you asked one of the gods for the favor you needed, then sacrificed someone and two weeks later you got what you wanted.

I took several pictures. The Marae is surrounded by low rock walls and you are not supposed to go inside the walls. There are two hip-high rocks that form a V in the middle of the space. The sacrificial victim kneeled in front of the rocks and placed their head in the V to be chopped off. The guide also showed us a chestnut tree that was used to communicate long distances. The sound will carry a long way if you beat on it.

I finally saw The Green Flash last night! It wasn’t actually a flash. It was slower than that. It felt like a trick my eyes played on me because I was staring at the sun. This is what it looked like to me. 

2012-1-24 Tahiti

We took a day off from cruise excursions in Papeete, Tahiti. We are docked so we Bill rode his red scooter. We went a few blocks around the city and then came back to the comfort and shelter of the ship.

Here is a Tahitian candy store and some other places we saw in Papeete. 

Surprisingly to me, Tahiti is not paradise. I had a friend who was born and raised in Tahiti. She warned me that it wasn't what I thought it was. She was right. 

I saw a big handwritten sign in one of the alleys that said, “Gangs”. There is graffiti and idle looking young men hanging around. 

The dock area is good for scooters but we had a lot of problems with high curbs just a few blocks away. The city is not handicap friendly. 

Papeete was built into a major port by the French in the 1960’s and now it has all the problems of a large city. 

We saw some Chinese New Year activity with men using a red dragon. I think that the store was being blessed for the New Year or something like that. 

This Tahitian tree was used as a drum to send messages long distances. 

I took a short movie. Bill is taking a nap. As I was walking around the ship, I passed the theater. It was half full. I slipped in and watched the beginning of “The Help”. They passed out bags of popcorn, too.

2012-1-22 Bora Bora

We went out with Patrick in Bora Bora today. He is legendary and for good reason. He took 12 of us in his outrigger canoe around the island. We stopped to pet the stingrays and  we were told not to pet the black tipped sharks. The sharks are not generally dangerous but they are not friendly, either. The stingrays cozy right on up to you. They are hoping for a piece of fish. Of course, someone mentioned Steve Irwin who died after he was stung by a sting ray but Patrick told us not to worry, just be happy.

Then, we went snorkeling in a deeper spot. The coral was brown in both places we have snorkeled. Patrick said that it was damaged by a hurricane in 2005 that caused mud to flow off the mountains and into the lagoon. Live coral is brightly colored. There were plenty of small fish.

Patrick took us to his family Motu which he described as a coral island. He set up a luau. They had a cooking in a pit along with breadfruit and chicken. They set up a barbecue and grilled lobsters too. They had soda pop, beer and champagne. I really liked a dish of spinach that was cooked in coconut milk.

There was also pineapple, tapioca root, Tahitian poi, plaintains and other veggies and fruit. I think I hit the high spots there.
The island was covered with crab holes which made it a little difficult for Bill, as he was using his canes. The crabs are hard to catch unless you wait three days after the full moon. That afternoon, they skitter down to the beach to lay their eggs. You can pick up as many as you desire as they pay no attention to you at that time.

When we got back from our outing, there was a notice attached to our door warning us not to eat off the ship. They still can’t get the GI bug under control. We can no longer do our own laundry, check out a book, etc. Every dock we dock, the captain says, “Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.”

At sunset, we went out to the deck to attempt to see the green flash. When the sun sets in a thick atmosphere, there is a tiny green flash just before it dips completely away. I thought maybe this was the same kind of thing as a snipe but many people on board claim to have seen it, including Bill. It has something to do with the red that you normally see when the sun sets.

2012-1-21 Spectacular Sail Away from Raiatea

Lisa, the shore excursion expert, said the sail away from Raiatea is especially scenic and that we should plan to be on deck at 5 p.m. to watch it. We were still in bed when we sailed into the lagoon on Friday night so we didn’t realize it was so spectacular. 

It was everything you read about in books. We saw low mountains covered with green that dropped steeply down to the sea. 

No beaches and few houses or other buildings. One small inlet dotted with white sailboats. The water gradually changed from lighter blue/green to a deep blue as we moved into deeper water. 

We sailed quite a distance to find an opening in the reef. There was a small orange boat also exiting the reef at the same time which gave scale to the pictures. 

To top it off there were 5 or 6 dolphins leaping away from the ship. They must have been hired by the cruise line. I tried to get a picture of the dolphins but all I captured was the splash. 

The tech expert taught us how to do panoramic pictures at the digital classes. Yesterday was the perfect opportunity to practice. I got one good one. 

I got a second one but I didn’t overlap the pictures enough so it has a stutter. Everyone was out on the aft deck jostling for position at the rail so it was hard to take pictures. 

The sun is turning out to be almost as annoying as it was during our trip to Alaska. It rises about 5:45 a.m. But it starts getting light out at 4:45. It gets dark after 7 p.m. And it is dark out here. 

They dim the ship lights and our room is quiet except when they lower the anchor. We tried pinning the curtains together but the light leaks in under the curtains and right into our eyes.

Bill never wakes up early at home but he woke up before 5 this morning. Mark asked if we know about the Costa cruise liner. Unfortunately, we are getting good coverage of that disaster. I’m surprised that so many survived. 

I can’t form a picture in my mind of Bill and I sliding five stories down the side of the ship. We have many handicapped and doddering people on board, including vision impaired and Alzheimer’s patients. It’s hard to get us in and out of the elevator let alone down the outside of the ship.

2012-1-21 Raiatea

I was able to get online at a café in Raiatea but it was more trouble than it was worth. I did look at Facebook and caught up a little with the news at home. But, it wouldn’t let me go back in the past more than a week. We were told that Raiatea doesn’t generally accept US dollars and that turned out to be true. Also, we could get online at the Post Office but it was closed. 

We found a grocery store where we bought a few items and got French Polynesian francs that way. We found an internet café easily but there were only six computers. I couldn’t use my stick to upload and Bill couldn’t use his computer which he had hauled all over in his backpack. 

The computer had a different keyboard and that slowed me down considerably. It was not as difficult to use as the ones in Japan but still not easy. For one thing, you have to shift for a period. I guess they don’t use periods much. 

I looked at my blog and discovered that I haven’t uploaded some entries that I believed I had uploaded. I saw the message from Stevie and from Ted. I think I answered Ted’s question about the crew. 

I saw some flowers on the sink when I used a public restroom.  The flowers grow wild here. 

And we can’t go on any long walks so that leaves out visits to places that don’t allow scooters. This town is not set up for them and so Bill struggled along with his walker. I was able to look at both my AOL email and my Gmail accounts. I am happy to discover that some of you are following along on the blog. It’s just too hard to use email on the ship. It’s very slow.

I took this when we were sailing away from Raiatea. 

2012-1-20 The Star Party

Last night was the big Star Party on the aft deck level 8. Level 8 is where the Lido restaurant is located. We could eat in the formal dining room for every meal, but like most people we only eat dinner there. 

The Lido is large, casual buffet. On the forward side, there are small tables and lounge chairs surrounding the pool. In the afternoon, there is usually a band with a female singer. They play all the big hits from the 50’s on up. 

In the center of the Lido deck is an enclosed dining area with small tables. But the aft section is pretty much devoted to smokers. 

There is a shallow pool with the deck chairs set up permanently inside the pool. You have to wade in ankle deep water to get to the chairs. They are almost never used but they were the best sites to view the stars last night as there were no obstructions. I picked out lounge chairs just behind them which also had a good view. 

There is a large screen where the Star Lady reviewed all the sights in the southern skies. Then, they turned off most of the lights and she used a laser pointer to point out the different constellations and features of the night sky. She used the belt of Orion as an anchor point. She showed how to position our hands like the Rock On symbol to measure 20 degrees in any direction. 

We saw the Southern Cross! I was very excited. I think I will remember that night for the rest of my life. Jupiter was up and it was possible to see a few moons as dots on the surface using powerful binoculars. They were passed around but I didn’t see any. 

Bill said the most impressive site to him were the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud which are vast, spectacular galaxies. They do look just like clouds but they don’t move. 

She told a joke about Sirius. Canopus (the second brightest star) said, “I’m the brightest star in the sky.” The response was, “You can’t be Sirius.” We saw Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri which are bright, paired stars. There are two stars that appear to set together. I can’t remember their names. But, the Polynesians knew that this happened when they were near Tahiti. They had a very complicated navigation system. 

There aren’t as many striking constellations as there are in the northern sky. For one thing, they lack the north star. And their purported shapes have even less in common with reality. That makes the accomplishments of the navigators even more impressive. But, when the first Europeans met them, they reported that the males were slow and the women even duller.

The native peoples routinely navigated vast distances using their system. They carried breadfruit to eat, which lasts a long time. The ship docked in Raiatea about 30 minutes ago. Since we are docked, we can walk right off the ship. We have been waiting in our cabin for the ship to be cleared. The sanitation measures onboard are pretty strict right now. Yesterday, the room stewards washed the walls and doors in the entire ship.