January 31: Whew, that was rough!

We just went through several days of stormy weather...52 knot winds at the highest and very messy seas. Chris and I did not bother going ashore on Niue on Sunday since it was not great weather and there was not much to see. We've passed the Dateline, so we never had January 29. It's a bit more calm today but we still have another Sea Day before we arrive in Auckland, NZ.
We've been fortunate to have a wonderful pianist on board this week, Hyperion Knight (see him if he's ever playing in your area...magnificent.) He's been practicing in the Explorers' Lounge most mornings to a full house, so they added another performance last night by public demand. One more performance before we land , but he'll perform with a Celtic flautist who has been excellent, too.
On the photo from the globe you can see where we've been by seeing the Cook Islands on the right, then Tonga on the left where Niue shows up as a dot to the right. Now we are sailing through all the open ocean to Auckland, NZ on the North Island. On all our sea days we have not seen a single other ship! Nothing! Truly a vast ocean.
Gala Night tonight.

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January 26: Rarotonga, Cook Islands (NZ)

January 24: Beautiful Bora Bora!

Somewhere in this pile of photos you'll see sunrise at Bora Bora where we anchored at 8 am today. We had a tour of the whole main island that took us up to gun emplacements from WWI and WWII, around past fabulous over-water hotels, past Bloody Mary's, to a pearl farm to see about the black pearls that are raised here, and to a tie-dye place where they made lovely pareos. Beautiful views everywhere! Tonight we don't leave until 10:30, so we might have a lovely sunset on these mountains. A Sea Day tomorrow and then we're in the Cook Islands on Rarotonga the next day...no more French Islands...the Cooks use NZ currency...so time to change.
We've been disappointed that Internet in the Islands is poor (or nonexistent) so I am having to judiciously use my ship Internet to post this and get emails. Once we're in NZ soon, things will be easier (and cheaper.)
We've already had one person break their leg on the ship (she's waiting to see a doc in Auckland to see if she's ok to continue) but a friend of a friend on board had to fly home from Papeete due to a detached retina. Things happen no matter where you are...

January 23...OMG...Mo'orea!!!

Of any island we've ever been to, this takes the prize ! Wow...beautiful! The picture that shows our tenders is the view from our verandah this morning, although by the afternoon we were facing the sea. We took a catamaran trip this morning that included a short time to snorkel but mostly it was the scenery, including the video I took of Chris doing a Polynesian dance with one of the crew on the cat...most of us who have snorkeled in other places felt HI still is #1 for the best snorkeling. After Papeete yesterday (dirty, crowded city) this was a treat. Tomorrow is Bora Bora.

January 21 Rangiroa, French Polynesia

We arrived in this humongous atoll through the small break you see in the photo. The area of the lagoon in the middle is larger than the whole island of Tahiti! You can't see the other side! The islands that make up the atoll are narrow...basically large sand bars. We walked from where the tender put us ashore to the Pacific side in about 5 minutes. Diving, snorkeling, pearl shopping are what there is to do here. We just walked to see the other side and then returned. Hot and humid again.

January 19...Land Ho! Nuku Hiva!

A lovely sight this morning as we sailed into a small bay at Nuku Hiva, the Marquesas, French Polynesia. Only a little glitch getting ashore as this is a tender port...3 of the 4 tenders had engine problems. The captain was not happy. We arrived on shore about 10:30 and we're greeted by lovely women giving us flowers accompanied by drums and conch shell blasts. The temperature was probably 80...not bad. We walked the shoreline and saw several "tikis" that are all around, talked with a local briefly in my ancient French...and watched several men in outriggers try to surf our tender waves. A lovely day! Tomorrow is a sea day.

January 18 Still at Sea!

A few photos from today and yesterday showing you our schedule for today...too many things to choose from, but many are not even listed! One photo from last night's mocha...(Chris') Tomorrow it all really begins! Nuku Hiva, our first port of call in Polynesia.

Jan. 17 Wednesday

Two more sea days until Nuku Hiva! Our first land in 8 days. Today, I went to a class about "na lei" (the plural of lei) and saw SO many beautiful lei from all over the world. I never really knew what they meant, so I'm looking forward to getting one in the islands to bring on the ship. In the afternoon I went to a class to make parachute cord bracelets...ah, the old macrame knots came back! It took awhile, but I soon remembered. Our crafts personnel are fantastic! They have lovely things to make on sea days.

The other night we received the two games for pillow gifts...well, someone had opened it up to see what kind of game it was...it's Monopoly for cruisers...so won't be a total waste. IF we can find a way of packing them in our luggage along with all the other stuff we've been given...and that's before we've really done any shopping in any ports!

Chris got his hair cut this morning...short...but with the hot weather coming up, it'll be fine.

Last evening we walked the deck (nice time to do it...not very many people as you can see!) and then headed to the Crow's Nest for a Baileys before bedtime. Lots of clock setting back this week...including tonight that is for 30 minutes! My body clock is way off now.

January 16: Another Sea Day

Just a few more photos of Sea Days here...Jan with Bernice, a new friend from Toronto, flowers in the Lido, Jan and Julia, one of our wonderful Lido staff, and Chris with Julia, too. Our morning usually begin with breakfast in the Lido...choices are excellent, but we try to limit ourselves to a more normal schedule like home...fancy breakfast once a week.
After that, it's usually up to the Crows Nest to read, Chris does the Suduku puzzles of the day, then usually at 10 there's a speaker we go to, followed by another speaker (usually about the area we are visiting), then at 11:30 it's lunchtime! 2 is usually another class, speaker, activity of some sort. Watched a movie (Hero with Sam Elliott) yesterday afternoon...otherwise it's a good relaxing time. Dinner is usually at 5:30 in the Lido again (which is transformed from its usual more crowded frantic pace), followed by coffee and chocolates in the Exploration Cafe (Library) where we are usually among only a few for an hour or so...the string duo is usually playing across the way, so it's a nice background.
We had breakfast this morning with Nancy, the crafts instructor on board, and saw her upcoming crafts which look wonderful, so I'll have to add those to my list of activities. They are so popular you have to get there at least a half hour before they begin! I'm going to help her and another cruiser with their cameras this afternoon...sounds like they've just mixed up a few settings, so I'll get them all set up for our upcoming ports.
Last night we received beautiful masks for the masked ball, but we did not attend...but they'll make their way home with us. However, we received another "pillow gift" that is not necessarily welcome...a large (make that 2) box of a game that seems to be sort of like "Risk" I think...not sure it will make the trip home...too large and heavy. I think I'll use my "Comment Card" in the cabin to remark about these kinds of gifts...the Moleskin Journal and several tote bags have been useful, but games? Not!

January 13 and 14 At Sea

A week more at sea...still! At noon we were 1 degree north of the equator which we will cross tomorrow. It's sunny now which the Captain said should be true for the foreseeable future. Still not too warm...80 for a high today. Water temp is 82. Seas are still quite calm, though there's enough motion that you know you are on a ship. Lost another hour last night.
An excellent presentation by our onboard expert on Polynesia this morning...mostly about the formation of the islands we'll soon be visiting.
Have succumbed to the various "crisps" found only at lunch...yesterday was mango, today was apricot. I've been good about the assorted sweet rolls at breakfast and bread at lunch...but these crisps will have to be accounted for! (I have just a teeny bit...does that count?)
Today was a lazy, antisocial day...Chris worked on his computer organizing some of his video/photo stuff and did his exercise, while I knitted, read, and did a bit of computer work. It's very difficult when you are used to the internet being accessible all the time. You forget how much is stored in the Cloud, Dropbox, etc. (even though I tried to download important files into my laptop.). With everything going on all around the ship, it's nice to have quiet time in our cabin once in awhile. (Just began reading "In Farleigh Field" which so far is grabbing my interest.)

Jan. 14: Another lazy day...finished "In Farleigh Field"...light read, but interesting. Went to a lecture on Raritonga, and to an excellent America's Test Kitchen about fresh pasta...how to make it with and without a pasta machine, etc. Chris went too and enjoyed it. We both got the ATK aprons which are wonderful (I had gotten one on a previous cruise and love it.). We crossed the Equator at 10:21 in the morning...no big deal on this cruise...they'll do the Captain Neptune bit on our last crossing in April (we will cross it 4 times on this cruise.). It's been strange that the temperatures are quite cool for what we expected...only high 70's. Water temp is cooler now, too...low 70's. We have been surprised at the cool temps this whole week, but apparently it's not normally this way.

Jan. 15: A couple of lectures we want to listen to today (on Papeete and Capt. Cook's Voyages) and it's Gala Night so I'll have to get out the crown jewels and do nails and things. It's the Black and Silver Ball...not that we will attend, but we'll be dressed for dinner in the dining room before. Photos to come ;-)

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Sent from my iPad

January 14 Photos of "Stuff"

I thought I'd try to just send a few miscellaneous photos today.
The ocean was dead calm most the day on Jan. 14 (Sunday)...The "day" carpets are in all the elevators to remind us what day it is...someone said they need to put the month on them, too, for this long cruise! Another photo is from the America's Test Kitchen and one of our beloved Port Lecturer, Barbara, who is so outstanding (and funny!)...she makes you want to see everything in the ports we visit, but she has very useful information (as well as great tips on where to get treats...Chris is already looking forward to Napier, NZ where she said he will find THE best ice cream!) I also took photos of two of the best recommendations we had received before this cruise: to get the folding boxes at Walmart to hold stuff under the bathroom sink, and to bring "over the door" shoe hangers for "stuff." Both have been extremely handy and will go on any cruise we take from now on. The boxes come in packs of 2, so the one "extra" I have is on the desk which is handy for all kinds of items to corral them into some kind of order.