Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

Wellington, New Zealand

Posted on February 28, 2019 by patmathews

February 28, 2019

When we left Auckland, we watched a security officer and a dog go to every pallet of goods to be brought aboard the ship. The officer cut a hole in each side of the plastic around the pallet and the dog sniffed each side. The officer then put a paper on each side to identify that it had been inspected. Interesting.

I also got a surprise in the cabin. I was one of 6 people who had the most correct answers to the Oscar winners. We all had 17/24 correct. We all received a bottle of champagne!

We had a sea day between Auckland and Wellington and it was a fun day with Polynesian bracelet making, Zorba practice for the talent show and dinner with Marilyn and Charlie.

Our arrival in Wellington was beautiful. Still quite cool comparatively – 60 degrees on arrival.

We love New Zealand and really enjoyed Wellington on our 2 previous visits. We planned to go to the Botanic Garden again and then just decide as we go, I did want to find a place for a pedicure!

Wellington is the country’s third most populous city and it is also the world’s southernmost capital city! It is a young and vibrant city with almost 60% of the population between the ages of 18-49.

It is a very windy city but lots of sunny days are the usual here and today was no exception.

We started our day by taking the shuttle to the first stop. You cannot walk through the port here – you must take the shuttle. We then walked uphill to the Botanic Gardens which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful I have seen. It is over 65 acres of beauty – trees, shrubs, flowers and an award winning rose garden with over 300 different rose variations. Pictures really cannot do it justice.

Next, the begonia house which contains tropical and temperate displays. Beautiful.

The tropical area also contains lily ponds and yes, bananas!

The gardens wind all the way up the hills to the top of the cable car – which runs from the central city up to the gardens. More about that later. Our fitness trackers say that we climbed the equivalent of 43 floors and walked 6 miles.

Here are some other pictures from this wonderful place. We never get enough and visit every time we are here.

There is a duck pond and food to feed them. One duck was quite friendly – eating out of my hand!

It is the 150 anniversary of the Gardens and the seasonal area had a commemorative display.

The gardens were not crowded and we had a wonderful time.

As we walked to the Treehouse Visitor’s center, we heard a distinctive sound. Turns out there were lots of cicadas on the trees. And not only on the trees!

The visitor’s center had a nice display of botanical art.

There is an unusual sundial in the gardens. If you stand in the area of the month and extend your arms to the sides, they will point to the tablets with the correct time!

We decided to take the cable car down to town. The cable car is really a funicular which runs through a pulley at the top of the hill and has two counter balanced cars attached to each other by a cable. Many people commute to the town for work using the cable car. The views from the top of the hill are wonderful.

I did find a place for a relaxing pedicure and we both updated our devices during that time with the wi-fi at the salon.

We then walked to dockside to Shed 5 where we had the catch of the day fish in Cajun style at the Crab Shack. Delicious.

We ended our day in Wellington with visits to both the Wellington Museum and the Museum of New Zealand – Te Papa Tongarewa. Both were very interesting. The museum had a very moving documentary about the Wahine tragedy which was a ferry accident in 1968 where 51 people died.

The second picture is of a toilet!

The kiwi lays huge eggs! And this piece of art uses human hair to form the flowers.

This is on the walk between the two museums. Love the outdoor artist and the outdoor gathering places.

Te Papa, which means ‘our place’, is the national museum. There were lots of Maori carvings and examples of weaving. The Terracotta warrior exhibit was there but we have been to Xian to see them so bypassed that part. There are a lot of interactive displays here – it is known as one of the best interactive museums in the world. One of the most impressive sights was the model of the heart of a blue whale. Huge!

We have a bridge cam on the tv and we keep it on most of the time. There is a place near the ship where logs for export are kept – this is the view from the tv bridgecam.

Then it was back to the ship – a very busy and terrific day. Here is our sail away. Is anyone tired??

Posted in February, Food, South Pacific, World Cruise 3 | 1 Comment

Auckland, New Zealand

Posted on February 25, 2019 by patmathews

February 26, 2019

We arrived in Auckland early this morning. I had a 9:30 work call so we had our breakfast and right after the call we headed to the ferry building to take the ferry to Devonport.

First about Auckland. This is our third time here and we really like the city. It is the major gateway for ship and air traffic and was once the capital of New Zealand. It is called the “City of the Sails” because of its beautiful location and great weather. It is build on top of a cluster of extinct volcanos. It is the largest city in the country and the people here are just wonderful.

I couldn’t take a picture as soon as we docked because we were facing the Hilton Hotel which it seemed we could almost reach out and touch. But I got some pictures from the Terrace Café.

The needle shaped building is the sky tower. And the orangish one is the beautiful ferry building with the ferries in the water. That’s how close it is.

They were loading LOTS of supplies on the ship. We have 5 days till Sydney and have just had a number of sea days so they have a need to stock up!

It is another beautiful day in the 70’s. After the heat and humidity, it felt cool at breakfast but once we were out and about, it felt just perfect.

From the ferry, I took these pictures. Our friend Mike said the first building must have been designed by a man because the toilet seat is up!

The ferry trip to Devon port takes just 12 minutes. We love this little historic town. Europeans settled her in the mid 1800s but the Maori settlement goes back to the mid-14th century. The town was named after the Devonport naval base in England. One of the first things you see when you leave the ferry wharf is the Esplanade Hotel, built in 1902-03 is one of the oldest on the North Shore and the bar still exists in its original position in the hotel. We planned to have lunch there after doing our shopping and walking.

Last time we were here, I bought some really unique jewelry and clothes. I went back to the same stores and found some earrings as well as the merino wool and possum (not our kind of possum) gloves and socks. I wore out the gloves I bought last time.

We then took the walk on Victoria Road and up to Mt. Victoria. It is quite a steep hike (the largest volcanic cone here) but the view at the top is just spectacular. You can see over to Auckland and all around Devonport and the harbors. It was part of the coastal defense system established in 1885 in fear of attack on the British Empire by the Russian Pacific Fleet.

We enjoyed the views, chatted with a man from Connecticut and then walked back down to the main part of town. The historic buildings are really nice.

We had a leisurely lunch at the Esplanade Hotel.

This town is quirky in a way we love. I like to post signs and here are some that we saw today. They love dogs here too and this one loves the town right back. He has his own grass patch right in a parking lot!

Our last two visits were the always important Devonport Chocolate and the equally important Glengarry Wine!

We sat and enjoyed the small beach and even noticed a swimmer, then we boarded the ferry after a really fun day.

Here are some of the pictures from the ferry back to Auckland. The hill is Mt. Victoria.

Posted in February, South Pacific, World Cruise 3 | Leave a comment

Bay of Islands, New Zealand

Posted on February 25, 2019 by patmathews

The Bay of Islands consists of 144 islands next to the north island of New Zealand. It has many beaches, deep sea fishing and a strong Maori culture. Our sail in this morning was just beautiful.

Our planned excursion was to meet at 8 AM. It is a tender port and our first (and only) sighting of dolphins was from the tender into the dock at Waitangi Wharf.

Our excursion was on a catamaran – a cruise to Cape Brett and Hole in the Rock.

First, I have to say that this area is spectacularly beautiful. We have been to New Zealand but not to this area. In fact it is a first for our Captain and also for the Insignia.

This is one of New Zealand’s most beautiful marine areas. It was made famous by the English explorer, James Cook and writer Zane Grey. It was the first area of New Zealand to be settled by Europeans.

We got a map of the islands in the area we would be traveling.

We left from the tender pier at Waitangi Wharf. This is on the left side of the map just up from #1. We were dressed pretty warmly because it was only 70 degrees F and there was a 40 mph wind. Our captain provided commentary and it was nice to have the map so I could label my pictures according to the locations he described.

We traveled first to #7 on the map, Motuarohia island. It is also called Robertson Island and the area of water is called Cook’s Cove. There are 40 Kiwi birds living here but they are nocturnal so we didn’t see them. Now the Robertson family and retired airline pilots have seasonal vacation homes here.

The next island we passed is Moturua Island (#8). This is home to many endangered bird species in a protected wildlife preserve. You can also see the cave in one of the pictures.

If you look closely, you can see Smokey the Bear in the last picture. The slanted building is a nine level hotel. There are no private beaches in New Zealand, so even on these remote islands, anyone can come and use the beach.

Next was Urupukapuka Island (#11), the largest island in the bay. This is a recreational reserve and farm park covering about 520 acres with lots of walking trails and beautiful beaches. It is the only island you can camp on. There are only 3 native animals in New Zealand, all the rest were brought in. All three are types of bats. Due to rats that were brought in, there was a lot of damage to bird life here. Programs have been designed to eradicate the rats and the island has been predator free for 10 years. You can see the sheep on the hillside.

The waves were quite choppy once we moved out of the area that was protected by the shore. You can see Cape Brett lighthouse on the hill. The iconic lighthouse was first lit in 1910, and it still has its internal workings. The light was unique in that it was the first light of three in New Zealand to utilize mercury bath technology. Our captain said that the mercury bath technology created more flash for the cash. Now it is the only one left in the world. Back when there were 3 lightkeepers, there were 15 children and a Clydesdale named Toby. Lightkeepers lived here from 1910 – 1978 when a new automated light went into service. Now you can stay in the lighthouse for $15/ night but the only way to access it is boat, helicopter or an 8 – 9 hour walk!

We then went to the Hole in the Rock which is at the end of Cape Brett – and in calm conditions, boats can pass under the rock itself which is a 60 foot high passage. Today it was much too windy and ch0ppy to do that. Still impressive though.

On the way back we passed Waewaetorea Island (#12) – 115 acres with many beaches- it is a recreational reserve.

#13 Okahu Island is a scenic reserve of 53 acres and is also known as Red Head Island as it has a red soil. There is only one beach here and also a wind weather station.

There are 3 privately owned islands here. We passed the town of Russell (Kororareka), a historic seaside village which was a base for the whaling industry in the 1830’s and was formerly known as “the Hellhole of the Pacific” due to the rowdy behavior of its inhabitants! It was also once the capital of New Zealand.

There are also a lot of small beautiful islands – too many to put in this posting. But here is “turtle island” which our captain said is a lady – because of the eyelashes!

When our tour was finished we went to the town of Paihia. There was a shuttle that we took one way and then walked back along the seaside. A wonderful craft fair with all New Zealand products was here and I did make a few purchases. It was a really nice surprise. On our way back we passed the Waitangi Treaty House and Grounds which is one of New Zealand’s most important historic sights. In 1840 the Maori chiefs and the British Crown signed the treaty here that became the founding document for New Zealand.

A couple of fun signs:

We got back to the ship in time to see the Academy Awards which were on at 2 PM here (Monday!). I have to say that I like an afternoon awards show. Especially with the goodies – both main dishes and desserts – with popcorn – that the culinary team prepared. We even had a red carpet. We both did ballots, will see how we did later, I guess. Didn’t get the best picture or best actress right for sure.

Posted in Excursions, February, South Pacific, World Cruise 3 | 1 Comment

At Sea in the South Pacific

Posted on February 23, 2019 by patmathews

February 24, 2019

We had 2 sea days before we arrive in New Zealand. The seas have been just a little choppy but really it is pretty smooth sailing right now. There is a cyclone in the Australia area but we hear it is not expected to impact us.

Yesterday we had the “country fair” out on deck where all the ship’s department staff and crew set up games where you get tickets for prize drawings. The games last an hour and then people gather together for the prize drawing – things like bottles of champagne, spa certificates, Insignia branded hats, backpacks, etc. and boutique gifts. We didn’t win anything but had a fun time. And the weather was perfect.

Here are some shots of the event.

The last picture is me trying to do the whack a mole (whack a restaurant waiter monkey in this case.) One of them kept grabbing my leg and putting ice on it from the bottom of the table! There were all kinds of games including identifying the smell of spices and of wine, identifying the nationalities of senior staff, identifying landmarks in different countries, games to ring the liquor bottles, send balls through the Olympic symbol into the pool and even a race to put pillows in the pillow cases (not as easy as it sounds.)

Norm and I also finished our fish hook necklaces with June.

We had dinner with Karen and Bill in the Polo Grill and chef Mario made fresh grouper. We all had it and it was delicious.

Today, we had a special lunch for the around the world guests. We started with sangria in the Insignia lounge as we all gathered. Very cleverly, on arrival they gave us cards with different scenes on them. This was to create an orderly transition to the Grand Dining Room which was closed to other passengers for today. It also helped people to sit with other passengers they had perhaps not met before.

Here are the invitation, the card and the menu.

Every bite was delicious. We were fortunate to sit with Sukey and also our captain, Damir Kurilic from Croatia. We have talked to him several times before but it was nice to get to know him better.

Later in the afternoon, I won the blackjack tournament, then we made Kukui nut and shell leis with June, our Polynesian lecturer. She told us all about the nut and its uses. The oil is used on the skin and the nut can also have a palm frond inserted and lit to make a small kind of candle which burns for just a few minutes, then lights the next one. I can just imagine how twinkly these would be. She described how these nuts are gathered and then polished to be used for jewelry. Ours are hand painted with the names of the places in the South Pacific that we visited.

Everyone could design their own styles. Here’s mine.

We will have another class to make bracelets and several more classes with June. She will be on board until Tokyo – she is a delight!

Tomorrow we are scheduled to visit Bay of Islands, New Zealand. The captain told us this is the first time he will be in this port, and it is also a first for this ship. It is a tender port so we hope the weather holds up enough for us to visit.

Posted in At Sea, February, South Pacific, World Cruise 3 | 1 Comment

Suva, Fiji

Posted on February 21, 2019 by patmathews

February 22, 2019

Yesterday we had a class to make crepe paper flowers with June, our Polynesian enrichment lecturer. Even with the same directions, there were a variety of different beautiful flowers. Here’s mine.

Last night we had a cooking class with the guest chef on board, Olivier Desaintmartin. He is French but now lives in Philadelphia where he operates a restaurant called Caribou Café on 12th and Walnut! We haven’t eaten there but will when we return. We have walked past it many times. I chatted with him to let him know to expect us after 6 months.

He was a Food Network TV “Chopped” Champion. He and our executive chef, Mario, were on stage along with some of the other sous chefs. Chef Olivier made crab cakes and a delicious looking cod dish which Mario says will be cooked and served in the dining room in the next few days. I love my crab cake recipe but will try his when I get home.

Here’s our view entering the Suva harbor this morning.

On our last trip to Fiji we went to the Navua River and did a longboat tour, lunch and swim near the waterfall. Today, we had wi-fi on our minds first. So we went to the local shopping mall and paid $2 in Fiji dollars for each of our devices for 24 hours of wi-fi. That was about $1 in US money – well worth it. We got everything backed up and the new software downloaded in a pretty short time.

We always like to browse the markets and the Suva Market here is really large, clean and full of delicious looking produce, spices, fabrics and yes, lots of eggs!

They also had a lot of kava which they use to make a drink we tasted last time – and could hardly stand it.

We also walked to Victoria Parade. It is a street running along the water with lots of shops including a fairly large handicraft market. We talked to some of the vendors but didn’t buy anything.

After strolling through the market, we hired a driver for a tour of Suva. His name was Rackness and he was a nice guy and a knowledgeable guide. He told us that Fiji is made up of 333 islands but only 110 are inhabited. The population is 850,000 and almost half live in Suva. That explains the heavy traffic in the downtown area. Suva is the largest city in the South Pacific. The main employer used to be sugar cane – now it is tourism.

The weather stays about the same all year and they do get lots of rain. None today though although the rainy season is November – March.

Our butler, Pio, is from India and met his Serbian wife on the ship so now they reside in Serbia. He told us how many Indian people live here and he couldn’t wait to leave the ship and have lots of Indian food. Rackness told us that the British brought people from India to be slaves back in the day and that is why there is such a large Indian population today. Actually, there are many Chinese, Europeans, Arabs and a pretty large expat population here.

We stopped at several locations to take pictures. This is the Parliament building.

And this is the Grand Pacific Hotel. Queen Elizabeth stayed here in 1953. Colonial style and very beautiful.

People are not allowed to visit the Presidential Palace, also known as the Government House. It was built in 1928 and became the official residence of the president after Fiji became a republic in 1987. There is a guard outside wearing a traditional skirt called a Sulu. They stand outside the palace in the heat in 2 hour intervals.

The real security guard was surprised that we wanted his picture too!

The grounds are beautiful. I don’t know if you can see the flying foxes in the trees but they are numerous. They are the black hanging animals.

We stopped at the Thurston botanical gardens and a beautiful park. The trees are hundreds of years old.

Rackness was proud of the fact that Fiji won gold in rugby at the 2016 Olympics and showed us the $7 currency with a commemorative picture.

The local people are being priced out of the housing market by Chinese and Arab people coming to Fiji. A condo building will be the highest building and the lowest price is $3 million. He says only a few Fijian businessmen would be able to afford that so mostly foreign investors buy them.

We paid a visit to the war memorial and passed by the old Parliament building which is in disrepair and no longer used.

The country is mostly Christian. This is the Roman Catholic Cathedral. Next to the bank…

At the end of our tour, Norm gave Rackness some extra money since his daughter is attending nursing school in Australia and he sends most of his money there to support her. Yay for nurses!

We always like to see the fish markets and this one was no exception.

Beautiful (hot) and sunny day in wonderful Fiji.

Posted in February, South Pacific, World Cruise 3 | 2 Comments

Does anyone really know what time it is?

Posted on February 20, 2019 by patmathews

February 19-21, 2019

Does anyone on Insignia really care?

OK, so we crossed the international date line and here are our instructions in the daily Currents newsletter:

So, now we are somewhere in the South Pacific en route to Figi where we will arrive on Friday, February 22 and it is Thursday, February 21 here at 7:45 AM. And in Philadelphia it is 2:45 PM on Wednesday, February 20.

Confusing, right? Well, do we care what day and time it is? I guess the people who had birthdays on February 20 care! There was a star gazing and miss a day party on deck last night and those birthdays were celebrated. Otherwise, it is just another wonderful day in paradise.

Speaking of paradise, on our deck walk…early… this morning we had a brief shower and a beautiful rainbow to welcome our day.

Lots of things to do today. Making a necklace with June, Zorba class, manicure, hopefully blackjack tournament, cooking class…life is good.

Oh, and I forgot to mention. We saw what we thought was a bat yesterday in American Samoa. Jubilee told us they are flying foxes! So I looked them up and they are in fact a type of bat called the flying fox or fruit bat.

Posted in At Sea, February, South Pacific, World Cruise 3 | Leave a comment

Pago Pago, American Samoa

Posted on February 19, 2019 by patmathews

February 19, 2019

Pago Pago is pronounced Pango Pango and it is absolutely lush and beautiful. The town is at the western end of an L- shaped bay and surrounded by beautiful mountains. Here are a couple of pictures taken as we sailed in.

We made plans with Rodney and Candace to go hiking at the National Park. When we got off the ship and realized how hot and humid it was, we took advantage of one of the many bus and taxi drivers who waited outside the port gates to offer guided tours of the island.

We got maps from Miss American Samoa!

We met Jubilee and quickly agreed to go in his bus for a 3 hour tour – for $20 each. These wooden buses are everywhere on the island. They are very colorful and all decorated differently. Here is Jubilee with Norm, Rodney, Candace and our bus.

Now, Jubilee would be quite happy if we got a few more people to go with us on the bus. So as we passed passengers from our ship, we yelled out the window to see if they wanted to join us! We ended up with 8 more people. Most of them started to walk somewhere and found out how hot it was.

I should mention here that for all of the ports we have been to before – you can read the descriptions on the blog post from that port. For example, here is the link to the post from our trip here 2 years ago. If you are thinking of visiting any of these places, you can see what we experienced on our visits.

Pago Pago 2017

So, we set off on our adventure. We immediately noticed the no drinking, no eating inscription which was written at the front of the bus. Jubilee told us “don’t worry about that – it is for locals!”

Jubilee took us to the western part of the island first. About 65,000 people live on the 76 square mile island and around 9000 live in Pago Pago. Including the marine waters, the area is about the size of the state of Oregon or New Zealand. 90% of the island is covered in untouched tropical rainforest.

The local people retain much of the traditional way of life. In fact, the organized ship’s tours to the villages had a requirement that women wear long pants, not shorts.

There are guest houses called “fale” that look like large gazebos where people entertain visitors or hold ceremonies like weddings. They are open and without walls to symbolize the villagers’ unrestricted culture. We saw many different styles. The first one is a ceremonial one with impressive carved columns.

It was very interesting to learn that many families bury their loved ones in their front yards. There are also cemeteries but we noticed so many gravesites in the yards. If they have burial sites on their properties, the families are never allowed to sell the house, nor can the government take it over for any reason. We did see quite a few deteriorating houses and wondered if that was the reason.

The road doesn’t go all the way around the island, so we went to the western area first, then went back to the eastern side before returning to the ship. Jubilee wanted to take us up to a high point for some beautiful pictures of the landscape, but part way up, the bus started to overheat, so we didn’t do that. By the way, these very interesting buses don’t have air conditioning, but the breeze once we travel makes them quite comfortable.

Here are some of the pictures of the sights we saw. The water is clear as can be.

So, this island is an American territory and dollars are the currency. There is a US post office and of course, a McDonalds, in fact there are two of those.

Jubilee told us of the earthquake and tsunami that happened on 9/29/09. 60 people died and he said if it had happened at night more would have died. We stopped at the Leone Mission Monument that marks the contribution of Reverend John Williams who landed here in 1832 and began spreading Christianity. The island is predominantly Christian and we passed MANY churches.

We passed a school and on the way back, Jubilee pulled into the parking lot and picked up his daughter. The students were happy to see us!

When we passed Jubilee’s house, his wife came to get his daughter!

We went to “two dollar beach” which is also known as Avaio beach. It now costs $5 but the name remains the same.

There is a large Starkist tuna processing plant on the island – about 2000 people work there.

Some shots of us in the beauty of American Samoa.

We headed back around the bay. As Jubilee saw people walking he offered them rides back to the ship for $5. We picked up about 6 more passengers. Curiously, there are two places named for Ronald Reagan.

Tonight, countdown to the Oscars continues with the movie BlackKKKlansman. We have already seen it and liked it a lot. I always say that the movie night is “all about the popcorn” which we only get on movie night, so I may go just for that!

Posted in February, South Pacific, World Cruise 3 | 3 Comments

At Sea in the South Pacific

Posted on February 18, 2019 by patmathews

February 17 and 18, 2019

Yesterday we had the beautiful brunch that the chefs prepare several times during the 6 month voyage. Today was the first and as always, it was wonderful – both in taste and in appearance. You can order specialties from the menu or choose items from the buffet. Here are some pictures of the Grand Dining room feast. The delicacies are too numerous to mention!

As we left the brunch, we saw one of the bar tenders at the coffee bar, Baristas. It turns out that he is a fabulous artist. He showed me his picture from Bora Bora, then he said he left out the Insignia in the picture, drew it in and I took another picture of him holding his masterpiece. He did this with a ball point pen! He drew the Insignia at the top right in the picture between the mountains.

At Baristas, they make specialty coffee drinks all day with these goodies always available. It is open from 6:30 AM – 6 PM, then it converts to the Grand Bar for the evening.

I went to the Zorba the Greek dance class – we are preparing to do the dance at the passenger talent show and this was our third class. I will post pictures after the show. No word on when that will be yet.

After a relaxing day at sea, we attended the Oceania Club cocktail party. This party is held every segment for returning guests. Of the 650 passengers, 530 are returning guests so they need to have two parties. Once you have reached a certain status which is calculated on your cruise points, you are invited to both parties. The second one is always the next evening. I may have mentioned in a previous post that there are lovely appetizers served and the drinks flow freely. You always get to greet the Captain and the General Manager as well as other officers. Guests who reach the next level of loyalty have the opportunity to receive their pins at these parties. We got our diamond level pin already. Here we are with friends at the party.

Monday – President’s Day in the US – we are at sea en route to Pago Pago, American Samoa. It is a beautiful day and the seas are calm compared to a bit choppy yesterday.

I mentioned that I have been reading The Printmaker’s Daughter and going to the book club which is led by Becky Marck. Not only are we discussing the book, Becky is giving us quite an education about Japan and its culture and customs. We are going to be learning about chopstick rules and have already discussed a lot about art, rituals, observances, etc. For example, all young people born in that year “come of age” on the same day, January 20, not on their birthdays. 20 is the age at which they can vote, drink, etc. and are considered adults. There will be a lot to observe and learn before and during our time in Japan which will be March 26 – April 4.

Our wonderful Polynesian enrichment lecturer, June Teruya, is on board until Tokyo. I took her classes on the last world cruise and she is just delightful. Today we made the woven lei. She gave us some history and described the correct way to gift someone with a lei. Then we all made one. They can also be made into hatbands.

They haven’t been having the blackjack tournaments because not enough people have been coming. We will see if they have one today!

Posted in At Sea, February, Food, South Pacific, World Cruise 3 | Leave a comment

Bora Bora, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Posted on February 16, 2019 by patmathews

February 16, 2019

Last night the countdown to the Oscars continued with the movie “The Favourite”. Well, it was not my favorite. The performances were good, but I didn’t really like the movie so much. We will see if the Oscar voters like it.

Today we arrived in Bora Bora by 8 AM. We had an 8 AM tour scheduled. Here are some pictures as we sailed into the harbor. This is a tender port.

Bora Bora is one of the islands of Tahiti – the largest marine territory in the world, covering an area of 5.5 million kilometers (equivalent to the land mass of Europe!) Of the 118 islands I mentioned in my last post, very few are occupied. You can see a couple of the small ones in these pictures.

Our tour was an island circumnavigation by jetboat with snorkeling at one spot and swimming at a sand bar just off Matira’s white sandy beach. The water here is such a brilliant blue and so clear it is amazing. And the colors are ever changing. You can see the color changes as the depth changes.

Our jetboat captain was Alex and his assistant was Keatu. To our surprise, there were only 3 passengers and then Rene, our destinations manager, and one of the ship’s receptionists joined us so only five plus Alex and Keatu were on this adventure.

We had a fast and exhilarating ride around the island. Alex pointed out many sights including the amazing hotels that are actually kind of tiki huts on pilings in the water. We passed one of the time shares – very expensive and exclusive – Marlon Brando owns one full time. They cost – on average – $20,000/month for the smallest. The Four Seasons Hotel costs $5000/night!

The first pictures are of the Four Seasons and the second is one of the two Intercontinental hotels on Bora Bora.

Here is one needing a new roof!

And here we are with our fellow jet boaters.

We had a snorkeling stop at the Coral Gardens which is said to be the best snorkeling on the island.

Norm took lots of fish and coral pictures with his new underwater camera. I had some bread and the fish came right up to me to eat it.

We then went around another part of the island to a sand bar where we went for a swim. Alex wove some coconut leaves together to make a basket and he chopped open a coconut and fruit – grapefruit, bananas and papaya, and we enjoyed it with fresh pineapple juice. All of the fruit came from Alex’s own back yard!

Here’s the name of the boat and some of me swimming as well as the sting ray that swam right by me! Norm has on the hat that we were given as around the world guests.

Alex entertained us by singing and playing his ukelele. What a great day.

When we returned to shore, Alex showed off his butt – and said “don’t put it on facebook”, with a big grin! So here it is in the blog.

This boat is the airport shuttle – the airport is on a separate island. And here are some local musicians entertaining us at the port.

We had time to do a bit of shopping and we went back to a shop where we purchases a gorgeous necklace last time we were here. If you go, it is called Bora Home Galerie. I bought a wonderfully designed pearl necklace and a hand painted dress. The shop keeper remembered us from our last visit. And we will visit again, next time.

The weather forecast called for wind and rain but the day was really lovely. At the swimming spot we got about 4 minutes of light “liquid sunshine” but that was it for the day.

Posted in World Cruise 3 | 1 Comment

Papeete, Tahiti, Society Islands, French Polynesia

Posted on February 15, 2019 by patmathews

February 15, 2019

Last night we had dinner in Toscana and had a delicious pasta appetizer and then a tuna dish that was probably the best yet. Mario said he would try for more fresh fish in Tahiti.

Last time we were in this port, it rained hard the whole day and our snorkeling trip was cancelled. We stayed in Papeete and did a little shopping and visiting the markets.

Today the weather was beautiful, hot but sunny and nice. We were greeted by local women who gave us one of the Tiare Tahiti local flowers to wear. Behind the left ear means we are unavailable! Other musicians played for us as we came ashore.

Then we were greeted by a whole group of 8th graders from Mennais Junior High School. They have been studying English for 3 years and are doing a class project welcoming tourists and guiding them to several places to visit. Most seemed quite shy but eager to practice their English. They had a brochure that they made about local attractions and local fruits to sample. I spent a bit of time talking to them and their teacher.

We decided to try to find a local guide to take us around since we didn’t see any of the rest of the island last visit. We found Tom, and another couple from the ship joined us, Linda and George.

Tom was a delightful 74 year old who has 16 children from 3 different women. He said it was all because of not having any TV! He serenaded us, told us lots of local stories and seemingly knew everyone we ran into on our travels. He even knew this couple who was getting married in the botanical gardens.

French Polynesia has a total population of about 300,000 on all of its 118 islands, most of which are uninhabited. They are halfway between Los Angeles and Sydney. Tahiti has 197,000 and of that, Papeete has about 30,000 people. It is a bustling town with lots of shops and markets. Tahiti is divided into two parts – the larger portion to the northwest is known as Tahiti Nui while the smaller peninsula is Tahiti Iti. Nui means large and Iti means small.

Here is a picture of the island.

Tom took us around the whole island stopping at all of the beautiful spots. We started at the cave –the Maraa Grotto. This is the largest underground cave in Tahiti.

Next we went to the Harrison W. Smith botanical garden. The flowers and trees are just beautiful. There were beautiful lily pads too. Harrison Smith was an American physics teacher who created the gardens in 1919.

They even had flowers in the rest rooms!

We visited the Fautaua Waterfall, one of the tallest in the world. The water falls about 980 feet into a large pool below.

The views along the way were beautiful as the road around the island is between the sea and the mountains all the way. We also passed some pretty churches. Tom said the country is mostly Protestant.

There is a large blowhole near the waterfall stop. Tom told us the myth of this Arahoho Blowhole. The story goes that Queen sat down on it and went “ahhhh” and that is the sound you hear. I do have video but too large to load. When the sound is made, the sea mist comes up through the hole.

Our last stop was at Point Venus. This was the Tahitian landing spot for captains Cook, Bligh and Wallis. It is surrounded by black sand beaches. There is a lighthouse which dates back to 1868 and the Bounty monument which was erected by descendants of the ship’s crew.

Here are some of the fishing boats and I guess some resting fishermen?

We had a great day with Tom, Linda and George.

We also explored Marche de Papeete, the largest marketplace here. They have everything from fish and produce to hats, shell necklaces and local crafts. Many women are making these flower headdresses that I loved, so I had to have one!