Tomorrow, American Samoa...

Friday, January 31. Sun and humidity.

The clocks went back last night, great, we can always use more sleep it seems, it must be something to do with the rocking of the ship, which has been a bit more noticeable the last few days. We are now three hours behind Pacific Standard Time. The blog will be coming in at strange hours as we move westward for the next three months. 

I was going to try and make today's blog interesting, [hard to do at sea], by taking photos of all the things we did on a sea day. I was doing great until I forgot to take a photo at Tai Chi because I was having trouble keeping up with the instructor: [me and 75% of the class of 50!] 

After Tai Chi I met up with sister Moe and had another lesson with her on the iPad and photos. There were some photos in my iPad that I wanted to give her, not an easy task for me as I have never tried to get photos to an iPad that way. During the course of my experimenting I managed to make disappear all my World Cruise photos disappear. Choke!

My mind was racing what to do. Fortunately I had them all on my computer obviously, and also backed up on a portable hard drive on board. However that did not satisfy me and I wanted them back now!  To make  long story short I found out how to do it properly and now I have all the photos neatly organized in my iPad and will now get them in Fellette's iPad as well. However, it is not a good feeling to see all that hard work disappear before your eyes as you watch in disbelief in a matter of seconds.

I did manage to take in two lectures today skipping another two as I wrestled with my photo situation. 

I think I have the situation under control regarding being too busy on sea days, I find it less stressful do move at my own pace and forget about trying to take in everything that takes my fancy or afraid that I will miss something important. It makes for a more relaxing trip.

We went for dinner tonight with our next-door cabin mates, we met them on the Galapagos trip and find them very pleasant to be with. We ate in the main dining room as usual but at a table for four, very nice change I must say.

Tomorrow we are in American Samoa where we intend to take a local bus with Jim and Gail to a National Park. It is in Jim's Bucket List to visit the most remote National Park in the US government's directory. 

Pics. for today…

Reading the Canadian Newsletter in bed; exercise on our deck, [that is steam on my camera lens from the change in temperature]; the little lounge that we eat in sometimes, [breakfast only]; walking the deck before Tai Chi. Then my planned 'photo day' fell apart.

Last photo is of our zodiac in the Galapagos, taken by another.

Bits and pieces...

Thursday, January 30. At sea for two days on the way to American Samoa, blue sky, calm seas.

We are in the 26th day of a 113 day cruise. Amazing, it seems like we haven't really started yet. Sister Moe has only 11 days before she jumps ship in Sydney, Australia and goes back to the land of PHSIC, [permanent high-speed internet connection].

I think, [fingers crossed], that I/we have the computer issue sorted. The ship had a clinic for people with connectivity problems with four techies attending to make adjustments to laptops and iPads that have had issues. Guess what, that is me. I went to the clinic on two successive days and I am hopeful that the fix will allow my mind to open and I can do a bit of writing instead of just getting the blog and some pictures off. In some cases that effort would take me a day or two, on and off, to get it away. Time will tell.

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Well, now… We have had a few highly successful port days and I must say they are less stressful than sea days! It seems at sea I have this 'self imposed obligation' to exercise, do Tai Chi, take in the upcoming port lectures and also as many educational lectures as possible. When do I get to relax? Anyhow I am working on that issue.

Before leaving on this trip my main concern was the house and its security. We have a house sitter and by all reports things are going well on that front, I hear from son Wally on the business front and all is well there. [At least that is what he says.] Daughter Jeanette and son-in-law Robert also give periodic reports on the family, farm studio, etc. And of course son Craig is in the final stages of home construction and I miss seeing it in person but getting reports from him after the event are very exciting to us.

What I am saying is that I am pleasantly surprised how relaxed I am on home issues and amazed that our house and home does not cross my mind too often except when my mind is at rest, which isn't too often I am sorry to say.

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Not much happened today other than reluctantly getting up and try to fit all that I want to do into a few daylight hours. I skipped two lectures and spent time with Moe organizing her pictures into Albums for every port and the sea days in between. Quite a challenge. The iPad is NOT a computer but we seem to expect it to be able to do all the neat things a computer does which can be a little frustrating at times.

Our next port is American Samoa, and is not part of French Polynesia. American money is the official currency there obviously and goods are much less expensive there, not that we buy much anyhow. We are hopeful that there may be a workable internet connection there so I can get some of my regular mail that I have only seen snippets of on my iPhone since leaving home.

There has been a German ship, Amadea, along our path since Peru some two weeks ago. We met and talked with a lady on that ship at the beach yesterday in Bora Bora. The ship is on a five month World Voyage, from Nice France in the Mediterranean leaving December 20 a will return after five months, going through the Suez. 

I made an observation yesterday while lying on the beach: there was a couple, somewhere around 70 or 80 years old, holding hands, walking slowly through the ankle deep water, they were european, likely German, from the ship I mentioned, I could tell by their bathing suits. They were a bit overweight and slow moving. Assuming they were married for some 50 or 60 years, imagine what stories they could tell about being a child, courting, newly married, having children, their working careers and trials and tribulations. Yet there they were fortunate enough to be in Bora Bora paddling in the surf along with other lucky ones who have made it to that age, together. I venture to say this is part of their life that they did not contemplate in those earlier days when they had their head buried in life. At least I certainly did not.

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Self-inflicted-wounds…

Yesterday we got too much sun. We applied sunscreen before entering the water, [dumb], and only applied it once. We tried to keep under water or in the shade the whole day. Yet when I was getting ready for bed last night I could not believe who the heck was that red guy in the mirror. We did not notice it when showering so it came as a shock. In the Army, sunburn is a self-inflicted-wound, punishable as an offence, because it is preventable. 

Once again, I am dumbfounded as to how four people with combined life-time experiences of over 300 years can continue to bumble through life and still do really dumb things. Jim showed us his burned belly this morning and I took a picture of Fellette and my self-inflicted-wounds.

Pictures: They are not naughty, but a bit personal. You can tell by the look on our faces that we were not happy about getting burned. The German ship we are cruising with: 74 years ago one us would have likely been sunk, strange world.

With apologies to our son Craig...

We received an email from Craig yesterday regarding his new house. This is too funny not to share. He was using his new front load washing machine  for the first time.

I put in a load of towels on the weekend and pressed start. It sat there for a few minutes doing absolutely nothing, then I hear an alarm chime and NF starts flashing on the display. A quick check in the user guide indicated that meant NO FILL. Stupid me, I forgot to check if the water was turned on, so looking under the sink I spotted a closed water supply line.

Turned that on and all was good. For a few minutes anyway… another alarm chime and NF flashing on the display again. Stupid me, of course there should be TWO water supply lines: hot AND cold. Another look under the sink and there was the closed HOT water supply line hiding behind the P-trap. Turned that on and all was good. For a few minutes anyway… another alarm chime rings out and now ND is flashing on the display. One more quick check in the user guide indicated that meant NO DRAIN.

This one had me stumped. Was there perhaps a drain valve somewhere that was shut too? Nothing under the sink that I could see. I tried to pull the machine out to see what was behind it but there was no budging it by myself. Grabbed a flashlight and headed into the crawlspace to see if there was anything suspicious down there… nothing. Maybe there was something up with the drain pump? Nothing I could do about that, so I finally ended up draining the machine manually with the tiny 1/4" diameter 6" long drain hose in the access panel at the bottom front of the machine. A dozen frying pans full of laundry water later (thank God it's a high efficiency machine that doesn't use 10 gallons of water per load!) the machine is drained and the spin cycle starts. My god that thing spins fast… I thought it was going to take off!

Anyway, the spin cycle wringed out another 4 frying pans full of water by the time it stopped. The display still shows 5 minutes left in the cycle, so I sit there (I've brought in a chair and a couple of beers by this time) and watch it do absolutely nothing for 5 minutes. At last I hear the happy "end of cycle" chime and the display reads END. Hooray!!! Uh oh… the door won't open. There's a little KEY icon lit-up on the display now. So I wait. Perhaps there is a cool-down period before the door will open. Ten minutes of intense washer-watching later the door is still locked. Suddenly, another alarm chime rings out and the display is flashing LO.

I consult the user guide to confirm what I think I already know LO stands for. Yep… LOCKED OUT. It's almost 11:00 by now and I need to get to bed. I'll just turn the machine off and try something else tomorrow. Not quite that easy, when I press the power off button the display reads OFF but it doesn't turn off… it starts flashing OFF then after 5 minutes the alarm chime sounds and it flashes LO again. The damn thing won't turn off, and that alarm chime is really starting to wear on me. Out to the garage to shut it off at the electrical panel…

OK, there are like a HUNDRED breakers in that panel, all neatly labeled by the electricians in their own cryptic shorthand, and of course the labels are on the panel door, not next to the actual breakers. I find one labeled LDRY PLG. That must be it. I switch it off, and bound back up the steps into the laundry room. Nope, must just be the wall plugs. Back into the garage. There it is… WSHR PLG. I switch it off, bound back up the steps into the laundry room again. What the hell… the machine display is still lit up! Back to the garage. I can't for the life of me see one labelled with anything that even resembles the word WASHER other than the one I already tried.

Screw it then, I'll turn one whole side of the panel off then. 50/50 chance that should do it! The garage goes dark too, so I pull out my phone to use as a flashlight and bound back up the steps into the now pitch black laundry room. But wait, it's not quite pitch black… there's a red glow over by the washing machine. The ONLY light left on in the entire house is the red LED display of the washing machine… AAARRRGGGHHH!!! a few seconds later though, the display goes dark. There must be a capacitor or something in there that keeps it powered for a few minutes in case of a power failure.

Back out to the garage to turn all of the breakers back on. I bound back up the steps into the laundry room. I try the door to see if it's still locked. No go. Dare I press the power button? I press it and I hear the happy start-up chime. The door still won't open. Suddenly, the washer comes to life and starts to fill with water… it must think it hasn't finished it's last load because there's still towels in there and the door is locked! I press the stop button, and the water stops coming in. Soon the alarm chime starts again and the display is flashing LO. I know what to do now, so i head back to the garage and turn off the WSHR PLG breaker. I trudge (i'm too tired to bound by now) back up the steps into the laundry room and see that the display does indeed stay on for a while before it actually turns off.

So out comes the frying pan again to drain the water through the tiny 1/4" diameter 6" long drain hose in the access panel at the bottom front of the machine. It's well past midnight by now, so I leave it as it is… powered off, door locked, and a load of towels fermenting in the drum.

When Nathaniel was here yesterday, he pulled the machine out from under the countertop (I think he may have thrown his back out doing it) and checked the drain hose connection. It's installed as it should be. So I'm making a call to Trail Appliances today to arrange a service call. It's kind of funny really.

I'd take an old bone-shaker belt driven top load Kenmore washer over a fancy-ass high efficiency computerized front load washer any day! :-)

Bora Bora: Beach Day...

Wednesday, January 29, Cloudy, some light showers, 90F.

Another day at leisure without any sense of urgency, great. We were having breakfast on deck when the skies opened and one of those passing clouds did its number on the ship. Regardless, we went ashore by tender and were on a bus and soon sitting on a beach, almost void of people by 9.05. It was an icing sugar sand that was like the beaches that you see in travel brochures.

We were all soon in the waist-deep warm and turquoise coloured water: to get over your head, one has to go beyond the reef about 400 yards out and that is where the pounding surf breaks up the coral to produce that lovely white sand. That is also where the sharks hang out! We spent most of the day in the water in reality, coming ashore to dry off, read or try to nap. The sun was always our enemy today as it peeked through the palm trees overhead as it worked its way across the clear blue sky. Our lily white bodies got some colour today for sure.

Around 11.30 we headed for a little beach-bar-cafe where we had a light lunch and tanked up on fluids. Back into the water for a chat and a cool off before jumping in a 4-wheel vehicle for the $5.00 ride back to the tender point. We browsed a bit before boarding the tender for the 10 minute ride through the very calm water.

While tendering, in and out we were shadowed by outriggers who loved to surf the waves created by the powerful tender engines. I don't think they get much surf inside the reef so they take advantage of visiting ships to hone up on surfing skills.

Another cool shower and rinse some of the salt from sandals and suits before settling in for a somewhat relaxing afternoon.

I am not sure if I/we/they have solved the internet issues but we are making progress, I think.

Moe was on another tour today, yesterday's tour was bit longer than scheduled but that often happens, she is quite happy and enjoying herself. On port days we often lose touch with people as everybody does their own thing.

Pictures speak for themselves I think.

Moorea: Sharks, Rays and Snorkelling...

Tuesday, January 28. Hot but cloudy, rain shower later.

Hurray, hurray another shore day. AS I mentioned the ship left Tahiti at 5.00 and by eight we were up, fed and on a tender to pick up a day of beaching on shore. By 9.00 we and 45 others were under way. 

The day was delightful and fun-filled from the start to the finish. We started with a run around the bay where the ship was anchored and then to a spot near the reef surrounding the island where we anchored and got off in about three feet of water and caressed the sting rays and kept a wary eye out for the four foot black-tipped reef sharks who cycled in groups of five or six. 

There were some screams of shock that turned to delight as people found out how smooth they felt and how they seem to love being caressed on their unbelievably soft 'wings' and body. It is almost like raw liver but very sensuous. Jim found a sea cucumber and brought it up to show people. There was a sea anemone attached and Jim was picking the tentacles off for some time later; no harm.

Next we headed for a Matu which is a small island off of the main island. There we set up on picnic benches and had drinks while the crew prepared lunch including 'cooking' fish with lime and lemon juice, followed by coconut juice. Interesting and did not taste too bad at all. Jim and Fellette went snorkelling again even though there was a very strong current flowing;very strong. Gail and I stayed on dry land and generally had a very relaxing time.

Around 1.30 we boarded again and sped for the place we left from some four hours relier. The skies opened and we all got soaked even though the boat was covered. Soon we were in a hot shower and in our own cozy little cabin sorting out what was wet and what was dry.

Great day again for us. Moe had a tour around 8.30 and we have not seen her since last night so we are not sure how she did today, we will no doubt find out later.

The pictures are a bit mixed up but show the day. 

Our day in Papeete, Tahiti

Monday, January 27. Sultry with clouds.

We sailed in through a very narrow channel in the reef surrounding the island around 7.00 AM, beautiful sail-in and a challenge for the ship but there were scant few on deck though. I went back and got Fellette and we had breakfast on the open back deck.

We walked off around 9.00 and met the other two couples on the pier. Papeete is not a tropical paradise, it is another bustling city on a steamy Pacific South Sea Island, but the setting is beautiful beyond description.

There are two main roads on Tahiti, one goes clockwise around the island and the second road is the same road going counter-clockwise. We did the 120 Ks clockwise! 

It was a good tour, not spectacular, but good. Back on the ship around 2.30, we walked the eight floors to our cabin grabbing a beer on the way up. We then showered, sorted our pictures and had a short respite before we met with Cutler's who walked ashore today, on our balcony and savoured the moment with some good wine as we awaited the arrival of Les Trucks: food vans that set up in a public space, illuminated, 100 yards from the ships docked there. 

It was one of those magical moments as we rounded the bow of the ship where we saw what was an open plaza hours before transformed into  a three acre open-air restaurant with 20 or so of these roving restauranteurs. We had Chinese for the main course and then moved to a crepe truck for dessert.

After dinner we wandered the streets for a brief time before getting back to the ship and then down to the Queen's Lounge for a spectacular Tahitian Folkloric Show by 21 young and very attractive performers. No wonder the crew of The Bounty mutinied after five months ashore and then being told to get back on the ship, we are sailing back to England! Jim and Gail took a rain check on the show, but Moe, who had a ship's tour earlier, which she enjoyed. attended. Her allergy seems to have subsided somewhat.

Great day. We stayed there overnight and sailed at 5.00 AM for the 10 mile [?] voyage to Moorea.

Pictures: An assortment of pics that cannot adequately portray our very busy and wonderful day ashore in Tahiti. We slept well.