Monday, Feb 17

After 5 days at sea, I have to say I’m very glad to see land once more today. Our last 4 stops are all in Fiji, on three different islands. While excited to be stepping on to land again, it is sad in that it means our fabulous trip to an amazing part of the world is soon coming to an end. We depart from Nadi, Fiji for home in just a few days.

While at sea, aside from the first rainy and grey day, it’s been glorious weather, with pretty consistent temperatures of 30 degrees. We’ve settled into a nice routine on the ship. It’s been a combination of some sun time, lots of shade time, reading and doing crosswords, some chat time, some lecture time, and of course lots of eating time. I’ve found my favourite spot on the ship, on the flying bridge under the boom of the aft sail. The boom provides some shade, but sways as the wind changes sending some of the warm South Pacific sun my way.

Yesterday afternoon, I managed to have the patience to figure out how to take my Go Pro pics off the go pro and get them into my photos app, so I can post them. I haven’t yet been able to get the videos off because of the different formats and file sizes. I’ll have to work on that when I get home.

Yesterday there were a couple of unique experiences. Every evening for dinner, the great dining room crew set up the tables on the pool deck for dinner under the stars with style. There are white table clothes, candles, the usual excellent service and all the food on a separate menu is grilled on the barbecue on deck. There are not many tables, so we allowed to make reservations up there only once during our time on the ship. Last night was our turn. We lucked out with a lovely evening, and although they put the tables under cover in case of rain, we saw lots of stars as it got totally dark.

And after our dinner it was the Staff Talent Show. And my goodness are they talented, and although not all gifted with a good voice or graceful moves, there were a couple of hilarious sketches. Our very first server in the dining room (and the barista in the Yacht Club coffee shop), Russ, was the MC and he brought lots of energy and some good jokes to the role. Our cabin steward, Dedi, was also in the line up although we didn’t immediately recognize him given his get up. He didn’t have a great voice but got lots of great audience participation. The Indonesian crew did some traditional Indonesian dances which were really interesting. All intricate, synchronized movements. The last act was a male synchronized swimming sketch that was hilarious. They had blue tarps around the dance floor, with lounge chair cushions on the floor and they did various formations that we could see above the tarp. It was a fun evening with lots of audience participation.

This morning, our in-house academic, Dr Kess, spoke about various famous people whose lives touched or were touched by the South Pacific. Some are easily identified with this part of the world, such as Herman Melville (who wrote Moby Dick), Robert Lewis Stevenson ( wrote Treasure Island, Kidnapped), Amelia Earhart, and Paul Gauguin who painted boldly coloured portraits of the Polynesians. He is buried in The Marquesas Island of French Polynesia and a cruise line in his name now tours these waters. Others who you might not associate with the South Pacific such as Jack London (Goldrush author of Call of the Wild and White Fang), Lt John F Kennedy (Captain of the PT-109 that went down in the South Pacific), Margaret Mead, Marlon Brando (whose family owns a hotel on an atoll in French Polynesia) and James Michener (who includes the books of Hawaii, and South Pacific among his approximately 50 works) all have an association with the area as well.

We will arrive at the Fijian island of Taveuni, (one of the 110 inhabited islands of the total 332 islands of Fiji) sometime around 2 pm this afternoon. We have filled out the paperwork and will meet with Fijian officials in our ship’s dining room just after we drop anchor. After that is complete, the ship will be cleared for disembarkation on Taveuni and we’ll also be pre-cleared to exit Fiji when we leave for LA.

The population of Fiji is 915,300 with 12,000 of them on the 3rd largest island of Taveuni. Taveuni’s economy is primarily based on agriculture with it’s fertile volcanic soil, and historically the crops have been cotton, sugar, copra, pineapple, bananas. Currently, Copra is the most important one and they are shifting to taro, cava, vanilla and coffee. Tourism is the secondary industry, with small independent hotels sprinkles around the island. One unique thing to Taveuni is the national flower, Tagimaucia, is found almost exclusively here. Unfortunately we won’t see it, because it’s not in bloom right now. Another rare thing on Taveuni is that there is a a spot where you can straddle the International Date Line as it passes through the island. Most of the imaginary line passes through open waters, not land because as you might expect it could be rather confusing.

Our word for the day is Bula, which in Fijian means Hello, or “wishing you life”.

We won’t likely get off the ship today as the landing site for the tenders is remote. We will however, get off tomorrow morning for a trip to the Bouma Falls National Park to hike to at least one waterfall.

Tonight dinner for all guests will be a Barbecue on the pool deck, and we’re promised lobster tails among other treats, and then line dancing lessons afterward. We’ll see about that. I’m off now to find a lounge in the shade to have a nap. Gotta love vacations.

Sunday, February 9 & Monday, February 10

Yesterday was a sea day and relatively uneventful so I didn’t blog. I did get up in time to do yoga on the flying bridge of the ship at 7 a.m. with the sun coming up. If you do yoga, think about that for a minute. I don’t know about you but I have enough trouble holding poses with a solid floor under my yoga mat. Doing it on a rolling ship created all sorts of new challenges. I figure if I lived on a ship my core would be like cement. And I did attend a lecture about the migration of peoples in this region in the continuing series by Dr. Kess. (Although I have to admit to nodding off a couple of times).

Other than that, I spent my time eating, napping, reading, and generally being lazy. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. I sat in the sun for only about an hour and then sought out shade for the rest of the day. I found a quiet place on the flying bridge where there was shade from the sails and gentle breezes. It was delightful.

We arrived on the north side of Rarotonga as planned this morning. Not planned were the large swells that meant tendering in to the main pier from this position off the north shore was not going to be possible. Two larger cruise ships that were supposed to disembark on Rarotonga had already made the decision to leave and skip the island all together. Our captain however, wasn’t will to give up on our Raratonga experience and he had a Plan B.

But let me start with a little about Raratonga. It is the largest island of the 15 making up the Cook Islands group and the capital is in the town of Avarua. Their flag has a blue background with the flag of New Zealand and 15 stars representing the 15 islands. Cook Islands is self governing, with a British style parliament on Raratonga where MPs represent each of the islands in numbers commensurate with the population. It is in a “free association” with New Zealand and the residents of Raratonga carry New Zealand passports. The population of the Cook Islands is 18,500 and 14,000 of them live on Raratonga.

Cook only briefly stepped foot on the Cook Islands long after they had been settled by Polynesians from Tahiti but the islands were named after him in any case. They first European explorer to visit them was thought to have been in 1873 by Captain John Dibbs who was exploring around New Zealand and Society Islands.

Today, tourism is the main economic driver of Raratonga, with visitors numbering approximately 160,000 annually. By comparison, French Polynesian sees 260,000 visitors a year, and Hawaii sees that many in a single day. There are 2 international flights a day and many more local flights taking people to and from the other islands. There are many small villas and hotels as well as AirBnbs on the island but none of the major chains has a property here. Many of the families on the island had built large The secondary industry is the export of tropical and citrus fruits. It is also the second largest producer of black pearls after French Polynesia.

So, now back to the Captain’s plan B. There was a landing spot on the west of the island, that would allow the much smaller zodiac type boats to land. But they had to get through a very small opening in the coral reef and it was quite shallow. So they repositioned the ship, waiting for high tide at 10 am and sent off a recon boat to check it out. All the while the most curious of the travellers were on the bow of the ship watching the comings and goings. Finally we got the signal that the zodiacs were a go, and they would be starting to take 8 passengers at a time.

It took a while to get everyone off the ship, but 3 hours later than scheduled we arrived on the island, to the music of the island and lei greetings. Within minutes everyone started off on our various tours. I had chosen a 4X4 tour of the island, that did both on-road and off-roading around the island. It was similar to the tour I took in Moorea.

The main road, which is at sea level and circles the island, is 32 km around. There is bus service on the island, one red one going in one direction and one blue one going in the other direction on the main road. We met our two guides, Useless (his name tag actually said that), and Chocolate, and the two trucks started off to circumnavigate the island primarily on the secondary side roads of the island as well as some parts that were off-road.

We headed off the main road on to a road a little further up the hillside, passing fields and small very neat homes. The driver explained that the health department of the government comes out periodically to make sure that people have kept their yards tidy and grass mowed. It’s not for aesthetic reasons, but rather to keep the mosquito population down. Like the other islands we’ve visited, there was no rubbish or litter on the side of the roads. Most of the yards are planted with bountiful shrubs and trees that in Canada we try desperately to keep alive as houseplants.

Along the way, Chocolate gave us some information about how the islanders live and some history. And Useless gave us talks when we got to any of the stops.

On Raratonga, land is owned exclusively by the people who have inherited it from their ancestors. As families grow, the land is divided to make way for the next generation to build their homes. The family of a couple that marries will meet to decide what plot of land the new couple will get from the family land, and if the male’s family have nothing that is appropriate for building (lots of hills) then they will go to the wife’s family to ask for land from them. They claim there is no homelessness on the island as a result.

Chocolate stopped several times to show us various crops growing, (tapioca, taro, pineapple, mangos) flowers, and some great view points. Our first stop was at a beautiful white sand beach where there were three couples enjoying the warm water on a long stretch of beach that was otherwise deserted. It was calm inside the barrier reef which was quite near the island and small fish skirted about as we waded in the water.

The next stop was “The Famous Polynesian Traditional Vara Voyage Departing Site” which Useless explained to us. In 1300 35 local people departed by a double hulled canoe to start an exploratory voyage that lasted them 9 months. They didn’t have any destination in mind, but they ended up in New Zealand. They know the voyage took at least 9 months because one of the women got pregnant along the way and the child was not born until they arrived. The rocks represented gods that they had prayed to.

We saw the remains of a road that had been built by the earlier people as well as the remains of a house that was built for one of the chiefs of the 4 tribes that were living inland when the missionaries came to Raratonga. They encouraged the first people to move down to be near the ocean to attend the schools that they provided for them. There is still a Seventh Day Adventist school on the island.

Then we head for the off-road portion of our trip, and up a slope to a look out point to get a good look at “The Needle”. There was a gravelly and grassy road up, that required the Jeep to be in 4 wheel drive and which practically shook the fillings out of my teeth. But it was only for a few minutes so tolerable. It was cloudy but we did see The Needle at the peak of Te Rua Manga at 650 metres.

By now we were 3/4 of the way around the island and we came upon the major town of Avarua. Chocolate was telling us that every August, there are dance competitions that each of the Cook Island participates in and there are 7 teams from Rarotonga. I asked him if it was folk dancing and he guffawed. I didn’t think it was that funny but turns out he thought I said pole dancing, which of course really was funny. It was folk or traditional dancing, complete with costumes.

It was a small town with lots of tourist facilities such as hotels, and restaurants, dive shops etc. There are no stop lights but there are a couple of roundabouts.

In no time we were back at the pier on the west side and we caught what was almost the last zodiac back to the ship. It was a great tour. So great to see so much of the island and learn a little about how they live.

We had missed lunch by now, and so we ordered room service. When it became obvious that although everyone was back on board (we knew the zodiacs had been stowed), there was an announcement that the winch to raise the anchor had broken and the crackerjack engineering crew were working on getting it working again. It amounted to a 2 hour delay, but really didn’t affect our day at all. It was another terrific day in paradise.

Saturday, Feb 8th

Today we were at sea for the whole day and we will be all of tomorrow, arriving into Rarotonga, Cook Islands on Monday morning at 6 a.m.

There is no where I have to be today so I was able to kick back and relax and enjoy the beautiful Wind Spirit. Well, except I didn’t want to miss the napkin folding demonstration. No, actually, I took a pass on that. We were fortunate to have a picture perfect day, having left the grey skies behind, replaced with blue.

I did attend a lecture that I described in yesterday’s blog after an hour or so in the sun at the pool deck. It was quite interesting and good to put my brain to work at least a little. Then it was lunch, and a free afternoon when I worked on yesterday’s blog and picked up a book and got started on it. A nap in the shade was the highlight of the afternoon.

This evening was the Captain’s reception and the introduction of the officers of the ship. The Bulgarian Captain struggles a little with English but his enthusiasm more than makes up for it. He spoke for a little bit and then introduced the rest of the officers, all in their white uniforms they all looked quite dashing. There are 15 different nationalities among the staff, so it’s quite the international crew.

Since there wasn’t a lot going on to write about today, I thought I’d give you a run down on some info on the Wind Spirit.

Nothing like being on the ocean and in the fresh air to work up an appetite. So, let’s start with our food options. First of all, let me say that all the food has been excellent. 1000% better than other cruises I’ve been on. (Except Galapagos which was just 14 people). And the services has been exemplary. Attentive without being invasive. At breakfast and lunch they have both buffet and menu items and we can eat either inside or on the outside deck. There is also a little coffee shop on Deck 3 that has fancy coffees, tea, juice and some basic breakfast items that opens up earlier than the full breakfast on the top deck. And dinner is held in the lovely dining room complete with Murano Glass chandeliers, as well as at “Candles” on the pool deck with candles and all. The dining room has open seating and you can chose to sit with a group or by yourself, and you can show up any time between 7 – 9 to be seated. The Candles restaurant is all grilled food and you have to make reservations there, because of it’s small number of tables, but there is no additional cost.

And I’ve finally come across the perfect teapot! It doesn’t drip and having the handle where it is makes it much easier to pour.

The Wind Spirit was built in Le Havre France in 1988 and is the oldest ship of the Wind Star fleet. Although it’s been refit fairly recently and is not that tired, someone was telling me that it’s headed for dry dock soon to be completely done over. She is a four masted schooner (the masts are 62 metres high) and has 6 jib-stay sails. There are also 3 diesel motors. She is 134 metres long and a beam width of 15.8 metres, and has a draft of only 4 metres because of its flat bottom. I was surprised with all the sail on top to find out that it doesn’t have a keel. She is 5,736 gross tons, but that stat really means nothing to me.

The captain said today in his rambling announcements that the sails can add up to 25% to the overall speed when the wind is right, and today it was right. The sails were full all day. The ships speed is 11 knots with engines only and can get as high as 15.8 knots with engines and wind. The sails also have the added benefit of providing shade to some of the decks below so it’s not hard to get out of the sun when you want to.

The ship will accommodate 148 guests but on this leg of the voyage, there are only 139, with 99 crew members to look after us all.

My cabin is on Deck 1, and is right at the water line. The cabin has 2 portholes and at times the waves hit and cover the window. It sloshes as it does.

It has been fairly calm so far and the seas relatively flat. But there is always a bit of rocking so we’re still staggering and lurching from time to time.

As I said, tomorrow will be another relaxing day at sea, so I anticipate getting some reading done. There is another lecture tomorrow, so I’ll go to that as well.

Friday, Feb 7 – Bora Bora

I had such a great sleep last night. The gentle, and sometimes not so gentle rocking of the ship made for some great zzzzs. It’s been 20 years since I have cruised and I’d forgotten how cool it is to go to bed in one place and wake up in another. And no packing of suitcases involved.

Our first port of call, and the first day out is Bora Bora, another of the Society Group of French Polynesian islands, 150 or so miles northwest of Tahiti. Like Moorea, it is surrounded by a coral reef which protects the lagoon which is the most gorgeous colour of turquoise. It is surrounded within the lagoon by little islets, called motus. In the centre of the island at 727 metres is Mt. Otemanu, a dormant volcano.

It’s economy, almost exclusively, is based on tourism, but historically was based on the cocoanut. I haven’t heard the term copra before, but it’s the name of the meat of the cocoanut. Oil and milk are used as well as the meat itself. It’s also used as feed for livestock.

The first European to visit the island was Jokob Roggeveen in 1722 but more widely known, Captain Cook first visited the islands in 1769, and today Bora Bora is home to some 10,000 people. Much of the island’s infrastructure was built by the US Military at the end of WWII as they used Bora Bora as a military supply base and airstrip after Pearl Harbour was bombed. They dynamited the entrance to the best harbour through the reef to enlarge it, built a run way and built the road all the way around the main island. There are still 6 of the original 8 cannons they put on the island to protect it, but they were never needed as it wasn’t attacked.

I was up early and watched the ship pull into the harbour. The weather was broken cloud and some blue sky. We anchored only a 5 minute tender ride into Viatape, the main (and only) town on Bora Bora. One of the nice things about a small ship is that you don’t have to wait in long lines for tenders. In fact if you have booked an excursion you get priority over the tenders, so we were on the first one off the ship today.

It was really difficult to chose which shore excursions to chose. I wanted to do 2 or 3 of them at each stop, but alas one can only be in one place at a time and they run simultaneous because we’re not in port that long. We tried to do some of everything throughout the trip. Some water sports, some 4X4 tours, and some cultural stuff. We still have 3 ports where we haven’t chosen anything yet, so we’ll have a chance to fill any kind of experience we feel we might be missing.

Today, snorkelling was on the agenda and we hit 3 different locations. I got some underwater shots with my Go Pro but I haven’t figured out how to download them yet. I’m at that point in the learning curve. Will post if/when I figure out how to do it.

Our first snorkel today was a spot outside of the reef in the dark blue, deep water. We hoped to see Black Tipped Reef Sharks and maybe even a Lemon Shark. I’ve done a lot of snorkelling but I have to say, there is still something scary about jumping in and opening your eyes to see sharks circling. Even when they’re only 3 – 4 foot Reef Sharks and you know they are not going to bother you if you don’t bother them. And you can really hear your own quick intakes of air and know you need to slow your breathing down and relax. It’s awesome to be able to jump in and not be shocked by the temperature of the water though. No wet suits required.

We did see a Lemon Shark, which is much bigger (can be 10 feet in length) but like reef sharks, they are not aggressive unless provoked. I read the following this evening, “Lemon sharks are potentially dangerous to humans, however the International Shark Attack File has only reported 10 unprovoked bites by lemon sharks, all of which occurred in Florida and the Caribbean. None of the bites were fatal.” Good to know. Fortunately our visitor was deep and shy.

The food the captain threw out attracted lots of little fish too. Not sure how long we spent there, but everyone got a good chance to see them.

Back on the power outrigger we went back through the opening in the reef and into the lagoon on our way to a coral garden. There are lots of tall coral and shallow sand bars so the captain had to carefully pick our way to the anchor spot. And wouldn’t you know it, a lighthouse!

There were amazing different kinds of coral – all different colours, shapes and sizes. We had to be careful as some of the coral was quite tall and it would be easy to rip off some skin on the underbelly if a current took you over it. So we stayed well clear.

One of my favourite things to find are “small giant clams”. These clams which grow to approximately 8 inches attach themselves to rocks or dead coral and they are sometimes completely covered except the wavy edges of their shells, which are a neon blue or green or sometimes brown. It filters water through it’s body to remove the phytoplankton and oxygen. I hope I’m able to eventually get a picture of one off my camera.

I loved this spot and could have stayed much longer poking around the coral.

The third spot was to get reacquainted with Sting Rays. Some Reef Sharks came to visit as well. The rays know that a boat arriving means they will be fed and so three of them had gathered for lunch. This was the first exposure to rays for many of the snorkelers and it was fun to watch the exploration. I know I was intimidated to be in the water with them the first time we did that in the Grand Caymans when Gill was young. But gradually curiosity overcame the fear and they got close to the captain who coaxed them into his arms with food – the rays, not the snorkelers- so the snorkelers could feel the velvety,rubbery skin on them. They’re silky smooth except near the edge where they get a little bumpy. The rays eyes are on the top of their large flat body and their mouth is on the white under belly so they find food by smell. They seem to actually enjoy the human interaction or at least put up with it for food.

After everyone had had their fill of that experience we all hopped aboard our outrigger motor boat and went for a ride around the main island checking out the various international and local hotels with over-the-water bungalows built on pilings. They each have their own staircase down into the water for easy access. The largest ones on the outermost end of the pilings the guide said went for $5000 US a night. But they slept 10 so you could have 9 of your best friends come and share the price.

We then stopped on our own private matu for a delicious Polynesian lunch. We were greeted with a crown of flowers and a flower for over our ear. We were served lunch at picnic tables under a grass hut on plates made from palm fronds and leaves – the ultimate recyclable dishes. There was the ever-present fish as well as chicken, rice, plantain, banana pudding and bread, and some other indistinguishable things. All were excellent. We waded in the water to see the baby reef sharks and other small fish.

We then had a lesson on how the locals dye and decorate pareas and we were able to chose one to take away and they showed us how to create various cover up styles. We each got a palm frond basket, and learned how to efficiently open a cocoanut. It’s pretty amazing how a simple pointed stick helped the captain break into the water, and meat of the cocoanut. I participated in a lesson in how to make cocoanut milk. There’s a picture below and I’m sure you’ll figure out which one. I managed to get quite of bit of milk out of it, (and lots of it on my face) and then was able to eat the cocoanut.

We headed back to the dock in town, checked out a couple of shops, and then jumped on the tender back to the ship.

After getting cleaned up and getting ready for dinner I enjoyed some quiet time on the deck while the ship left port and then went to hear about tomorrow’s activities from the activity director. It’s the first of 2 days at sea so should be relaxing after a bit of a hectic pace for the last few days.

One of the things happening tomorrow is a presentation on French Polynesia, Tahiti and New Caledonia and how the French managed to get so much territory in the South Pacific. Turns out I had dinner with the guest speaker who is the Emeritis Chair, Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives from the University of Victoria and his wife. He mentioned at dinner that a bit of Canadian and Moorea history is that Pierre Trudeau met Margaret on the island of Moorea. I didn’t do a lot of research on it, but I did see reference to something from her book that said she wasn’t impressed with him when she first met him there. Who knew? Based on dinner conversation I’d say he’ll be an interesting speaker.

Another bit of gossip I read is that back in 2011 some of the Kardashian family stayed at the Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spas $5000 a night Presidential villas and it was profiled in one of their shows.

And with that, another day in paradise comes to an end.

Wednesday, February 5 and Thursday, February 6

Wednesday we spent the day relaxing and enjoying the hotel property on our last day in Moorea. It was quite grey with rain off and on but it was warm and incredibly relaxing sitting on our porch with the spectacular view before us. We read and blogged and I tried to figure out how to use my Go Pro.

We had a room service breakfast (because we refused to pay the $45 breakfast buffet price) and then during a break in the rain, we put on our snorkel gear and went for a snorkel in the lagoon in front of our hotel. It’s a beautiful white sand beach which is gradual and the warm is so warm it’s so inviting. There is a coral bed not far off the beach, and we explored it until the rain chased us out of the water. There were lots of fish and interesting coral to explore and nice to have the leisure time to do so.

By then it was time for lunch. Yes, food plays a dominant role in our days. After a salad at the bar cafe, we cleaned up and spent the afternoon starting to get packed for our departure on Thursday morning.

We decided to go off-site for dinner again on Wednesday evening, and asked the concierge to book us for pick up and dinner at the Moorea Beach Cafe. Only a 10 minute drive, it was a bright and cheerful place, that wasn’t full but we were a little early. It was right on the beach so the views were lovely especially because we arrived just as the sun was setting. It was a little weird because they had a partnership with Veuve Cliequot, so their branded stuff was all over the restaurant. We didn’t have champagne but did celebrate our last evening on Moorea with one of the specialty drinks of the house. I had a nice Greek salad with chicken that I couldn’t possibly finish. No room left for dessert.

After a great sleep, we awoke to prepare to head back to Tahiti to board our home for the next 15 days, the Wind Spirit. The transfer was seamless, and the ferry terminal was right next door to the cruise ship terminal so we just had to walk through one parking lot to the next.

We only had a short wait until our embarkation, and in the meantime they had us fill out a health survey to say we hadn’t been in China in the last 30 days or caring for or near anyone with the latest coronavirus. And they took our temperature as no one with a temperature over 100.4 would be allowed on the ship. Thankfully we passed. Given the situation with a couple of other cruise ships in quarantine, we were more than happy to have this added security step.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. We checked in, left our luggage on the dock to be delivered to our cabin, and followed the plethera of crew members to the ship’s lounge where the registration process was handled. We gave up our passports for their safe keeping, got our room key, found out about the packages available to save money on alcohol. Needless to say to anyone who knows me, that wasn’t something that made sense for me. Then we were shown our way to our cabin, on Deck 1. It’s really very lovely, and seems later than I thought it would. There is adequate storage and after living out of a suitcase for most of our trips, it was so nice to put our things away and throw our suitcases under the bed. The washroom is very well laid out and doesn’t feel cramped at all. Lunch was still being served on the top deck so we found our way to the Veranda, which is the restaurant for breakfast and lunch poking our heads into various amenities along the way. We participated in the muster drill and found out where to meet and how to put on our life jackets, etc. Fingers crossed the training won’t be needed.

The ship was set to sail at 4 pm but surprisingly, we got held up by air traffic control! Why, air traffic control, you ask? Well, the run way is at sea level and ends at the entrance to the harbour. So we were a little late leaving. They do a “signature” sail off which got kind of dampened by the torrential downpour that came right at the time it was happening. Nonetheless, the music was blaring and the sails were unfurled and away we went, under power primarily. The ship has 4 masts, whose sails are set mechanically, but I’m not sure how much they contribute to the propulsion. She’s beautiful in any case.

Next it was on to a talk in the lounge, where most of the action takes place, about the excursions for the next 2 ports, picking up our snorkel gear, and then back to the lounge for a talk on the port we will be visiting tomorrow, Bora Bora. And they also reviewed all the facilities and processes on the ship. And before we knew it, dinner was being served in the dining room. It’s a very small ship, with only 148 passengers and it’s open seating and you can indicate if you’d like to be at a table for 2, 4 or more and you can dine at whatever time you like during the dining room’s open hours. We joined a table with two couples, one from the States, (Virginia I think) and a cute more mature couple from Calgary whose spouses had each passed away and she told me they were now an “item”. They were lovely company and dinner was absolutely fabulous. I’m going to be waddling off the ship in Fiji. There is a gym, and I poked my head in the door, and that’s as far as I’ve gotten.

It had been a long day so ended up being an early night. Fingers crossed that the gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) rocking of the ship will put and keep us asleep.

Tuesday, February 3rd

Today we got to know a little bit about this island paradise of Moorea by taking a tour around the north side of the island with Mario Safari Tours. I guess the 4×4 transportation is the reason it’s called “safari”. And our guide was not Mario, but Dan, who is not Italian but Dutch. Dan was really knowledgable about the island, and it’s flora, history, etc. And a really good driver going up and around difficult and undulating roads.

To give you some context and background, here is some info about Moorea (also spelled Mo’orea). Moorea is one of the more than 100 islands of French Polynesia, in the Society Islands group, located in the South Pacific. The islands stretch over 2000 km, south of Hawaii and north and a little east of New Zealand. In addition to Society Islands, there are 4 other groups of islands or archipelagos in French Polynesia named Austral, Gambier, Marquesas, and Tuamotu. I think the TV show Survivor has used some of the islands as the location for their seasons.

French Polynesia is described as a “overseas collectivity” of France. From my reading my understanding is (and I hasten to post my normal warning that I may have some of this information wrong or partial or misinterpreted) there is a local elected government that overseas the administration of the islands, but that France still holds some administration function over more national and international issues such as national defence and post secondary education.

The islands are known for the over-the-water-bungalows which you will have seen pictures on in my last post, as well as the beautiful clear water, coral reefs and safe lagoons. The beach at our resort is similar to beaches we’ve seen all over the island (except I heard rumour that the beach at the Hilton is imported sand) and is hard packed sand with lots of sun bleached shells. It’s excellent for swimming with a gentle drop and sandy bottom. Within the lagoon in front of the hotel, which is closed to motorized boat traffic except those owned by the hotel. We’re hopefully going to snorkel here before we leave.

The islands of Polynesia (an area including Hawaii and Samoa as well as French Polynesia) were formed by volcanoes where hot spots in the earths crust allowed eruptions of lava to form the islands. The mountains are irregular and rugged and mostly covered in lush vegetation making for breathtaking scenery. Around Moorea, like most islands in the area, there is almost a complete circle of coral reef some distance off shore. It has a couple of breaks in the reef, where rivers of fresh water come down from the mountains and pour into the ocean in levels high enough to keep coral from growing in those areas. These natural breaks in the coral allowed for early exploring and allow for ships to enter the bays also formed by the rivers. Dan explained to us that the island is shrinking but the coral reef is growing and in some millions of years, there will be no island but just an atoll left (circle of coral reef) on which to live.

So, with that background, here is our day.

Dan picked us up at the hotel and we headed north west on one of the only roads on the island, the one that circumnavigates it. We passed by the local airport and a Jack Nicholas designed golf course. It looked challenging from the small bits we saw, very undulating. We had our first stop at Cooks Bay which was named after Captain Cook who visited the island in 1777. Cook actually explored a bay to the west of Cook Bay but the name of that Bay was too sacred to the Polynesians to change, so they named this one after him. Mount Ratui at just under 900 metres overlooks Cooks Bay. It is one of the highest peaks in French Polynesia.

We also got a look at Mount Mouaputa (830 metres) which has the distinction of having a hole right through the top of the peak. Ron helped us to use our imaginations to see the princess with her hands in prayer in the profile of the mountain. Later in the day when we came back through Cooks Bay, the cloud had covered up the hole and most of the princess.

After picking up two couples at the Hilton Hotel, (one from San Francisco and the other from Kona, Hawaii) we headed for a rustic Tropical Garden to see various native fruits growing. The road up to the Garden was very steep and narrow. I was glad that Dan was driving. He was great a pointing out the various species and explaining how some of the growing processes worked. The gardeners have vanilla growing under a shade tent. It’s not indigenous to the islands, but grows well here. Dan pointed out some of the local flowers including the national flower of Moorea, Tiara Tahiti or gardenia. This flower worn behind your right ear, means you are single/available, however if you wear it behind your left ear you are married, engaged or otherwise taken. One source I read said if worn behind both ears it means you’re married but available and worn backwards means you are available immediately! The women wear the bloom fully open and the men wear it closed. We also got to try samples of the jam that they make from the various fruits that they grow and enjoy the amazing view from the mountain side location.

This flower below is called a Monet Flower. For some reason I missed taking a picture of the national flower.

Back into the 4 X 4 and down the narrow road and on to drive around the largest bay on the island, Opunohu Bay on our way to Magic Mountain. Again up a narrow winding one way road. And I have the bruises on the inside of my upper arms to show as to how difficult it was to stay put in the 4 X 4. At the top of the road was a short steep path to get to the look out, but it was worth every step. It’s beautiful everywhere you look on this island but they were extra special from this view point. We could see down over the entrance to Opunohu Bay where a medium size cruise ship was unloading it’s passengers on to tenders to spend the day on the island. You could really see the different depths of water from this vantage point and the natural break in the coral reef at the entrance to the bay.

After sufficient Kodak moments we loaded up again and headed down the mountain and back to the main road again. At the head of Opunohum Bay, we turned on to a side road that lead to the Agricultural School. This school is the only post secondary school on the island, and students who wish to study something other than agriculture must travel by ferry to neighbouring Tahiti either daily, weekly or for the term. Those that stay over, usually stay with a family member. This time we were on our way to another lookout point called Belvedere. The road traveled through the agricultural school and some pineapple fields. The thing that struck me was how well kept and tidy everything was.

The view from Belvedere, which is the highest point you can get to by car on the island, was special because we could see both Opunohum Bay as well as Cook Bay and the mountains surrounding each. We ran in to a pile of ATVs who were touring around the island as well.

Back on the road, we followed an inland road through the PaoPao Valley and into Cooks Valley to join up with the main road again. Along the way, we got to see the commercial growing of pineapples. It’s very labour intensive and we saw one fellow at work with a machete carving back the weeds to expose the pineapple plants. He had to wear protective clothing on his arms and legs to prevent him from getting cut by the razor sharp leaves of the pineapple plants. A full 80% of the pineapples grown commercially (generally by farmers renting small plots of land from the owners) are sold to the pineapple juice factory on the island. The rest is sold domestically and we’ve had great pineapple on our fruit plates while we’ve been here.

Ron explained how pineapples and bananas grow including the male and female parts. So much to learn, so little time. The bottom purple coloured part at the bottom is the male part which is lopped off at the appropriate time to allow all the energy of the growth to go into the fruit.

He even showed us how to make a plate out of leaves – the ultimate in recycling. The Ti plant is used for all sorts of things from grass skirts, to decoration, to making harnesses for harvesting cocoanuts. He showed us a wild hibiscus whose bloom opens as yellow in the morning and by the afternoon after being in the sun it is peach colour.

Dan also showed us how much the leaves of some plants smell like their fruit. He ripped some mango and lime leaves and let us smell them, and lo and behold, they smelled just like their fruit. All these years and I didn’t know that.

Our last stop was at the pineapple juice plant, where we got to taste some of their products. They make juice as well as alcoholic drinks and they had all of them for sale in their small on-site shop.Some were delicious, although some were a tad strong for my liking, and they were all really sweet. We didn’t actually get to see how the juice was produced, unfortunately.

After dropping off the other tourists, it was back to our hotel for a lovely late lunch on the outside deck, but under the cover of the roofline because what started out as a beautiful day had turned cloudy and the heavens opened as we were having lunch. We really did well with our choice to go snorkelling yesterday and take the tour this morning instead of this afternoon.

Much of the afternoon was spent on the porch of our bungalow reading and working on blogs, etc. It was raining off and on, but the temperature stayed the same. I found it so relaxing to be sitting still not feeling like I have to be somewhere, and enjoying the unbelievably beautiful scenes around me.

There are a few restaurants on the island that cater to those staying in hotels that didn’t rent a car by providing transportation and last night we got the concierge to book at one of them for us. We were just leaving the hotel to jump in their van with another couple who were also headed to the same restaurant and there were another group of four who were also waiting but for a ride to another restaurant. I looked at one of the fellows and thought I know that guy, but then thought, couldn’t be, your around the world away from home. But I stopped and looked back and realized who it was and I did in fact know him. I called out his name and he answered. It took him a minute to remember me, as it’s been 18 years since we’ve seen each other. We only had a chance to shake hands and marvel at the coincidence and I had to leave, but how weird is that.

It was a wonderful dinner of fresh seafood, mine a seafood casserole and Nanci’s a shrimp curry. And we both saved room for a delicious dessert – mine a guava and something tart, (sorry, I forget) and Nanci’s cocoanut and chocolate ice cream. Yum.

What an excellent day.

I’m having trouble uploading pictures this morning, so I’ll add more when/if I get better wifi.

Mon, February 3rd – First day on Moorea.

Just a housekeeping note – I have added more pictures to the post from yesterday since it was published so you might want to go back and take another look at the post.

While enjoying the excellent service and our lovely (free) breakfast overlooking the turquoise South Pacific we took a look at the activities that the hotel had to offer to see what our next three days might look like. One thing that caught our eye was snorkelling and so after breakfast and some pool time we stopped in at the on site dive centre to get more details. First of all we got complementary flippers and snorkel and mask to use during our stay here. The beach off the hotel apparently offers some good snorkelling, with a band of coral running across it and the over-water bungalows provide a habitat for lots of fish. But the dive shop also offered an excursion to a small private island about 20 minutes by boat south of our location for a reasonable price. So, despite little sleep on our flight over, we decided to spend our afternoon doing that, since the weather looked good and the diver master said tomorrow’s weather won’t be as good.

By now our bungalow was available and so we went in search of it. We’re about 25 metres from the beach with no other bungalow in front of us, so this is the view from the front porch.

Our bungalow looks like this one with a beautiful wash area. Double sinks and a shower surrounded by glass windows into an outdoor garden. Hibiscus flowers were placed as decoration everywhere. I think we could be quite comfortable here.

We changed into our snorkelling gear and coverups and had a lovely lunch at the beach cafe that is right on the other side of the bungalow opposite us. It’s a limited menu but we both found something we would like to eat and most importantly it had a million dollar view.

I felt more like a nap than snorkelling but I hoped that once I got out in the boat and the ocean air, not to mention the water, that I’d wake up. So off we went with 3 couples, all from the U.S. I think, the dive master, and the official photographer. We travelled only about 20 minutes through a well marked channel. The water depth changes dramatically in the area between land and the reef which almost entirely encircles the island. From the boat you can see the light turquoise areas where it is shallow, dotted with dark spots which is coral, or a stingray! And within feet you can see the dark blue areas where the depth dropped off dramatically.

The captain tied up along side a small privately owned island that has been transformed into a snorkelling Mecca, especially for newbie snorkelers. They have laid out a ropes in a grid in some areas and along a track through the coral in others. So you can use the ropes to hold on to in order to stay in one place, to help propel you along the way. There were different coloured buoys to mark special points of interest or to show you a channel through the coral. And the water is really, really clear, and very warm. We were in for a couple of hours and I didn’t get cold at all.

We started out just standing in knee deep water and the people that own the island brought the stingrays over to us so we could see and touch them and learn about them. Then we put on the snorkel gear and floated holding on to the line while the owners dropped food for the fish, rays and sharks which brought them really close to us. It felt like cheating to have them brought to us rather than having to work for it, but it actually did feel like being in an aquarium with them.

Don’t be worried about the sharks – they are black-tipped reef sharks and unless cornered won’t attack a human. And they are very used to people here. I saw a lot of them in the Galapagos, where they are wild and we steered clear of them when we saw them just to be safe.

After having our fill of watching the feeding, we followed the dive master out along the line almost all the way to the coral reef surrounding the island. The current got stronger and stronger along the way, and you could feel the waves that were splashing over the barrier. Along the way we saw lots of coral in various shapes and sizes and some of the most brilliant colours. One iridescent blue one that was gorgeous. There was even one that looked like penne pasta swaying in the current.

Once we’d had our fill of snorkelling we were able to visit the little island and they had tea, coffee or hot chocolate which was free, you just had to clean your own cup. They had some really rustic one room huts along the beach which they rented out, for day or overnight use but they were mostly empty on this day. Everything was adorned with strings of sun bleached shells hanging from the railings and roofs.

I’m sorry I didn’t take along a camera on this trip. Because I was sleep deprived I didn’t want to worry about taking pictures and keeping myself alive while snorkelling. But we did have a photographer along for the trip. We saw the rough clips from the video that he shot and of course had to order it. He will sent a link to a customized version to us by email in the next couple of days. We’ll try and figure out a way to post it or a link to it.

The ride back included juice and water and the warm sun. All in all, an excellent 4 hours.

We finished up the day with happy hour and dinner at one of the resort’s restaurants, on a deck overlooking the ocean. I am now well outside my normal eating program with a burger and chips and Diet Coke for dinner.

Monday, February 3

When I last blogged in September, I had just come back from a month in Morocco, Israel and Jordan. Christmas has since come and gone, I spent a week in Palm Springs with friends Karen and Allen, and my little timeline yard stick (my grandson) is now 15 months old! That’s him with his parents on the canal in Ottawa. The weather hasn’t been too, too bad this winter, but it’s so nice to be able to get away.

Today I’m sitting on a lounge overlooking the infinity pool and the turquoise blue South Pacific Ocean with waves breaking on the reef a few hundred yards out creating a demarcation between the calm waters in our bay and the rougher waters beyond. But I’ve jumped ahead haven’t I? I haven’t talked about the journey to get here or the fun day in Los Angeles.

So, I’ll backup.

My travel buddy Nanci and I left snowy Ottawa on Saturday afternoon bound for a hopefully sunny Los Angeles. Our eventual destination is Tahiti but we purposely built in an extra travel day just in case we ran into weather related delays and break up the long flights. (When I say things like that I feel old). We arrived at the Crown Plaza Airport on schedule after an uneventful travel day (always the best kind of travel days) and had a good night’s sleep.

Our flight for Tahiti left on Sunday evening at 11 pm, so on Sunday morning we decided that we’d go on a city tour instead of sitting around the hotel putting in time. I have to admit that I resisted this, given the potential for terrible freeway hang ups in LA and because I’ve already spent lots of time in this city, but Nanci prevailed and so I joined her in this adventure.

We had an “interesting” jokester of a tour guide. He told bad jokes all day long and so when we were tipping him at the end Nanci gave him a tip and told him it was to get a new joke book. He took it really well. Throughout the day people asked questions and his answers were less than helpful. Nanci asked a question at one point and he actually told her to look it up in Google! When someone asked who lived in a house that Kirk Douglas used to own, he said, “someone rich” and carried on with his rehearsed script.

We started the tour with Venice and Santa Monica beaches where we had time to wander around each of them. They have quite different character and Venice Beach hasn’t gotten any less weird than the first time I saw it a million years ago, and still would vie for the most tacky beach in the world I’m sure. But it was interesting nonetheless. And with my new interest in resistance training I took some pics of the original Gold’s Gym and muscle beach activities to send to my personal trainer.

The most interesting part of Santa Monica Beach Pier for me has always been that it’s the terminus of the famous Route 66. During my former partnered days, we travelled a lot of the route on our Honda Gold Wing. And this year, brother Rae with sister Lynn and brother-in-law Wally hit some of the route as well.

Next we went up and down some of the streets of Beverly Hills to see the Beverly Hills Hotel and homes of various former and current stars. The guide pointed out that Ellen Degeneris has drought resistance plants in front of her walled in space to encourage others to do the same. One house, that is now owned by the city looks like a wicked witches home! Sorry no pics of the homes because the bus had to keep on moving.

Tour buses aren’t allowed to drive down Rodeo Drive so we parked nearby and walked a couple of blocks of this glittering shopping strip with every high end store you’ve ever heard of, made famous by the movie Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. (We also saw the apartment building where she lived in the movie).

One place in LA I’d never been was the Farmers Market, which is not really a Farmers Market at all any more, but rather a shopping mall at one end, attached to the original farmers market area that has been there for years. Now there are kiosks serving every kind of prepared food known to man. By then I was so hungry I had trouble deciding on what to get to eat because there was so much choice and everything sounded great. I finally selected a Caesar Salad with chicken – how boring is that!

Then one more stop at Hollywood Boulevard to see all the famous things along that strip. The Grauman Chinese Theatre with it’s famous hand prints, Dolby Theatre (former Kodak Theatre), Walk of Fame and the HOLLYWOOD sign from afar all within a couple of blocks. Well, unfortunately clouds prevented us from seeing the Hollywood sign, but we settled for a pic with a backdrop in a candy store in the mall attached to the Dolby Theatre. There was lots of hubbub around the Dolby because it’s the location of the Oscars and they were setting up for it. It’s a bit of a seedy area, with piles of cheap tourist shops.

One interesting phenomenon we experienced is the grieving that is going on in LA for basketball star Kobe Bryant. There were tributes to him all over the city, even the city buses had “RIP Kobe Bryant” signs flashing back and forth with the route info. Outside Madame Trousseau’s Wax Museum the likeness of Kobe was in a special display. At Grauman Chinese Theatre there was a memorial that had bouquets of new flowers and messages, etc. His picture was beamed onto a huge building near the Staples Centre. And on our way back to the hotel, we drove past the Staples Centre where thousands of Kobe Bryant fans were standing around in tribute to their fallen hero. There was a street long line of kiosks selling all sorts of Kobe mementos, t-shirts, flowers, etc. I guess it will continue until his funeral.

Then it was back to the hotel to pick up our luggage, have a drink and then head to the airport. Our check in process was painless, and our flight on Air Tahiti Nui was as good as could be expected with an overnight flight. We were on a brand spanking new Dreamliner, that was decked out in pastel shades of turquoise, pink, yellow and green, which was really cheerful.

We arrived at 5 am, and yet the airport was pretty busy and there was even a greeting party of musicians to greet us.

We found the taxi stand and grabbed a short ride to the ferry terminal. I really did feel like I was back in BC. The process was the same, tickets from the ticket booth, drop the luggage off on to carts, up the stairs to the waiting area, and up the ramp to the ferry when it was docked and ready to take on passengers. The island of Moorea is only 15 km from the island of Tahiti and it was a calm passage. And the ferry terminal is right next to, and within walking distance of, the cruise ship terminal. So when we go back on Thursday to pick up the ship it will be really easy.

Once on the island we took another taxi to our hotel where it was too early to check in, but they provided us with towels and shampoo, etc to have a shower and stored our luggage until the rooms were ready. We were also given a coupon for a free breakfast buffet and were able to use all the facilities.

And that’s where this very long blog post started, with me over looking the infinity pool out to the South Pacific Ocean.

Friday, October 4

I’ve been home from my latest adventures for 5 days now.  Time enough to start to feel human again, having caught up on my sleep, done oodles of laundry, reconnected with family, and started to get back in the habit of putting toilet paper in the toilet again after a month of trying to remember to put it in the little garbage pail provided. Haha, you can count on me to talk about all aspects of travel.

Every trip is a learning experience, but my head almost exploded on this one. So much to absorb, from the sensory overload of Fes, to the compelling stories we heard from those affected by the conflict in Israel, to the history and awe of Petra in Jordan.

People often ask me what my favourite country is, or part of the trip, but I’ve tried hard not to compare these three countries to each other, but rather consider each of them as they came. Increasingly as I travel, it’s actually the people I meet along the way that I find the most interesting and memorable. G Adventures does a great job of providing fabulous CEOs (Chief Experience Officers) and especially on the National Geographic joint ventures, the locals we have been able to interact with adds so much dimension to the experience.

We lucked out with all three of the groups with whom we travelled. There were no whiners, no one chronically late, and no one who monopolized the conversations. There were only 10 of us in Morocco, and 15 in each of Israel and Jordan. We were frequently reminded we were glad to be on a small group tour, rather than the huge groups of 35 – 50 we saw trying to make their way through the crowded streets of Fes or Jerusalem.

Visiting Morocco for two weeks (and 2996 km on our trusty bus) gave us the opportunity to see some of the many sides of the country that our guide often called “country of contrasts”. From the ancient medinas and handicrafts in Fes; to the beautiful countryside of the High Atlas Mountains; to the laid back beach lifestyle of Essaouira; to the night clubs of Marrakesh; to the modern shopping centres of Marrakesh and Casablanca; to the traditional villages where Muslim women were covered head to toe walking along side visitors who didn’t always respect the modesty dress code; and from the poor villagers contrasted with the expensive villas in the Tarflout area sitting empty save for the summer vacation time. Even the flavours of Morocco provided contrasts – through dishes with combinations of sweet and savoury, to the simplicity of fresh fruit for dessert contrasted with the complex spices of tajine dishes. From the red earth of the Air Mansour Gorge, with its stunning green palm trees to the desert regions, to the vistas along the Atlantic, and the mountain ranges of the Atlas Mountains, even the landscapes provided that contrast.

Although we spent only a week in Israel, we seemed to have tromped all over every square inch of Jerusalem, and yet I know that’s not the case. It’s impossible to cover anything but the highlights in a 7 day trip in a country with so much history both ancient and current. Here especially it was the interaction with people, both planned and spontaneous that I will especially remember. Images of the third generation book store owner in Old Jerusalem fighting for his Palestinian citizenship, a young mother fighting for proper treatment and schooling for challenged youth in a Palestinian Refugee camp in the West Bank and an older man originally from Montreal seeking peace from antisemitism by moving to Jerusalem to pursue religious studies will stay with me for a long time. The images of Holocaust survivors talking about their experiences in videos in the Holocaust Museum brought tears to my eyes, as did the simple reading of names of children who died in the concentration camps in the darkness of their museum. It wasn’t all serious, and there were many fun times; wine tasting in the Golan Heights; bobbing in the Dead Sea; the spontaneous group singing of the Walls of Jericho in Jericho; and naturally one of my favourite experiences, sailing on the Sea of Galilee and dancing to Hava Negela.

I knew going in that I was going to find a month a long time to be away, and I was right. It was hard to maintain the energy and interest in the last week, but thanks to the fun itinerary and amazing country of Jordan (seeing Petra was the genesis of this trip after all) I think I kept it going. And in fact, our most physically challenging day was at Petra in the last week, and we made it. The other physical activity aside from the ever-present walking, was snorkelling in Aqaba and it was so much fun. The hotels were definitely a little less comfortable than the ones in Israel and Morocco, and the guide did not provide as much information as the the other two but I’m still glad we decided to take the classic tour version that included the snorkelling. Our desert stay in Jordan was more comfortable than the one in Morocco because it was cooler and the beds were much more comfortable, but the camel ride in Morocco was definitely one of the highlights.  Oops, now I’m doing what I said I wouldn’t and comparing experiences between countries.

I keep remembering different experiences and I could go on forever with this blog, but I’ll stop now.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the adventure with me. If there is anything you’d like to suggest for future blogs I’m all ears. Help me make it better next time.

I’ll spend the next few months, enjoying time with our little man, Benny, hitting the gym to stay strong for future travel and planning the next adventure.  Watch for the tell tale pic of a pedicure.

Just a bit of housekeeping, I’ve gone back in and added pictures to the posts I did during the last 10 days or so when we didn’t have sufficient wifi bandwidth to post them. If you want to take another look the additions begin at September 20th.