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Ixnay New Zealand

It is 1,857 to 1.

                             I am the 1.

                             We unfortunately need to change our itinerary because of Typhoon Gabrielle down here in the Southern Hemisphere, so you all will be getting another refund because we are missing the next three ports in New Zealand. They are Wellington, Picton, and New Plymouth. We will be booking it through the Cook Strait which separates the North Island of New Zealand from the South Island. We then make a bee line to an added port in Australia, that of Melbourne.

                             The Captain summoned everyone to the theatre and explained our situation. He then asked for a vote to change course and avoid the Storm.

                             His voice rang out loud and clear, “All in favor?”

                             A thunderous reply was heard from the passengers as they all raised their hands in agreement,

                                      “Yea!”

He then asked in a much lower, quizzical-type voice, “Anyone opposed?”

“Nay,” was my rather lonely reply as I meekly raised my hand.

          Glaring at me while delivering the Verdict, “The Yea’s have it! We are changing course; we will throw all the coal into the burners, and it’ll be Full Steam Ahead for the next 36 hours!

          Still glaring down at me he said, “Mr. Hall, you may report to the Chief Engineer for your new duty as a Coal Stoker in the engine room.”                             I came this close to having some adventure on the High Seas, but nooo, we have to go and change course! We may get a little bit of excitement when we exit the Cook Strait into the Tasman Sea.

                             I will keep you informed in between my shifts down in the Engine Room.

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Auckland, New Zealand

AN EXAMPLE FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD?

          Ok folks…..

                             I’m going to warn you in advance that this is going to be one of those lessons learned that you never even knew that you needed to know.

                             But, for those that really only want to know about the city of Auckland, I shall start there.

                             Come visit.

                             There…. That’s done.

                             No, really, it’s that simple!

                    The Auckland that we briefly visited today was entirely engaging. We took the Hop On / Hop Off double-decker bus around. Initially, we stayed on for the entire circuit, and then went back around and stopped where we wanted to. First, I should point out that Auckland is indeed, a city. But it is a small city, so our circuitous route only lasted about 45 minutes and that included the stops to let numerous people on and off. There was no Red, Blue, or Yellow Routes (like NYC) to worry about…. just one route. The entire city seemed to be neat and tidy, the streets a lot cleaner than most other cities we (or you) have been to. If the quality (?) of stores that are available to the general public shows anything about the economics of the area, you will be pleased to know that I saw both  Van Cleef & Arpels, and  Tiffanys retail stores. So, I guess they’re doing ok!

                   One thing to note about Auckland is that they have done a wonderful job of folding their more modern skyscrapers in with their historic buildings. These modern structures seem to have a certain “effort of design” about them, they are not just concrete and glass monolithic structures, there is a style and grace about them, some with artistic arcs and curves incorporated.

This is just a small example of what I mean. Unfortunately, when I wrote about the more modern buildings and their artistic looks, I thought that I had taken some representative photos of them. Now it’s late and we’ve already sailed away, so you’ll have to take my word for it!
Wait a minute! I found part of an image that I can use here! Take a look at this “Twisted Wrap” design!
Their iconic and aptly named Sky Tower. At 1072′ tall, it is the highest man-made structure in the Southern Hemisphere.
A very nicely kept example of the older buildings in town. This one was by no means, in a minority.
The Ferry Building down at the Port.

                             So now that you know all that, there should be nothing stopping you to hop on down here for a visit! You know that you’ve always wanted to visit New Zealand!

The one real stop that we went to was the Auckland War Memorial War Museum. This is not primarily a war museum, although they did have a wonderful floor dedicated to New Zealand’s efforts in both WWI and WWII. The building was constructed and named as a war memorial, hence the name. It houses an incredible collection of Māori artifacts complete with historical narrations that explain everything from the diaspora of the Māori, to the practical uses of said artifacts.

Their story starts back in Southeast Asia along with the rest of their Polynesian “relatives”. It is a fairly recent story, starting about 5000 years ago, these peoples ventured out and traveled from island to island growing their cultures and language. As they advanced and became separated, the language that they used started to morph slightly, but it retained the “gist” of the original. Remember back in Hawaii I told you that our tour guide (who was Hawaiian) told us that even though all the islanders could not speak the other’s languages, they could understand the basics of what they were saying?

Everything has a story to tell. Everything has a past and this past is one of the things that make this culture so vivid and enriching at the same time. I will attempt to explain, and give you just a short example.

This is the story of mussels, cockles, sharks, whales, and seaweed and how, and why, they ended up where they are located on the shore.

Long ago the shellfish children of Hinemoana (the Ocean Maid, note the name Moana in that word….. How about that animated movie we all watch with our grandchildren, Moana?😊

Anyway, these shellfish children were taken to the rocks who sheltered them beneath their relatives, the seaweeds. One day a fierce quarrel started between the mussels and the cockle’s tribes. The cockles fled to the beach where they dug themselves into the sand. When the mussels tried to attack and thrust out their tongues, they were filled with sand, and they were forced to go back to the rocks. This fighting was being watched by the whales and sharks who said to each other, “Let’s attack the cockle tribe and scoop them up when they poke out their heads”. But when the cockles saw them coming, they burrowed deep down into the sand and so the whales were stranded on the beach.

And that is why the mussels still cling to the rocks, and the cockles are found buried in the sand, and the greatest creatures of the sea still strand themselves chasing the children of Hinemoana.

How’s that for explaining why and how things have come to pass!

Stories illustrated!
This is photo of a not-so-happy “please stand here for comparison” Paula and her friend the giant Moa, who is even unhappier because she is dead (and extinct!) Remember from the other day the giant figure of the Moa up in the woods overlooking the Bay of Islands? Well, this is how big the females got!
Interior of a giant War Canoe. It could hold a hundred warriors at a time! The Battleships of their day!
Wide-angle lense needed to get this into the frame!
This is a smaller replica of a traditional Māori meeting house or Wharenui. I would show you a photo of the large original one that is constructed inside the museum, but although we were allowed to enter (after taking our shoes off) they requested that no photos be taken. There were two signs with the universal sign of a camera with a line through it plainly visible, but there they were, two people standing in there with their tablets and phones taking photos. We just left.
Some traditional carved Māori figures that were atop a palisade of sorts, probably for defense, but they are not sure.
The ubiquitous Kiwi! This is the little guy that all New Zealander’s are named for! 😊
Every museum needs a few dinosaurs to get the kids in! This is Steve and Nancy… hey we didn’t name them! The museum has a very nice Natural History section to complement these two.

                             Now it’s time to learn something.

                             Something that should not be as revolutionary as it is, but none the less, it is something that I’ve not witnessed before.

                             New Zealand has completely accepted the fact that they did not get here first. That honor belongs to the Māori people. They arrived here around 900 years ago and were firmly in control by the time that the Europeans got here.

                             The remarkable thing is that there seems to be an attitude directly opposite of what has occurred the world over when non-indigenous folks move in. In the American West and in Australia (to name probably the top two) the native inhabitants were not treated as they should have been. By now this is a well-known fact, but now still, at times, there seems to be just lip service given to these people who were here way before any of the rest of us showed up. The move was to be to have them be assimilated into our society, abandoning their own religions, beliefs, and ways of life.

                             Here in New Zealand, the direct opposite comes shining through and as far as we could see, is well accepted. The push here is to bring the Māori way to the forefront.

The street signs are labeled in both English and Māori.

The writings around town are printed in both languages, (with Māori first!)

The customs are celebrated by both races and the westerners embrace the Māori’s culture and celebrate right along with their neighbors.

Case in point. Interestingly, the Māori use the term Wharepaku interchangeably for both men’s and women’s rooms.
See!

          Everyone knows what the original Māori names of the places here and uses them interchangeably with the newer English names.

          What a refreshing attitude!

To finish up, let’s take a look at living on the edge. Those mounds in the background are the remnants of volcanoes. Extinct for now, but Auckland and all of New Zealand have contingency plans in effect for the eventual eruption of one of these guys, or a neighboring one. We experienced an “eruption” at the Museum, complete with “TV” coverage and moving floors and walls. Let’s just say that it was good to get back on our ship that could get us out of there!

Thanks for reading!

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Bay of Islands

          It’s a good thing that Peter Jackson is from New Zealand and had his homeland in mind before presenting his idea for filming The Lord of the Rings to prospective studios. It’s also a good thing that New Line Cinema could see his vision and say, “This is not one movie, it’s at least three!” If you’ve seen this epic movie, you have an idea of just some of the things that we will be able to see here in New Zealand.

This is our landfall coming up to The Bay of Islands, New Zealand.

                                      Most of the grander scenes were filmed on the South Island which we will just visit the northern tip of. But throughout this incredible place you can envision what Peter had in mind before he started filming. We will attempt to show you what we can from our limited excursion experiences.

But this view is nothing to sneeze at!

                                      We arrive first at the Bay of Islands, the site of New Zealand’s beginnings in the modern era. By that I mean the early 1800’s, The Māori people arrived about 900 years before that and were quite settled before Captain James Cook came and said “Hi!” The colonists soon followed, along with the customs and needs that they brought from the homelands. The British signed the Treaty of Waitangi in a field directly at the place where we disembarked later in the morning., back in1840.  This treaty with the Māori granted them ownership of their lands and other properties and also gave them rights as British subjects while Britain gained all of New Zealand. You will be pleased to know that the present-day descendants of those first settlers treat the Māori with a ton of respect, know a lot of (and use) their language, and admit to the fact they were, in fact, here first.

                                                This is another “Tender” port, meaning that we need to be shuttled back and forth between the ship and the mainland pier, which in this case is about a mile and a half away! This means a one-way trip of about a half-hour or so.

                                      We can use only four of our Lifeboats as tenders as these four are the only ones with two engines which not only is a safety feature, but two engines are quite critical when it comes to facilitating docking and rendezvousing with the ship. Two engines allow the coxswain to put one in forward, while reversing the other, hence helping to turn the tender without having to use the rudder (which is ineffectual at a slow speed with no water passing over it).

One of our ‘Baby fish’ coming home to ‘Mama Fish’.

                                                It is going to be a long day.

                             But…. the sail into the Bay of Islands was spectacular! We had several dolphins come over to the ship to greet us, but they were difficult to understand because of their heavy New Zealand accents.

A pod of our little friends

                   We snuck onto one of the earlier Tenders, just because. 😊

Boarding the Tender through a special hatch in the side of the hull. Here you see 150 of our new best friends climbing aboard. We were fortunate enough to secure seats topside instead of being herded into the hold with the rest of the cattle.
Here’s a good view of one, showing the ‘topside’ seating area.

Well….. it was going to be probably another hour until our tender was going to be called, so I just kind of “hung around” the gangway area until they needed a few extra folks to fill in spots that were left after the boat was filled with the Official Excursions leaving at that time. We had some time on the front end of our excursion as it did not depart the pier in town until around 1:00 pm (it was presently about 10:30 am) and we wanted to have enough time to get into the small town of Paihia (pronounced Pie-HE-ah) before our tour left.

You-know-who on a nifty mosaic-styled bench in Paihia.
Please note the cars…. no, not the old Rolls-Royce, the side of the road that they drive on over here!
Also, please note the prices. You will need to do the re-calculations because the NZ dollar is 30% less than ours and the weight is in kilograms. Good Luck!

                             We were booked on “A Leisurely Cruise of the Bay of Islands, Lunch, and a Hour in Russel.” That is a perfect description of what we experienced yesterday afternoon. The Captain/Owner had built this barge style craft himself. It is a purpose-built vessel, perfectly designed for what it’s used for. There are even “tables” that slide down from the ceiling on stainless steel poles so that we did not need to hold the plates of food on our laps.

This is our trusty craft, bow facing you.
Looking aft, note galley on the stern, and the ‘”Tables” suspended on the stainless-steel poles, that slide down for our eventual use at lunchtime.
That’s us in our seats in the bow.

                             Perhaps the best part of this trip was getting to know some other passengers. The captain made us all introduce ourselves, which at first felt like we were back in kindergarten but after a few wines and beers that is exactly what we were acting like (except me!). We became friendly enough, and had nice conversations with at least two other couples, enough to invite them to our table for a future dinner with us. One of the couples, Sally and Paul, actually out-do us in the motorhome and living department! They live on their sailboat in California and keep two Sprinter Campers…. one here in the Staes and the other one is in Europe!

Another early morning view of the Bay of Islands

                             The rest of our little ride was quite nice. It is obvious from the number of sailboats the New Zealand is enamored with sailing as a nation. As a matter of fact, they are the current holders of the America’s Cup, and have been for some years now after finally breaking the USA’s grip on it. The America’s Cup is the oldest continuously contested sporting event in the world, having begun in 1851. We held onto it until the 1980’s when New Zealand finally beat us. We won it back a few yarrs later, but they came storming back and have kept it ever since.

Just two of the thousands of sailboats that we saw over the day.
A local artists handy-work.

                             Our tour of the Bay of Islands covered a miniscule part of it…….. this place is huge!

This is a photo of a large mural in town. Our day in this area was confined to the red outlined area on the left. Our Big Ship was located at the small yellow stripe indicated. You can now appreciate how large the Bay of Islands is! A total of 141 islands!

Our eventual destination for the remainder of the afternoon was the delightful little town of Russel. Russel was the first capital of New Zealand, but you would never know it by its now bucolic, lazy seaside lifestyle. It is now a comfortable destination for folks on vacation, which is NOW, as it is summer down here! It is also one of the Marlin Catching Capitals of the World and has nestled into its main drag, one of the oldest Marlin fishing clubs in the world. The author Zane Grey, after publishing The Angler’s El Dorado in 1926, is credited with highlighting the fishing of this part of New Zealand and the rest of his “fishing buddies” (readers!) in the world followed him here.

Sea-side in Russell.
The pedestrian path along the waterfront
Paula and the Ice Cream Parlor. Your only problem is that you need to fly to Aukland, drive overland to Paihia, then take the ferry to Russell. It was good……

                                      Anyway, we discovered a little ice cream place right near the Fishing club. Good stuff! We need just a tad of desert after our lunch on board. They prepare and cook everything on the stern of the boat. There is a galley of sorts back there to cook the likes of fresh caught fish of the day, local venison, and of course, New Zealand Lamb!

                                      After re-boarding the SS Food Barge, we started back to the pier in Waitangi to catch our shuttle back to the ship.

Bidding a fond Adieu to the little town of Russell.
Some of the islands are quite unique!
That figure up in the trees is a rendition of a Moa, a giant bird that stood an average of twelve feet tall and could grow as tall as 16 feet! It was hunted to extinction not by the new settlers, but by the Māori in the 1800’s.
Even though we were only seeing a tiny section of the Bay of Islands, the scenery was ever-changing.
A local vineyard, note light green area up on the hill…..the grapes!

                                      We were the last shuttle to leave the pier, but no worries, mate! We were on a Princess Excursion, so the BIG Boat waits for us!

Unfortunately, we had to cruise right by our ultimate destination as our tour boat is not permitted to disembark us at Miss Biggie.
Check out the Smiley Face underneath the canopy of the Parasail!
There she is! All pretty in the afternoon sun!

                                      We did arrive at our table late, but our friends Darla and Sandra (the Girls) were waiting patiently as was our award winning servers, Richard and Kevin.

                             Yes, it was in fact, a long, (but really nice!) day.

Sail-away, early evening, note little lighthouse up on the hill, overlooking the next photo….
The famous Hole -in-the-Rock, which can actually be sailed through! It is also known as Elephant Rock, as shown in the next photo!
Complete with ‘ears’ and the ‘trunk’ tip sticking out of the water! 😊
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Crossing the Line and Some Other Fun Stuff!

Here is us crossing the International Date Line! Wasn’t it nice of the satellite guys to have the Line projected down on the Ocean so that we could see it? (I added the days and the name myself.)
This photo shows us sailing over the Tonga Trench, just east of New Zealand. It is the second deepest spot in the world, losing out to the Marianas Trench by only about 300 feet or so. At 35,433 feet deep, it is deeper than Mount Everest is tall (29, 031 Feet) Can’t you see how deep it is here? 😊
I guess this (and the previous photo) is what Mr. Magellan saw when he “discovered” the Pacific Ocean (Peaceful Ocean) in the early 1500’s. We’ve had this kind of weather for the past two days!
This is Paula up on the crowded Sun Deck.
This me with Michael and Michael, my very early morning friends. Mike on the left wants to open his own restaurant in Manila someday, he is a trained chef, and Mike on the right is one of the Pastry Apprentices on board. Both greet me nicely in the morning.
You know the two flanking Nancy. She is the person that we wrote to the head of Food Service about to sing her praises. She deserves every bit of them!
This photo shows the Important Parts of the pool area!
Last but not least…. It’s always good to start, or end, a post with a sun photo…. this one is Sunrise yesterday.

Thanks for reading!

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Songs of Tomorrow

How fortuitous…. a photo of today’s (Monday) sunrise…. the last one before Wednesday!

Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow – Monkees, 1967

          Tomorrow is Today – Billy Joel, 1971

          Tomorrow Never Comes – Elvis Presley, 1971

                             And lastly,

and possibly the most important one….

          Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow – Shirelles / Carole King – 1960

                             These are statements and questions that will never be known on this ship as the International Date Line will be crossed tomorrow!

                             But…. is there really a Tomorrow?

                             I will not go into the mechanics of the IDL again, you would all revolt and throw your phones, iPads, and laptops against the wall! (desktops would just be smashed)

                             I wonder if there are customs that come with losing a day… like a girl being able to propose to a guy on Batchelor’s Day, traditionally observed on February 29th or Leap Year, obviously once only every four years. Sadie Hawkins Day (November 13th) is sometimes confused with that Batchelor’s Day, (which started with St. Patrick and St. Bridget back in the 5th century) because they have that same goal.

                             What if your birthday is on the day that you cross the IDL …… do you not age, or do you age quicker? I guess it depends on which way you are traveling…. do we get a “Do-Over” ? 🙂

                             What if you go back and forth across the line within a 24-hour period? That could really mess up your life!

                   The answers to these and all things ‘Time Travel’ related will be revealed after we cross the IDL…… but the most important item is still the last one asked by the great Carole King…….

                   Will you still love me tomorrow?

                             But…. what if…. As Elvis asks….

Tomorrow never comes?

Film at 11.

Ok… Here’s a good example of what I explained a few Posts ago. The Island nation of Kiribati is large and spread out over several thousand square miles. They are more aligned with Asian partners, so they elected to unite themselves on the same day, hence the big eastward swing of the IDL. In reality, we have crossed and re-crossed the IDL already, but it would be silly to switch everything on board for such brief periods of time. So, we officially cross it late tonight. “Tomorrow” (Tuesday) is washed overboard like unwanted seaweed. For us, there literally is no tomorrow, just The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
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Pago Pago, American Samoa

Uh-Oh! These guys are serious about this after a tsunami hit them in 1999. They do a practice drill on the first Friday of every month!

So, what’s in a name?

                             Pago Pago

                             Samoa

                             American Samoa

                   Let’s start at the beginning.

                   It’s not Paygo-Paygo, It’s Pahngo-Pahngo.

          Apparently in the Samoan dialect, every time there is a “G” it is preceded by an “N” phonetically. So now we know how to pronounce it.

                             Samoa vs American Samoa.

                   Way back in the day (1800’s) the Islands were ruled by Chieftains like most of the islands in the South Pacific. Along come the Europeans and Americans with desires unknown to the local population. Soon the Chieftains were making deals with the various foreign countries for locally obvious reasons, which caused the other Chieftains get pissed off, jealous, and downright warlike. Some civil strife ensued until the various Tribes fell in line with the uninvited foreign “Friends”. The three largest countries vying for influence in this group of Islands were Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. By the late 1800’s the two big contenders were the US and Germany. The US Navy made a deal with the eastern Samoan islands for a Naval Base at Pago Pago, which has a wonderful harbor. Eventually the western Samoan islands became independent but the eastern ones were reluctant to cut their ties with the United States who provided protection and was a valuable trade partner.

                             Now the craziness ensues.

                             These two island groups are very close to each other and obviously share a past history. They are only about 135 miles away from each other but……

                             The International Date Line passes directly between them! This line is not set by international treaty, but by where a particular country wants to be located with respect to it. And this has everything to do with economics! Back in the beginning of all of this western influence, the eastern islands (which had that harbor at Pago Pago) were convinced by their industrial partners in the western US to be aligned on this side of the IDL. Well that was all well and good until the early 2000’s when the western islands (named just Samoa) who dealt  primarily with New Zealand, Japan , and China, decided to “jump the line”.  Their Head Guy proposed that they switch to the other side of the IDL which would put them on the same day as their trade partners. So, on December 30, 2011, they jumped one day ahead, blew away December 31st, and made the transition to the beginning of the IDL, a full 24 hours in front of their neighbors American Samoa.

                             Phew! You guys still with me?

                             To make things even more confusing, but in reality, makes sense, is that the IDL is not a Time Zone boundary. It passes almost evenly down through the Apia Standard Time Zone. The IDL roughly follows the 180-degree line of longitude which is the direct opposite of the Prime Meridian that runs through Greenwich, England at 0 degrees longitude. So, this whole thing is about 12 hours difference from England, located directly opposite on the earth.

                             Sort of.

As I have demonstrated, these lines can be moved (somewhat) for the practical convenience of a particular nation or area.

                             By now, all of your eyes are glazing over and you’re all saying, C’mon Don! Just show us the pretty pictures!

                             No worries, they’re on their way! But I’ll bet anything that you’ve all secretly wondered how the International Date Line works! We pass through it tomorrow on our way to New Zealand but since we are traveling south (not east or west) to get there, we stay within this particular Time Zone, so no need to change the clocks for a couple of weeks.

Here we go! The “bustling” harbor of Pago Pago!

                             The nice folks here in American Samoa are quite content with their status as a US Territory. This designation affords them certain benefits such as protection and a quasi-relationship with us. They are “Nationals” which is not the same as citizens. You and I are citizens and by that nature, we are also “Nationals”. The opposite is not true, a “National” is not a citizen, although the route to citizenship, if they choose, is much simpler. American Samoa has a non-voting elected member in the House of Representatives. They also have a local government similar in structure to ours, with a Senate and House, and President. But the real Big Kahuna is the President of the United States.

                             Guess what company and/or industry employs about one third of the local population?

                             Remember good ol’ Charlie the Tuna?

                             Yup! Starkist has two production factories here and exports approximately 200,000 tons of tuna annually.

That’s a lot of Charlie’s!

One of the two Starkist Tuna factories. It smelled like fish.
We traveled literally half-way around the world to find a boat named Cape May!

The rest of the population is roughly divided in half with one sector working for the government and the rest in private enterprise. About 44,000 people inhabit the five islands that this Territory is composed of.

And….. there is a U.S. National Park here!

Get that Stamp in your Park System Passport!

The Park has within its boundaries, (on several Islands) rainforests, coral reefs, archeological sites, and the many cultural resources of this area.

Pola Island, part of the National Park and an important nesting area for Frigate Birds and Brown Boobies. The cliffs are four hundred feet tall.
Part of the coastline of American Samoa National Park
You can tell that they were happy to see Cruise Ships again, they even had a Choir assembled singing traditional songs for us!

Our tour was a family affair, Mom, Dad, and one of five siblings being involved. To say that they were ecstatic to see us would be an understatement! We were just the second ship to visit since the Covid Era and for an island that depends on this tourism as much as they do, (and it’s really only cruise ships) that hiatus was significant and was felt Island wide.

I really think that a boat builder had a hand in the design of this vehicle by the way that the roof was constructed.
Note the home made aspect of this vehicle! All of these “Tour” busses were made by the folks here on the Island from truck chassis.
Yea…. definitely home-made
Paula and our two new friends, Darla and Sandra, from Michigan’s U.P.

These Samoans could not have been nicer. You would expect that from the tour operators but to have the random walkers-by wave at our bus as it passed made quite the statement.

These are some of the friendly waver folks getting ready for bingo, right across the street from their Parish Church.
Here it is, Our Lady of Fatima. Churches are everywhere and the population is very proud of them. Posted outside this one was a cleaning schedule for the Church and the cleaners were the youth of the Parish.
Please note the concrete slabs in the front yard of this house. They are the graves of their loved ones. Samoan’s “own” their property and as long as they keep it neat and tidy (as enforced by the local Chief and the Committee) they can do anything. Many, many, homes had their relatives buried on their property.

          The Samoan people are quite proud of their heritage and customs, and rightfully so. But as many indigenous peoples are finding, their traditional ways are slowly eroding. The younger citizens are finding what they think is a better life off-island. Opportunities for the younger set are not as plentiful on the Island as on the Mainland, and who’s to blame them? So, the customs and traditions are being held onto as tightly as possible by the folks that are left behind. Samoan is the first language and English is a very close second. The US dollar is the currency of trade, so the bonds with the US are strong.  

          Interestingly, we could not have purchased property on the island, even if we wanted to. Only native Samoans may own land and that is mostly passed on from generation to generation. The entire county is divided up into Villages, each with its own Chief. There is no need for any crime prevention as there really isn’t any.  They just won’t stand for it, everyone knows everybody else, and the family humiliation is enough of a deterrent to keep people from having a life of crime. There is a curfew every night and at about 6:30 pm until 6:45 or so, the entire island stops and gives thanks to God for all of their Blessings. It is asked that if you are on-island at that time that you respect this custom of theirs. The only caveat to this wonderful tradition is that you need not stop driving at that time.

Every Village has a gathering place for their meetings and social events.

 Maybe the world could take a few lessons from these delightful people!

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Random Pic’s from the Last Few Days

Once again, I heard little screams coming from the photos that did not make the initial “cut” for inclusion in one of the Posts. In order not to have them all rebel and threaten to send my computer into the “Blue Screen of Death” mode, here they are for your viewing pleasure. Do not be surprised if when you opened this post you heard little cheers erupting from your speakers. They are very proud of themselves now. They would appreciate a small round of applause when their show is over.

This is the meal that we were served on our Idyllic Island. Please note the logoed plates, we were soooo impressed with this outfit!
Out in front of the Horizon Court eatery there are these sinks, installed post-covid. It is a nice touch, and most folks seem to use them before entering.
Our ‘Suitable for Framing’ Certificates. King Neptune NEVER signs…… he would ruin them as he is wet and squishy.
We sent a note to Daniele, the head of the Dining Room about the Hostess, Nancy. She greets everyone and organizes their seating for the evening. In it we basically said that if the Chatterbox were still around, we would steal her from Princess and hire her! We are also sending copious notes on anything that we can think of just to get these little morsels in return!
Down inside the Caldera from the other day. You can see the rim of the crater reaching across the photo, way in the background. Also, note the waterfall, just to the left of the Big Trees.
This is part of the road that we were on in the Crater. We needed to cross this river…. note the Yellow and Red painted areas on the concrete. If the water level is one of those areas, you should probably heed their warning. PS….. this was the smoothest part of the road on this journey!
I forget if I have used this one before but how bad can it be seeing a Sunset and Tropical Islands once again! Tahiti on the left, Moorea in the distance 🙂
This was one of the head guys on the Island. The other one is his friend, Sting, who retired from a singing career and is now in Tahiti.
This is one of those ‘Huts over the Water’ places, but it did not make it through Covid. It is for sale, approximately $20,000,000 USD. But I am sure that they are willing to deal at this point. Hmmm….. The Chatterbox Resort?

We studied the laminated placards that were available at the Island for identifying the various species of critters that inhabit these waters. Some nice photos with identifying descriptions are found below.

Yellow Fish with Black Stripe
Purpley Coral
An Almost Black Fish
There were several Wind Surfers out tearing up the bay. This guy was trying desperately to make his way over to our boat.
“Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?”

We hope that you enjoyed the Show!

Tomorrow, we arrive in Samoa!

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Moorea, Island of Miracles (Ours)

We had a nice conversation with James Michener on the beach.

We are canceling all refund requests!

                             “Hey Don! Why would you do that?”

                   Because yesterday in Moorea made up for the previous day in Tahiti by about 4.6 million times!

                   After crawling back to our stateroom after the 4×4 Waterfall and Bone Crunching Excursion, we wisely rethought the next day’s outing on Moorea. It was scheduled to be another “4-Wheeled Expedition into the Wilds of Moorea.” It may have been ok, but who wants to take that chance!

                   Down to the nice folks at the Excursion Desk where I began, “Bless me Father for I have made a mistake….. and I’d like to cancel an Excursion after your Cancel Deadline has passed and sign up for something different….. anything but the 4×4 Torture Ride!”

                   The kind Excursion Person took pity on me as I was smart enough to first  go down to Sick Bay and borrow a ton of Ace Bandages.

Looking something akin to the Mummy, I poured my heart out to them explaining the Dilemma. After they granted our wishes, I appeared to have a Miraculous Recovery and I thanked them for their life-saving work. 😊

                   We were now booked on a Boat Ride (!) to an island for snorkeling, lunch, and some other South Sea Island Sun-Related traditional activities…. Yay!

                   Now this is what we wanted! It had been sold out before, hence the possible 4×4 debacle. Passengers change their minds all the time, so availability changes constantly…..luckily for us!

The Island Princess anchored in a cove in Moorea.

This was a Tender Port. It has nothing to do with the quality of the steaks that we had for dinner. In this case, the ‘Tender’ was one of our Lifeboats (four of them actually) that transferred us from our anchorage out in the bay, to the pier on land which was not large enough for a Cruise Ship. This is a rather lengthy process as only 150 peeps can fit in one of these boats, and even though there were four of them, they can only be loaded one at a time. But the Staff is well versed in this process, and it went smoothly. This also illustrates why some Tender Ports get cancelled because of rough seas upon arriving in said Port. Yesterday was relatively calm, but there was still enough movement in the water to make getting on and off the Tender somewhat tricky. There are obviously several crewmates stationed to help you out….. and this is not the time to be macho and try it yourself. If you fall between the two vessels (one that weighs 97,000 tons and the other about 20 tons) guess what happens to a 200+ pound idiot.

Yup! You are now something that can fit into a tuna can!

          Our ride out to the Island lasted about twenty minutes. We were kept entertained by the incredible staff of this organization. We learned Tahitian lore, words, and songs, some jokes, and other tid-bits that kept us laughing all the way.

The waters were just like the Travel Brochure! And we could see the Palm Trees swaying in the South Seas Breezes!

          Mission Accomplished!

Just what the Doctor ordered!

When we disembarked on this island, we found an entire complex devoted to exactly what the excursion described only about 1000 times better! There were picnic tables conveniently situated under those swaying palm trees, an entire outdoor kitchen facility, incredibly clean (especially for a random island) bathrooms and of course, the Coral Garden just waiting for Jacques Cousteau to arrive.

Part of the establishment for our comfort.
Very nice “outdoor” kitchen area.
The proud “Chefs” of the day!

 Well, that may be a slight exaggeration, as I’m sure that Jacques has seen some good stuff, but our enthusiasm could not be dampened!

Paula at “our” picnic table…. note the lousy location!
The view from “our” table.
It’s not easy taking a “selfie” without my glasses on. I think that’s Paula next to me.

          We immediately claimed one of the smaller picnic tables, (waterside of course) for our own, and proceeded to get our masks ready for discovery. They did not have any fins available and since we could stand up in most places, they were not necessary. Which in hindsight, may have been a blessing because the current coming through this strait (another island was directly across from ours) was quite swift. Walking hunched over was very effective and far less worrisome as being swept out to sea (even in these wonderful South Seas) was not desirable.

I’m sure that the Excursions Desk would have rightfully frowned upon a refund to our heirs!

View from above in the snorkeling area, the Coral Garden.
The view from below….
We found an Alien surrounded by its egg cases.
The elusive Littleious Blueiuos Fishieus

I would be remiss if your South Seas Knowledge Master Class was not added to, at least a little bit!

Moorea, pronounced MOE-oh-ray-uh, (because in Tahitian dialects, every letter of their alphabet is pronounced) is about twice as old as her neighbor Tahiti, which is only about twelve miles away. Remember those “Hot Spots” in the earth’s crust? Well, Moorea traveled over it way before Tahiti did and I guess Tahiti spent more time over it as Tahiti is more than three times the size of Moorea.

Paula in Paradise
While Paula was swimming, I met Steven Spielberg on the beach. He was talking to James Mitchner.
I can see clearly now…..

          Moorea is also thought to be the inspiration for the idyllic Bali Hai, the fictional island in South Pacific which was visible directly across from the Navy base in the story.

Any arguments? 🙂

It’s no wonder that Lieutenant Cable was so mesmerized by the sight of it!

We were too 😊

View from the Promenade Deck last night, next stop Pago Pago in Samoa!
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Tahiti

Papeete, capital of Tahiti, early morning arrival.

We owe all of you a refund.

                             You were booked on the Discover Tahiti’s Papenoo Valley, Countless Waterfalls, and Lush Interior by Four-Wheel Drive Excursion.

                             In fairness, the description of this Excursion was rated Strenuous, but hey, how ‘strenuous’ can it be, to be a passenger in a vehicle?

                   We will let you know as soon as we get out of Traction for our backs and other assorted bodily maladies.

Ominous signs. Can you tell we were in a volcano?

                   Who knew that they described this Excursion accurately? Usually, they over rate them so that no one can say that they weren’t warned. And besides….. there wasn’t any sun! I have yet to see a Travel Brochure of Tahiti that didn’t have Bright Blue Sunny Skies and palm trees swaying in the balmy South Pacific breezes.

                   “But Don, how do you think that these Islands get so lush and green? Osmosis? Photoshop? or just plain good ol’ Chamber of Commerce marketing?”

                   Yea…. but still!

                   We wanted the ‘Brochure Look’!

So, I have no photos of the aforementioned attributes of Tahiti for you to peruse through. What I do have is some pretty cool sights, albeit without the bright blue Tropical Skies, etc.  prominently featured.

Looks pretty good, right? Sunrise over Tahiti!
The Island of Moorea in the distance.

The day started promising. Some strategically placed clouds shrouding the peaks of the mountains with just enough mystery to make them noteworthy. The morning was rather sunny, until we started our journey up the coast to the Papenoo Valley that works its way into the interior of the major volcano that forms Tahiti.

“One Tree” Hill, a landmark that Captain James Cook used for navigation when he was here. The bay is directly behind here.
We needed more of this! …. This was taken just after we started on our excursion, clouds to quickly follow!

Yes, these Islands follow a similar path that the Hawaiian Islands do. They travel over a “Hot Spot” in the Earth’s crust and in a few million years, and Poof! Out pops an Island!   

(Remember your ‘Plate Tectonics’ lesson from a few posts ago?) 😊      

                   Our driver, Hutu, was a full-blooded Tahitian with English as his third language after Tahitian, (a Polynesian dialect) French, (this is French Polynesia) and then English. He was very friendly and did his best to teach us about everything that we were seeing, especially all of the tropical plants, along with their myriads of uses that the Islanders have discovered over the centuries of living here. We made numerous stops along the road (?) that we were on. He would screech to a halt, jump out, and run into the bush, reappearing with some green thing that we were first quizzed on, and then told exactly what it was.

Hutu and his rusty, oops! I mean trusty chariot! His tattoos are Māori inspired. All of the Polynesian Islands from New Zealand to Easter Island and north to Hawaii, share similar customs and root words in their languages. In fact, they can all “understand” each other if they ever have the chance to speak to each other.

There will be no quiz on the flora of this Island as I did not pay that much attention…. they were vegetables.

          Oh……did I mention that it was the Rainy Season? All I can say is that it was a good thing that our Tahitian “Road-Warrior Beach Buggy” had a roof over the eight of us crammed into the back of it. It rained (poured?) several times as we whizzed over the potholes that cratered the access road. Interestingly, we did pass a few crews doing some weed-whacking work.

          Way out there.

          They were doing a wonderful job and it looked great!

          Back home we can’t get the major roads looking this good!

The waterfalls were impressive, it just would have been more impressive if they had been sparkling in some South Seas Sunlight!

The slightly brownish look to the water is from the fact that it is the rainy season, and the “dirty” runoff was significant after one of our downpours.
It is rather grand
Did I mention that were down inside of the crater (caldera) that is the center of the Island. High walls, tall waterfalls!
Ho hum…. another one
This is not ‘Ho-Hum’…. all those white ribbons are waterfalls coming down from the top of the crater walls! (Note clouds hovering around the top of the ‘rim’)

But, they weren’t. That’s not Hutu’s fault, nor is it the Tour Operator’s, so we all made the best of it by cracking appropriate jokes along the way as only four couples suffering in similar circumstances can. Here’s one of our issues….

                   Long, four+ hour trip.

                   Bumpy roads.

                   Average age of 65+

                   No bathrooms.

          Did I mention Bumpy Roads and Old Bladders?     

It’s a good thing I’m a guy with an expensive camera that went looking for “Photo Ops” down the road! I’m the only one that did not make a beeline for the bathroom upon our return!

After we arrived back at the ship, had lunch, and put our spines back together, we took a walk around town a bit. There are the usual markets and other places of business that you will find in a regular city. I say ‘regular’ because that’s just what it is. To many, many people this is just home. It’s where they work and play. Yes, these cities are tourist destinations, but to really get a feel for anywhere you need to get into the countryside. But it felt good to just walk upright and not be bouncing around!

The Cathedral de Papeete Notre-Dame de L ‘Immaculée Conception
Built over a twenty-year period ending in 1875, it is actually owned by the Government.
One of the “Stations of the Cross” by a local artist. They were painted during one of several renovations over the years.
View off of the side of the ship, downtown Papeete. You can see the Church, center left.

          So, that was our day yesterday. Today we travel the twelve or so miles across the sea to Moorea, the sister Island to Tahiti. The weather looks a tad more promising, and we exchanged our excursion from another Four-Wheel Escapade for a nice, relaxing, lunch outing on a boat destined for a hopefully bright and sunny beach with little colorful fishies nibbling at our toes.    

Sunset last night….. a nice “Cap Cloud’ over the summit of Moorea-Maiao, the tall peak on the neighboring Island of Moorea, our destination for today. Maybe it’s a good omen!

          As usual, you will be the first to know.

And you can contact the fine folks at the Chatterbox Travel Agency for your refunds.

 Just call 1-800-FAT-CHANCE.                             

Sunset, Papeete Harbor, and Moorea in the distance.