Captain Cook Slept Here

I gotta tell you, Captain James Cook got around. Regular readers of this blog may remember we visited his cottage in Melbourne, Australia a couple of years back. Seems he stopped in Australia for a several months long visit that extended itself several times (or at least long enough to rent the cottage and settle in for a while). He did this after 'discovering' Tahiti, which of course, he did not actually discover, but he was one of the first Europeans to extensively visit.

It seems the British Royal Society of Astronomy gave him a commission to record the transit of Venus across the sun. And the Society thought the best place to observe this was down in the South Pacific ocean. So off went the Captain and his crew a few months ahead of this event and when they got to the general area, here was this bunch of islands with lovely coral reefs and even lovelier native women. So Cook called the islands the Society Islands after the Royal Society which gave him the commission; which was what they had to settle for because after two months frolicking in Tahiti, the sailors pretty much forgot about recording the transit of Venus.

Eventually, Captain Cook got back on the ship and headed off to explore New Zealand, which was another goal of his long adventure. He ended up zigzagging his way around the world, stopping here and there to set up house before moving on, eventually winding up back in Britain. A few years later, he sailed back to the South Pacific, this time ending up in Hawaii, from where he decided never to return to Britain.

There are eight islands in the Tahitian Island chain; Bora Bora, Tahaa, Raiatea, Huahine, Moorea, Tahiti, Maiao and Iti. On this trip we have visited three, Bora Bora, Tahiti and Moorea. It has been beautiful, hot, tropical, sunny, muggy, rainy and spectacular. We have all agreed our best tours have been here in Tahiti, swimming with sharks, whales and rays and four wheel riding to the summits of some of the volcanic peaks. Tonight we depart the South Pacific and head back towards Los Angeles, but at the leisurely pace of eight days travel.

Here is a parting shot of the view from our cabin today:

I probably won't post much more over these coming days...unless something of interest happens.

Lemon Sharks and Rays and Tropical Fish, Oh My!

Today we took a small outrigger boat around the island of Bora Bora, stopping outside the reef to snorkel with sharks (and colorful fish), then on to two more wading and snorkeling spots (more black tipped sharks and fish of every hue and a dozen or so pettable sting rays). All the sea life is very docile, accustomed to human interaction and pretty much ignored us while swimming by. The water was fifteen different shades of aqua, crystal clear and gorgeous.

Then we headed to a private motu--island made of coral--where we had a Tahitian version of a luau. Roasted pork in a pit, grilled mahi mahi and tuna, bananas, pineapple, taro, plantains and local ceviche made with carrots and coconut milk. Also beer, wine and champagne. And our host, Patrick even did a fire dance. Wearing just a loincloth. As Susan said, "He can put his moccasins under my bed any day".

After that, it was time to return to the other side of the island and to our ship, but it was a fantastic 5 hour adventure in Bora Bora.

I don't have pictures from the day...but there are some in the waterproof camera to be added later. As a semi-substitute, this is the view of Bora Bora from our balcony.

Traveling East

Today finds us heading east and in more ways than one. Literally we are sailing east from American Samoa to the Society Islands of French Polynesia. And figuratively, we are travelling eastward in that every morning Tom and the guys do a Tai Chi lesson on deck, while I have been receiving acupuncture treatments on the sea day afternoons to deal with my knee arthritis and food cravings. Both are working. (I know! Who would have thought?? Me, the tradional western pharmaceutical chemist. And on a cruise ship even???)

It's a bit serendipitous how we got to this point, but suffice to say that for me, walking on the deck of a moving ship compresses arthritic knees every time the waves move up or down and it was painful to walk even a short distance. I was gobbling the Tylenol which isn't much good for my liver, plus I was stuffing pillows under my knees for relief at night and I was waking up every few hours from the ache.

Then Tom saw the ad for the 'arthritis pain clinic' in the daily ship activity paper, held at the onboard spa. Yeah, right. Why would anyone go to an acupuncturist on a ship? I was thinking exactly what all of you are probably thinking right now....trust me. Even if it has been used in China for thousands of years, it was for other folks, not me. But then Tom said...why not just go listen to what they have to say, it cannot hurt and certainly won't hurt any more than you do already. So I did. And then, I went ahead and signed up for the free 15 minute consultation because, well, it was free. And then what the heck, let's just try a single treatment and see what it does...even if it was a bust it would be an adventure, right? So I did that, too.

And dammit, it helped. It wasn't a bust. I still have arthritis, but I can walk better (faster, full stride and with noticably less pain) today than I could a week ago, and go up and down stairs, which I could not do two weeks ago without hobbling and taking each riser with both feet at a time. And as an added bonus, my hormonal balance is also being turned right side up-all from a quick tongue diagnosis. But I have not had food cravings for five days now...and prior to that it has been maybe 35 years since I have felt satiety or pleasantly full and not really hungry. Seriously, I have had half the meals I usually eat and no desire for midnight or between meal snacks. I wasn't even expecting that, but I'll take it. So I go for treatment number four this afternoon. Tom's coming along because he wants to see the needles and is curious how I can get 20-25 little needles placed from my head to my toes and then relax for an hour, somtimes even drifting off to sleep. I have six more tretments for the full course, which is how acupuncture works in China (10 days or every other day) vs. the US method of once a week. Both achieve similar results, but you get there faster and know if it works sooner, with the Chinese style course, which does lend itself to the captive audience of a cruise ship itinerary. And I even was able to verify that with some clinical studies I was able to research on the internet.

So there you go. Just when you think I have settled into a boring routine, I go and pull a fast one on you. ☺️

Pago Pago, American Samoa

Today finds us in the tropical (82 degrees, 82% humidity) port of Pago Pago, pronounced 'pahngo pahngo'. The island itself has been inhabited by Polynesians since about 1800 BC, but the first Europeans didn't find it until 1722. The US Navy first anchored here in 1839, and it became a US Territory in 1900. There are four islands that make up American Samoa, with this one, Tutuila, the largest.

Traditions are strong here. Women do not wear shorts. Samoan men wear a cloth wrap skirt, called a lava lava. The traditional Samoan tattoos are a sort of personal history of accomplishments. The bigger your story, the older you are, the more tattoo you are allowed. Tom was thinking of one, but when he found out only Samoans can have the traditional designs, he bought a tee shirt instead.

Each family unit has a leader called a Matai, who can be either male or female. The Matai makes all the decisions for the family members; who you can marry, when you should marry, when to have children, what to name your children, what job you should do, whether you can attend the university. And for Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul fans, nope, there is no University of American Samoa, LOL.

The town of Pago Pago has about 11,000 residents and since the ship is about 3,000 passengers, we sort of inundate this village when we arrive. But the people are very friendly and welcoming. The big sport here is not wrestling, it is something called pigeon catching. We're not exactly sure how this works, but it sounds unusual.

Across from the ship...that's the tee shirt shop under the white tent.

And this is 'downtown' Pago Pago.

Crossing the Equator

Yesterday we went from pollywogs to shellbacks, amidst great hoopla and silly ceremonies out at the pool deck. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, blue sky above, blue water below. We were able to take a photo of our friend Greg along for the ride; he had always wanted to cross the equator on the open deck of a ship....but passed away before he couod do so. Greg died on Oct. 11, his 56th birthday, and he crossed the equator with us on Oct. 20, the same day as his funeral back home in Albuquerque.

The Most Ridiculous Character I Met All Day

That's the name of my new dinner hour entertainment. We all go around the table and describe the most idiotic or ridiculous person we have encountered on board that day. Now, to be fair, there are some lovely, kind, funny people onboard. But it seems there are far too many cranky, rude, entitled and pushy assholes, too. Yes, I said that. I was being polite. We're starting to fight back, or at least make fun of them. Which is kind of brazen, but it sure gets a laugh from everyone else.

Well, first I have to explain the elevator set-up. There are three banks of elevators on the ship; forward, midship and aft. The midship elevators go from deck 17 down to deck 5. And the big piazza area is midship, on decks 5, 6, and 7. So folks are often wanting to get to deck 5 or 6 or 7 midships. Now the forward elevators will take you to the same decks (17-5) and you can walk to the middle and be where you want. The aft elevators, however, don't quite work that way. The only go down to deck 6 and that is only for the far aft dining room. There is no deck 5 back there that is open to the public (it's full of propellers and motors and shafts and other propulsion devices). The only way to get anywhere forward from the aft is to go to deck 7 and walk forward and then go down to 5 or 6. In the aft deck 5 doesn't exist, and deck 6 is only a dining room and kitchen. Got it?

Half the people on this ship still don't get it. We always know this when we enter the aft elevators from a high deck (usually the big buffet which is aft on deck 15) and someone asks for deck 5 to be pushed. The conversation today went like this:

Man next to me: '5 please'
Me: There is no 5.
Him: Well, 6 then.
Me: Are you sure? You cannot get there from here. You probably want 7.
Him: Where am I going?
Me: I dunno, but if its on deck 5 you cannot get there from here.
Him: WHERE am I going????
Me: (I resisted the urge to call out 'This man is lost, does anyone know where he is going?'....You would have been proud.)
Me: Well, 6 only gets you to the dining room....
Him: That's what I want. (Here his body language was pretty much going: 'Hmmmph! Impertinent woman!)

By now, several other people were trying to explain he didn't want THAT dining room, which was closed at the time, and we all figured he wanted the midship dining room which was about to have another $10 Only Can't Miss Blowout Sale for 3 Hours Only ! ! ! ! But he was the kind of guy that you cannot explain these things to. We all gave up, Jackie just rolled her eyes and then we landed at Deck 7, where everyone except the man and his wife got off. Later, I thought I should have told Jackie to 'Go on ahead, I'm gonna ride this one out' and just watched while the two got off on Deck 6, looked at the dead end and then got back on the elevator. But I could not have resisted the urge to say 'Told Ya So' which might have landed me a punch in the face.

Jackie and I walked forward to the midship stores, did a little shopping and then wandered down to the big Blowout Sale. Just as we entered the dining room we walked over to the posted menu for tonight, and who do we see but the man and his wife, blocking the menu, and trying to decide where to go next. Another woman had to sort of push them out of the way to see the menu, and I said, a little bit loudly, "Well, look here, let's see what's for dinner tonight". So the wife would have to notice Jackie and me....and then they decided to move aside and amble off to wherever it that these creatures dwell.

Other finalists for today's award:
-The man in the scooter in the middle of the Blowout Sale....which is a tightly packed event with everyone jammed in and going 'pardon me' 'excuse me' 'I'll switch places'....who was blowing the horn on his scooter as if he thought he was going to part the Red Sea. Really, and just where do expect anyone to move to before you run them over?
-The man who told a total stranger to Shut Up on the elevator, apparently because he did not want anyone talking. Her comeback was priceless, however; 'Well, sir. I see you obviously did not get lei'd in Hawaii.' I might steal that one. 😂

Trying to Add some pictures....

...wish me luck as I am still not on wifi.

And it did not work. Going ashore soon and will look for real wifi ( not cell) and try again.

Well, shoot. I’m on a real wifi network, and the app on my phone is acting up. And all the pictures, naturally, or on my iPhone. The app on my iPad is working just fine. But, of course, there are no pictures on the iPad. Now, theoretically I could transfer pictures from one to the other on the same Wi-Fi network using AirDrop. But that requires that both items are on the same Wi-Fi network at the same time and I’m on the beach in front of the courtyard Marriott, and my iPad is back on the ship. So, I will just have to email pics to Betty, and the rest of you can see them on Facebook.

Some Goblin is at Work Here

This morning, as we were just ready to leave our room for our tour about 7:15, the power went out all over the ship. Emergency lighting in the halls, one teeny LED light in the rooms, no elevators and....no kitchen! It was OK, we had already had breakfast. But it was a slow descent by stairs from the 10th floor to the fourth. Oh, for the days when I could pound those two steps at a time.

In any event, we got to our tour meeting, to the tender boat, and deposited on the dock in Lahaina leaving the power issue to the experts. And then, because there was a marathon this fine Sunday on Maui, we got to traipse across the highway to where they allowed cars to park this morning. The bus was nicely air-conditioned for which I was very grateful.

We had an all day tour up the side of Haleakala, which is the big (9700 ft) dormant volcano on the east side of the island. We went from 0 to 9700 in about two hours and 45 million hairpin turns in a 45' bus. I think Disney has a similar ride in either Toontown or Radiator Springs. Seriously, a couple of times I could look out the window and see at least five switchbacks below me. Very beautiful up there above the clouds, and chilly, too. I finally got to see the silversword plant, which I have been hearing about since I was a girl. They live up to their name better than I expected, which was a nice surprise. They are just beautiful, shining in the sunlight as if made of fine silver hairs.

We descended the same winding road, stopped for a nice Italian buffet lunch, and made our way back to the dock. Tom and Jim stayed in town to shop a little, while Susan and I jumped on a tender back to the ship. We hadn't been in the rooms more than a few minutes when....we lost power, again. This time it was out for about 30 minutes, and it has come back on while I was writing this blog entry. Interetingly, the stuff comes back on in parts. First was the outlets, then the A/C, then the lights, then the water, the vaccum system and finally, the drains have just finished gurgling.

I do have some pictures for this day, but again, the app does not allow me to update until I am on a wifi signal....which I may or may not find in the next couple of days....in the meantime, i will put a few on Facebook and will update the blog when I can.

Pearl Harbor

Today was a very sobering day, but one which I have wanted to do for many years now. Well we've been to Hawaii several times, we have never been to Honolulu together. We were able to obtain early tickets to the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor so that's where we spent the morning. I've got a few photos, but this app keeps crahing when I try to load them, so I will put a couple on Facebook.

We return to the ship for lunch, whereupon I decided to take a shower, put my feet up and rest for the afternoon. I was dripping all morning long and I'm sorry to say, I just don't have the stamina and the wherewithal that I used to. Tom, however, is out and about as I type this. He's going shopping, it will be interesting to see what he returns with.

A week....already?

Continuing with my every-now-and-then nature of this blog, I am back on this lazy afternoon at sea to fill you in on what we have been doing. (This isn't going to take long).

The weather has continued to improve on a daily basis. What started out as a cool and rocky Pacific has become the warm, humid and smooth Pacific, and for the last two days has turned the most beautiful shade of sapphire blue. We've partly cloudy skies today, which means bright blue sky interspersed with big puffy white clouds....very similar to our New Mexico skies. Folks are out on deck for the last two days, sunning in the loungers and watching the big screen and ocean.

We have attended quite a few of the enrichment lectures, not so many of the games/crafts/ukelele/hula lessons. I now can tell you that the big island of Hawaii is the youngest (and still growing) of the Hawaiian islands, all five of the islands are connected below the sea having been formed by the same Hot Spot underwater, and that the full chain of Hawaiian islands stretches northwest all the way to what we know as Midway due to the movement of the Pacific tectonic plate at something like 4" per year. A Hot Spot is basically an underwater volcano, which over a very long geologic time builds up and forms a new island. And yes, there is a new island 'only' 3,000 feet below the water, forming to the bottom of the big island. The name of this newest island about to burst forth escapes me. It is something like 5 letters long with at least one i, and probably a k,l,and/or n. But since the entire Hawaiian alphabet is only 12 letters long, and 5 of those are the vowels, just pick something sort of resembling the word Liki'i. or Kilei. or Iliki. Or google it, if you really want to know. Just don't hold your breath because we're still talking geologic time frames, here.

I do know that there are two types of lava flow, the first being a'a, which is sort of looks like little charcoal briquets tumbling over on each other. The second type looks like syrup, all liquid and gooey. Its name is much longer, but it will come as no surprise that I cannot remember it, nor can I remember a nui nui from akai akai or pono kui kui. One of those is probably the name of a bird or maybe a rainbow. In fact, despite a Hawaiian word of the day session every day, the only two words I have learned all week are 'pono' which sort of means the same thing as the Navajo 'walk in beauty' and 'makai', which is supposed to mean 'towards the water'. I am not going to embarass myself further and attempt to attend any of the Hawaiian language classes onboard, because I would only mangle things worse than I already have and instead of saying 'Pleased to meet you' it would come out closer to 'Your monkey is eating my taco'.

Tomorrow we arrive in Hilo and will be visiting Volcano National Park and seeing some lava flows. It sounds dangerous until you realize lava has been flowing out of Kilauea for 33 years, continuously. They have grown used to making permanent road detours, finding valleys filled in and building on top after it all cools off. It should be a fun day.

I Had Good Intentions

Let's all just face facts now, I am a terrible travel blogger. Here we are three days into the trip and this is my first post. Fortunately, you are not relying on me for food or medical care or anything of a survival nature. I would promise to try and be better for the rest of the trip, but I don't think I should lie to you right off the bat. So....we'll see what the future brings.

Here's a quick wrap-up of the past few days: We had uneventful flights to LA, a bit of a kerfuffle with transportation from LAX to the port, and a restful night's sleep at the port hotel. Uber was a huge fail at LAX, our fallback plan of a walk-up Super Shuttle was not available either and even if it had been, would have cost $70, so we took a taxi to San Pedro for $75 including tip.

Our hotel was a bit hit and miss. They upgraded us to a corner suite, but half the lights and one of the two telephones did not work. Had a large living area with uncomfortable, old sofas. Had a sliding door to a nice patio overlooking the pool, but the door was so hard to move on the track we gave up after two inches and just locked it. We've decided to change to the other port hotel for our next trip out of here, as our friends who booked there had a great experience.

The good news is that all of our traveling companions made it to the port, we boarded about the same time and connected up with each other, and we were correctly assigned together at the same table for dinner on the cruise. And the best part is that everyone enjoys each other and this is a great mix of people.

Today is our first full day at sea, with three more before we arrive in Hilo, Hawaii on Friday. The weather has been overcast since leaving LA, but the temperatures are in the low 70's. We have a slight sea swell, which is noticable and makes for some wobbly walking, but nobody seems to be having any real difficulty, and it did make for a really nice rocking cradle effect last night. Today has brought a full list of onboard activities ranging from volcano science lectures, journal arts and craft project, culinary show, three kinds of trivia, movies on deck, bowling in the lobby, wine tasting, shopping and other assorted keep-you-from-boredom events.

Tom is down at the military meet and greet as I type, and I am sitting on the balcony just enjoying the sounds of the ship cutting through the water and the ocean breeze. I could sit out here and do absolutely nothing but lull myself into a zen zone for hours. And I might just do that.