More Days at Sea

 Today was a big day – we crossed the international dateline and lost January 29.  We are about 650 miles from the northern tip of New Zealand as of this reporting. This is day four out of five sea days, and I really cannot complain about the condition of the water as we have been very lucky.  The captain announced yesterday that today would be very bumpy and so far it has been pretty darn good.

So what do we do all day at sea? Michael does Bridge morning and afternoon and I do knitting morning and Bridge afternoon. After that we eat and sometimes we go to a show in the evening and sometimes we’re just too tired after all day being around people and being “on.”  We have never attended a lecture, and we don’t watch them on TV either. Live TV service is spotty depending on where we are. Internet can also be spotty depending on where we are.  At 6pm we go down to what is called the living room and have a cocktail and meet with some folks.  Some evenings we have dinner in the restaurant with some folks, and other evenings we just go to the World Café by ourselves for a quick meal.  Our days are full and tiring.

Local entertainment from Tahiti 

There are special events during sea days, such as the boat races. Teams make boats and compete to see whose boat can stay afloat in the pool for the longest time before sinking.  It’s a lot of fun, and the contestants dress up like pirates and sailors.

Today was a special brunch and celebration of crossing the international dateline. If you are on a diet, this is not the place for you to be.  The entire pool deck becomes one big culinary extravaganza.  

There are also special group meetings for different nationalities or different occupations. Viking is planning a reunion for all of us that were on the doomed magical mystery cruise from 2020 so we are really looking forward to that. 

Tahiti

I stayed in bed most of the morning. I’m fighting a cold.  Michael went snorkeling in the afternoon and had a great time. Saw lots of fish and the water was warm.  

Moorea

Yes, I managed to haul myself out of bed and meet in the Star Theatre by 7:45 AM. Our cabin is in the rear, but the meeting is in the bow and the exit is near the stern. I got my steps in!  After a short tender ride to shore we arrived only to find out that our boat was not there.  So we had to wait until 8:45 for the boat to show up. There was a market on the pier selling souvenirs. But at that hour in the morning I am certainly not interested in shopping.

Here is the description of my tour: “relax on the shores of one of Moorea’s coral islets, and take a dip in the turquoise waters among the stingrays. Climb onboard your motorized vessel and set sail across the lagoon, following in the footsteps of 18 century explorers who first discovered these lands. During your cruise, admire the scenery as your captain tells stories of local legends. Your guide will attract schools of stingrays with morsels of fish to feed on. As you marvel at these gentle, graceful creatures, you’re welcome to reach out and touch them.  Your captain will then moor at a sandy island where you step off your boat into crystal clear water. As your crew prepares a delicious buffet style lunch, enjoy a swim or don your snorkel and mask to explore local marine life. Then sit down to a tasty lunch, accompanied by soft island, music in a coconut demonstration.” Most of it didn’t happen!

The weather has been rather cool and rainy, and where we were supposed to snorkel the current was way too strong, so we did not do any snorkeling. As far as stepping off your boat into crystal clear water, yours truly made a three-point landing, right into the surf.  The two guides on board were trying to hold the ship steady so we could climb off, and just as I was getting off, the boat went one way and the person holding onto me pulled me the other way and I went SPLAT right into the water. I was told it was very graceful. I was not hurt, only my pride was.  As far as soft island music is concerned, no. The instruments they use are very high-pitched small guitar like instruments that they play extremely fast and they sing in local dialect.  Regaling us with stories during the voyage, no. Our guides were young and could barely speak English, but they were nice.  There was a demonstration on how to make cerviche and how to open a coconut.  Next time I’m stranded on a deserted island, I now have survival skills!

So here we are on this island, and the heavens decided to burst open and pour down upon us. Fortunately, there was a tent set up for just this purpose. With the weather being so poor, we milled  around, looking for something to do. Lunch wasn’t for another hour and a half.  I was hoping that there would be a lovely white sand beach that one could lay upon and gaze up at the sky and just exist.  No beach.  Oh well, I must read the excursion descriptions better. After lunch, which wasn’t all that great, we did go into the water and saw two black tipped sand  sharks floating around.  Then back to the pier for the tender ride back to the ship. And take another shower. 

Local musicians in the background

No beach 😩

The tent where we took shelter from the rain

Making cerviche

Watching two sharks swimming around

As an aside, the water on the ship is very drying to one’s hair. I have had my hair washed four times in two days. We will not talk about the haircut that I got the other day. Suffice to say I will probably not have to have a haircut for three months.

Interesting to note that there are only primary schools on the island. Past six grade, students must attend school on the island of Tahiti. Students get up at 3 in order to catch a bus at 4 in order to be at the ferry terminal at 5 to take an hour ride over to Tahiti. They then must catch a bus to the high school to be there for 7 am classes. They arrive home by 7 in the evening. And our pampered kids complain about having to get up early?

Michael went on what he hoped to be an interesting excursion. It was called Aito off– Road safari.  It was advertised as an invigorating drive through Moorea’s deep valleys and Mountain Passes. Off-road was a good title since about 95% of it was on rocks, dirt, water, and anything other than roads. Interestingly, it turned out to be mostly an agricultural and wildlife tour.  It began with a visit to a vanilla farm. Vanilla only comes from two places in the world – Madagascar and here, so this was quite interesting. 

Vanilla plant 

They next went to visit the gigantic freshwater eels that live in one of the local streams. These guys are bigger than pythons, but relatively harmless.  I think the locals eat them. Next was a drive through the tropical forest of Moorea. Here they got to see papayas and mamayas, grapefruits, bananas, and other sundry fruits and vegetables. They arrived at the very center of Moorea, in fact, the caldera of the volcano that created the island. Here, they saw 900 acres of Pineapple growing. 

The next stop was 1000 feet up one of the local mountains, to a viewing area called Belvedere. Some spectacular views could be had from up here.  The last stop was a visit to the oldest Moorean temple left on the island. It was something like 1800 years old and you could still see where the king’s tomb was, and where the human sacrifices were conducted. They next headed to a place to experience the local pineapple and rum drink, but by the time they got there, it was closed, so it was back to the ship.

Bora Bora

 Our last evening at Sea was very special. We had a surf and turf meal served under the stars on the pool deck with candles and tablecloths. It was accompanied by musicians and singers from the Viking Neptune. The weather was perfect! Very elegant.

Covering a total land area of 4167 km² (1609 mi.²) and spread over vast area about the size of Europe, the widely scattered 118 islands and eight tolls of French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of France, and is divided into five island groups: the Austral, Gambier, Marquesas, Society, and Tuamotu archipelagos. 

Scattered over 965,255 mi.² (2,000,500 km²) of ocean, most of the islands of French Polynesia are volcanic in origin and fringed by coral reefs. Of these islands, the society archipelago is certainly the most famous. It includes the stunning islands of Bora Bora, Moorea, and Tahiti, and might be enchanting Marquesas most are lush, dark green specks of land, volcanic with jagged edge peaks jutting boldly into the sky. 

After five days at sea,we arrived in Bora Bora. The first time we went to Bora Bora we thought it was boring boring. There is only one public beach that you can go to that is not privately owned. Unfortunately, we were too late to get off the ship to make the drive to the beach, so instead, we took the included tour which we have done before. Michael was anxious to feel terra firma under his feet so we got off the ship way too early before our excursion. It was hot and humid, and we had visited this town before and there’s nothing here except pearl shops; Tahiti is famous for their black pearls. So we sat and waiting for our excursion to start at 5 PM. It was a pleasant boat ride around the lagoon and we saw stingrays and I even managed to capture a picture of a sand shark and then we went back. Our guides serenaded us with pop music and a group sing-a-long.

After a much needed shower, we both crashed because I had a 7:45 am call to escort the next day. Next time I will request the later excursion although it won’t do any good!

Day 5 at Sea

Some folks have wondered why I haven’t posted a new blog entry. Some folks were wondering if we were coming home to deal with the damage to our home.  Today is the fifth of 5 sea days before we reach Bora Bora.  There’s not much to talk about on sea days. 

Let me say that I had thoughts about coming home from LA and from Honolulu, but I dismissed them for several reasons. First reason is that we have no home to come home to and there’s absolutely nothing we can do. Touchmark is taking care of everything and hopefully when we return home, we will have a new house. 

Second, I am experiencing increasing pain, and if I was to go home, I would still have to wait several months to get an MRI. And if I was to go home, I have no home. So I’ve decided to stay on the ship. Yes, my days are a struggle but it’s better to keep going. Once I get moving, the pain gets better. I have my knitting classes in the morning and usually play bridge in the afternoon so that takes my mind off of things.  Plus, Michael has been a big help with me dealing with all this pain. The worst part is that I don’t sleep because of the pain. OK, enough of me being on the pity pot.

I really enjoy your notes from home. It’s important to stay connected to the people you care about so keep them coming, even if you have nothing to say.

So it’s not all doom and gloom. We had a crossing the equator party, where those who have never crossed the equator by sea have to go through a ritual from becoming pollywogs to shellbacks. You have to appease Neptune, king of the sea, by kissing the fish. It’s a real hokey ritual but it’s a lot of fun. People jump in the pool as punishment for all their sins. I didn’t get any pictures myself so I borrowed these.

There’s been some good entertainment. We’ve had a classical Spanish guitar player from Australia, and a very good singer from the West End.  I have chosen to skip the magician because I’ve seen him several times, and his act is not changed one bit.

I have an appointment today to have my hair cut on the ship. Keep your fingers crossed that they don’t screw it up too bad.

Well, that’s all the news that’s fit to print from the Viking Neptune. After 5 sea days, we finally land at Bora Bora. 

News from Home

Here we are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and there’s nothing we can do. We are totally helpless, and now we are homeless.  We are a victim of the cold weather. 

Our daughter, Deborah, took this video of the damage to the house. Sorry for the poor quality, I’m gonna have to teach her how to take a video, but she was so shocked by what she saw. We have no information about what was damaged. But we do know that the items have been removed and placed in storage. 

Honolulu

It was a busy day today. We didn’t do any of the tours because we had done them all before and no escort duty either. So we took the shuttle to Waikiki. I had a nail appointment at 10:30 but we arrived early and there was a Ross store right where the shuttle dropped us off.  So to kill time, I managed to buy two aloha tops and Michael bought a holder for all the new pencils he bought for bridge. 

I’ve had my nails done all over the world, but this one stands out as rather funky. It was a one person shop that seemed to also be a massage shop that sold Japanese trinkets. They say one picture is worth 1000 words so that is how I’m going to describe my adventure at the nail salon. But what made it really special was that I got a neck massage while I’m getting my pedicure. I decided that I was going to pamper myself today.

It was time for lunch.  Michael had plenty of time to explore the area and found a food court that was nothing but Asian noodle shops.  It was quite weird. They all sold different variations of the same thing. Next we were off to the Ben Franklin craft store via Uber. There are no Michaels or Joann stores in Honolulu. The Ben Franklin store is a throwback to another era. I got permission from the cruise director to buy $240 worth of knitting supplies for my class and I spent $238!

We Ubered back to the ship just in time to drop our stuff off and get ready for the luau. We had to walk through a very ugly terminal to get back to the ship.  I am now using my walking poles when I have to walk significant distances.  The pain continues down my right leg and when I get back I’m going to have an MRI to find out why I’m having so much pain. But you all know me, I’m a trooper and onward I go. So anyway, I put on my aloha dress and back we go to catch the bus to the luau with 150 other people from our ship. We left at 4 pm for a luau that’s supposed to start at 6 PM. It took an hour and 10 minutes to get to the west side of the island.  The traffic here is horrible.

When we arrived at Paradise Cove, the first thing we had to do was have our picture taken. In order to get the $20 “gift” card, the picture was mandatory. We had the deluxe package so the photos were included.  The $20 gift card was for alcoholic drinks or you could buy something at the “market,” another word for touristy junk. It was extremely windy that day, and we were just happy that we did not get rained on as the clouds had been threatening all day.  Remember, I said it was really windy. My hair looks like I had my finger stuck in a light sock.

We saw a glorious sunset, the pig being removed from its earthen oven and dancers.  I managed to spend my $20 on small cloth bags and Michael spent his on mai tais.  Dinner included several salads. The main dinner was so huge no one could eat it. We had a piece of fried chicken, and another piece of chicken, pork, fish, and a couple of vegetables, and a huge amount of white rice.  We were entertained while we were eating. 

We were so close to the stage that we could feel the heat from the fire eaters. I have several videos of the dancers and the fire dancers/eaters, but I cannot upload the videos because our Internet is so slow.

Day 2:  The ship was not due to depart until 2 PM. I had a slow start to the day. Michael took a walk to the clock tower and back and was disappointed that the clock tower was closed. All the shops there have been closed and is now classrooms for a university. This is where we used to dock. Here is a beautiful view of Diamond Head as we sailed away and headed toward Tahiti.  We have another stretch of 5 sea days before we see land again.

Land Ho

Today, completes our fifth day at sea and people are ready for some shore leave. We arrive in Honolulu around midnight, but don’t get cleared by authorities until 9 AM. There will be a shuttle bus to take us into town where I am going to get a my nails done and a pedicure.  Michael is going to do some shopping for things that we forgot. In addition, I am going to be shopping for some knitting supplies for the ship. 

Well, today is a bittersweet day for me as I lost my temporary bridge partner, Terry. We matched him up with another player and they’ve agreed to play as a partnership for the rest of the cruise. I am happy for him, but I am sad for me, as we played so well together. So today I had to play with a lady who is limited in her skills, but somehow we managed to pull off something spectacular – – an 80% game! I have to admit that I was really on fire. Sorry for bragging a little bit.

The seas have finally calm down.  My knitting group is doing very well; I have a lot of the beginners working on their first shawl project.  They are very excited and very eager to learn. So basically, all I do is my knitting program in the morning, have lunch, do Bridge, have cocktail/dinner and usually go to bed. Sounds exciting doesn’t it?

Now to add the one bit of news that no one wants to hear: somehow we had a frozen pipe that burst in our house. We have absolutely no information about how bad it is, where it is, what happened etc.  I saw motion on the ring doorbell and saw people walking in and out of the house with equipment. By the time we saw this, we called the main office, and all the people who knew about it were already gone for the day. So the receptionist confirmed that there was a leak, and that’s all she could tell us.  I did find out from my neighbor that some of our furniture was moved to the house next-door, which is unoccupied. There’s no use worrying because there’s nothing we can do about it. So hopefully we will be contacted by the people who know what happened in the morning.

Sea Day 3

There usually isn’t much to write about days at sea but today I thought would describe what it’s like when the seas are rough.  You veteran cruisers will take a walk down memory lane with this description. For those that have never cruised, I hope you will enjoy the description of what it’s like to function when the boat is rocking and rolling.  Remember, when I said the captain is diverting around a storm to give us a better ride? Well, if this ride is better, I hate to think what the alternative would’ve been. 

I get out of bed and the first thing I do is try to stand up without falling over. And then I hold onto whatever I can find in order to get to the bathroom. Nature is calling and you must heed the call. Remember, we have a standard veranda state room, which means there isn’t a whole lot of room to maneuver. We have 270 ft.² so that doesn’t leave us a lot of room to do much of anything since the bed takes up most of the room.  There is a step up into the bathroom and so you have to grab onto the sink to make sure you don’t slam into the shower and then you can plop your butt down on the seat after you lift the lid. And there you sit and do your business holding on to whatever is nearby.

Now it’s time to take a shower. So I stand there debating how much I really need a shower versus how much I really don’t want to take a shower. Well, today needing a shower won. After stripping off bed clothes, you now go into the shower, turn the water on and proceed to hold on with one hand. I have learned the delicate art of washing your hair with one hand. And please do not even think about washing the bottom of your feet. After getting knocked around a bit and a good rinse it is time to get out of the shower and dry off. Here again, you will have to sit down in order to dry the bottom of your feet because standing up – – not gonna work. 

Now it’s time to get dressed, and you absolutely must sit down on the bed while you do that. Putting on make up, combing hair, drying hair, you can blessedly sit down and do all that.  Now I gather all my gear for teaching and my bag is very heavy so I find it easiest to sling it over my shoulder and take most of the weight on my back. I leave my cabin and pull the door closed so that it shuts because depending on which way the boat is leaning your door will never close. 

Real fun begins as I walk down the hallway, staggering under the weight of my bag to the swells rocking the boat. I look like a complete drunk. Yes, there are handrails all along the corridor and it’s a good idea to use them.  The rest of the day sees you weaving and bobbing trying to avoid other people and things, and just being able to stay on your feet. 

This is a picture of some of my crafters. Nothing stops intrepid cruisers from their appointed rounds.   

Day 2 at sea

Amazing what a difference a day makes. After leaving Santa Barbara we had a lumpy night and the following day things calmed down and here we are just cruising the Pacific Ocean around 19 knots on our way to Hawaii. The captain announced that we were going to be skirting a storm, so we have diverted to a Southerly route instead of going west. But we should arrive in Hawaii on schedule. He wants to give us the best ride possible. 👍

We had over 460 passengers joining the ship in Los Angeles. Michael had an unbelievable 74 people show up for beginning bridge; that was 19 tables!  They scrambled to get the room set up for that many people. We’ve never had that kind of attendance. We had nine tables for the intermediate lessons – – we only had three tables for the duplicate game! Go figure?! 😳

Since we had such a small game yesterday, both Michael and I got to play. He even got master points. Terry and I just missed scoring because we had a misunderstanding on one hand. For you bridge players, we play cappelletti over 1NT and he forgot and left me in a two club contract and I only had one club. I had 7 hearts!  Oh well, Terry redeemed himself when I opened 2NT and he went right to 7NT. I got to play it and that was fun.

I have had about 30 people in my craft class and quite a few new knitters, most of which don’t have any supplies. That is a little problem that we are hoping to rectify when we get to Honolulu. In the meantime, I’m very busy teaching.

Not only am I teaching, knitting, and bridge, I also did some iPhone instruction to a couple who had new iPhones, but had no understanding of how to use them.

The bridge game today was much better, there were five tables. I was getting ready to play with Terry when a woman walked in five minutes late. And I had to relinquish my seat and let her play. Neither one of us was happy about that. But that’s what we have to do. So I am up on deck seven watching the world go by and knitting. 

Santa Barbara, California

It was a very short distance from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. There is no marina or port big enough for our ship so we anchored out and had to tender to shore. The weather was clear skies and crisp temperatures – – but boy was the wind blowing today.  I finally have a good hair day, and it blows like stink. Speaking of hair, the water on the ship is very harsh and at the end of this cruise, my hair will probably look like straw even though I put conditioner on it. I sure miss my Vancouver water. 

We took the panoramic tour of the city, and the Spanish colonial architecture was absolutely beautiful. The last time we had been to Santa Barbara must’ve been about 40 years ago when we went to a company weekend. I even remember the dress I wore that weekend – – a long, black, cotton peasant dress, which I think was pretty fancy in those days. 

So obviously, I don’t have much memory of the city. The tour was not very inclusive, but we did go to the Santa Barbara mission, often called the queen of the missions, which was built in 1786 by father Junipero Serra. I learned about the missions in grade school that were built along the California coast.  There were 21 of them; I have visited four: San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, San Fernando, and now Santa Barbara.

Here is a short history of the area: the Chumash tribe was conquered by the Spanish, who were then conquered by the Mexicans. It was an agricultural area during the gold rush.  So people found it a beautiful place with wonderful weather and wealthy people started to move there. And there you have it.

After our tour of the mission we were taken to Santa Barbara City Hall.  And then we had to return to get the last tinder back to the ship so our tour was cut short because we started late.

At 5 PM we had an enrichment meeting and then later after dinner we had to go on stage one last time to say who we are and what we did. I do not like doing this. But people were blessedly short in their descriptions as demanded by the cruise Director. It was real fun standing on the stage as the seas were rocking and rolling. No one fell over but people like us who are not used to standing on stage had to work at staying upright. 

Tonight we gain another hour. We have five straight sea days ahead of us before we reach Honolulu. As I am writing this around 10 PM, we are rocking and rolling, but it’s  not too bad. This is our first real bumpy water since we’ve been on the ship.

Los Angeles

Yesterday was a sea day. The highlight of the day was the bridge club championship. My partner, Terry, and I came in second. Not bad as we were playing against a world class player.  I’ve never gotten so many master points on a ship as I have these past two weeks — almost 5 points.  👏👏👏

We met all the other enrichment people for dinner. It was rather noisy, and we were the only Americans and the only one staying on for the whole cruise.

Today we arrived in San Pedro harbor. During the night we had to lay at anchor while the bottom of the ship was inspected for any living organisms. This is a new thing that they’re doing to make sure that no foreign matter is brought into the United States. 

We had to go through immigration and customs at 9am this morning. Everyone, including the crew, has to go through this inspection, and no one can go back onto the ship until everyone has been processed. We did not even have to show our passports. They take our picture and then ask us our full name and if it agrees, then we just go on, I guess passports are going to become passé at some point as facial recognition is taking over. 

We then took a bus ride to Santa Monica. It started off rather cold at about 42° and the sun warmed up to about 60°. Overall, it was a very pleasant and beautiful day.  Michael and Terry took off for the nearest Walgreens where we had a prescription to pick up, and Terry‘s wife and I took a stroll down the Santa Monica pier.  This is a spot where the famous Route 66 ends. I have many fond memories of Santa Monica, walking the beach with my cousins and going to POP, Pacific Ocean Park, where there was an amusement park, and some of the attractions are still there. When the fellows arrived back from their errand, we had a nice lunch at Bubba Gumps.  It was then time to head back to the shuttle for a drive through the LA freeway traffic back to the ship.

Tonight was a welcome celebration with the chairman of the board of Viking, Torsten Hagen.  I even had my picture taken with him. Today was turn around day where half the ship’s passengers got off and the new group got on.  A lot of new faces to learn as well as some old ones that we’ve seen on previous cruises.