The Internet has been lousy (no surprise), so I am posting this now and will add photos later, possibly not until about March 4 in Sydney.
Papeete, Tahiti is beautiful. We toured much of the island, learning more about breadfruit, visiting a lighthouse designed by Robert Louis Stevenson’s father in 1866 and generally enjoying the island’s beauty. And, as is our normal custom in most ports, we visited a Catholic church, although Mass times did not fit with our ship’s schedule.
Rarotonga was a port where we anchored and had to take our tender boats to get to shore. We were very fortunate to get there. High seas often prevent cruise ships from unloading passengers, as was also the case for Port Stanley (Falkland Islands) and Easter Island. We were the 10th cruise ship to call on the Cook Islands so far this year and the very first to have weather such that we could send passengers ashore. We took a tour around the island and although the island was very pretty it reminded us much of the typical Caribbean island – very nice but nothing that would make us say “We need to come here again.”
Wednesday, February 26 was Ash Wednesday in most of the world. Those on our ship were probably the only people in the world for whom that day did not exist. Why? Because we crossed the International Dateline as our ship was just moving into Wednesday. Thus, because travelers crossing the line in a westerly direction skip a day, Ash Wednesday did not exist for us! Accordingly, our Catholic priest on board held our ashes service on what he called “Ash Thursday”, February 27.
Today (February 28) we spent the day in Tonga. We could see the king’s palace about 100 yards on shore, just across from where the ship was docked. Our tour took us to the palace, the royal cemetery, a wonderful local cultural presentation (dancing, making cloth from bark and coconut shells and preparing local food, including a non-alcoholic drink that has an effect similar to marijuana. (No, we didn’t try any!) Then we visited a coastal site that had at least 19 blowholes, where the crashing waves push water up through holes in the rocks to make spouts reminiscent of a small Old Faithful geyser. Lastly, we stopped next to some trees that had many, many bats (the flying kind, not the baseball kind!) hanging upside down from the tree limbs.
Recent Comments