RachelG

Mountain view

Tikis

The church

Nuku Hiva from the ship

February 1, 2024–Nuku Hiva We woke up early as the sun was streaming brightly through the crack in the curtains. It was a beautiful day, with hardly a cloud in the sky, and the wind had calmed to just a light breeze. We were approaching a steep rocky island with some vegetation, but not nearly as lush as Moorea on the side where we sailed in. There was a small harbor with a bunch of sailboats anchored and a town. We ate breakfast out on the back of La Veranda, vey peaceful. Our excursion for the day was a “Visit to Taipei Valley”, basically an island tour. We tendered over and we were separated into small groups of 4 or 8 to board local vehicles, mainly small pickup trucks, to tour around as a caravan. We first went to the Catholic Church which was constructed fairly recently and is beautiful, with lots of wood carvings. We walked over to a park where there are many tikis, statues, which are to represent ancestors. Our guide says in the old times, people used to worship them, but now they just hold them in reverence since most people are Christian. We then drove up and up on a very winding road through increasingly lush forest. We had to stop a couple of times for horses or cows in the middle of the road. We made it up the mountain to an elevation of 1900 ft above sea level. We had great views all around. Then we drove down to a small village where they had set up a display of all sorts of tropical fruits and local foods. Grapefruit, pineapple, star fruit, papaya, coconut, breadfruit chips, bananas. We were encouraged to sample. There were ladies selling local crafts as well. George bought a coconut, and the guy cut a hole in it and put in a straw so he could drink the juice. We drove on further to another pretty bay, then back up over the pass to the main town. I had researched and found a good place to eat lunch, so we went there—Moana Nui. Very rustic, but great food with freshly caught fish, good salad, and pizza. There was a friendly Tom cat who I sneaked some scraps to. We walked back to the ship, checking out the local grocery store which has a little of everything. We went to the open air fruit stand, and George bought another grapefruit. Back on board, we did much better at trivia today, coming in 2nd. The top tier event this cruise was a sailaway party held on the outer deck behind Galileo’s. Dinner in Compass Rose was mostly perfect. The only miss was some heavily over salted risotto. But I had some great coffee ice cream for dessert. The show was World Rhythms which was music and dance from all over the world. Very energetic. The Irish dancing and singing at the end was the highlight. George won money back at the casino. The captain has warned of rough seas, so I am off to bed.

January 31,2024– at sea We had another smooth night of sailing with just a slight rocking. We slept a little later. The clocks changed 30 minutes, except my Apple Watch, iPhone and iPad didn’t change. I have never gotten this 30 minute time zone thing. It just makes me confused, and I go around all day not sure if I have the correct time. It was a beautiful day, mostly sunny with a few puffy clouds. The humidity seemed lower than yesterday, but it may be just because we were moving. I went up to the walking track and got in my steps. It was very comfortable as the wind was blowing just enough to keep from getting too hot. Lots of others had the same idea. There was a big sale in the boutique, and I scored big time. Three tops for me and 3 shirts for George, all 80% off. It was pretty windy and overcast, but we still ate outside on the pool deck. They were having burgers featured today, but also there was some great guacamole and fresh avocados. George has given his seal of approval to the burgers. They really are much better than we have previously had on Regent. We spent the early afternoon playing cards In Galileo’s lounge. The skies got progressively darker, and the seas picked up some. The wind was really whipping up, and they closed the outside top decks where the walking track is. We did not do well at trivia today —missed 4 questions we should have known. Afterwards, our friend who fell in Moorea practiced going up and down the stairs in the theater to see if he would be able to go up and down the stairs to the tender. He did great. Tonight was the block party where everyone goes out in the hall with a wine glass, and the captain and CD come dashing through deck by deck. We hadn’t been to one since pre covid as they had stopped them for quite a while, but now they are back. We had dinner in Compass Rose. It was a mix of asian, Indian and European dishes on the menu with no discernible theme. It was all really good. Afterwards, we went to the magician’s show. I am not big on magician shows, but it is the one show George will attend on a ship. And our daughter-in-law got called up to be his assistant. He was pretty good. There was a rock the ship party up in Galileo’s lounge, and George won some money in the casino. I turned in because we have the earliest tour tomorrow.

George and I both loved Fakarava! I was kind of annoyed hearing some people complain about it. I thought it was wonderful!

View from the shore

Weather forecast

The churchch

Main Street Fakarava

January 30, 2024–Fakarava Gorge and I both slept like rocks thanks to sheer exhaustion from the excitement of yesterday and the gentle rocking of the ship. When we woke up, we were already at Fakarava, and the anchor was going down. Looking outside, we could see a totally flat, long and narrow atoll covered with palm trees. If a tsunami came here, there would be no place to escape. It was very overcast and humid, looking like rain at any minute. Tendering started at 9 am, and the heavens opened. It was pouring rain when we boarded the tender, and a little rough boarding. After a short ride, we were at the small dock. It was still raining, but not as hard, and the breeze was blowing, so it actually was pretty pleasant. There is one long paved road that goes from one end of the island to the other, and we were kind of in the middle, so we chose right. There was a guy renting bicycles, but we chose to walk. We set off, going past the gas station, city hall, the primary school, the church, several small shops and a grocery store. I bought bracelets made from shells for my office staff. They weren’t expensive and proceeds went to the church. My friend bought some water shoes, and my daughter-in-law bought a beautiful pareo for a really good price. There were some small beaches where you could swim, but we didn’t. For one thing, the water was very cloudy due to the storm stirring things up, so you wouldn’t have been able to see much snorkeling. The water was also pretty rough, and I don’t do swimming in rough water. Also there were warning signs about watching out for sharks. The locals did tell us that when the weather is good, the water is much calmer and really clear. We walked a long way, about 5 miles total. It stopped raining about half way through, but it was still overcast and breezy, a blessing. We went back to the ship and had lunch in La Veranda then played cards all afternoon. My friend’s husband couldn’t come ashore with us because of his knee, but he was able to play cards just fine. Tomorrow is a sea day, and we are hoping that by the day after that, he will be able to go with us. We came in 2nd in trivia, missing a couple of questions that we really should have gotten right. What is the eastern most state in the US? Dinner in Sette Mare was delicious as usual. One hilarious thing though. My friend ordered the tomato soup as her main course as she knew sh would be full after eating all the appetizers. They brought her this huge tureen of soup that would have fed my family of 4 easily. She couldn’t even make a dent in it. We were floating away in soup. The show was the Broadway in Concert show featuring the singers. It was just wow! There are some great voices on this cruise, and they had reworked the show somewhat, so even though I had heard it many times before, it was new.

Our motu

Moorea from the ship

January 29, 2024–Moorea We were at the dock in Papeete during the night until about 5 am. I woke up and thought “we’re moving”. Then drifted back to sleep for the very short sail to Moorea. When we went up to La Veranda for breakfast, it was a bright and sunny perfect day. Warm and humid though. The strawberries and bacon on the buffet were good, but the yogurt was lacking. The thinnest, least creamy “greek” yogurt I have ever tasted. We were at anchor in a little bay with lush sharp peaks on 3 sides. A pod of dolphins was playing on the port side of the ship. Our excursion for the day was to go to a motu for lunch, beach time, and snorkeling. We boarded a flat bottom snorkeling boat with a very shallow draft. Our guide was hilarious and kept us entertained until we reached the first snorkeling site. The water was perfectly clear aqua blue, and you could see the sandy bottom. There were lots of fish, several manta rays, and some small sharks. He assured us the sharks wouldn’t bother us, but told us not to touch them. We were in the water quite a long time, and it was great. Most of the time, it was so shallow that you could just stand and see everything. We then motored to a motu, an island with some picnic tables, a real restroom, and a covered area where they were grilling fish, chicken and sausage. There was also a very fresh tomato and lettuce salad, French bread, ceviche, macaroni salad and rice with corn. It was really very good. Afterward, we could walk on the beach or hike down to another snorkeling area off the shore. We hiked along, and it was so pleasant, the perfect day. We ran into some sharp lava rocks, and disaster struck. Our friend slipped and fell, hurting his knee very badly. The patella was dislocated. We got it back in position, but he was still in bad shape. He was in the water and couldn’t stand. George swam back for help as that was faster than walking. They sent a seado to pick him up, then the boat took us back to the dock in Moorea where we tendered back. The ship doctor met us. Now he has a knee brace and a walker. A lot in between I may comment on later. Due to that, our trivia team was 2 short, but we still came in 3rd. We would have won had our friend been there as he knew the answers we didn’t. It was the captain’s welcome. Ray did a mini version of South Pacific which was great. We went to dinner in Prime 7. This had always been a hit and miss venue for me. But tonight was a total hit. Every dish was perfect. I had a really good steak and salad but poached a lot of extra stuff, the best being some onion rings which were perfectly crisp.lo There was a singer /pianist on for the entertainment tonight. She is very talented—played a lot of Carole King, Elton John, Neil Diamond.

Compass Rose Versace charger

Beautiful stained glass in the church

Yes, we think that was the issue.

I eat all shellfish without any trouble. We are thinking it was perhaps the pillow as it was a feather pillow I believe. At any rate, eyes are back to normal today.

January 28, 2024–embarkation in Papeete, Tahiti I again woke up early, but with a weird feeling in my eyes. The bathroom mirror reveled a sorry sight—both eyes terribly swollen, but the right almost swollen completely shut. No idea why, other than possibly allergies. George had some eye drops. I took an allergy pill. George went for an early morning swim. This is the hotel where Regent is putting guests who take the Regent offered hotel and air, so things were much busier this am. It was bright and sunny, perhaps not as humid as yesterday. Sunday is apparently the day and place for multi-generational family gatherings. Kids were running all over, but they were super cute. The buffet was packed, with a long line waiting to get in. We were lucky to get a table for 6. They had all the usual foods like yesterday, but then another big buffet of Polynesian foods set up. My son, always adventuresome when it comes to eating, loaded up his plate from that. Grilled and raw fish, pork belly, stewed pork, taro root, stewed vegetables, what looked like roasted sweet potatoes, lycee, white rice. Lots of carbs. He said it was good, though he left a lot of the taro. The obesity rate is very high in Tahiti as is the diabetes rate, and I can see why. Our plan for the morning was to go to church at the evangelical church. They are renowned for their a cappella singing, in harmony. Of course, it was all in Polynesian, so I couldn’t understand the words. The sermon was therefore quite tedious. But the singing was fabulous, and I was able to follow along with the Lord’s Prayer because I recognized the cadence. They also sang a couple of hymns which I know, my favorite being a rousing version of “Are You Washed in the Blood?” It was hotter than he** with just open windows and no AC, taking me back to my childhood days. The ladies all had big hats and fans.i should have planned ahead better. I told George was teaching us to appreciate AC in church. When we got back to the Hilton, the lobby was a madhouse, with piles of luggage everywhere and hoards of people. We checked out, got a big taxi, and went to the port. We were quickly onboard and checked in very efficiently. Met Vegasdriven and her husband in the check in line. We went up to La Veranda for lunch, but there were no inside tables for 6 available. We ended up out on the pool deck which was pretty hot. But we drank gallons of really good iced tea. George had what he pronounced as the best hamburger ever on a cruise ship, which is high praise. Rooms were ready before 2. Ray Solaire, a old friend, made the announcement, and we are happy he is the CD. George’s luggage appeared quickly, so I unpacked that. Mine arrived about 2 hours later. I was getting a little worried. Our stewardess advised us that laundry turnaround is now 48 hours instead of same day. I figure this is due to everyone having free laundry now. There was a late afternoon lecture about Tahiti, which we did not attend as we were playing cards. Dinner was at Compass Rose. The dining room seemed packed. Food was a mixed bag. Soup and salads were great as were the veal piccata, lamb chops and steaks. Salt stick rolls were highly demanded, and excellent. But the crab appetizer and the mussels were inedible, just bad. George had the Kailua soufflé for dessert, which he proclaimed the best dessert ever. Afterwards, half of the party went to bed, but my son, daughter-in-law, and I went to the Polynesian dance company show with the local troupe, and it was just great.

My son and his wife got upgraded to a suite. Their bathroom had a glass enclosed toilet as well as well as a glass wall between the bathroom and the bedroom. And their glass was transparent. We were in one of the extended balcony rooms.

Agreed. I’ve been married 42 years as well, and have no desire to watch my husband in the bathroom.

Stunning colors though.