Dr.Dobro

I was going to tell you about Grab, which we used a lot in 2019, but it I see now it is available only in SE Asia (company based in Singapore). You might want to investigate an app called JapanTaxi. As of April 1 it has been absorbed into an app called Go, available in the Google Play store. Based on my quick reading, it seems set up more for reserving a ride in advance, but maybe it would useful.

We experienced this on our back-to-back Boston-Quebec-Boston cruise in September. We found the reservationist would book the next segment toward the end of the current segment, so try again around Day 12. If the Tamarind menu will truly be offered in the Canaletto, that is outstanding. Tamarind is by far our favorite dining option.

We will be on the Zuiderdam for four consecutive segments from May 12 to July 22, with all three turn-arounds in Rotterdam. I know that in-transit passengers are sometimes exempt from lifeboat drills, depending on how long it has been since their last drill. Can anyone comment on what the exact requirements might be, or is this a ship-by-ship decision? If we don't have to be back for a drill, we'd rather spend time ashore. Our itinerary: May 12, Ft. Lauderdale-Rotterdam, 16 days May 28, Rotterdam-British Isles-Rotterdam, 14 days June 11, Rotterdan-Iceland-Rotterdam, 21 days July 2, Rotterdam-Boston, 20 days Thanks!

Okay, this post will wrap up the Mosaicultures shots, for good or ill, for the enthralled and the bored alike. These are from the Farm section of the exhibit. Lotsa fun stuff here. The Man Who Plants the Trees dominates the farm, kind of a Father Nature figure. Every farm needs cows and horses.... ...and a couple of dogs, of course. I could buy either of these as a real dog. Amazing work! Butterflies hang out near the chickens.... ...and the farmer himself is out in the fields, joining the plow team. Not sure how readable it will turn out to be, but here's a list of all the plants used in the exhibit. I think if you blow it up, the small type will hold. This volunteer is explaining the construction of the sculptures, including the underlying metal frame for support and irrigation. And that's what we did in Quebec before setting out back down the river. Just remember.... no matter where you dock in Quebec, you get a nice view of the Chateau Frontenac. But at Pier 30, you also get a clear, unobstructed view of the Chateau Smoke-a-Stack on the other side of the ship. . Back soon.... S & C

Observant readers have no doubt deduced that we are behind in our postings. Here we are on Sept. 15, and we are just getting to our turn-around in Quebec last week. C'est la vie, mes amis -- having too much fun to find the discipline to sit down and sort photos and write. (If you follow Bill and Mary Ann's threads, we look like lazy sluggards -- they are the champion chroniclers. We are not worthy.) But anyway, stick with us; this thread is going to have to get wrapped up from home. In the meantime, here are more of the amazing Mosaicultures creations -- all of them actual growing plantings. Mother Nature overlooks the whole menagerie, a waterfall spilling from her right hand, where an eagle settles. Into the jungle for giraffes and lions, circle of life and all that ... We loved these hippopotami, nostrils just above their "pond" surface. Buffalo roam the plains of, um, Abraham?. Not far away, whales and dolphins leap out of the waves. Time for the walruses to make their visit to the barber for a trim. And we encounter a black squirrel -- *not* a plant -- but a critter with pigmentation we have not seen. There wasn't a high point sufficient to give a good view of this, but it is a tortoise or turtle -- the tail is in the foreground, pointing at the viewer -- with a map of the world on its back. The half-human, half-animal figures in the canoe represent a creation story of the local First Nations people. More to come. Stoney & Cayenne

We pull into Quebec City on a sunny summer-like morning, but it is not the usual port right next to the lower old city. We are at Pier 30, not far away as the crow flies but a zig-zaggy haul for tourists with iffy knees. But you know what? It doesn't matter, because our destination today is not Montcalm Terrace, not La Citadelle, not Chateau Frontenac. No, we are off to find the great green elephants that are found only in Quebec City (until Oct. 10, anyway). These fellows are among 200 or so amazing garden sculptures, which is something we never knew was a thing. Oh, sure, we know about topiary, trimming a bush to resemble animal or other shapes. And we know about the floats in the Rose Bowl Parade, where flower petals and other plant materials are pasted onto the surface of the creations. But this..... Wow. This is something completely different. These figures are ACTUAL GROWING PLANTS that are trimmed and tended regularly. Kindergarten explanation, which is all we retained: They construct a metal frame in the desired shape with built-in drip irrigation. They pack the frame with soil, then wrap it in some kind of mesh. They take greenhouse seedlings -- many species, many colors -- and poke them through the mesh to take root in the soil. In the meantime, they put in ground plants all around the sculptures to create an illusion of the sea or a meadow or wherever these critters hang out. And after a while, voila! What an amazing landscape! So we'll just run through some of our favorites for you. We spent most of our day here and were continually amazed. The watery species were some of the best: Penguins and polar bears on their greenish ice floes surrounded by blue waters.... ... out of which whales and dolphins might leap at any moment. Or you could see a big old blue whale who just glides up to the surface for a quick lookaround. Puffins hang out here too. We loved these waterfowl gliding onto the lake surface -- so cool how some of the ground plants are left to grow long and simulate water being kicked up. Something more exotic? How about a komodo dragon! Here's a musk ox with its overbrow and nose of carved wood. I think a few elements like eyes might be plastic, but a lot of the sculptures use polished wood. This horse takes the wood motif to the extreme. And these look a lot more lively. We shot a lot more photos of these, so we'll put up more in the next post. In the meantime, you can get info at the Mosaicultures Quebec website: https://www.mosaiculture.ca/en If you'll be in Quebec before it ends on Oct. 10, 2022: Take No. 11 bus (toward Ste.-Foy) from the old city area; get off at Thornhill, and the Parc Bois-de-Coulonge is across the street. Talk to you later!

Sihanoukville on the Maasdam in 2019. Terrific cruise, iffy port -- hundreds of Chinese casinos, hotels, resorts going up all at once. Streets torn up, dust everywhere. But we hooked up with a local tour operator and had a nice time. Stopped in to visit a school and saw kids struggling with fractions, just like home. Hit a few markets We saw this in a few places in Asia: filling their plague of plastic bottles with colored water as decoration. Even with a reclining Buddha. Lunch was at a Catholic school that trains young people for careers in hospitality services, among other things. This girl performed a welcome ceremony for our group before the students served lunch. And a Coke 'n' icy cold Angkor beer! It's fun to dig out old memories.

The Nieuw Statendam keeps a westward course along the St. Lawrence before hanging a right into the Saguenay River. The town perched on a hilltop on the east side of the confluence is Tadoussac. Cayenne and I were up here on our honeymoon many years ago, visiting Gaspesie and the North Shore. We were hitting campgrounds, sleeping in a tent. After a good night's sleep in Tadoussac, we had our campground coffee, packed away the tent and bedrolls and headed on out, just as heavy rain started to fall. We hadn't gone two miles before blowing out a tire (beyond patching, as it turned out). So we put on the donut tire in the rain. The lone tire shop in town could get a new tire delivered from Quebec the next day. When it would probably still be raining. It was at this point that my sweet newlywed Cayenne informed me, in a voice heretofore unheard by me, that we are *not* setting up the tent in the rain, and oh, look at that lovely Hotel Tadoussac! And that's how we young lovers had our first luxury hotel experience. Years later, the Hotel Tadoussac, with its bright red roof and sprawling green grounds, was the setting of the Jodie Foster film "The Hotel New Hampshire." Adapted from John Irving's novel, with Natassia Kinski as Susie the Bear, no less. Well, that's a big digression. Back to crooz nooz. We sail about 60 miles in the dark through the Saguenay Fjord, then branch off to the left into a seven-mile-long cove called the Baie des Ha! Ha!*, and dock at La Baie -- where I am immediately slung back into the French Canadian Catholic world where I grew up, in a small Connecticut factory town. Nice little welcome on the dock, the locals greeting us with maple syrup on a stick. Thd older folks authentically don't speak English, so I give my fractured French a workout. They seem to appreciate the effort. Sacre bleu! The sister and the priest, the twin terrors of any parochial school lad! Fortunately these are actors, but Cayenne swallowed her gum juat as a precuation. The twelve most common surnames in Saguenay? This could be my class roster, anywhere in grades 1 to 8. I know at least two or three people with every name on this list. My town had "bathtub virgins" -- shrines featuring a statue of Mary sheltered by half a bathtub, upended. I have never seen full-on Plexiglass Jesus before. We spend a little time at the Musee du Fjord, which has a modest (*very* modest) aquarium, but also a pretty good exhibit tracing the history of settlement along the Saguenay and Lac St. Jean. Some interesting art, too. Here's a detail from a large carved wood panel called "The Wave." Now *this*, my friends, is a mermaid. The museum hides her out back. The Ha! Ha! Pyramid is kind of a sore thumb aesthetically, but it was erected with good intentions -- to commemorate the 10 victims and thousands of displaced people in a 1996 flood. It's covered in Yield signs, or "Ceder" in French, which is a homonym of the verb "s'aider" -- to help each other. Back on board, the evening cruise back down the Saguenay is pretty and relaxing. And pretty relaxing. A large portion of the route is in Saguenay Fjord National Park, so there's little development along the way. The little white dot in the middle of the cliff is the statue of Notre Dame du Saguenay, 30 feet tall and fashioned of white pine clad with lead. And so we're off into the sunset on another great day. Thanks for reading. * Wikipedia sez Ha! Ha! is "probably from an alteration of a Montagnais toponym almost unpronounceable in French which means in Algonquin 'place where bark is exchanged.'" I nust note there is also a town called St. Louis de Ha! Ha! just above the tippy-top of Maine. Unclear if any bark was exchanged there.

More details: Mon Sept 12, Charlottetown, 11-7 Tue Sep 13, Sydney, 10-6 Wed Sep 14, at sea Thu Sep 15, Bar Harbor, 8-7 (time change only)

Earl now a "post tropical cyclone" east of Newfoundland. St. Anthony Sept 12 becomes Charlottetown PEI St. John's Sept 13 becomes Sydney NS -- From the captain's mouth

On Nieuw Statendam now. Today there is a "Ballroom Dance Hour" in BBK's at 7 p.m., with the house band starting its sets at 8:30. So maybe they're making room for classic dancing.

There is no dramatic river mouth as you head into the St. Lawrence River -- you just head west through the Gulf of St. Lawrence as land gradually draws closer and closer on each side. I think Baie Comeau, on the north shore, is as good a place as any to say "West of here is river and east of here is ocean." I'm sure mariners have a more precise definition than my gut can provide. There is regular ferry service from Baie Comeau to Matane on the Gaspe Peninsula, which forms the south shore. My grandfather Pelletier was born in Cap-Chat, just east of Matane, and emigrated to Woonsocket, R.I. around 1900, where he had 11 children. My mother, about to turn 94, is the youngest and sole survivor. The drive around the Gaspe peninsula (Circuit de la Gaspesie) is one of the great scenic and non-glitzy tours in North America. But, hey -- what about our port? I am not going to bad-mouth Baie Comeau, but there really is not much here for cruisers. It's a city of 20,000 that produces wood pulp and aluminum, and visitor infrastructure is not exactly on the front burner. A fireboat was spurting away as we sailed in. Cayenne says this is generally done when a ship is making its first visit to a port. School-bus shuttles were waaay backed up, so we walked the 2 miles or so along the shoreline path to the Pioneers Park. We met several families with kids in strollers, walking out to get a look at the ship. Saw a little wildlife along the way, too, like these rock-perched cormorants.... ...a seal on the prowl.... ...and a uniquely North Shore species of flamingos crafted from giant Popsicle sticks. Want more? Ain't got it. Anything resembling a town center is a few miles away from the shuttle stop, not here in the old port area. There is a lovely old Catholic church, but the $6 admission charge is a turnoff. If there's a donation box at the exit, or even a person asking for donations, I'll give. But it turns me off to see a church pimping itself out with admission tickets. Harrumph. We go to what we were told is the shuttle stop and watch the school bus rumble right past us. So all things considered, we cut our losses, congratulate ourselves on a good walk on a nice day, and head on back to fantasyland. *** We have now had time to sample all of the specialty restaurants on the Nieuw Statendam, thanks to the "signature dining package" that comes with many reservations now, plus some extra dinners with our star benefits. All in all, it's been up to expectations and beyond. Our thoughts: Tamarind holds firm at No. 1 on my playlist. Look, I'm no food critic, but the Asian dishes here are clearly superior. We've had wasabi tenderloin, Thai Szechuan shrimp, Panang coconut chicken.... but pay the $20 supplement for the wok seared lobster. It is worth it. (They really need to cue the B-52s music when they bring out the wok lobster.) Canaletto has come a long way. I always considered it an Olive Garden clone with too-large portions, but the menu now is a lot more sophisticated. Great selection of Italian dishes, plus gelato for dessert. Dining is within the Lido, like on other ships, but they do a better job here with segregating the space. Old dependable Pinnacle Grill served up some very good filet mignon dinners, forever and ever amen. When we go back we'll be doing salmon and halibut, which we have loved in the past at the "Pinochle." Rudi's Sel de Mer was quite good. I had a perfect broiled seafood platter, and Cayenne got herself a full-on rip-snortin' Nova Scotia boiled lobster to tear apart, something she's expert at. (She was wrong at trivia, however, when asked how many legs a lobster has.) But she says the lazy-man wok lobster up in the Tamarind is better. Bottom line: Rudi's is terrific, but not $49 plus 18% per person worth of terrific. It's not in the signature package, and if not for some shipboard credit to burn, we would not have gone. Wow, I'm hungry - wonder why? -- so I'll stop there. Thanks for reading! Stoney & Cayenne

It's a warm and sunny day as we pull into Charlottetown, capital and only true city on Prince Edward Island. The signature red soil of the island forms a pretty blend with the greens and blues of land and sea. PEI is the Rhode Island of Canada, the smallest province, but it played an outsize role in the birth of Canada. The Charlottetown Conference of 1864 brought together representatives of New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia, and Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec) to lay the groundwork for confederation. Union was achieved less than three years later (July 1, 1867). The discussions took place in Province House, the provincial capitol and a National Historic Site, built in 1864. But it is in the middle of a multi-year closure that involves the evaluation of every single brick in the building for repair or replacement. The provincial legislature meets elsewhere, and no tourists are getting in either. So we ramble through the central district to view St. Dunstan's Church, which has a most elaborate collection of external frippery and a grand interior. Some downtown buildings are of the same vintage of those in Saint John. The Connolly Block was an appealing curiosity, with its bust at the top. This is Owen Connolly, who came from Ireland as a 19-year-old in 1839, hired on as a farmhand and died 60 years later as one of the island's top businessmen. He put most of his estate in a trust to educate children of Irish immigrants. I wonder how the old Irishman would feel about the first floor hosting a British-style pub (Churchill Arms). Fire truck photo, because why not. PEI is inextricably entwined with an apparently beloved 1908 novel, "Anne of Green Gables," about an 11-year-old orphan. Anne and her braided red hair, forest-green jumper and smart little hat are everywhere, including more than one Anne Store. Shore excursions rumble off to performances of the stage adaptation and to the author's home, which provided the setting for the novel and numerous sequels. And for some reason, Annemania rules in Japan, which sends planeloads of tourists to PEI each year. We drove up here for a week's stay about 15 years ago, in a modest hotel 15 miles or so from C-town. It was a great spot near the island's center from which we explored most everything. We did the whole "tip to tip tour" and loved it. But for today we are just city cruisers, and the port setup here affords the first opportunity for a good wide shot of the Nieuw Statendam. Funny, our very first cruise was to Alaska on the Oud Statendam. Talk to y'all later. Dobro out.

A little news: Current leg (Bos to Que) carrying 1,814 guests. Leg back to Boston starting tomorrow will have over 2,400. NS capacity is 2,666. Spoke to maitre d' of a specialty restaurant -- said they are getting heavily booked with pre-board online reservations. Might be a good idea not to wait until boarding to book yours.

Glad you're on here. Our former colleague, the chorus teacher, is also here (Rahges). Send me an e-mail and fill me on what school you're at, etc.

Roxy! We remember you fondly from our cruise together, but they all blur together, dunno which one it was -- South America maybe? Anyway, trivia hasn't been a priorty, not sure why -- people change, I guess.

Today's stop is Corner Brook, on the west coast of Newfoundland, the second-largest urban area in the province with a whopping 19,300 people. We've been here before -- twice on cruise stops, twice on car trips -- so we know there isn't much to keep you in Corner Brook, a quintessential lumber-mill town. But just to the north lies Gros Morne National Park, another of those UNESCO sites and a durned pretty one too. Only problem is, this is Newfoundland, where rain is always lurking in the wings. Today it is at center stage. As we hit the Viking Trail north in our rented car, it is falling in great sheets. Just to add a little adenaline spice to the morning, a moose ambles out in front of us. I was too slow on the camera, unfortunately. Cayenne worked the brake pedal just fine. By the time we got into the park, the rain had slackened enough to provide some nice views of Gros Morne, which means "solitary mountain." At 2,644 feet, it is the highest summit of the Long Range chain, the northernmost last gasp of the Appalachians. The park also features Bonne Bay, a large ocean inlet that provides more pretty views. We ducked out of the rain to visit the Bonne Bay Maritime Research Station and its modest aquarium, hosted by college students studying environmental science. The kids are earnestness personified. I asked for the senior rate because "we're a couple of old farts," and the girl at the register cracked up. "You're WHAT?" Said the term is unknown to Newfoundlanders, so maybe we have spawned a linguistic transplantation. Pre-cooked lobster? Nope, just a Club Orange-worthy mutation. Creepy and camouflage-y, two sculpins hug the bottom. "Oh look," says one of the students, "he's extending his mandibular shelf for you!" Well, thanks, I guess. Today's quiz: What critter left behind this skeleton? Answer below. I don't know what the hell this is, but it belongs in science fiction. Is this one of those things that latches onto a fish and sucks out its innards? Any marine biologists, please weigh in. Bonne Bay is a great setting for the park's boat tours, but maybe not on such a wet day. I think a HAL shore excursion took one, though. Another great rainy-day spot in Gros Morne is the Lobster Point lighthouse, still functioning as a light but also as a little museum. We had a nice talk with the Newfies working for the park service about life on "The Rock." The lighthouse b'ys also point us to Java Jack's in nearby Rocky Harbour, where we can get cod tongues. "Make sure he fries 'em crispy." I don't usually do food porn, but given the novelty of this uniquely Newfie dish, here's a photo of our takeout. Flavor is quite good; sorta scallops, sorta whitefish, plus un peu de je ne sais quoi. Visiting on a cruise ship, you can't see the crown jewel of Gros Morne. That's Western Brook Pond, a pristine fjord/lake at the base of the big mountain. It's a two-mile hike each way from the highway parking lot to the pond, where the park operates two tour boats. But constraints on both port time and the knee-hip complex will keep most HALies from making that trek. As we head back down the coast to Corner Brook, the sun comes out. Of course. Well played, Newfoundland, ye bastard. (Quiz answer: Baby seal. No, it had not been clubbed -- kind of a sensitive subject up here.) More coming atcha later from Dr. Stoney Dobro and the lovely Cayenne.

In Littleton, N.H. there's a restaurant called "Vulgar Display of Poutine."

Next stop on our maritime tour is Halifax, capital of Nova Scotia. We've been here at least twice -- I recall a car trip and a cruise returning from Europe -- and it's a city with lots to see. But this time, with an evening sailing, we decided to rent a car and light out for the territories. Lunenburg, down the coast to the southwest, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, described by UNESCO as "the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America," established in 1753. The original settlement encompasses a tight hillside street grid, maybe 10x10. Many homes and buildings brightly colored, presumably through a rod-wielding zoning board of some kind. St. John Anglican Church (1763) is the second oldest existing Protestant church in Canada. Great tidbit, courtesy Wikipedia: "When King's Chapel in Boston was expanded, its new stone structure was built around its original wooden church, which continued to be used. Then, when that new stone building was completed in 1754, King's Chapel's old wooden frame was disassembled from inside, removed through the new building's windows, and shipped to Lunenburg." On the hilltop overlooking the whole shebang is the lovely Lunenburg Academy, built in 1895. I'm thinking of others back home built around the same time, and I see echoes -- thinking Woodstock Academy (1901), and the old Putnam Town Hall (189?), originally the high school. Did a little shopping, sipped a bit of fancy coffee and walked quite a lot. We had time to detour on the way back to Halifax to visit -- Tourist Must-Do! -- Peggy's Cove and the most photographed lighthouse in Canada. It is 5:30 in the afternoon and electronic signs tell us that 5 spaces are available in the lighthouse parking lot. We see only one and grab it. The lighthouse sits grandly upon huge masses of granite. There's a viewing platform that gives you the postcard view (morning probably has the best light for a photo). And/or you can walk out and touch the fabled beacon on a reasonably maintained walkway. But do not venture off that walk if you're even a little uneasy on your feet. My clambering days are through, and I suspect that's true of most HAL shipmates. But not for some younger'uns way out on the rocks and undeterred by some very direct and pointed signs. For Canadians, anyway. Vibe not weird enough? In 1998 a SwissAir flight crashed into St. Margaret's Cove five miles from here, claiming all 229 aboard. There's a dignified memorial just off the road to the lighthouse. Having done our touristic duty, we drop the car back in Halifax. (Used Enterprise, super-easy location in Via Rail terminal at the port.) Nice day out in great weather. TTYL

Mike Gaffney. It was a master class in bodily-function humor.

We pull into Saint John, New Brunswick on a warm and sunny day. We booked a guide, Rod Borden, through Tours By Locals, and we were off on schedule for an exploration of the historic downtown area, which the locals call "uptown" for some reason. Saint John as a city was established in 1785, but before that was a long period of conflict between the French and English, and the harbor -- excuse me, *harbour* -- was the site of a key battle in the Acadian Civil War, which I am hearing of for the first time. Gotta read up. The actual incorporation in 1785 was due to the swelling population of loyalists from New England, who wanted to remain subjects of the crown. You know, I think "trader" is a misspelling here. Saint John is known for its well-preserved old buildings, and it feels a little like Beacon Hill in Boston. After a disastrous fire in the 19th century, the city was rebuilt in that style, including some buildings which used architectural plans from Boston buildings. The home on the right is newly constructed, blending in nicely with the neighborhood. City Market is No. 1 on the tourist map, with lots of shopping -- not my thing -- and a section with fresh produce. Axe-throwing and alcohol? What could go wrong? The two-story gazebo in King Square features a fountain downstairs and a bandstand upstairs. (They bring in a portable staircase for performances.) I was taken by this carving on a firefighter memorial in King Square, honoring the fire department's mission of saving people from drowning. Right next to the pier is a market set up in shipping containers. Loving the artwork on this ship, much of which has a musical theme. But I never knew Bob was once a colonel in the Argentine army. Food is great. Tamarind still transcendent. Wifi is actually pretty good (with "premium" package, anyway). Staff, as always, pleasant and helpful. Music pretty good. Saw BBC Earth 2, that was great. Comedian not so. (By the way, how do you have an "Adults Only" comedy show at 9 p.m. in the BB King venue, when tender youth passing on Decks 2 and 3 can get an earful?) Good to be home again on HAL -- this is our first cruise since March 2020, when the world went to hell while we were sailing from Hawaii to San Diego. We were so lucky to make it back home without incident. I have met two couples who were trapped for weeks on the Zaandam in South America. That's it for now, amigos y amigas.

I've never done a live report on a cruise, but I have enjoyed reading those by many others, so what the heck, DW and I will give this a try and see how it goes. Probably going to be based on photos, and not too much on ship minutiae. Deep thoughts might creep in should I emerge from cruise coma and start doing some deep thinking. I have no idea, by the way, how this will format on Cruise Critic, so bear with me if it looks a mess. Boarding in Boston was late and chaotic. Zaandam also boarding. Hard to tell who was getting on or off. Lots of people seemed to run into vaxx and ArriveCan problems. Somehow we had done it all the paperwork right (well, DW did) and finally got shunted to a line that moved quickly. Whoo-hoo, got on board, and Nieuw Statendam really looks great. First port is Portland, Maine. Lots of cutesy shopping in the Old Port, right next to the pier, and restaurants and bars in case the ship is insufficient. We walked about a mile to Portland Museum of Art, which we had heard was pretty impressive for a small city. True dat. Lots of names I recognize but know nothing about including Degas, Monet, Dali and a rather disappointing Picasso depicting a chicken decapitation. I don't know much about art but I like to look at the purty pictures. Day was hot hot hot. Walked back to cuddly bosom of HALspitality and a nice cold one (beer) and a nice hot one (shower). Sailaway delightful, passing old Casco Bay military fort and Portland Head lighthouse, very nice viewed from the water. And we are off to the Bay of Fundy.

I don't remember how this was arranged, but in 2019 the Maasdam was able to creep right through the Victoria Harbor light show. Quite an experience.

Nuku Hiva was our last island on a great cruise aboard Maasdam in 2019. It was the EXC In-Depth experiment, which we really loved despite some glitches, and we'd love to see it come back. We found Nuku Hiva kind of a lackluster stop after several fun island and atoll ports. But this sunset photo was a great exit, signaling seven days at sea before we would set foot in San Francisco.