On the Crown: 28 Days in the S. Pacific and it Wasn't Bora Boraing

[SailorJack]

The building in the background is "Cocktails on the Rocks"- also known as "The Hole in the Wall." I didn't think much of it when I took the picture - I was really focusing on the tree, but when he headed back to the ship it had tables out front and really cold beer! It lies about halfway between town and the pier and it turns out that this is one of the city's favorite watering holes. There is a pizza place next to it and they will deliver pizza right to your table. What more could you ask for!

 

 

 

 

This magnificent structure is the Immaculate Conception of Mary Cathedral. It stands on the foundation of the original church which was built in 1867 and torn down in 2011. The new church was dedicated on May 31, 2014 so it had been opened only 6 months before we visited. Of interest, three meters below the new foundation, lays the grave of the church’s only Cardinal, the late Cardinal Pio Taofinu’u who passed away in 2003.

 

 

 

 

 

While we were there, they were preparing for the wedding of a very prominent resident of Samoa. As they were obviously very busy in preparing for the ceremony, we turned to leave, but were very graciously invited to come inside and look around. The inside of the church was stunning.

 

 

 

 

This is Government Building - which houses the administrative offices of the government. The structure on the top of the building is a modern version of a traditional Samoan Fale.

 

 

 

Edited February 24, 2015 by SailorJack

[SailorJack]

This is the TUI Otua Tupua Tamasese Efi Complex...for short - the Efi building! It is another new building in Apia and holds government offices. There are an amazing number of new structures in town!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently this is the Samoan version of Internet Dating!

 

 

 

 

The busses in Samoa (and several other islands) all have unique names. (Wait to you see the one we were on!). This one is the Queen Poto.

 

 

[SailorJack]

Some typical street scenes in Apia. As you can tell, there is not a lot of traffic!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the town's clock tower. It is located in the center of town as was erected in memory of those who lost their lives in WWI.

 

 

 

[SailorJack]

This is the entrance to the Samoan Cultural Village (You can see the roofs of the Village in the background). It is located just behind the visitors center on Beach Road. This was one of the best places we visited on the entire trip and it was absolutely free. They put on two shows a day - one at 10:30 (which we went to) and another in the afternoon. This show and demonstration was so good we would have gone again in the PM if we had not signed up for an island tour! This really is a "must see" when you are in Apia!

 

 

 

 

This was one of the two main emcees for the program. Here he is explaining the Pe'a or tattoos that he is wearing. The Tatau process (from which we get the word 'tattoo' takes weeks to do over several sessions and is extremely painful. It takes a great commitment to undertake. If someone starts the process and then quits it brings great shame to the entire family. The process covers the entire body between waist and knees. The artwork is amazing and the results as you can see are stunning! As he had spent several years in school in California he was able to contrast life styles in the US with lifestyles in French Polynesia. It was a fascinating program.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the second of the two major emcees and here he is making Palusami - a very traditional Samoan food of coconut milk, onions wrapped in a taro leaf and then placed on hot rocks to cook - something we did later in the demonstration

 

 

 

 

[SailorJack]

The emcee explains the process of cooking on an Umu (sort of a Polynesian fire pit) and asks for volunteers to help build it. Unfortunately, an old war wound prevented me from hauling the rocks to build the Umu.

 

 

 

 

 

The Umu built at last, wood is placed on top of the rocks and set on fire to heat the stones. If you look to the upper left you can faintly see our ship - that is how close this is to the pier. A very short walk for an outstanding free shore excursion!

 

 

 

 

 

After the wood has burned down to coals, the rocks are red hot.

 

 

 

 

The wood coals are then removed so that only the hot rocks remain. The Umu is now ready for the food!

 

 

[SailorJack]

One of the really great perks of attending this free show is the free lunch that comes after! Here they are wrapping a huge fish in banana leaves. Taro Root will also be served at lunch.

 

 

 

The Palasumi, fish, and Taro Root are placed on the hot rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

And everything is covered with Banana leaves. Following this we went to the various stations in the village that demonstrated Samoan crafts. By the time we finished the tour the food was cooked and lunch was served.

 

 

[SailorJack]

While lunch was cooking we were entertained by some traditional Samoan music.

 

 

 

 

Then a demonstration of making fire without matches ( or a lighter!) Notice the smile on his face in the second photo. He was a natural born comedian and could have been a standup comic if he so chose. He was great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Success!

 

[SailorJack]

After the fire demonstration, we visited several work stations where different Samoan crafts were being demonstrated. Here, the women were taking tree branches, stripping off the bark and processing the bark into paper - upon which they would paint designs. An example of their craft is sitting in front of the man sitting down.

 

 

 

 

At this station, craftsmen were taking blocks of wood and turning them into bowls, figurines, and some amazing statuary - most of which was for sale. While the figurines represented lore from Samoan history, I don't think they had chain saws back then.:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the craft demonstrations lunch was ready and we enjoyed a delicious Samoan feast. Then it was off to Hole in the Wall for some equally delicious Samoan beer!

[SailorJack]

OK, I caught up with the pictures that were deleted, so I am back on with the last of the pictures from Apia.

 

This is Papaseea Sliding Rocks. It really is sort of a sloping waterfall that you sit down in and let the water push you down to the river below. It is really quite fun, but be sure to bring some additional shorts as you can easily wear a hole in the one you are wearing. It is a great stop for the adventurous - especially after a rain when the river is quite strong and fast!

 

 

 

The grounds around the river are quite lush and a great spot to picnic while your clothes dry.

 

 

 

 

This is the Aggie Grey Hotel in Apia. It is quite luxurious inside and if you are looking for an upscale place to relax in Apia and have a cold one or a nice lunch this is the place to go. Aggie Grey was a well known socialite in Apia and built this hotel in 1933.

 

 

[FlaBubba]

Sailor Jack, we were on the cruise with you and I must say I'm enjoying your pictures. They bring back lots of memories.:cool:

FlaBubba.

[SailorJack]

Sailor Jack, we were on the cruise with you and I must say I'm enjoying your pictures. They bring back lots of memories.:cool:

FlaBubba.

 

Glad you like the pictures. It was a great cruise and we are hoping to do it again. I hope you enjoyed the cruise as much as we did and that you didn't get hit with the noro!

[toberman]

Jack -I'm getting a notification from flickr that your pics are no longer available !! :confused: Hopefully it's just me.

[Jasperdo]

It looks like all your Flickr photos are now marked as "Private". They're showing up on this thread as "This photo is no longer available". When you click on the photo it goes to the Flickr "This photo is private" page.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Jasperdo

[Cruzin-K]

It looks like all your Flickr photos are now marked as "Private". They're showing up on this thread as "This photo is no longer available". When you click on the photo it goes to the Flickr "This photo is private" page.

 

I'm seeing the same thing, although not for every Flickr photo, only the ones since Feb 23.

 

On the plus side, the Photobucket photos have made a miraculous recovery :D

[SailorJack]

I'm seeing the same thing, although not for every Flickr photo, only the ones since Feb 23.

 

On the plus side, the Photobucket photos have made a miraculous recovery :D

 

 

Jack -I'm getting a notification from flickr that your pics are no longer available !! :confused: Hopefully it's just me.

 

 

It looks like all your Flickr photos are now marked as "Private". They're showing up on this thread as "This photo is no longer available". When you click on the photo it goes to the Flickr "This photo is private" page.

 

Not again! I don't know what happened. But the pictures are still showing up on the review?

[toberman]

Not again! I don't know what happened. But the pictures are still showing up on the review?

 

Nope - none of the Flickr pictures. Don't know anything about Flickr, but have read that there is a place on your account to change the settings to either private or public. Perhaps it has inadvertently been changed to private ?

Edited March 1, 2015 by toberman

[Jasperdo]

Not again! I don't know what happened. But the pictures are still showing up on the review?

A quick way to check if your Flickr photos are private is to go to one of the photos. Scroll down to "Additional Info" and see what your "Viewing this photo" setting is. If it's private you can either change them to Public individually, or go to Organize>Permissions>Who can see and change them all at once. It looks like somehow you changed the settings on all your photos to Private, and they can't be seen on this thread now.

[SailorJack]

A quick way to check if your Flickr photos are private is to go to one of the photos. Scroll down to "Additional Info" and see what your "Viewing this photo" setting is. If it's private you can either change them to Public individually, or go to Organize>Permissions>Who can see and change them all at once. It looks like somehow you changed the settings on all your photos to Private, and they can't be seen on this thread now.

 

OK, I see what you are saying. I could see the pictures on my computer, but when I tried from my neighbor's computer I got the message you mentioned. Now I have to figure out what happened before I start posting the next pictures! Thanks.

[SailorJack]

After leaving Apia, we celebrated Halloween onboard. The ship did a great job in having a great Halloween party and a surprising number of people had brought along Halloween costumes.

 

 

Some really neat pumpkin carvings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Without a flash, pictures in the theatre came out reddish, so I made this shot in BW.

 

 

 

 

The Halloween party featured a lot of dancing (Monster Mash!) and a parade of costumes - a lot of fun!

 

 

 

 

Next stop - Pago Pago.

[SailorJack]

I'm seeing the same thing, although not for every Flickr photo, only the ones since Feb 23.

 

On the plus side, the Photobucket photos have made a miraculous recovery :D

 

 

 

You're kidding. The Photobucket pictures are back?? Are the Flickr photos showing up now as well?

 

I need to go back and check the previous photo postings. I can't believe this happened.:eek:

[jagsfan]

Computers certainly make life interesting!

[toberman]

You're kidding. The Photobucket pictures are back?? Are the Flickr photos showing up now as well?

 

I need to go back and check the previous photo postings. I can't believe this happened.:eek:

 

Here's what I've found Jack. All images up to page 15, post 291 are ok. They were uploaded as JPEG images. Starting with post 291 the images were uploaded as PNG images and are not showing up. Then starting today with post 319, once again they are JPEG images and are showing up. So obviously CC does not like PNG images.

Doug

[toberman]

Here's what I've found Jack. All images up to page 15, post 291 are ok. They were uploaded as JPEG images. Starting with post 291 the images were uploaded as PNG images and are not showing up. Then starting today with post 319, once again they are JPEG images and are showing up. So obviously CC does not like PNG images.

Doug

 

Did some more checking (cause I have time ;)) and found your pictures were actually uploaded as jpegs. Also CC does accept PNG extensions, so that can't be the problem. Actually - if anyone clicks on the image it will open in a new window. No idea what the problem is. On your flickr page they all show up but I can't save any implying they are tagged private for some reason even though the page indicates they're public.

[Jasperdo]

The photo situation is getting more and more bizarre. The photos still show up as "Unavailable" here in this thread. But if you click on it, it now goes to the proper photo you're describing. Yesterday, it went to a Flickr page that said the photo is private. So at least now, if you click on the "Unavailable" photo, you can at least see it on Flickr. And the photo does say it's public. So I'm at a loss to explain what's going on there. Your newest photos of Halloween onboard the ship are fine. They're showing up on the thread.

[SailorJack]

Our first view of Bora Bora. This was the only rainy day of our 30 day odyssey but we still enjoyed the beauty of this island.

 

 

 

 

Lots of rainbows on the way into port.

 

 

 

 

This rainbow started to form before our eyes.

 

 

 

 

And settled on this house...wonder if there is a pot of gold in there!:D