Live from the Amsterdam - Our Tales of the South Pacific

[hpf]

That man, the ex-Navy neighbor, is a true hero!

 

As I believe all of our service personnel are, and he continues even after he retired.

John & Diane I love reading all your post's on your south Pacific travels.

Helen

[arzz]

Day 21 - At Sea

 

Sea Day! I always enjoy them as they are a good chance to rest up for port days - but they do produce rather boring blogs. Temperature today is great sunny and in the low seventies with a little wind. A glorious day at sea.

 

I did forget to mention that yesterday as the Amsterdam pulled up to the dock in Apia, Samoa there was not only a small market set up on the dock, but there was a group of local dancers dancing a welcome to us. Most of the songs were island songs that they danced to but they did sneak in a lively rendition of the old Samoan classic: La Bomba.

 

At trivia today the team that won bested us by 3 points - I do not know where we stood in the scheme of things because we were too busy regrading our answer sheet - but three points is a rather large margin. So today we are kind of like the Chicago Cubs - there is no joy in Mudville. We did however learn that the original Swiss Army Knife had four features a knife, a can opener, a screw driver and a reamer or awl. In a deck of cards the King of Diamonds symbolizes Julius Caesar and there are 6 territories in Australia. The bonus question asked what kind of spider eats primarily fruits and flies, is only found naturally in Central and South America and is the most intelligent species of its sect. The spider monkey - a trick question but not too tricky for us and many others.

 

Though at sea today's program has no less than three lectures and Kukui Nut Bracelet Making in addition to the normal activities (trivia, bridge, watercolors, digital classes, a whiskey tasting, dominoes, boardgames and MahJongg, etc.) and the usual entertainments. Tonight is our third gala night. They were stretching the white chair covers onto the chairs as we left the dining room last night. Our next Gala night is Halloween - it will be interesting to see how that will work.

 

It is worthy of note that the laundry service this trip has been exceptional. More often than not laundry left for our stewards in the morning is returned the same day - usually left for us while we are at dinner. Laundry that we leave for the steward in the evenings is back the afternoon of the next day. Who could ask for more? Our cabin is cleaned promptly and well twice a day (our cabin stewards Ukiss and Andi are incredible), our laundry goes out and magically comes back clean and pressed - and I don't have to cook or clean up after meals. Best of all I don't have to food shop or plan meals. I could just live like this. I really get what those folks who get on the ship in September and leave after the world cruise are all about.

 

Tomorrow we will be in Suva, Fiji. And not to belabor things but just received tomorrow's program ... and guess what ... yes, tonight our clocks go BACK another hour! I am sending this early. I am having a great day and if anything interesting happens I will tell you tomorrow.

[kura]

Answer to that is incorrect.

There are 6 States....WA, Vic, NSW, SA, Qld, TAS, and only 2 Territories in Australia....ACT and NT!!

[CaveDiving]

Answer to that is incorrect.

There are 6 States....WA, Vic, NSW, SA, Qld, TAS, and only 2 Territories in Australia....ACT and NT!!

 

Isn't JBT also a territory of Australia?

 

Scott & Karen

[arzz]

Day 22 - Suva, Fiji

 

To CC poster Kura: You are quite right about the number of states not territories in Australia - my bad - Gene read the question right ("states"), we answered it right, I just did not type it right yesterday. Thank you - I stand corrected.

 

To finish yesterday's blog - we had a nice gala night dinner (lobster and tenderloin on the menu) and it was a nice evening but nothing that interesting happened so I didn't miss anything important by posting early.

 

This morning, our temporary Captain, Arjen Van der Loo, brought us alongside the dock in Suva on time at 8:00 am. We are here until 10:30 pm as our next port, Dravuni is less than 40 miles away.

 

The weather was again delightful - upper seventies, low eighties, with a cooling breeze. We picked up a taxi at the dock and asked to see what we did not see our last trip here in 2008 - in 2008 we went inland to the rain forest and were entertained with kava and hospitality in a small village. Our driver Rotu, whose name means chief, did just what we asked.

 

We drove around the capital city of Suva and saw the government buildings, markets, downtown, schools and churches as well as several neighborhoods. It is Saturday today so the schools were empty and everyone was in town shopping.

 

We asked Rotu what industries or jobs are there for the people of Suva and he drove us through the industrial areas in town - past fish processing plants, all manner of local industries that produce what is needed on the island as well as things that are shipped elsewhere, a small steel works, and the largest employer - a factory that processes wheat grain into flour. The wheat is grown in Australia, shipped to Fiji, processed here and then most of it goes back to Australia.

 

We were surprised that the Aussies move their wheat so far for processing - but first, Australia is not that far away, Rotu said it is a three hour plane ride so shipping the wheat here is like sending wheat from Illinois to Colorado or Nevada - and secondly labor is much cheaper here than in Australia. Other industries also take advantage of the economics also, like the clothing industry. Rotu admitted that they would like to get paid more, but if they push too hard for higher wages the industries that have moved here will just go elsewhere.

 

On our way back to the ship Rotu stopped at one of the fish processing plants and picked up some frozen cross sectional slices of fish which he showed to us. His extended family will be at his home tomorrow, Sunday, and the fish was for Sunday dinner.

 

The people here, like the people at our other ports are very friendly and often just wave to a passing taxi.

 

We returned to the ship for lunch and then left again for a walk into town. To do that we had to walk through the produce and fish markets - even though it was 2 pm the markets were still very busy - the produce markets selling Taro root, papayas, and all manner of tropical fruits and vegetables from the small individual stands of the farmers who get up at 2 am to drive into Suva and set up their stalls. Then there was the fish market - even in the afternoon there were still large varieties of fish on display for purchase - but, frankly, I would prefer to purchase the frozen fish that Rotu chose rather than the fish that was left in the open air market in mid afternoon. I might, however, have been happy to purchase there in the morning.

 

As we walked the locals all called out the greeting "bula" to us - and, of course, tried to interest us in the handicrafts that they had for sale.

 

The city of Suva, in contrast to our last few ports, is large and industrial - Rotu told us that there is a large Chinese influence here, too. The Chinese have purchased many properties and driven real estate prices up so that it is difficult for the local folks to afford to buy.

 

Speaking of Chinese influence - in the harbor this morning, just as we pulled into the dock, we passed what looked like a old style white cruise ship (only a few decks above the water, portholes, promenade deck) with several radar domes and three or four monstrous large satellite dishes seemingly aimed at the sky that are all mounted on the top deck. Right now, that ship's bow is pointed right at our cabin.

 

DH thought that maybe the ship was just a small cruise ship with super-fast internet. We asked Rotu about the ship and he said it is a Chinese training ship or school of some kind. We, on the other hand, wonder if the "students" on board can hear everything that we say - or maybe they hear everything said on Mars.

 

We have returned from dinner. The ship is very quiet. We are still in port and most of the ship complement is in the Queen's Lounge watching the folkloric show. We peeked in and it is standing room only. The first number that we heard sounded more like MoTown than Fiji. The second number more like Fiji - we might have stayed had we not had to stand.

 

We took a stroll around the promenade deck and looked at the very quiet dock - much different than it had been this morning. Continuing around to the starboard side, there is that white ship - all lit up - her bow is no longer facing us - she is now broadside to us. It is 10 pm and I am going to try and post this now. I hope the Chinese enjoy what we have done today - we did.

[arzz]

Day 23 - Dravuni, Fiji - or was it Paradise?

 

Dravuni Island is in the Kadavu Island group of Fiji about 40 from the capital of Suva on Viti Levu in Fiji where we were yesterday.

 

Our day was absolutely perfect. Upper seventies, clear skies, sunshine with a nice breeze. And Dravuni, well, it was South Pacific paradise.

 

Dravuni is a small island, about two miles long and part of a group of mountainous islands that are lush with tropical vegetation and each is circumscribed with white sand beaches. The island group is protected from the heavy surf by a large reef that surrounds them. To get here the Captain had to sail through a small, unmarked hole in the reef - apparently a storm knocked out the channel markers a few years ago so to help us navigate a few locals motored out in their small boats to mark the opening in the reef for the Amsterdam.

 

The island itself is home to a small village of about 200. They live in simple homes with tin roofs that are clustered near the beach and surround a traditional open-sided thatched roof community house that is complete with a large bowl for making kava.

 

The Amsterdam passengers tendered over to a small floating dock right on the beach. We were free to walk around, visit the village, hike to the top of the tallest peak, visit the school or enjoy a good swim in tropical waters that were so clear you could see the bottom from the tender for quite a ways as we came in.

 

The small school has its own building complete with desks and the other things one would expect to find in a school. I was struck by the poster on the wall of the international road signs wondering how this would mean anything to a child brought up in a place that only has narrow paths and the only motorized vehicles are boats. Many folks from the ship brought school supplies and/or donated to a fund that the teacher is saving to take the children to visit Suva as most have never been off the island.

 

As Gene, our cruise director said this morning, this is the real South Pacific.

 

The Amsterdam was anchored in the middle of this group of lush green mountainous bumps in the clear blue waters. As we prepared to leave, from my vantage point in the crow's nest, I could see the small boats on their way out to mark the clear channel for the Amsterdam. One of the small boats, with four island men out for the ride, motored quite close to our ship so that they could get photos on an iphone camera - they all waved.

 

What a day on this stunning trip.

[TENNCruisers]

Sounds like a perfect day. Thanks for taking us along.

[Copper10-8]

Day 22 - Suva, Fiji

 

................................Speaking of Chinese influence - in the harbor this morning, just as we pulled into the dock, we passed what looked like a old style white cruise ship (only a few decks above the water, portholes, promenade deck) with several radar domes and three or four monstrous large satellite dishes seemingly aimed at the sky that are all mounted on the top deck. Right now, that ship's bow is pointed right at our cabin.

 

DH thought that maybe the ship was just a small cruise ship with super-fast internet. We asked Rotu about the ship and he said it is a Chinese training ship or school of some kind. We, on the other hand, wonder if the "students" on board can hear everything that we say - or maybe they hear everything said on Mars.

 

.............................. Continuing around to the starboard side, there is that white ship - all lit up - her bow is no longer facing us - she is now broadside to us. It is 10 pm and I am going to try and post this now. I hope the Chinese enjoy what we have done today - we did.

 

Enjoying your review onboard AMDM. Here's your Chinese 'mystery ship' ;) She's the PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy) Yuan Wang 3, a tracking and support ship for satellites and intercontinental ballistic missiles

 

[chefestelle]

I am thoroughly enjoying this journey. Thanks for all these posts. I'm reading both threads and love them!

[arzz]

Day 24 - At Sea

 

Thank you Copper10-8 for the photo of the Chinese ship - it is similar to the one we saw in Suva, but not identical. I would post the picture that we took but it is on a different device and I cannot get it on my iPad right now. The only label on the ship we could see were the large letters "CSMTC". The ship we saw appears to be a bit of an upgrade over your photo - it has the life boats under the shelter of the promenade deck rather than out in the open, her superstructure is shaped somewhat differently, there is very little rust on it and there are actually more satellite dishes (four) and more other equipment. Same function, however, for sure.

 

A wonderful day at sea on our way to Tonga. Temperatures in the mid seventies, light winds, lots of sun - you almost need a sweater when out on deck today.

 

This morning there was a large crew drill where they postulated a fire on deck 4 forward - right after the drill and for quite a while after that, there were globs of foam floating in the air and sitting on the promenade deck - we could see them wafting down to the sea from our cabin window - whether the release of the fire foam was part of the drill or an artifact of a particularly enthusiastic crew member - who knows? But it sure made things look a bit "sudsy" for a while and added interest to our day.

 

We won at trivia - two more South Pacific pins to add to our collection. We found out that Mozart wrote "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", that "Ted Healy and his Southern Gentlemen" was an early name for the Three Stooges, and Paprika means "pepper" in Hungarian. The only question we missed was about the original weapons in the game of clue - Gene said the missing weapon from his list was the wrench (I agree there was a wrench) but our team felt (and may I say rightly so) that the lead pipe was also missing from Gene's list - but maybe the pipe was not an "original" weapon in the game of Clue. The game I grew up with was old - it had a small pipe in it made of real lead (something they would not do today), as well as a wrench, but maybe not an old enough version. All in a day's trivia.

 

We have now passed the western most point of our journey, our clocks are moving forward, and our heading is east southeast as we cruise toward Tonga.

 

After several days of demonstrations of cooking with the quintessential South Pacific treat, spam, our cooking experts have moved on to tuna and papaya as their local ingredients. Our scheduled evening entertainment is a musical group from Liverpool, "Ukebox" who claim to play the ukulele as we have "never heard it before". DH says the image of this brings all sorts of images and sounds to mind. Maybe we will get there and I will let you know.

[chefestelle]

I have friends who play ukulele! I hope you enjoy the show

Edited October 26, 2015 by chefestelle

[durangoscots]

Day 24 - At Sea

 

Our scheduled evening entertainment is a musical group from Liverpool, "Ukebox" who claim to play the ukulele as we have "never heard it before". DH says the image of this brings all sorts of images and sounds to mind. Maybe we will get there and I will let you know.

 

Hope you enjoy "Ukebox".... I did when I hear them earlier this year on the Princendam. And enjoy Tonga... one of my favorites. Thanks for keeping us posted.... I am beginning to seriously consider this cruise, or one similar.

 

Susan

[arzz]

Day 25 - Nuku'Alofa, Tonga

 

Today we were in the kingdom of Tonga - the only country that was never colonized in this region. I think we figured out why (or at least part of the reason). Nuku'Alofa is protected by a complicated system of coral reefs that required the Amsterdam to zig zag both into and out of the harbor.

 

This morning we arrived alongside the dock early - extra points for Captain Van Der Loo, I thought at the time. We got up, went to breakfast and then took a look at where we were from the promenade deck. Our starboard side was up against the dock which runs parallel to the shore, about 100-150 feet out from the shoreline. The dock is maybe 40 feet wide, and on the other side of the dock, the tide was OUT - and the rocky sea bottom was exposed. There were local men with buckets walking around in ankle deep water scouring the tide pools for tidbits. This rocky bottom was only a few feet from where the Amsterdam was floating (or, at least, we hope that she was floating). We suspect the Captain put the pedal to the metal in order to beat the rapidly receding tides in to shore.

 

The weather today was sunny and 73. Perfect again.

 

Along the walkway from the dock to the shore the locals had set up a straw market. We were at a cruise ship dock, not an industrial dock, so we were in the center of town. No need for shuttles. The town itself is tidy and clean. The Tongan people are proud of their heritage and of their King. He is often referenced in the various signs around town. Walking into town there was a Tonga cultural show in one of the city squares. The influence of foreign culture is also apparent - as we saw at the restaurant named "Kabobs-Yeeros". Lots of carved wooden trinkets and sculptures for sale.

 

There were tours available today that went to blow holes, a museum, a place where there were giant fruit bats and other things to see. Today we did not tour - we took it easy.

 

By the time we were ready to leave port the tide had poured back in to shore and there was no one rummaging in the tide pools any longer. We sat in the Crow's Nest listening to David on the guitar and watched the Amsterdam zig zag her way out to the final gap in the coral reef. We were quite entertained (and a little alarmed) by a large catamaran that was motoring right in our path. The captain blew his horn. No response from the Catamaran. He blew it again, and the sail boat started to change course then returned to its original heading. Once more on the horn and the same lack of response. After several tries the Captain finally just sat on the horn for a significant time and the sail boat finally got the message ... it crossed in FRONT of the Amsterdam and pulled out of our path at very much the last moment. Some of us were tempted to run to the stern to watch the sail boat absorb the wake from our giant ship.

 

Tomorrow we will be at another island in the Kingdom of Tonga.

[Alberta Quilter]

Wow, that's quite the story about the catamaran! Something similar happened to us once as we arrived at Santorini but the boat that crossed our path was a large ferry boat whose captain should have known better. Our captain was not a happy camper, when asked about the incident at a Q&A a few days later.

 

Thank you for your reports!

[chefestelle]

That was wonderful to wake up to! Thanks.

[Lizzie68]

Thanks for another great report, and wow on the catamaran. I guess he was playing chicken with the cruise ship.:eek: Idiots are everywhere.

[DoggyDaddy]

Do sailing ships have the right of way on the high seas? If so, he might have thought he was in the right! However, I wouldn't mess around with a cruise ship, if I was right or not!

 

 

DD

[cccole]

I just got caught up on Jeff's photo journal of your cruise on amazingvoyages2.blogspot.com and think I saw a photo of the Chinese ship you referred to in Suva. Possibly this will help Copper10-8 identify the ship.

 

Love all of your daily reports. Cherie

[arzz]

Day 26 - Neiafu, Vava'u, Tonga

 

Another gorgeous day in the South Pacific. Temperatures in the mid seventies, sunshine. Today's port was in the Vava'u group of islands in the Kingdom of Tonga. This group of islands stretches green bumps and fingers through reef laden channels in the blue waters. And everything that happened here today was a surprise as there was not even information about this island in the "explorer" booklets in our cabin.

 

Today was a tender port and in the end, the most challenging part of the day was the tenders. To put it simply, the tide goes in and the tide goes out. The tender ride itself was simple - cool air wafted through the open window in the front as we cruised very calm seas. The surprise came when we got to the tender dock on the island. The tide was out and even with a set of stairs on the floor of the tender there was still an unaccounted for three foot vertical step up to the pier.

 

With the help of the incredible Holland America stewards everyone got off the tender without incident.

 

We then walked through the straw markets and produce markets at the dock. We were very carefully controlled by the locals to only go in certain directions. Taxis were abundantly available to take folks where ever. The straw market was full of shell, wood, and whale bone jewelry as well as wooden carved trinkets, polished sea shells, and other local crafts. The produce market was full of tarot root, papayas, mangoes, tomatoes and other tropical goodies.

 

We were surprised by the number of villages that we could see on this island that we never heard of. There were also school children in their uniforms - the girls wearing yellow ribbons in their hair, the boys in slacks or local skirts on their lunch break. Many on board went to the beach which we understand was not only lovely but full of fish to see and snorkel to. We ran into a couple of passengers who had just come back from Holland America's new tour "Swim with the Whales" which they said was absolutely spectacular.

 

Ok, now it was time to go back to the ship. It was a short day visit, all aboard at 2:30 pm. The tide was still out. We sat on benches at the tender dock listening to a local ukulele band play local tune and other Tongan favorites like "Home on the Range" and "The Hokie Pokie" ... they were upbeat and fun to listen to nonetheless.

 

We watched the next tender come in. We watched the passengers painstakingly climb up to the pier one at a time. Many essentially pulled up by the stewards working the exit. Then it came time to board the tender - the challenge was to get folks down into the boat safely. They laid a beach towel on the ground in front of the entrance to the tender and folks who were unable to navigate the large drop on their feet were encouraged, and helped, to sit down on the dock and lower themselves onto the tender in that manner. It was a time consuming process that was handled with patience, and great care by the staff. They really earned their wages today.

 

This does bring up the specter of what do they tell the folks back home in Indonesia, after a day like today, about what they did all day. Maybe best not to ask.

 

Needless to say we did not leave port on time. But once again, Holland America has offered us an apology for something that they could not control (the tides) - we will be treated to some bubbly this evening with our dessert.

 

We watched sail away from the Crow's Nest as the Amsterdam snaked her way through this island chain out into the open ocean. As we left we could see several small fields burning - the fields did not look large enough to be sugar cane fields - yet they were definitely doing controlled burns. I keep hoping to see whales or dolphins but have made no personal sightings yet this trip even though many others on board have been treated to wildlife views. It is all about Location, Location, Location and I guess mine is never quite right.

 

We have an early morning excursion tomorrow so I will end today's report now.

[arzz]

Day 27 - Alofi, Niue - and it is Wednesday again!

 

Yes sir, we crossed the date line for the fourth time this trip on our way to Alofi - and it is Wednesday, October 28 for the second time. This should be our last crossing and to commemorate the occasion we all received our "Crossing the Dateline Certificates" signed by Captain Arjen van der Loo. The certificates read as follows:

 

"The International Date Line is the imaginary line on the Earth that separates two consecutive calendar days. That is the date in the Eastern hemisphere, to the left of the line, which is always one day ahead of the date in the Western hemisphere. It has been recognized as a matter of convenience and has no force in international law.

 

Without the International Date Line travelers going westward would discover that when they returned home, one day more than they thought had passed, even though they had kept careful tally of the days. This first happened to Magellan's crew after the first circumnavigation of the globe. Likewise, a person traveling eastward would find that one fewer days had elapsed than he had recorded, as happened to Phileas Fogg in "Around the World in Eighty Days" by Jules Verne.

 

The International Date Line can be anywhere on the globe. But it is most convenient to be 180 degrees away from the defining meridian that goes through Greenwich, England. It is also fortunate that this area is covered, mainly, by empty ocean. However, there have always been zigs and zags in it to allow for circumstances. Over the years, the position of the International Date Line has changed several times. The most recent change in the line was in 2011, when Samoa shifted to west of the International Date Line by skipping Friday 30, December 2011. The International Date Line now passes between Samoa and American Samoa, with American Samoa remaining aligned with the American date. Samoa made the change because Australia and New Zealand have become its biggest trading partners. Being 21 hours behind made business difficult because having weekends on backward days meant only four days of the week were shared workdays. As with all other changes in the International Date Line, the change was made by a government with local interests. As a result, the line is as far East as 150 degrees, farther east than Honolulu. The position given on most maps is the line drawn by the British Admiralty in 1921."

 

In case anyone out there is interested the certificates also journal the four crossings that we have made this trip:

 

15:55 on the 17th, Position 03 degrees 30.2 minutes N, 159 degrees 35.9 minutes W

12:49 on the 18th, Position 00 degrees 46.5 minutes S, 162 degrees 11.5 minutes W

23:26 on the 20th, Position 14 degrees 12.4 minutes S, 171 degrees 07.1 minutes W

05:39 on the 28th, Position 18 degrees 59.0 minutes S, 170 degrees 21.2 minutes W

 

Our weather today is sunny and mid seventies expected to rise to the low eighties.

 

Alofi is one of the island visits we are making this trip that I had never heard of before booking this voyage. Gene, our cruise director, told me yesterday that due to the tendering and weather situation he had personally never made it into this island before - but here we are today, the tenders are operating and the weather is beautiful.

 

The ocean water is quite deep almost all the way up to the shores of this island. There is no protective reef that surrounds this island like there has been at our last few ports. As such, the tender rides in were short but the harbor is not protected at all which explains why it is so difficult to find a good day for cruise ships to come in here. We were just lucky.

 

Niue was first sighted by Captain Cook in 1774. Apparently Cook first named the island after England's Prince Frederick but changed the name to "Savage Island" after receiving "greetings" from the locals (decedents of Tonga and Samoa) - that is not the meaning of Niue, the current name of the island. Eventually Niue was turned over to New Zealand in 1901 and became independent in 1974 but the island retains strong ties to New Zealand - residents of Niue are citizens of New Zealand, and the island also still operates on New Zealand currency.

 

Today DH had an excursion arranged with a group from Cruise Critic to tour the island. I stayed on the ship.

 

This island has the distinction of being the "world's largest coral atoll". Unlike our last few ports in Fiji and Tonga the island is not ringed by sandy beaches - instead there are steep rocky cliffs. In many places along the shore there are caves that have been washed out by the surf and connect the island to the sea. The beaches, such as they are, are not soft sand but rocky coral.

 

DH's tour brought them to two caves full of natural cave formations and both caves led out to the sea. His photos are spectacular - the formations on this island are unlike any others we have seen. They got to swim and snorkel at a natural ravine where a flow of fresh water meets sea water and creates an unusual water texture, visit a do-it-yourself bar and saw several sites along the coast that had been destroyed by a tsunami and were not yet rebuilt. There was also a stop at a stunning local resort.

 

I heard many stories of what other folks did on Alofi today and they speak to an island population of about 1200 who greatly extended themselves to offer tours and other personal experiences to make today a special one.

[arzz]

Day 28 - At Sea and on our way to Rarotonga

 

Another sea day - how easily we slip into the rhythm of being at sea. Lazy mornings with dining room breakfast followed by the crossword from the Times Daily. I was rather proud of myself today as I conquered the Thursday puzzle completely.

 

At trivia we found out that our team is currently in the cumulative lead - so what did we do today? We came in third! The Woodstock festival lasted three days, the most common mode of transportation in the bible was walking, in the song "Wake Up Little Suzie" the activity that they were doing was watching a drive in movie and the French Revolution lasted ten years. Oh, yeah, the plural of tortoise in English is tortoises.

 

That pretty much was our day - or that was the interesting part of our day - we did little else other than walk the promenade deck, and listen to music in the Crow's Nest while watching the denim seas ... oh, and I saw my first marine life from the ship - some flying fish. Others have spotted whales and dolphins from time to time, but at least I finally saw some flying fish. Better than nothing.

[Copper10-8]

I just got caught up on Jeff's photo journal of your cruise on amazingvoyages2.blogspot.com and think I saw a photo of the Chinese ship you referred to in Suva. Possibly this will help Copper10-8 identify the ship.

 

Love all of your daily reports. Cherie

 

Same class ship (tracking and support ship for satellites and intercontinental ballistic missiles)

third generation/newer version; PLAN Yuan Wang 6, thanks! Sorry for the drift Arzz!;)

 

[Flyingfish]

Hey, I resent that "better than nothing" remark. LOL

[arzz]

Day 29 - Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

 

Sunny and seventies. Don't mean to be repetitious, but our weather so far has been stupendous. Rarotonga is a small island with green fuzzy craggy mountains and sparkling white beaches that can be circumnavigated by vehicle in about an hour. It is surrounded by turquoise oceans and coral reefs and is home to a lagoon that is full of aquatic life.

 

Today was another tender port. We were able to anchor not far off shore so the tender ride was short but there were some swells which made loading the tenders a bit slow though nothing like they were the other day.

 

This island has a significant population and is no stranger to the tourist. We saw the first airplanes flying today that we have seen since we left Hawaii. I guess we are back in the more developed world. The local currency is the New Zealand dollar and we met several folks from New Zealand and Australia on the island today as well as locals.

 

Though not large, they do have a local bus system - and it is a system. The buses drive all the way around the island ... in two directions. There is the bus labeled "clockwise" and the other bus labeled "anticlockwise" and for the tidy sum of $5 New Zealand if you are alone, or $4 pp New Zealand if there are two of you, you can ride the bus (one US$ = 1.35 New Zealand dollars) - so ride the bus we did - all the way around the island.

 

The coast line was visible for much of the trip - large roller waves coming in and breaking on the reefs not far from shore, beaches and rocky coast line decorated with water of incredible shades of blue. On the other side there was thick vegetation including palm trees, colorful flowering everything, and all manner of tropical island greenery. There were lots of homes along the road that were in good repair and reminded me of the homes on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii.

 

We also passed several resorts and any number of restaurants - you can tell that island life here includes a significant tourist community. If it wasn't so danged far from home I could easily become a tourist here. It was also not unusual to spot raised stone or concrete graves next to or in front of family homes.

 

As the bus wound its way around the island folks got on and off - stopping at resorts or the seaside or one of the villages. When we were almost back to the tender pier our driver offered us a chance to get off the bus "in town" - just a "five minute" walk back to the tender pier.

 

DH had not been able to download any email in days so he voted to get off in town and seek some wi-fi. We were advised, over and over again, that there is no free wi-fi on the island but we should go to "Blue Sky" as they have the best wi-fi, and each person told us it wasn't far and was in a big white building. It took us a while to find. It was not far, and ultimately it was easy to find (once we passed other buildings and trees) because in front of "Blue Sky" is the largest satellite dish we have seen since that Chinese ship in Suva, Fiji.

 

Yes, the internet was very good, and very fast, and cost $10.00 New Zealand for 150 megabytes of data - of which we used a fraction - but DH is happy. Whatever is left is still good for 30 days, but we doubt that we will be in another "Blue Sky" area in that time - but who knows?

 

Then there was that "five minute" walk back to the tender pier - in weather that was not really hot except for the tropical sunshine. The walk was interesting - we walked oceanside, and then down a dirt road past a line of colorfully painted small old homes that are now all tourist shops - and finally, about 25 minutes later, back to the tender pier. By that time the offered cold wet towels were more than welcome.

 

We are now cruising towards Bora Bora where we will arrive day after tomorrow. What follows is a marathon of six French Polynesian port days in a row.

[edstexaslady]

This is all so interesting. Have read the entire blog this morning and hope to do this cruise next year. We are going on the 55 day cruise to the Mediterranean in March. Our first cruise of this length so will see if we like it. Think I could live on a cruise but not sure how my sweet hubby will do. The Amsterdam is our favourite ship so that part would make him very happy. Will continue following your great blog -- thanks so much for doing this.

Betty