Guam - Santiago Sep. 8 - Oct. 17. Missives from The Andesite Line on Pursuit

[Fletcher]

My deepest thanks to @highplanesdrifters for visiting Nan Madol for me, a place I have long hankered after.  Well, I hanker no more.  How disappointing to see the site in such a state of neglect.  May I ask, was it not an option for the Pursuit to anchor offshore and zodiac guests in or maybe just offer a zodiac cruise?  Looking at the photos on Flickr people are there in boats and even kayaks.

 

I'm excited by this thread and look forward to more from its intrepid author. 

[highplanesdrifters]

2 hours ago, johng75370 said:

Speaking for others on Team Lovie, hoping for a quick return to onboard life!

 

So kind. All is well! Turns out road rash is easily cured by an espresso martini.😄

[highplanesdrifters]

2 hours ago, lincslady said:

Thank you for doing all that for the rest of us.  That is a humdinger of a report.  Do hope all is well with Lovie, and no nasty bugs picked up.  I wonder if Seabourn has done that expedition before, and if they will do it again.

 

 

I believe it was their first time there.  Will they return...stay tuned.😄

[highplanesdrifters]

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

My deepest thanks to @highplanesdrifters for visiting Nan Madol for me, a place I have long hankered after.  Well, I hanker no more.  How disappointing to see the site in such a state of neglect.  May I ask, was it not an option for the Pursuit to anchor offshore and zodiac guests in or maybe just offer a zodiac cruise?  Looking at the photos on Flickr people are there in boats and even kayaks.

 

I'm excited by this thread and look forward to more from its intrepid author. 

 

Thank you kind sir. 

I'm not sure we will have more excitement than this one. We'll have plenty of what Lovie calls SDS - Song, Dance, and Souvenirs!

 

As for the disrepair,  yes the jungle has been doing what jungles do with little tourism or government dollars to support it.  Perhaps they should earmark some money from all that Asian fishing revenue.   

 

I wish we had more time and a private guide as I was rather focused on not killing myself.  I still can't wrap my brain around this amazing place being here in the middle of nowhere.  I'm glad we came. 

 

We also wondered why they didn't anchor nearby and zodiac in.  Will be asking the EL.  Could be swells, no suitable landing,  permission from locals, need to pay the piper....you know the drills.

 

Side stories -

When we arrived at the main site a woman went ballistic on her husband when she found out she had to hike back AND get in the nasty van for a hour plus ride. She thought the zodiacs would be waiting. She yelled "I'm sitting down and I'm not going anywhere".  That was before it started to rain buckets. 🤣  I'm sure there was hell to pay. Perhaps some of those Tahitian Pearls the boutique was having a special on.

 

A rumor I will check out -

There was a story of an hour hold up on the afternoon excursion. A woman went missing. Story was she went snorkeling.   Hmmmm.

 

 

 

[highplanesdrifters]

We are on the first of back to back sea days.  Ahhhhh.

 

Late breakfast and some brown boobie watching. They are crazy cool acrobats going after flying fish. Saw a few of those too.  Whale spouts were spotted in the distance.  These should increase as we near Paupa New Guinea. 

 

 

 

They got one.

 

 

Not the best video, I'll keep trying. You can see how quickly they turn and dive. Whoosh!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lincslady]

I hope the missing woman bit was a joke?

[ajpeter]

.....now that is adventure, thats why you are on an expedition ship😁. Fab. Thanks for the report and pics

[highplanesdrifters]

A bit of a cheesy afternoon fun. Equator crossing ceremony.  The CD was hilarious. I can see why he is a favorite. 

 

 

 

Hotel Director Guy.

 

 

 

LUPI, Great CD....🤣🤣🤣

 

 

 

 

 

[kej1]

@highplanesdrifters thank you for showing all of us Nan Madol.  Pursuit did not visit it on our trip last spring and having read about it we were a bit disappointed it was not on the itinerary.  Well, I’m actually very happy to have seen it instead through your wonderful photos and commentary!  I think for us armchair travel on this has been the way to go.  Thank you for taking the plunge and sharing it.  Fascinating to see from home!  Hope Lovie recovers soon.  Perfect you now have two sea days after that adventure!

[highplanesdrifters]

Before I describe last night's wine/waiter incident it is important to point out that service and staff on the ship have been fantastic.  It is one incident and non indicative of this sailing. The wine.....that's another story.

 

Major Rant

We had a rude altercation with a waiter at dinner last night.  When I asked him what else he was pouring he said "what do you want?".  I expressed my wine desires, Sancre or something with a little minerality and he didn't understand what they were. Then he just turned and walked away.  Came back 10 minutes later with more plonk. I asked if there were any "fine " wines like advertised. He snapped and said this is all we have, just order from the revenue list. He then turned and disappeared again

We have now been sitting for twenty minutes.  No one else was offered any wine or dinner orders taken.  We finally grabbed the restaurant manager who clearly was tired of the wine complaints. Asked for the sommelier, then asked for some Champagne and placed a food order. Thirty plus minutes in waiter comes back with Champagne and we asked for the sommelier again.  We were told he was busy pouring revenue wines.  Jeeeeesh.

 

Eventually the Head Sommiler showed up. He was very kind, conciliatory and apologized for the problem with the included wines. He gave us a list, finally!  Agreed they were plonk.  Asked us to contact the head office. What a sad state of things.

 

Met with the HD and F&B manager today who were honest and open about the state of things.  I was assured that this is not a trend and that the included wine list will get better but perhaps not on this cruise. Apologies for the waiter issues, unacceptable. 

 

Athough we usually spend a bit on the revenue wines, I'm not spending one dime on Seabourn revenue wines this time. We'll hit CareFour in Papeete. The HD said he would try and join me.

 

Rise up sheeple, contact Natalya.

 

Here's the "included fine wine" list.

 

 

 

Edited September 15 by highplanesdrifters

[Redking]

So disappointing to read of your bad experience with the wine. Given they acknowledged the issue, you'd think they could at least serve some wine from the revenue wines by way of compensation.

[LandlockedLolli]

On 9/12/2024 at 3:23 PM, highplanesdrifters said:

Collinade redemption - Thai night

 

But first a little cocktail Caviar party.

 

 

 

Some tunes and cocktail station. Something fruity and something minty.

 

I'm going simple and classic.

 

 

Pretty tasty Thai for cruise ship

 

Grapefruit shrimp salad, solid 9.

 

 

Green chicken curry, 8.

 

 

Regular Pad Thai, missed the mark.  Not pictured was a special order Pad Thai that stole the show with a 10.

 

 

Up next a jungle hike to the Archeology Site of Nan Madol on the mysterious island of Pohnpei.....stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

Baby J size champagne there 🙂

[highplanesdrifters]

On 9/14/2024 at 11:17 AM, kej1 said:

@highplanesdrifters thank you for showing all of us Nan Madol.  Pursuit did not visit it on our trip last spring and having read about it we were a bit disappointed it was not on the itinerary.  Well, I’m actually very happy to have seen it instead through your wonderful photos and commentary!  I think for us armchair travel on this has been the way to go.  Thank you for taking the plunge and sharing it.  Fascinating to see from home!  Hope Lovie recovers soon.  Perfect you now have two sea days after that adventure!

 

Thanks for the kind wishes, all is well on the injury front. Another thanks for the intro to the private guides in Honaria.  We have something booked with them!

[highplanesdrifters]

On 9/15/2024 at 12:22 AM, Redking said:

So disappointing to read of your bad experience with the wine. Given they acknowledged the issue, you'd think they could at least serve some wine from the revenue wines by way of compensation.

 

😂😂😂  Hell freezing over in the South Pacific is unlikely.  Perhaps a few bottles of a Montrachet could ease the pain.

 

Now that I know what's on the included list, I did try the Guissier Rose and it was quaffable.  Sadly I've become rather sensitive to wine.  Reds kill me in the morning. I really miss them.   Even if you like the taste of them, all those cheap whites are a monster headache waiting to happen.

Edited Sunday at 08:09 PM by highplanesdrifters

[highplanesdrifters]

We contine to feel that the best food and service is in the Collinade for dinner. Another Earth and Ocean last night delicious. It is usually us, a few other couples and the expedition staff.  I'm mystified. 

 

Hamachi and pickled vegetables 

 

 

Miso Cod and bok choy

 

 

Tandoori chicken.  My sister got this one and I was jealous. A good kick of spice and flavor!

 

 

 

 

[highplanesdrifters]

4 hours ago, LandlockedLolli said:

Baby J size champagne there 🙂

 

I needed a big straw.

[highplanesdrifters]

Yesterday was another gorgeous sea day.  Minimal swell, no wind and glassey seas.  Spent part of the morning on the bow.  Saw flying fish, something that may have been a squid, or a stick that looked like a squid.  Some saw pilot whales and dolphins.  Not many birds, a few ubiquitous Boobies.

 

For the birders -

 

We spotted a small bird that was NOT a brown boobie.  It was flapping away, overtaking the ship and leaving us in the dust.  Yelled to Joe Cochran who was near....and he got excited.

 

It was a rare sea sighting of a Whimbril, flying at approximately  50km per hour.  It makes a non stop 4,000 mile trek from Siberia to  PNG or Australia. 

Very cool.

 

This is Joe's picture

 I do not have the skill sets nor the camera to pull this off.

 

 

 

[Fletcher]

1 hour ago, highplanesdrifters said:

 

Thanks for the kind wishes, all is well on the injury front. Another thanks for the intro to the private guides in Honaria.  We have something booked with them!

 

The US war memorial near Honiara is fantastic.

[frantic36]

1 hour ago, highplanesdrifters said:

  Perhaps a few bottles of a Montrachet could ease the pain.

I do hope this is an attempt at humour?

[highplanesdrifters]

7 hours ago, frantic36 said:

I do hope this is an attempt at humour?

 

Feeble perhaps. 😄

[highplanesdrifters]

8 hours ago, Fletcher said:

 

The US war memorial near Honiara is fantastic.

 

Good to know. 

We going off trend and have arranged for a Cocoa plantation tour.  Hoping for a spinby if time permits. 

[PrincessTraveller]

Hate to ask, and sorry as I seemed to have missed it in the thread, but who is the recommended guide for Honiara?  We're there in just over a year.  Thanks!

[highplanesdrifters]

Bakawari Island, Papua New Guinea 

 

Me happy.

 

 

The day did have an ominous beginning. Doorbell rang at 6am.  I scrambled a robe and opened it to a hall full of engineers.  Something about a leak on our balcony. After they got over the fright of me in the morning they solved the problem

Fun way to start the day.😁

 

 

Now off to the island for some snorkeling followed by some preformances.

 

 

Hmmmmm.

 

 

Google translate 

 

 

 

Poor visibility, got a few snaps just for fun.  Oh so heavenly to float around in tropical waters.

 

 

Blue stars never disappoint. 

 

 

Pretty aggressive clowns. Even bit me. Should have know it was coming.  Look at that side eye.

 

 

 

 

[highplanesdrifters]

There were three preformances.  The first group went to the dance finals in Micronesia. Videos to come when the internet God's allow. 

 

IMHO, the real show is the locals.

 

 

Last trip down here we rarely saw a cell phone.

 

Check out that satellite dish.

 

Idyllic 

 

The guys played the bamboo pipes with flip flops.

 

 

 

 

I wish I could have heard the pre preformance instructions. 😄

 

 

We ended the day chatting with this group.  What fun and betel nut smiles.   The wanted to know so much and especially wanted to talk about the U.S. election. Asked who I was voting for and I replied NOBODY. That got roars. Asked for pictures with us. 

 

[highplanesdrifters]

36 minutes ago, PrincessTraveller said:

Hate to ask, and sorry as I seemed to have missed it in the thread, but who is the recommended guide for Honiara?  We're there in just over a year.  Thanks!

 

No worries, happy to share.

@kej1 used them on her trip in the spring. Kudos belong to her.😃

 

Let me know if you can read this.