Big Loser goes to French Polynesia

Today’s the big day Monday, April 24, the lip syncing contest.  The winner opens for the crew’s lip syncing contest later on in the cruise, and that would be fun, but there’s some really, really stiff competition.  My number is Peggy Lee’s, “Big Spender,” a song that I love, and the final rehearsal went well.  The only problem is that the show isn’t until 9:30 p.m.  Luckily, we gained an hour, and they moved it up a half hour from 10 p.m.  So, in reality, it will only be 8:30.  Yay.  I’m thinking NoDoze.

The Explorers Lounge was packed, but my fans were in the front row, coming more than an hour in advance to be there and in the good seats.  Champagne was there for the contestants, so I passed mine on to others.  One or two may have started early.  Haha.

And then, it was time.  I was first on, a bad place in the lineup as I had to follow our cruise guide, who was absolutely awesome.  I’d say he’s done it a time or twenty.  All I can say is that it was a great time, the performers did a fine job and the people who won, Ray and Cath, were the best and totally deserved the win.  I’d do it again in a heartbeat. 

Ta dah.  (Photo by Stef)

Plus I made some new friends who are absolutely wonderful people … Ray and Cath (Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious), Maria and Richard (You’re the One that I Want from the movie, “Grease”), Pat (RESPECT) and Jim.  (If you want to see the video, ask me.  I couldn't get it to post here.)

The group.  Wonderful and fun people, all.  (Photo by Stef)

Of course, once the show was over even being a “Big Loser” I was totally ramped up and didn’t want to go to sleep.  But finally, I settled in for the night.  Yay.

The Beautiful Emerald Princess moved along and Bora Bora (pronounced Pora Pora, meaning first-born) was on the horizon for Tuesday, April 25.  It was another beautiful port, but one we’d have to take a tender for as the port isn’t deep enough for the ship.

There was this interesting boat in the bay.  I was told it was a tramp steamer.  You get on it with a certain destination in mind, but you're not 100 percent sure when you'll get there.  Sounded very interesting until I heard they didn't have a Horizon Court or an International Café where I could get a flat white coffee.

I’d had to cancel my snorkeling excursion due to the doctor’s recommendation, and was awaiting an ophthalmologist appointment a few days away in Papeete, French Polynesia.  I was disappointed but need to make sure my eye is okay, and it certainly feels a lot better now with the drops. 

There’d been doctor visits a couple of times to find an ophthalmologist, get the appointment set up, get a confirmation and a ride to the clinic confirmed.  Every time there’s a huge line to see the doctors … the ship of sickies.  Coughing, hacking, sneezing.  It was never-ending, especially when you toss in the occasional black eye, sprained something, broken limbs, and lots of sea sickness.  But I got to the head of the line every time and had very nice conversations with Doctor Kate, who I believe welcomed them from the usual ones. 

Mike and Vangie and I took the tender in as I’d decided to walk around a bit with them.  Stef had gone earlier and we met up with her.  I quickly lost them all somewhere, but wasn’t too worried as I knew I could find my way back.  There was a small market that I wandered about in, and then I stepped out toward the street. 

I like that they can deliver flowers in the back of a pick-up truck.

Across the street there was a scooter rental place.  I was thinking I could maybe rent a scooter and ride about a bit.  I wandered over and asked the young lady about renting a scooter for a few hours.  She spoke in either French or Tahitian to another older lady behind the counter.  She then responded to me, “No!”  No explanation, nothing.  I was rather shocked and just left.  Maybe they were all reserved.  Or maybe I was too old?  Too female?  I have no idea, and didn’t follow up, although when I returned later there were still scooters.  Just saying.

I spotted some bright-colored canoes.  They were pretty, just setting on the beach, waiting for someone to take them on the water.  Wasn't me.  Haven't tried one of these yet, but I've not ruled it out.

I wandered on down the road, and went into a grocery store to get a bottle of water as it was quite warm and I didn’t want to go through the whole heatstroke thing again.  As I came out of the store, I politely asked a local man walking in if I could ask him a question for directions.  He wouldn’t even talk to me and pointedly moved away from me, and walked on.  Wow.

At least the store let me use their lady's room, although it was a guy who came out of it while I waited.

And there were some interesting brands of booze.

I continued walking, and found that I could see volcanic steam vents around.

There was an interesting place to keep shoes.

And lots of good things to eat.  I didn't try one, though.  Princess feeds me really well on the ship.

I would like to try a breadfruit, though, but this was in someone's yard.

But, there were some gentlemen playing music, and I danced hula with them.  Our instructor, Maile, says we should dance anytime we can, so I did. 

They played well, but I didn't try.  My dancing was better than my playing.  Was still fun.

There was also a fabric store I entered, with bolt after bolt of beautiful, bright material.  It’s a joy to see all the color.

The colors and the prints were magnificent.

Vendors lined the street, and you could buy all kinds of fun things, including windsocks, black pearl jewelry, coconuts.

When I returned to the cruise port area I caught a bus down to a local watering hole called Bloody Mary’s.  To me, it was rather a neat bar, but the most interesting thing here was the restroom sink … it was a waterfall.

An interesting place with sugar sand as a floor and coconut stumps to sit on.  It's supposedly been a watering hole for the rich and famous, including Jack Klugman, Denzel Washington, Cameron Diaz, Carrie Underwood, Johnny Depp and Pat Tillman.  I only wandered in, through and out.

There was even a traffic guard to make sure no one got run over.

Pull the ring at the upper left, and the waterfall starts so you can wash your hands.  I tested it.  It worked great.

The view around here sure is something to see.

There's nothing like the scent of sweet-smelling flowers.

Or water so clear you can see to the bottom ...

Back on the bus I got, and rode around to the beach and back to the ship area.  While Bora Bora is not nearly as filthy as Pago Pago, I have to say some of the locals I tried to speak with were not as friendly, except for the ones in the market trying to sell you something. 

But the water and the beaches are gorgeous.

And I love the palm trees.

I made it back onto the ship in time for a perfect afternoon tea with little sandwiches, scones and cookies.  Despite a few downsides, it all ended on a high note.

Then it was time to sail away.

There were reefs on either side of us.

The island is small, only six miles long and two-and-a-half miles wide, with a population of 8,927 (2007).  Small, but oh, so beautiful, with an ideal average temperature of 79 degrees.

Polynesia, Here We Come

We arrived in Pago Pago, (pronounced Pahngo Pahngo in the Samoan language) on Saturday, April 22.  About 11,500 people live in Pago Pago (2000), which is on the Island of Tutuila, the largest island of American Samoa.  It’s located about 4,200 miles southwest of San Francisco and has been a territory of the U.S. since 1900 when the harbor was used as the site of an American naval base.

The port from the ship was incredibly beautiful, palm trees swaying gently in the breeze, turquoise-blue water.   We were eager to get off the Emerald Princess and explore.  But, due to construction on the wharf, the usual tie ups were gone.  Non-existent.  The stern of the ship was secured, but there was no place for the bow to be tied off.  It seemed strange that no one apparently thought to inform our Captain.  Eventually, after some shuffling of other boats, and some climbing over construction and another small boat, the bow was secured at a tie up quite a distance away.  I didn’t realize our ship had so much rope.  I’d bet our Captain was fuming. 

We finally got off the ship about an hour late.  There were dancers who greeted us and it was lovely to hear the music and watch them.

This tree was carved, and so pretty.  We've seen a couple of these on this trip.

Our mission today was to walk around and find the StarKist Tuna Factory.  We walked to it as we could see it from afar around from where the harbor was located.  It turned out to be further than I’d thought, about three miles, and hotter than hot.  We stopped at a little market and got bottles of water, but by then it was too late and I was already heat struck.  (I’m sure that isn’t a real word.)

Found it.

Anyhow, I was horribly overheated, and so we decided to take a local bus back to the docks.  It was a fun experience as it was filled with local folks who were friendly.  The bus was small, and cost us a dollar.  The driver had on great music and all we really needed was to have a chicken on board.  But no luck there.

The Pago Pago people were exceptionally friendly and the town could be so much more.  But it was filthy.  There was trash everywhere -- in the waterways, the drains, along the roads, in the cemetery, anywhere you looked.  There were abandoned buildings, a dead cat along the sidewalk and just a general feeling of rundownness and shabbiness.  What’s ironic is that today is the 47^th Annual Earth Day, and caring for the planet includes conserving water, saving energy and minimizing waste.  I don’t believe word has reached the island.

So sad.

I'm not sure what this was, but it was interesting.

The little bandstands or meeting spots were pretty although don't seem to be used much.

This is an above-ground grave.  I'm fascinated with these and graveyards. Why is that?  The peace and quiet, perhaps? This was well-kept and beautiful with a heart memorial at the top. 

A little further on down the road, this one was not as well-kept.

I don’t know that I’d come back again because of the trash.  Yet, the people were so welcoming and it’s so beautiful that I hope they can figure out how to clean it up because everyone we spoke with felt the same about how trashy it was, yet how friendly.

The church we saw was beautiful and clean, and so colorful.

There are the remains of so many buildings that you wonder what was they once were.  And why they're now vacant.

This was an interesting car ornament.

We saw these guys repairing nets.  Big nets.

The Pago Pago harbor can handle ships of up to a 32-foot draft and has a ship repair facility. 

Once we got back near the dock I felt a bit better and we walked some the other way and stopped for a cold drink.  I’ve had heat stroke before and it’s not good, so we went back to the ship, I drank a lot of water and took a dip in the pool.  My eyes felt funny, though, as though my lens implants were fogged up from the heat.  I’ve not had that happen before.  Strange.

We were also sent off with dancers.  How beautiful they were.

 

Beautiful.



Security.  Quite stylish.

Another Princess ship arrived, the Sea Princess who is smaller, and she was parked right behind us.  It didn’t appear there was much room between the two.

Not much room there.

Later we went up to watch the sail-a-way and it was like our thousand-foot-long ship was on a lazy Susan.  She thrust out from the dock and spun around, and away we went, heading out of the harbor, tooting our horn to let everyone know we were the biggest, baddest thing in the around.

Flower Pot Rock, at the entrance, or exit as this was, when we sailed away from Pago Pago.

We had another at-sea day April 23, so I had scheduled a massage.  But I woke up with something in my eye.  It was watering and hurt like crazy.  I couldn’t keep it open.  I couldn’t close it.  I washed it out with eye drops.  That didn’t help.  I took a shower and cleansed it some more.  That didn’t help.  I decided if it didn’t start feeling better in a few hours, by the time the medical center opened, I’d go down and have them take a look at it. 

I got down and got in line.  There were quite a few people there, and nearly all but me seemed to be there due to coughing and sore throats and all.  The people on this ship have been a bit sickly, colds, flu, that type of thing.

My turn came pretty quickly as I’d been there early and I saw Doctor Kate, from South Africa.  She’s a tall, lovely young lady, and she took a look in my eye.  She couldn’t see anything.  She then dilated it, but still could see nothing.  She called in her associate, and he said my eye looked okay although it appeared there might be something toward the back.  But as they deal mostly in trauma, they couldn’t tell if there was anything really going on, and whatever it might be, wasn’t life-threatening.  And it didn’t appear there was any retinal detachment, which is a good thing.

My eye continued hurting and watering so it appeared I was crying.  Doctor Kate gave me eye drops for the pain and the inflammation and asked if I’d like her to look for an ophthalmologist.  I said yes as I wanted to be sure all was well. 

The drops helped and within a couple hours I felt way better.  However, I had been told to not exercise, to cancel my excursions as they could be problematic, and to check back the next day.  The no exercising order meant I could take the lift, and not walk the stairs.  Woo hoo.  So I had a massage instead.  Very nice, and so relaxing.

Our Personal Groundhog Day

On Wednesday, April 19, we arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, for the last time on this trip.  We hadn’t arranged any excursions as we’d spent time here on our own.  We’d decided to walk around town.  So we walked, and took care of some business.  I wanted a haircut, and we found a sign for what appeared to be a small place, up a little, narrow stairway.  It was very small, a couple of chairs, one guy working.  Hmmm.  You always have to wonder.  But I got a haircut, and the guy did a great job. 

This photo is for my good friend, Mike Sweet.

Our next order of business was to find a store with what was our favorite yogurts.  We did, and sat and ate them on a bench outside a fitness gym where we could watch all the young people going in and out at about noon …  It was like heaven as they make some awesome yogurt here.  They should as one of their main exports is dairy products. 

New Zealand produces about 200 pounds of butter and 143 pounds of cheese per person each year.  Considering that just Auckland has about a million-and-a-half people, that's a lot of dairy.  And don't forget, for the approximately four million people on New Zealand, there are nine sheep for each.  So, dairy and lamb.  And lots of timber.  And kiwi.  Yum. 

Auckland is known as the “City of Sails” as there are about 135,000 yachts and launches in the harbor, more per capita than any other city in the world.  We had wandered down by Queen’s Wharf and Prince’s Wharf and various docks and walked around a lot of them, and then up and down the various walkways.  It was a nice walk with lots to see.  We ended up walking about 7 miles and I was ready to get back to the ship. 

This was pretty cool spinning art, with the Sky Tower in the background.  It didn't even squeak as it turned in the wind.

I'm not exactly sure what type of monument this was, but it looked kind of like a chariot or maybe a sheep head to me.  I chose to think of a chariot.

We found another fence with locks.  This one seemed to be a fence of love.

Awwwwww.

And then there they were ... beach chairs.  They roll on railway tracks if you want to move them, but I think they were made for giants.

What I found out today was that the step counter on my phone would work without actually being on the Internet.  So I used it and now I’ll be keeping track, even on the ship.

So long, New Zealand.  We loved you and will be back again.

April 20 arrived.  The first one.  As we’re across the International Dateline we get the same day twice.  I’ve continued to play cards and am enjoying it a lot.  Guess I need to find some card players when I get home.  For winter, that is.

Anyway, I signed up for a lip syncing competition.  We had to choose a song, and I picked “Big Spender” by Peggy Lee.  There are about seven or eight acts, that include “Chantilly Lace,” “Like a Virgin,” “Respect,” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”  It should be great fun, especially since I’ve never done it before.  We’ll have several rehearsals and then a show where the audience picks their favorite.

One of our group was unhappy because we didn’t get to use the show crew’s props and costumes.  A couple in the lounge where we were rehearsing left in a huff because we were playing loud music, although our director, Mikey, had made an announcement we’d be doing so.  And we were done in probably less than an hour.  Oh well.  We had a great time playing.

I’ve also started going to beginning hula and have learned we’ll be doing a show later on in the cruise.  I’m barely finding time to walk the decks and go to the gym.  But weight wise, I’m holding my own, and am even down a little.  So I’m happy.

Of course, to offset any possible weight loss, we had dinner in one of the paying venues tonight, The Crown Grill, with Vangie and Mike .  It’s excellent and where can you get filet mignon and other wonderful food for $29?  We were glad we’d sprung for it.  And will do it again before we leave the Beautiful Emerald Princess.

Like the movie, “Ground Hog Day” we’re reliving April 20 again.  The movie repeats it multiple times and I’m hoping we only do it twice.  Haha.  We crossed the International Dateline again and got back the day we lost.  In fact, we got a certificate.  More paper I have to keep.

Another at-sea day dawned on April 21, but it was full.  There was hula, lip sync practice, and now ukulele lessons.  I want to learn that, too.  The ukulele folks are going to play a couple of songs with the hula group, so it should be quite a show.  I’m excited. 

A Real Kayak Trip

We steamed into Tauranga, New Zealand, for the second time on Tuesday, April 18.  This time it wasn’t pouring down rain, but was sunny with fluffy, white clouds that indicated we’d have a great day.  Tauranga is home to about 123,500 people (2014), and was settled when the Maori were drawn here by an abundance of seafood. 

Mt. Maunganui looked way nicer in the sun rather than the rain when we walked around the base of it the last time.

I had heard that one meaning of Tauranga is “sheltered anchorage” and another is “place of rest.”  As we try to pick the adventure excursions that are more strenuous and there’s not likely so many people on them, I wasn’t so sure about “place of rest.”  We were going on a kayaking and thermal pools excursion today, the one that had been cancelled the first time we’d been here.  We’d have to paddle for an hour or so and I was a bit nervous about it as I don’t have much upper body strength.  Crap.  I don’t have much strength at all although I’ve been doing a little work on that on the cruise.  Maybe I should have rethought this when we didn’t get to go the first time.  Nope.  Never gave it a thought.

They took us to Lake Rotoiti, about 45 minutes away from our ship.  We’d be gone for about 6-1/2 hours today, and what a great several hours it was.

First we were given Mars bars (which I don’t like so I didn’t eat it) and a bottle of water, and then we geared up with life jackets and paddles.  We were also given skirts.  These are to put over the hole in the kayak to keep water out and keep you dry.  They hang over us with suspenders.  I wasn’t too sure as I was afraid of the kayak tipping over and me not being able to get out of it. 

We looked ready to kayak.

Stef was going to steer and was checked out on the controls.

We were given a bit of instruction on how to paddle as a team, loaded up into our kayaks and pushed into the water to practice until all of us were together.  A minute or two, and I was totally comfortable in the water, and I was paddling, happy as could be.

We had calm water, with a brilliant sun and a few clouds.  Even better, there were black swans here in the lake.  It was wonderful, paddling along, enjoying the water and the beautiful homes along the shore.  There is apparently no real road into these places so it’s quite nice and peaceful on the lake.  It was quiet and relaxing.

It's always a great day when I see swans.

The water was perfect and everyone was paddling like pros.

Our tour had been split into two groups and our group was now paddling along until we came to a small cave in the rocks.  We were told there were glow worms here.  One of our guides took the kayaks into the cave, two at a time, as the cave opening is quite narrow.  He then would push one kayak ahead into an even smaller opening in the rocks where your eyes would adjust and you could see the little worms … or maggots as he said they really are.  But the word maggot doesn’t seem quite as romantic as glow worm, so it’s not used.  There weren’t as many as in the caves we’d visited specifically just to see them, but it was still so nice to see these in a very non-commercial setting. 

We waited our turn to go into the cave.

As our guide would push us in, he was standing in waist-deep water as there wasn’t room for him in his kayak.  He said the crawfish nibble his toes.  Every now and then he’d let a little yip when one would nibble.  It was fun, and then we were off again, to the other side of the lake.

Once we arrived on the other side where the Manupirua thermal pools were, we landed on the beach and they gave us sandwiches and other snacks for a lunch.  Then it was pool time.

The setting was beautiful, and as the other group had gone to go see the cave, we had it mostly to ourselves.

Yep, this was nice.

There are multiple pools, with the top one usually being the hottest.  They cool as they drain from pool-to-pool, finally emptying into the lake.  It felt great.  I went from the thermal pools to the lake and back again.  The setting was perfect, looking out to the lake, laying in a thermal pool.  What a life.

We met Donna and Mark, the anniversary couple who fell off the raft yesterday.  I enjoyed them as they’re a very nice couple.   And they have a great sense of humor. 

Donna and Mark.

Then it was time to head back.  I was hungry now, so I ate the Mars bar.  It was a bit tiring toward the end of the paddling, but it was a great excursion.  The best one on this cruise so far.  It was fun, and we never, ever felt rushed like so many excursions seem to be.

 

Back across the lake we paddled.

 

My favorite photo of the day.

There are two kinds of kiwis, the green one we're used to and the yellow, that I've never seen nor had.  The yellow are grown on ropes that look like this.  The green are grown lower, kind of like grapes.  Now I want to eat a yellow one.

All too soon it was time to say good bye to the sacred mountain at the harbor entrance.

We met up in the evening with Mike and Vangie for appetizers in the Club Fusion for the Elite Lounge group.  We then go to dinner.  It’s become our routine, and a good one.  We all talk about our day and what we’ve done.  How can we find so much to talk about every day?  Usually it’s 2-3 hours.  I was tired today and my elbows ache a bit from paddling.  It could be way worse tomorrow.  Where’s the Tylenol?