Day 19 - Huahine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got to have a pretty slow morning. I started off with TBP BB 6 up in the gym, then breakfast (no walnuts or prunes). Two different people said “Hi dancer!” as I walked by, which was fun. Then Tai Chi, where we’ve gotten into a section that Jorge is less familiar with and it’s a little rough going. We don’t learn new moves on port days, so we have plenty of time to get proficient.

After that we went to 6-forward to watch the sail in to Huahine, which is easily the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen in my life. None of the pictures nor my description will give you the breathtaking glory of this place. It’s much younger than Rangiroa so it still has the steep volcanic mountains, and it’s so green and lush it looks completely fake.  

Once we were anchored I went up to the Lido to put together a snack plate for later. The views out the windows were spectacular! Our tour is in the early afternoon, so we set up dinner in the Canaletto specialty dining restaurant to not have to rush to our early seating dinner. I knew we’d be a little peckish and didn’t want either of us to get sensitive. It was still breakfast in the Lido. There were walnuts. Then we went on a quest for bottled water, because the islands are very fussy about what can come off the ship (with good reason). We found them in the World Stage.

Usually the dining room is closed on port days, but today they had it open with a stripped down menu – potato soup, fish’n’chips or chicken caeser salad, cherry cheesecake. We were in and out in 25 minutes which was excellent, and then went and put on the icky sunscreen (ick! ick!) and hung out in our room looking out at the beautiful mountains until it was time to go.

Another tender port; our excursion guide (a very nice French woman who has been in Polynesia for 15 years) said that it’s very rare for ships as big as ours to stop here. They only have 1 tender dock and no mass transit to the one town, so Dario kept recommending that if you didn’t have a shore excursion or shuttle ticket you stay on the ship. Because it is hot here, and it’s a considerable walk to town. Because we’re 4 star mariners we have priority tender privileges; basically that means that instead of having to wait with the riff-raff in the Ocean Bar we go to the Wajang Theatre where they verify our starredness and hand us two tender tickets for immediate boarding. We walked to the tender loading place and got on the tender at which point it left almost immediately even though it wasn’t full. I don’t think the immediate departure had anything to do with our extreme starriness but it’s fun to pretend.

Because of all this efficiency we were a half hour early for check in. They had an open-air bus that we could sit in to wait, but we walked around a bit. It’s kind of a residential area and everybody had mangoes and coconuts lying around under their trees, just like we have cherries and apples in our neighborhood. Eventually our bus came – they’re big truck boxes with long wooden benches inside – and everybody got out of the bus they’d been waiting in and onto the identical but apparently more correct vehicle. Our excursion was to the Marea, the ruins of temples of the pre-Christian population. They are interesting and our guide was very knowledgeable. We walked up a hill to see the ruins of the ruler’s land and it was a nice little hike up a hill. The most interesting thing we found out is that Huahine is the only Polynesian island that was matriarchal – they had Queens as rulers. We also went to see ancient fish traps and the blue-eyed eels.

We got back to the dock at 4:30 and jumped on a tender, so we were back on the ship at 4:45. We ate our snacks and got showered (the icky mineral sunscreen is hard to get off!) in time to go out and watch the sail away from 6 forward and then go aft for the sunset, which was clouded out. Because it was a port day, Coffee with Dario was Cocktails with Dario at 6:30, and today’s guest was the singer Anita Newby. She was very funny and interesting and we’re looking forward to her next show.

Our dinner at the Canaletto exceeded expectations; the service was very fast and the food was very good, especially my seabass with ratatouille. 

The tourboats are coming! The tourboats are coming!

Sail Away on 6-Forward

 

Our Guide and some guide-ees

A fish trap, used during the time of the queens

Goodbye Huahine

 

 

Day 18 - Avatoru, Rangiroa

Things I haven’t mentioned: It is hot. And it is humid. It’s over 80 degrees day and night and 100% humidity. We’ve acclimated pretty well, in fact we didn’t even notice it today off the ship (there was a nice breeze) but when we step out on our balcony it’s a momentary shock – and the binoculars fog up immediately.

Also we’re near the equator, so two things: 1. The days and nights are almost exactly the same length and 2. The sun sets quickly and shortly after it is dark. No lingering sunsets here. Dave would be happy to explain why if you ask him.

OK, we slept in this morning - I woke up just as we were coming through the channel into the central lagoon of Rangiroa. I had to miss Tai Chi again, because we had a 9:15 shore excursion. I found the walnuts at the oatmeal station so it was a good morning (still no prunes). We put on the thick reef safe biodegradable sunscreen(ick!) and got to the World Stage for our shore excursion, but because the ship had been late clearing customs and tour company only has two boats our excursion was delayed. We went back to the cabin and I got the blog finished, and then it was time to go.

Our tender left from the aft tender platform, so I was hopeful that it meant that we’d be boarding our shore excursion boat directly from the ship, but it was a regular tender. Texas and Mrs. Bix were on it with us – she was covered head to foot in white. We eventually got on our little boat (eleven people) and zipped over to the reef. I think Dave and I were the only people who didn’t have our own masks and snorkels, but the ones they provided worked fine. We got off the boat and put our heads in the water and it was instant magic. The water was so clear and there were more fish than I’ve ever seen, and they would swim really close. There can be tricky currents, so we stayed close to our guide and had an amazing time. My favorite were the blue-lipped clams (Tridacna maxima, also known as the small giant clam or curly blue lips - pahua in Tahitian).

 

Our snorkel was only about an hour, and then we took a stroll through the small vendor space. There was a line for the tenders back to the ship, so by the time we got back and showered it was almost 1:30 and we were starving. We had a tasty lunch on the lido, and then went back to our room where I had a huge nap. Dave discovered that a beer and a small ice cream cone have the same calories, so he had an afternoon cone. When I woke up I went up to the gym and did the Nia Soul routine, and then it was already time for dinner.

Our servers were allowed to dress more casually or wear clothes from their culture. Adi was dressed in a collared short sleeve shirt, but after dinner he dressed in his Balinese finery, including making a hat from a small tablecloth which was impressive. Leo is Filipino, so he was just in casual dress, but after Adi made the hat Leo stole it and was wearing it and a huge grin. I learned at dinner that I got the last of the walnuts – they were gone by the time Ilene got there. I know we’re all fascinated by the walnut report.

The big show tonight was Elliott Finkel, pianist & son of Fyvush. He is 89 years old and put on a terrific show ranging from Disney  to Broadway to Vaudeville to movies, including a rendition of Beethoven’s Fur Elise that made me forget the many painful times I heard it during piano recitals.

After the show we took a break, then headed up to the Ocean Bar to listen to the Dam band. They started the set with their usual couples dance songs, but then a man in a blue t-shirt got up and started dancing, and pretty soon some other women had gotten up, so I got up, and then a bunch of us pretty much danced for the rest of the set, even though it wasn’t my favorite kind of dance music. 

Meanwhile, we were sitting next to Texas and Mrs. Bix Bender, and Dave overheard them talking about their history, which is that he is from New Jersey originally and was a dance instructor and that’s how they met. His jewelry collection is amazing, and they both are always wearing a hat. When we can figure out how to do it we will take their picture. Mrs. Bix got up and danced with us by herself, which was fun.

Dave had a coughing night leftover from his cold, so we didn't sleep very well.

  

These are two views of the atoll islands of Rangiroa and Tikehau so you can see how they're really more like outlines around their lagoons. Rangiroa is the largest of the French Polynesian atolls. I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to find out how atolls form.

Day 17 - Graduation & HAL-loween

The ship rocked and rolled through the night, and I really wanted some pool time, but today was packed with good things. So I got up pretty early and went up to the gym to do some Pilates, then jumped in the pool for a half hour. The pool was excellent, some of the best pool time I’ve ever had. The Lido was very decked out – there are scary dummies all over the ship (one on the Lido was done by our cabin steward Nyoman) and the pool was surrounded with towel animals. After pool time I showered, ate breakfast (neither walnuts nor prunes, although at dinner Ilene said there were walnuts by the oatmeal) and then up to the explorer lounge to send out the blog and enjoy the coffee chat, this time with HR Manager Paolo and Learning and Development manager Jeison. I found Jeison really interesting, because his job is both helping employees settle into their current jobs and also helping them to cross-train and also gain qualifications for next steps on the ladder. We know HAL encourages both those things and it was interesting to hear about. HR was HR, although it is interesting to think about having a payroll with so many nationalities represented.

I had time to go back to the cabin to drop off my computer and mug, and then it was up for our last Hula lesson which was in the Crow’s Nest, which has the advantage of being cool but doesn’t have the nice raised platform to see the teachers’ feet. Good thing is we all pretty much know the dances so it wasn’t as important. Did I mention how nice it was to be cool? We did a lot of review and then went through our three songs. It took almost an hour because for the first half hour they were having a crew drill, and the announcements are broadcast throughout the ship and take over all the sound systems.

We got done in time for me to meet Dave at the Coral, Fish, Sharks and Rays talk with (not downtown) Julie Brown. It was a lot of pictures of corals and fishes. Then we had lunch with Frank Farris and William Beeman, the lecturers, which was interesting but not as fun as I thought it would be. I had a short break to finish my wordle (dumb word) and then it was off to our last ‘ukelele class. It felt a little awkward at first, and nobody was sure how the chairs would be set up for the performance, but we did get the order for the show (the called it a Ho’iko, a graduation). Practice went well and we were all feeling pretty good, especially when someone who’d been watching asked us to play “Vacation on the Zaandam” again. Pua suggested we put out a tip jar for the show.

Almost all these people are in the 'uke band

I did have about an hour between the end of class and when they wanted us back for the show, but I also had to change into my ABC store hawai’ian dress and flower, and also set out my costume for a quick change for dinner. The hula and ‘uke classes got to the crow’s nest about 3:30, where they’d set up chairs for the uke players. Those of us doing both sat in the front row or on the outside seats. It was a big crowd of dancers and musicians, and then a big crowd of supporters – Ilene, Mikey and Linda all came, and Dave of course. It was a complete and total blast. We started with Vacation on the Zaandam and Vini Vini on the ‘ukes, and then the ‘ukes played while we danced E Huli, and then we danced Little Grass Shack and Love Song of Tahiti in which the turning the square actually worked, and then the ‘ukes finished it off with Aloha oe. There was a lot of cheering and clapping and I think I pulled a jaw muscle from smiling so much. They even gave us class completion certificates! I did not turn in my ‘uke. 

Our teachers - Pua in back, Mahielani talking

Most of the Hula dancers. I'm hiding.

 

Playing 'uke next to Marilyn, my mentor

Now you can see my hula smile!

Then it was a rush to get down to the cabin and change into my butterfly costume for dinner. Mikey and Linda were dressed as ghosts with Mikey’s excellent hair and makeup skills, and Louise and Dennis had authentic (and very warm!) German Lederhosen and Dirndls, and Ilene had a handsome pumpkin shirt. Dave was a muggle. Dinner seemed to drag a bit, and my grilled halloumi and vegetable tower, while delicious and filling, was more like a speed bump.

After dinner there was a break before the party, so there was some blogging and some watching of the navigation talk. We were falling asleep but luckily it was time for the party, so we went up to the Lido pool where lots of people were dressed up. My butterfly costume was surprisingly successful – many people stopped me to take pictures. We were keeping our eyes out for clever but not much space requiring costumes for Dave, but there weren’t any. People had brought amazingly bulky costumes, like the 3 bears in their full bear suits with hoods (also very hot!). There was some dancing also, and then suddenly the music was just too loud and we were done.

At dinner Mikey pointed out that today is halfway through the trip. I can't believe it - it feels like we just got on the ship! Tomorrow is our first day in French Polynesia. We arrive in Rangiroa early in the morning.