Advertisement
Published: April 4th 2012
Still smiling from Bora Bora, the following day we sail in to Papeete the main city of Tahiti the largest island in French Polynesia. As the ship was coming in, loads of dolphins were swimming beside us, Col's big wish of the holiday was to see dolphins, unfortunately he had failed to get out of bed in time, so had to endure Sal's description instead! A lovely welcoming party of musicians and pretty pretty dancing girls were there to greet us, which made Col forget about dolphins! The town was a short walk and being the largest city in the area, it was busy, full of cars and people and the port itself was also full of things that ports would be full of, so not what you wanted Tahiti to look like to begin with. The tours organised by the ship didn't interest us so along with Peter and Hilary, fellow passengers whose company we were enjoying we found a local tour for the afternoon. We spent the morning wandering around the town and market, as ever the fruit and veg market was interesting and there were some local crafts, baskets, jewellery made from shells and loads of pearl shops,
particularly black pearls. Did a bit of people watching whilst sitting in a bar drinking very expensive beer, made Norway look good value!
During the morning Peter and Hilary had done some negotiating for a local tour in the afternoon which was joining a coach but as they couldn't find us to tell of earlier start time, the company laid on a driver to meet the coach at the first stop which was Venus beach and is black sand which looked very odd, palm trees should be next to golden sand not black, many beaches here were black but some golden too. The tour took in the entire island, which like Bora Bora and Fiji was very lush and green, she took us to a blowhole in the rock and persuaded Peter and Col to stand in front of it and I think it nearly did blow a hole! We paid a short visit to the Gauguin museum, no paintings here as not secure enough but he lived here for two periods totalling 10 years and eventually died at our next port of call. We also visited a garden, it was obviously a tropical garden because of
where we were with some beautiful plants and flowers. We got back to the ship at about 7pm and it was a late sailing at 11pm with one of the ships musical groups playing on deck for 'sail away' with us dancing and drinking punch, just wonderful, it really doesn't get any better!
2 days at sea, so our busy schedule picks up again though there has been a change of entertainers at Tahiti and speakers too and the addition of 2 people who are on board to teach the ukulele, Col cannot believe his luck! Having been bought a ukelele banjo for his 50th birthday and never found anybody to teach it and having no musical knowledge this was his big opportunity! The daily programme which is delivered the night before said there was only 20 ukes and it would be first come first served, so he went very early and was lucky to get a place, as there were plenty of people interested and the weather was hot but pouring with rain, so he was a very happy bunny! He then hot footed it to crafts where we were on crackle glaze for a box,
which we both enjoyed but of course the day is flying by, fortunately neither us like sunbathing much and we haven't got time for it anyway!
Entertainer for the evening was a magician who was impressive, he dragged up one of our dining table companions who is a bit deaf so he had his work cut out! Later, Hilary, Peter and us two decided to do the nightly quiz........ God we were bad :-(
Today is our last stop in French Polynesia at Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas Islands, another French Territory. Population around 2500, considerably less than when the islands were discovered a couple of hundred years ago when Europeans brought disease and killed off about 80% of them. No quayside for the ship so it was anther tender operation which they were extremely efficient about and for the return journey lots of iced juice in case we had a short wait. Another lovely welcoming ceremony. It was a tiny place, again very lush and made up of a small mountain with just one road crossing north/south over the mountain. There was only one tour on offer which was taking this road and
you went in islanders 4x4s as there were no busses! However it was called a city as there was a cathedral, quite modern with open sides and decorated with beautiful wood carvings and we just decided to do our own thing and have a wander and a visit to the beach which was nice and cool as it was hotter here than ever. As we arrived, going on deck at 7am, it was like stepping into an oven. As with all of these places there was very little to buy, just sarongs and seed jewellery. We sailed at 6pm with the ship playing Time to Say Good-bye and We are Sailing which gave you goosebumps.
We now have 9 days at sea, nearly 4000 nautical miles to Peru which is our next destination, about the same distance from Brazil to Greenland. Either loads or nothing to do, just as you please, being us, loads to do, line dancing is coming along, singing is a racket but in just 4 days time we will be doing a concert to the ship as the evening entertainment!! More entertainment than they bargain for as we do less than an hour
After Choir Party
Sal with Sandy and Catherineeach day, so that means 4 hours practice and I think 4 weeks would be more appropriate. Col's up to 4 chords on the uke and we have churned out a couple of boxes which are not bad.
Note to Nuala and Keith, please bring truck to pick us up at Southampton!
Better news on the quiz front, on our second attempt we won and got a bottle of champagne.
Every night there is a show (twice as there are two sittings) and this is usually preceded by some other entertainment, tonight will be the trio of piano, violin and base who are just fab to listen to, sometimes it is dancing and there has also been their version of quiz shows, the other night it was weakest link and as nobody is keen on getting up, Hilary and Peter were good sports and volunteered and after they struggled with more volunteers, Sal got up too, it was a bit of a laugh and the host was doing a good Ann Robinson, Sal was the strongest player for 2 rounds and ended up in the head to head but lost out
Rock and Roll Night
Gusy in borrowed wig to the better player, a couple of nights later they played opposites which again they struggled with for volunteers so Col and Peter did their bit and it was quite hard as it involved doing the opposite of the host, ie sit down, stand up, wear a hat, take it off, suck a straw, hold a newspaper, all quite quickly and really hard to get your head around, they did well but weren't the winners.
Last night the magician was on again....... WOW! ......... It was a fantastic show and his skill was amazing. He managed to get 4 volunteers to sit around a table and he did close up magic which was also shown on a big screen, his incredible ability to shuffle the cards in 100 different ways was good enough in itself but it really was mesmerising and you could hear a pin drop as everyone was watching so carefully. There probably is no such thing as magic but blowed if we could see how he did any of it. Andy James is his name and worth going to see, we thought one of the best shows we have ever seen.
Benidorm Benny is still sitting on his table for 6 by himself, and looks more and more like a corpse every day, I guess he does have teeth as he chews constantly but his face is so gaunt he looks like they are missing. The waiters and other staff just dont get him at all and dont like him, our little waiter told us the staff call him food controller which he thought was quite naughty so we have taught him two new words that he can pass on to his fellow crew members, slimeball and s**thead, much better description we will add tosser to his new vocab soon. He has made the trip so miserable for himself, hardly anybody speaks to him and he refuses to give Fred Olsen one more penny so never buys a drink! If there is free booze for some reason he guzzles down as much as he can and apparently threw a complete wobbly when he was turned away from the cocktail party for the non Brit travellers! Our table gets on ok though this is only for dinner, at breakfast we sit anywhere so you talk to all sorts and at lunch time
there is a choice of places to eat, so again you chat to all sorts. Though we are busy with all our activities, we love sitting on deck, by the pool or in one of the lounges and people watch, must be one of the best places to do this with such a huge collection of people, there really are all sorts and we have christened some of our favourites........... Hans and Franz were given a much better name by Peter and Hilary, 118 118 are two identical brothers, they look the same, they act the same, they always do the same, Britannia, a large lady who wears the brightest and fullest of clothes and sets sail through the lounges and decks, Miss Jean Broady is a spinster who looks like she may be doing a bit of courting, a very appropriate word for her, we are watching this one with interest. Probably the best is the lady who sits next to Col in choir, she has some disabilities so good old Col is there to help her and has discovered she is he !
Many of the staff are characters too and as sky sports (groan)
Nuka Hiva Welcome
Sal with Sandy and Catherine is on board, they follow the English premier football league so Col is trying to turn them all into Queens Park Rangers fans - failing miserably of course.
A few days on.....
The 9 days at sea is flying by and we are soooooo enjoying it. We gave our choir performance last night and it went really well and we really enjoyed it. There were a couple of muck ups but as we have only had a matter of hours to rehearse, it went remarkably well. We sung seven pieces, all of different genres with the last 3 pieces coming from South Pacific, Wonderful Guy, There is Nothing like a Dame and Some Enchanted Evening, which we had not mastered at all but it came together on the night and we had to perform twice, once for each sitting. The DVD will be available for viewing! It was great fun and quite an experience to sing to a couple of hundred people and we had an after show party with champagne. We have now retired!
The following evening the magician was on again, Peter and Hillary had saved us front row seats which
Bora Bora Welcome
Gusy in borrowed wig is some achievement, however, just before he came on, Col whispered, I think we have been set up..... A cold hand went down my back and I just wanted to shrink away, however, we were saved and he picked on Peter who played his part very well and again the performance was extremely good and though you could work out how some things were done, it was very clever. Another passenger chatted to him over a beer later and never felt his watch being removed or the time advanced!
Speaking of time, we have lots of hours to catch up and have to advance our watches an hour every other day and with so many events during the day with an earlyish start at 8.45 for line dancing, afternoon naps are few and far between!
After the magician there was an on deck party and BBQ. We couldn't fill our faces with another mouthful of food but dancing under the bright stars and moon which looked spectacular in the clear pacific sky was just great and as usual, big smiles on our faces. We know we are enjoying ourselves but more than a dozen
people have come up to us and said how smiley and happy we look, they are right, it is just brilliant and we love living in this bubble!
Ukulele playing has been going well and Col has loved it, unfortunately, they are getting off at Peru as that is the end of their stint - as usual, all entertainers and lecturers will change. They have crammed so much in that it is a bit overwhelming and there are many sore fingers, but they are good enough to invite other passengers into a lesson for a mini concert and they did fantastically well, singing too.
There has been a drama group, whose performance was good, a very clever and funny short play. There was also a talent contest..... Hmmmmm! Less said the better.
The cruise is divided into four legs, some are doing all four as the round the world cruise, we are doing three and four. Unfortunately Hilary and Peter are only doing leg three so will be leaving in Peru and we will miss them......
Advertisement
Tot: 0.048s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 6; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0256s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jane & Daryl
non-member comment
Wow!
How will you ever return to normal after all your wonderful experiences! You will return with a lot of new skills. Col playing the ukulele is the one we look forward to the most. Col and his coconuts were well worth waiting to see!