Blogs from Pacific, Oceans and Seas - page 30

Well Hello! Welcome back to WWG Adventures. Yeah it was more than a brief delay but thats because it was Chriswanzaka and the New Year so I hope you all had happy holidaze! I've got a few more entries before I wrap up my NZ experience. And when I get my memory cards back I will post photos! So back to the south island and stepping off the water taxi in the Marlborough Sound at the Brightlands Farm. The cove we motored into to get to their dock was filled with the lines I saw from the plane. They were mussel lines for the famous green-shelled mussels that are a NZ delicacy! They had 2 large workboats moored in the cove that they use to assist in harvesting the tons (literally) of mussels they have hanging ... read more

A few weeks back, right around when American Thanksgiving passed and Christmas commercials started playing non-stop, Clair (my co-director) and I started talking about little things we could do to decorate our club for the holidays. We picked up a couple of small things like wrapping paper and bows in San Diego and we borrowed lots of craft supplies from the children’s playroom. Soon after that, we learned that the office was issuing a challenge to the camp programs on the different ships for the best holiday décor. And then we went nuts . . . The true challenge was to MAKE all of the decorations. No problem! We made paper chains, cut snowflakes and did cut-outs of every holiday shape we could think of: candy canes, santa, frosty, gingerbread man, bells, trees . . . ... read more

Greetings Friends! So you've all heard the hype about me flying to NZ and sitting next to the lead singer of the Wailers, Junior Marvin. Well, I rearranged my vaca plans so I could attend their concert in Auckland the Saturday after I arrived in Auckland. So after some sightseeing in the city and a trip out to Raglan we returned for the Wailers live at the Power Station! The Power Station is very similar to a certain choice club that is also a time of day (night) located at 9th and V St in Wasington DC. The Power Station, like the 9:30 Club has the stage at one end with a horseshoe shaped standing room and a second tiered level with a railing that wraps around the entire second floor, overlooking the stage and concert ... read more

Greetings Friends! Before we head down the road to Raglan I wanted to wrap up my Auckland, Part I series. So after my mad-capped marathon through the musuem, we had just enough time before meeting Paul and Inga for dinner, to head over to the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is a big tourist destination in downtown Auckland. It is the highest building in the country standing at 328 meters, thats nearly 1100 feet. It has casinos and restuarants in the first few floors, hotel rooms in the middle and a restaurant near the top and the opportunity to bungee jump from approximately 2/3 of the way up. Unfortunately we didn't have the time to do it, not to mention it is a "controlled" jump that is attached to a runner that drops you slower than ... read more

There we were enjoying our voyage across the Tasman Sea en route to the New Zealand Fjords when our ship received a distress signal from a sailor who was in trouble about 300 miles from us. The sailor said that he had lost his steering, he was taking on water and his generator had failed. According to the code of the sea, it is the responsibility of the nearest ships to assist in any way possible. It just so happened that on our ship, Stanislas Mercier de Lacombe had just assumed command of the vessel and this was his first day at sea as a Captain and the Master of the Mariner. He made the decision to alter course and to go to the aid of a sailor in need. All day and night we plowed ... read more