January 20th - My last Sea Day

Today is my last "Sea Day" since I will be getting off the ship in Moorea on
January 24th. I will miss six "sea days" as the ship makes its way back to
San Diego for a February 4th arrival.

Today I started the morning at my usual spot up on deck 9 reading and
listening to music in the sun. The spot is wonderful, there are only six
deck chairs up there, so it is nice and private and quiet. There is only one
problem - it is right above the "Slice Pizza" counter. About 10:30 or 11:00
they start making the pizzas and the aroma is delicious. So far I have not
indulged, I keep telling myself the real thing could never measure up.

An interesting sailing fact we learned today. The nautical measure "knot"
comes from the ancient sailors practice of gradually trailing a "knotted"
rope over the side of the ship. The number of knots fed out in a specific
period of time indicated the ships speed. To hold the rope in place on the
surface of the sea, a large piece of wood was attached to the trailing end.

There has been a limited outbreak of illness on the ship, so we are under a
"code red", which is even more restrictive then the when we first board the
ship. We are grateful that our captain is cautious (unlike a certain captain
recently making headlines), and that he is being proactive.

I have attached pictures taken from the ship today looking North, South,
East and West. Kind of looks the same!

January 19th - Rarotonga, Cook Islands

This morning we sailed into Avatiu Harbor. Also arriving was a Seaborne
ship. We were told by the locals this is the first time that two ships have
arrived here on the same day. A princess ship sails in every 7 days during
high season, but otherwise, they do not have many cruise ships visit, so
they look forward to our arrival and keep their fingers crossed that we will
make it ashore.

We had to tender to shore. Like last year, it was a very rough ride in
because of the heavy swells. Actually, the ride was rather fun, it was
getting on and off the tender from the ship that was interesting. When I
left to go ashore, the water was more than a foot above the landing/boarding
platform, so they sent us on in with only about 20-25 people on board (the
tender has a capacity of 150 people). Our local guide said it is not unusual
for the seas to be so rough that the ships cannot send anyone to shore - so
we were lucky. The crew worked very hard making sure that everyone was safe
- and one of the tenders suffered some damage.

This is a lovely island, very lush and the people are very friendly and
welcoming. The water and beaches are amazing.

I took the Raro Safari Tour. Our guide was one of the best I have had. He
was very knowledgeable - and - a good singer. The condition and grade of the
some of the roads we went on were pretty unbelievable, but we made it back!
The views were breathtaking and everywhere you looked something was ready to
be picked off a tree or bush.

I also visited a local bazaar where they were selling black pearls and local
handicraft items. Then it was time to take our "amusement park" ride back to
the ship.

Tomorrow will be another sea day as we head over to Raiatea, French
Polynesia.