twangster

From my balcony: I started to see some stars being turned on. Time for bed.

Another sea day, another beautiful sunset.

Day Sixteen The Crossing Ceremony Technically we haven't crossed the Equator yet and won't until around 4 AM the next morning, but who wants to get up at 4 AM to look out at a dark sea? This is the busiest I ever saw the pool deck get on this cruise. In maritime folklore, a Pollywog is a sailor who has never crossed the Equator on a ship while a Shellback is a sailor who has. This ceremony is to graduate Pollywogs into Shellbacks. First some guest Pollywogs are initiated. They caught anyone cutting the line in the Windjammer and forced them to participate. Just kidding. Participation voluntary. King Neptune required they kissed the fish. Some cruisers embraced this, a little too much. You can stop now. Next crew Pollywogs would get much it worse than, but including kissing the fish. Eggs on the head. Followed by pasta. Then sauce and flour. For the crew it's as much a team building exercise as it is anything else. Proof of life: CrossingCeremony.mp4.87e8c1c644adc4994a94471378e11ec1.mp4

Day Fifthteen The start of our next sea day marathon. Very nice weather capped off by a beautiful sunset. Some night sky pics. All taken by a cell phone, held against the handrail on my balcony, handheld, so bear that in mind.

Fortunately the weather improved for our sail away from Raiatea because it is quite remarkable. What wasn't apparent in the heavy rain this morning was the path we were taking. CMAP: We had entered the natural break in the reef then sailed this massive ship in the small gap between the reef and the Northern Island to make it to the anchorage circled in green closer to the the Southern Island and the town dock we would tender into. We were now on the way out to sea repeating the navigation in reverse hugging the island on the starboard side with the coral reef on the port side. The gap in the reef we need to sail through: I think this video does a better job illustrating this maneuver. RaiateaDeparture1.mp4.b44f2bc56f536c3c12b1a04c5ab816cb.mp4 RaiateaDepartureMerged.mp4.f3707597a84fee095444c867aea653d1.mp4 Pretty amazing seamanship from the bridge team.

Raiatea is said to be the cultural center of Polynesia. Another stop on our tour was a stop at Taputapuātea. From the UNESCO World Heritage website describing Taputapuātea: Taputapuātea on Ra’iātea Island is at the centre of the ‘Polynesian Triangle’, a vast portion of the Pacific Ocean, dotted with islands, and the last part of the globe to be settled by humans. The property includes two forested valleys, a portion of lagoon and coral reef and a strip of open ocean. At the heart of the property is the Taputapuātea marae complex, a political, ceremonial and funerary centre. It is characterized by several marae, with different functions. Widespread in Polynesia, the marae were places where the world of the living intersected the world of the ancestors and the gods. Taputapuātea is an exceptional testimony to 1,000 years of mā'ohi civilization. It was fascinating to listen to our guide describing the different marae and what types of activities each was used for. Some involved human sacrifice since that was part of the culture going back a very long time. No sacrifices today. A pearl farm. This area in general is a large source of pearls. Some local food items were available for tasting including the fabled chestnuts our driver yesterday in Moorea had also mentioned. Apparently his mother would prepare them and when consumed in quantity they are known to create significant amounts of gas, which didn't work out too well on a visit to the local movie theater in his youth he said. We were unfortunately a little rushed as we tried to make up time and to make it back for last tender at 4pm. Back on the bus to a pearl shop. Honestly, I'm kinda okay the last stop to a pearl shop was in a blink of an eye. We didn't have time for the full "factory" experience. Fifteen minutes before the last tender time and some folks on the bus were freaking out. Fortunately I had obtained a cheap eSIM for data coverage in French Polynesia and I could see we were literally 5 minutes from the dock. Plus I had Francois in my back pocket if needed. We made it to the dock with ample time and there were several tenders after the one we used for any other late running excursions. At least word is getting out not to be late returning to the ship

The morning version of this same excursion, Raiatea East Coast Highlights, had run late because tenders were late bringing guest on shore very early on today. The guides and bus drivers were trying to make it a quick turn but everyone has to eat and there is only so much they could do to get back on schedule for our afternoon version. Yes, another dreaded bus tour but given the weather and my goal to gain an overview of the island this fit the requirement. Those are pineapples in the foreground. Stunning views that I am confident would be outstanding on a better day. These photos do not convey the beauty of the island.

Day Fourteen Raiatea, French Polynesia Our last and final port of call before Hawaii. It was a pretty dreadful day outside with lots of rain, heavy at times and low visibility. I could see the familiar shape and waves breaking over a coral reef but it wasn't apparent where we were or how dramatic our navigation was at this moment. More on that later. I wasn't motivated to go up top because it was raining pretty good. Eventually the rain nearly stopped. I could see where we within a coral reef and looking out over it there was the open sea where a ship of this size belongs. Another afternoon excursion so my tender ride was after lunch. Upon arriving I could see a really long queue waiting to get back on a tender to return to the ship. The line stretched all the way out to the parking lot. Quantum class push the boundaries on tendering. I can see why tendering Oasis class would be impossible.

The break in the weather didn't last and while we almost made it around the island dry the last 20 minutes was in heavy rain. Nearing all aboard time with the little shopping area at the town dock closed for the day it was a race to the tender before the heavy rain returned.

We continue around the island to a Polynesia Village complete with a band playing drums with our driver's brother and cousins.

We stop at an overlook for a great view of a five star hotel that offers overnight, overwater accommodations. Trying to impress us our driver tells us these rooms go for $1,200 USD per night! I'm thinking to myself if he only knew what Royal Caribbean charges for an overwater cabana at CocoCay for 8 hours! You could see rays moving in the water even from up here. I have to come back here to stay for a few days. It's so beautiful.

Since everyone is related on Moorea our driver's wife is from nearby Bora Bora. "There is nothing worse than bringing a girl home only to have your parents tell you that she is your cousin." He tells us. So most people look for a spouse from another island. So lush and tropical. Our tour continues descending down the narrow mountain road. From Cooks Bay I referred to earlier.

Today's excursion is the Moorea Island Tour. I generally despise bus tours but for a first visit they do have value in covering a lot of ground so you can better plan a return visit at a later date. The driver is a colorful character who makes this tour so much better. The scenery is incredible. Pictures do not do it justice. He tells us there is a street race planned for today so everyone is gathering for it. Racing is strictly illegal yet everyone knows when they happen and the local police somehow don't. show up. Our driver tells us it's so small that everyone knows everyone. There is no crime because everyone knows everyone, and everyone would know who did it. "If I fart" he says, "my cousins on the side will smell it in 30 minutes and call me". We make our way up a small mountain road way too small for our bus to the Belvedere lookout. We will visit that harbor in the distance later, named for a famous explorer who never used that harbor we are told. Another bus has made it to the top.

My turn!

Fortunately the weather forecast was off today and we had an unexpected sun break out of the clouds. My excursion was after lunch so I had some time to enjoy the views in sunshine. The tenders make their way to the town dock inside the coral reef in the dead zone where coral can't grown close to land. Those waves breaking to the right of the tenders is where the coral reef has grown to reach almost to the surface.

It's our first tender port! The ship has a number of double duty lifeboats / tenders. These are not regular lifeboats and not all lifeboats do double duty like this. It's easy to spot which are plain lifeboats and which can be used as tenders once you look a little harder at them.

It turns out these deep water channels through the reef area are a natural phenomenon. When the volcanic islands grew out of the sea millions of years ago there was no coral reef around them. Slowly over thousands of years coral has grown around the islands. Except coral doesn't tolerate fresh water so close to land due to rain runoff from the island, coral doesn't grow. Fresh water runoff from the mountains has to flow out to the sea eventually so over those thousands of years an area where no coral grows is formed and that is where freshwater runoff flows out to the sea. That leaves a natural deep water channel that ships can use to penetrate an otherwise impenetrable fortress of coral. Creating a natural harbor for boats and ships. We will see this even more dramatically tomorrow at Raiatea.

After breakfast I went back to the sun deck for some arrival photos. Real overwater cabanas! I knew we were tendering today but it wasn't clear where we would anchor. Yet we were slowly getting closer and closer. Water breaking over reefs on both sides. So I looked in a nautical app to see what was up. Sure enough there was deep water straight ahead through a tiny gap between very shallow reefs on each side. We would be threading a needle with the largest cruise ships to ever visit French Polynesia. CMAP:

Day Thirteen Moorea, French Polynesia. OMG, the cruise is more than half over! Dramatic sunrise in the channel between Tahiti and Moorea.

Our departure from Papeete was scheduled for 11:30pm since Moorea is very close by. Whenever I get the chance I like to see the ship at night and these late night port calls are the best way to do that. The break in the rain was short lived so I hurried back to the ship.

The ship brought on some local performers for one night only so this was a must see event. They were very good and the theater was packed. PapetteDancers.mp4.5526481e0a5c79d2770392c2ee3c2ba7.mp4

Dinner in the WJ. It's Easter tomorrow and the bunnies had been multiplying. A panoramic from deck 15.

When life gives you lemons, drink beer. Or something like that. So I headed off the ship during a break in the weather. I found a covered spot at a bar over the water to sample a local beer. Is this a cargo ship?... Or a cruise ship?... Fish and Chips. The rain grew heavy for a while then it lightened up so I made my break for it. The overwater bar is associated with a local venue where there are toilets. It's all very nice despite the rain.

As we sailed closer you could clearly make out the signs of a larger city. There is a pier in Papeete so we were spared from tendering today. Unfortunately the forecast was rain and it didn't take long for the forecast to become accurate. Today's excursion was Tahiti Sail by Catamaran booked through Royal Caribbean. I had a reasonable 10:30 am meeting time in the theater so lots of time for breakfast and looking around from the upper decks between passing rain showers. Upon arrival to the theater I was informed my excursion was cancelled due to the weather. They told me I could use the app to find something else but the app indicated everything was sold out. I went top side figuring I could jump on North Star which is free on port days. There I noticed several catamarans carrying ship guests out to sea. Hmmm. I guess the captain of my catamaran didn't want to get wet today. I couldn't book North Star because the app still showed I had an excursion in process. It seems all the excursion staff go to the theater to manage the excursion process but not one of them has access to a computer to process cancellations. They'll do that later once through the busiest part of their day. Unfortunately that meant I couldn't book anything else, including an alternate excursion that did become available when someone else cancelled a spot. I explained all this to the North Star crew who found a way to get me on the calendar. Thank goodness for that. A time lapse of the North Star ride, complimentary (short) version. PapeeteNorthStarTL.mp4.6f377680ae7b14437ea3f7bc15a21c42.mp4

Day Twelve Papeete, French Polynesia While Tahiti is the island we will visit today, the capital city is Papeete. As the sun started to illuminate the sky my first glimpse of land from my balcony was that of Moorea, the island next door to Tahiti. This was pre-dawn so the sun wasn't fully awake yet. We will visit Moorea tomorrow but they are that close to each other. Up to the Suite Sun Deck to see things from the other side of the ship. Despite the inadequate lighting of these early morning photos it was quite stunning.