Wednesday, January 30th, - At Sea
Thursday, January 31st - Roratonga - Nearly
Friday February 1st - At Sea
Crossing the International Dateline - Saturday Feb 2nd - a lost day to us
Sunday February 3rd - At Sea
Monday February 4th - At Sea
Tuesday February 5th, At Sea
At Sea describes this week. Unfortunately on Thursday, Captain Jonathan reluctantly cancelled our tender ashore to the Cook Island of Roratonga, due to very high winds and sea conditions that were dangerous. So we took pictures of this little island, which is only 21 miles around its shores, and sailed on to New Zealand.
We are attaching pictures of our evening at The Captain's Dinner in the Pinnacle. We had a delightful evening, enjoying the company and the "nouveau" menu that was introduced this year. We put on our most gala formal attire, and ended the evening listening to a spectacular concert performed by a pianist, who played non stop for 1 hour, with no sheet music, the music from many, many countries around the world. He was accompanied by a slide show of images of the countries. He received a standing ovation and many cries of Bravo. Today he is giving a repeat performance in a matinee.
The other shows we have enjoyed include 2 performances by the Celtic Tenors - 3 guys from Ireland who delighted everyone, a couple of International award winning ballroom dancers, and a fellow who plays more than 10 instruments with such energy and verve that you can see the movement of his marimba sticks as if it was a film. We cannot say enough about the quality of the entertainment this year - and really hate it if we have to miss a show. It also helps that we can go to the early 8 pm show. The other night we had yet another formal, and some of us even went for a night cap after the show! Scandalous as we have all been in bed by 10 each night, enjoying the extra hours we get when the clock flips back, and the rocking of the sea that feels like a cradle.
We lost a day so now we are a day ahead of those at home. Right now it is 10:20 on Tuesday morning on this ship, and it is 4:20 p.m. on Monday at home. We will get all those hours back by continually setting our clocks back as we proceed westward, thus lengthening our sleep time.
Yesterday Super Bowl fever swept the ship. The Queen's Lounge was decorated up, they served hot dogs and junk food, and beer and wine all afternoon. Karen and Jonathan hosted our little group in their cabin, with the same menu, and to Barry's and my surprise we actually enjoyed the game. Hockey is still my favourite game, but it was fun to share in our American friends obvious love of football.
Linda's birthday is on February 17th, but since she and Garry are leaving the ship when we dock in Auckland, Garry surprised her with a little celebration yesterday afternoon, and evening. It is tradition in the dining room for all the wait staff to sing Happy Birthday in English and Indonesian. We had a delicious cake to top off a day of eating badly! Today is a day to get back to healthy eating. I also walked this morning for 2 miles, which is so welcome now that I am regaining my strength after a month of sickness.
Tomorrow we have a day planned with Karen and Jonathan to go ashore, take the high speed ferry from Auckland to Waiheke Island, and see if we can find some wineries. The next day, we will spend in the little village of Parnell in Auckland.
The long spell of sea days are behind us.
Enjoy the melange of pictures - some from Moorea
Here is one we forgot to include of our departure from Moorea
Here are three pictures, courtesy of Jonathan, that he took in Moorea
Here is how the ship was decorated for the Superbowl game
Here is Jane beside Jonathan and Garry at the Captain's Dinner in the Pinnacle Dining Room
Here is what we saw of Rorotonga, which we had to bypass due to high winds and rough water. The water is rougher than it looks here because this picture is taken 50 feet above the water.
Here are a couple of pictures from last night's dinner at which we celebrated Linda's birthday
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