A 5 month adventure on land and sea

Bora Bora Sunday.... After ditching the port of Moorea due to stormy seas, we sailed on to Bora Bora....about a 9 hr sail away. We sailed through very stormy weather all day and landed in Bora Bora about 5pm. As we approached the shallow waters, they warned us that they needed to pull in the ship stabilizers and there was the chance of  things falling and crashing, and to brace yourself if you were walking about. The Captain carefully maneuvered the ship around the treacherous shallow coral reefs and we anchored right off of the main town of Vaitape with no mishaps whatsoever.  It was much calmer sheltered in the bay and the storm was slowly dissipating giving way to clear skies and the promise of a fine day tomorrow. We will be here until 11pm on Monday. The ship did offer tendering services till 12am when we anchored, but it was Sunday night and we knew nothing would be open. The weekends on these South Pacific islands are family time. We have found that everything is eit...

Moorea..... Well, you know that rain I was talking about yesterday.....It turned into a tropical storm.  We were supposed to leave Papeete at 5am this morning, but the captain had to wait for the wind to die down a bit before he could attempt to leave the dock. Moorea is only a short sail away, (maybe 2 hrs for a big ship if you go slow) so delaying an hour or two was not going to impact things very much.  We woke up around 6:30am and looked out the window. Rain was hitting our window sideways, the waves were crashing, and the ship was listing from side to side and up and down. This did not look good at all, and I knew that we were not going to land. While we were having breakfast at 8:30, our scheduled landing time, we noticed that the ship was not preparing to anchor. We were not slowing down and the tenders were not getting ready. The captain came on the loudspeaker and informed us that since the winds were at 50-60mph, the sea swells were 20 to 30 ft and we had to c...

First of all Sea Days.....February 14, 15....Shipboard Meanderings Well we have 2 more sea days until Papeete, and since we did not get off in Easter Island we have been ship-bound for 11 days, and going just a little bit stir crazy. The south Pacific is a very lonely place. Miles and miles of nothing but water. When we sailed here last in 2012 we saw tons of flying fish getting stirred up by the wake of the ship. Now, very few, and have no idea why. I was hoping for a few clear nights to look at the southern sky, but we have had cloudy skies. I am now reading my 5th book..... Bruce is becoming known on the ship as the "coin man". Apparently he has everyone on the ship...including the crew, collecting coins for him from all over the world. They are giving him handfuls at a time. Piles show up on our dinner table, and fellow passengers are always looking for "that man with the great mustache" ( I keep telling him that he is confusing "great" with "g...

February 11 and 12 sea days Well, after 2 days the grumbling about Easter Island has died down. The weather is getting warmer- in the low 80's with humidity to match. The sun is also much more intense. If you stay out more than 10 minutes...sunscreen is a must. I get a little pink just walking around the covered deck due to the reflection off the water, but I am getting my tan on. The southern swell has stayed with us, rocking us to sleep at night and becoming a challenge when I walk the deck. It's like walking on a teeter-totter. Not only am I using the normal walking muscles, but I am also using muscles to balance with at the same time. I guess that's a win-win, but sometimes when it's really rocking it is a challenge. The gentle swells put me right to sleep at night, but sometimes I have weird dreams of my house falling down and earthquakes....go figure. We have also turned back the clocks 1 hr. every night, so that leads to the confusion. I feel like I am in a tim...

Easter Island   Easter Island has always been a challenging port to land on. With that being said, today was no exception. This is a tender port and their dock is very small. Add that to ocean swells coming from the south, bashing against the coastline, the tenders and the ship and you have the perfect storm. More often than not, this port is usually scrubbed due to unfavorable conditions. We anchored off of the only town on the island, Hanga Roa as scheduled at about 7 am. Everything looked fairly good for a landing. The sea looked calm, but that darn swell was coming in at about 10 ft high. A nice long rolling swell that could bash about the tendering platforms and the tenders. The Captain made the decision to give it a shot. Usually the first tender is loaded up with supplies from the ship to take over to the dock. Chairs, tents, water, etc. Then the people who booked ship excursions go on the next tenders. Well, it took about an hr. to load just one tender due to the sw...

Shipboard Meanderings..... Its gossip time! I mean what else is there to do when you have 5 days at sea until the next port. We will get to that, but first...We left Arica and sailed west/south-west heading toward Easter Island. I am feeling much better....I had a very mild case of an upper respiratory infection and was never bedridden, but people are dropping like flies. A notice was once again sent out to take all the necessary precautions in the public areas....wash hands frequently, cough into your elbow etc....the crew is also wiping every surface in the public areas at least 6 times a day. Many passengers have been quarantined to their rooms. The seas have been calm and the weather perfect. In the low 70's. The humidity is still high, but it is pleasant. As we head toward Tahiti it will get much hotter, so I am enjoying walking on the deck in the fresh air. I am trying to build up my stamina after the last year and a half of being medically challenged. So far I have been w...

After we left Peru we had one day at sea before the port of Arica. The weather has been fantastic, and the seas calm. The temp. has ranged from the low 70's to low 80's, and we are getting used to the humidity which seems to equal the temp. Which makes it seem hotter than it really is, but I'm not complaining. We have turned our clocks ahead twice...once before Lima and last night before Arica. This should be the last time we go "ahead one hour." As we sail west toward Tahiti we should be going "back one hour every few days. I love 25 hr days...... I still did not feel very well, so I decided to not go into Arica. It is the northernmost city in Chile, and is known for its year-round warm weather, and is a popular vacation beach spot for tourists. It is steeped in history with many ancient fortresses and villages. We were docked here from 8am to 6pm, but were warned that if we wanted to do any shopping it would have to be in the morning. The Arican's ta...

Well, we decided to stay in today. We heard that a few of the crew members that went out last night were jumped, robbed and all of their ID was taken. Our room stewards were going out and we warned them last night to stay safe and stay in a group. Luckily they did not have any conflicts, but many did. And fortunately all were back on-board today. I also did not feel well. Drat…..the cruise cough was going around and I, unfortunately caught it. I guess it’s fairly common that about 2 weeks into a cruise, “cruise cough” strikes. This time it started with the crew and was passed on to the passengers. I had a mild case, but some were down for the count. I nicknamed it “kennel cough” since that seemed a more accurate description. We are trying to stay healthy, but traveling in a nursing home at sea with 1300 passengers confined to small spaces, sometimes gets a bit challenging….and irritating. Since the weather is so nice, fresh air does wonders and sitting on a lounge chair reading in ...

We docked at Callao which is about 6 miles from the capital city of Lima. A major port of South America and the Pacific Ocean, it was filled with container ships from all over the world, loading and unloading shipping containers. When we were there, a few ships were unloading dried corn, tons of it. All day long uncovered semi trucks were filled to the brim with corn being offloaded from who knows where in the world and transferred somewhere off dock to most likely a holding facility. Remember when I said uncovered? Well, there were also tons of pigeons landing on the exposed corn in the back of the trucks, eating it and who knows what else…..I don’t know what this corn was going to be used for, but pigeon poo is not on my menu. Lima is home to more than 10 million people and consists of 47 districts…..it is huge! As with any large city traffic is horrendous, and the hustle and bustle is never ending. There is also lots of crime and the distinction between wealthy and poor is notic...

We booked a 5 hr tour to see the Downtown Plaza in Trujillo which is about a 30 minute drive from the port of Salaverry where we docked, and a drive out to the Moche ruins. It was going to be a fine day…80 degrees with just as much humidity and the sun factor, well, I will just say that for an Oregonian, sunscreen and a hat were well packed. And water….lots of water. Trujillo is the 3 rd largest city in Peru and the starting point, for our ship, and those who booked, a 2 night overland to Machu Picchu. We thought about the overland, but it was way too expensive, and I am trying to get my stamina back. I’m afraid that trekking around at 11,000 ft, would be challenging. I read that the ones who booked stayed in a hotel where extra oxygen is pumped into the hotel rooms to make sleep more comfortable. Our bus left the port and drove along the ocean into Salaverry. We had ocean on one side and desert on the other. Along the high sand dunes you could see hundreds of shanties built out o...