Day 26 - World Cruise 2015 (At Sea and Tonga)

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Today we spent most of the day at Sea and we arrived at Tonga at about 7:30 PM.  We crossed the International Date Line at 10:23 PM on January 29, 2015 so we skipped the 30th of January.

After breakfast I went to "Good Morning Amsterdam".  The guests today were Airborne, the man and wife Juggling team who put on the show on Wednesday night.  At 10 AM, I went to a shore excursions Presentation put on by Irene and Barbara on upcoming tour opportunities covering Auckland, New Zealand to Geraldton, Australia.  At 11 PM, Gerald McCormack discussed how Michael Rockefeller was declared lost at sea on November 19,1961.  He was the son of Nelson Rockefeller and was lost in the area of New Guinea, not far from where we are now sailing.

At 2 PM, I went to a talk by Melvyn Foster on "The Mutiny in Paradise: Bligh, the Bounty and the Run Trade".  He talked about the Royal Navy's most famous mutiny in the heart of Polynesia.  He talked about how rum, slave trade and sugar were connected.  The purpose of the Bounty was to collect the Bread Fruit tree and bring it back to the Caribbean to feed the slaves who produced the sugar which was used in the rum.  Bligh was made out to be a goat but he pointed out some history that he might not has been that bad because the sailers who made it back to UK with Bligh left later on a another ship lead by Bligh.

After dinner the show was put on by the Amsterdam Singers and Dancers.  This was their third show on the world cruise.  

The following are some pictures taken from the ship as we approached Tonga.


This is a picture of the harbor at Nuku'Alofa, Tonga.


This is a picture of the sunset over Tonga.


This is a picture of the palace.


This is a picture of the locals on the dock.  We had some local entertainment as we approached the dock.

Day 25 - World Cruise 2015 (At Sea)

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Today we are at sea sailing toward Muku'Alofa, Tonga. Tomorrow we going to be in Alofi, Niue, but because of a Tropical Storm we headed to Tonga. Tonight we are also crossing the International Date Line so when I get up in the morning it will be Saturday. Today was not a great program. I didn't do much in the morning and in the afternoon at 2 PM, Gerald McCormack presented JFK and his PT 109 that sank off the Solomon Islands and how it affected his brother Joe Jr. He presented some new information that I did not know about JFK and his brother Joe Jr.

After dinner, I went to a show put on by Rita Rudner. She has been named Las Vegas's Comedian of the Year nine years in a row. Over the course of a fourteen year run and 2,000 plus shows, she has sold one and half million tickets and become the longest running solo comes show in the history of Las Vegas's. Her twelve year old singer-songwriter daughter, Molly Bergman, opened the show by singing 3 songs.

Day 24 - World Cruise 2015 (Rarotongo, Cook Islands)

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Today I got up for a stop at Rarotonga, Cook Islands.  About the time I was ready for breakfast, The captain announced that because of sea conditions it was not safe for the tenders to transfer us to the Island.  I took my camera and took some pictures from the ship before the ship left the area.  Two years ago the ship also stopped at Rarotonga and because of the sea conditions we also did not get off the ship.  

The ship announced a new program because we could not tour Rarotonga.  At 10 AM, Melvyn Foster talked about Women Pirates of the Sea Lanes.  He talked about the surprising number of bravely intrepid women who choose a fugitive's life of sea piracy, and their more recent counterparts in crime.  At 2 PM, Gerald McCormack gave insight into the French's time in the Pacific and the islands that have current connections and the future of these connections.   

Soon after the captain announced that we were leaving the Cook Islands area, he told us that a Tropical storm is brewing and is going to affect our call at Alofi, Niue.  He told us that if we arrive at Alofi as scheduled on Friday, the storms will be right on top of us.  Winds would be 40 mph and waves up to 12 feet and also raining cats and dogs.  Thus the call would be impossible so he turned the ship toward Tonga at a rate of speed which will takes us away from the storm.  Thus we will cause the International date line on Friday and arrive at Tonga at 7 PM and stay in Tonga until 4 PM on Monday.

Tonight after dinner, the show was put on by Airborne.  The show included comedy, juggling and visual effects.

Below are some pictures that I took of Rarotonga, Cook Islands from the ship.

  

This is a picture of Rarotonga, Cook Islands as taken from the ship.

This is a picture of Rarotonga, Cook Islands as taken from the ship.

This is a picture of Rarotonga, Cook Islands as taken from the ship.

This is a picture of Rarotonga, Cook Islands as taken from the ship of the last view.

Day 23 - World Cruise 1015 (At Sea)

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Today we are at sea sailing towards Rarotonga, Cook Islands. After breakfast i went to "Good Morning Amsterdam". Today the guest was Melvyn Foster. Melvyn is one of the new speakers that came aboard. His first talk was at 2 PM. At 10 AM, I went to a talk by Barbara on things to see & do in Nuie & Tonga. At 11 AM, Gerald McCormack, the other new speaker on board talked about Omai the Prince of Tahiti at the Court of King George. He gave insight into how 200 years ago it was thought that Pacific Islanders had reached the pinnacle of man's relationship with nature and each other. Omai showed otherwise. AT 2 PM, Melvyn presented Byron, Bougainville and Cook and unlocked the mysteries of the Pacific Ocean and the allure of Polynesia. He talked about the host of famed artists and writers who were drawn to Poylnesia.

Tonight at dinner was a formal night. Elliot Finkel played the piano for tonights show.

Day 22 - World Cruise 2015 ( Vaitape, Bora Bora, French Polynesia)

Monday, January 26, 2015

Today the ship arrived at Bora Bora, French Polynesia just before 8 AM.  I got up and ate breakfast.  At 9:30 AM, I got on a tender for the town of Vaitape on the Island of Bora Bora.  I walked around the town and waited on my tour called " Glass-Bottom Adventure" at 11 PM.  The tour gave me a glimpse of Bora Bora's sub-marine wonder world.  We saw the coral reefs, and many small brilliantly colored fish.  We saw some divers and some people who were snorkeling.  After 1 1/2 hours trip we returned to Vaitape at 12:30 PM.  I took another walk around town and returned to the ship.

At about 5 PM the ship left for Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

After dinner I went to a show called "Divas 3".  This was a group of three female singers with powerhouse voices from Las Vegas singing the biggest hits of the 1960's to the 1990's.   

Below are some pictures from Bora Bora, French Polynesia.

This is a picture of the Amsterdam taken form the tender.  The area where the ship is parked is located in the center of the volcano that created Bora Bora 5 million years ago.  After creation, the island started to sink and the sea came in.  Today, the island is still sinking.

This is a picture of the tender at the dock in Vaitape.

At the dock we had local entertainment.

This picture was taken in Vaitape.

This is a picture of the Protestant church in Vaitape.

This is some more entertainers at a shop in Vaitape.

This picture was taken from the glass boat as we were leaving Vaitape.

 

This is a picture of the coral as we viewed from the glass bottom boat.

 

This is a picture of some of the coral that we saw.

This picture was taken of Bora Bora from the boat.

This is a picture of some of the fish we saw off the side of the boat.  The boat driver thru some food into the ocean to get the fish to come to the surface.

This is some fish we saw from the boat.

This is the Hilton Hotel which was taken from the boat.

This picture was taken from the boat of Bora Bora.

This picture was taken from the boat of Bora Bora.

This picture was taken from the boat of the Catholic Church in Vaitape.

This picture was taken from the boat as we were returning to Vaitape.

This is a picture of the boat we took on the tour.

This is a picture taken in Vaitape.

This picture was taken in Vaitape.

This picture was taken in Vaitape.

This picture was taken in Vaitape.

This is a picture of another ship named Marina that was spending the day in Bora Bora taken from the ship.

 

This picture was taken from the ship as we were leaving Bora Bora.

This picture was taken from the ship as we were leaving Bora Bora.  It shows some of the Islands which ring Bora Bora.

This picture was taken from the ship of one of the hotels.  You can see some of the coral reefs. 

Day 20 - World Cruise 2015 ( Tahiti, French Polynesia - Day 1)

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Today when I got up we were on the way to Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia with time of arrival at 12 Noon.  After breakfast I went to "Good Morning Amsterdam".  The guest today was Spencer Robson, who had the show on the previous night.  At 11 AM we started our sail in to Papeete.  This was the second time in Tahiti as we also stopped here on the 2013 World Cruise.  At 1:30 PM, I left on a tour called "Off the beaten track: Tahiti by 4-Wheel-Drive".  We left the ship in a 4-Wheel drive vehicle into the unspoiled interior of Tahiti.  We headed for the East coast passing by the island coastal road on the way to the Papenoo Valley.  We saw cascading waterfalls, luxuriant tropical vegetation and exotic flowerers.  What we did not see were any wild animals such as monkey's etc because they aren't any.   The weather was cloudy for the entire trip with some light rain falling for part of the time.  The day before, a major storm came thru the area and produced a lot of rain.  Many of the trees such as Banana, Coconut,  and Mango were brought to Tahiti when the initial people came to Tahiti.  Tahiti is part of the Polynesia Triangle with Hawaii on the North and New Zealand on the South and the natives in this area came from the same source.

At 5:30 PM we got back to the ship and I cleaned up and went to a special Polynesian BBQ that took place from 5:30 PM to 8 PM.  At 9:30 PM, the show was put on by a large group of Tahitians.  They played traditional Tahitian music along with traditional dance.

After the show I returned to the room.  The ship will not leave Tahiti until 5 PM on Sunday.

Below are some pictures taken on the first day in Tahiti.

This picture was taken from the ship as we were approaching Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia.

This picture was taken from the ship of two other ships in the harbor.

This picture was taken from the ship of Papeete and the harbor.

After we arrived were greeted with entertainment from the dock.

This is a picture of a woman greeting us as we left the ship for a tour.

This is a picture of our 4-Wheel vehicle and our driver we used for our tour.

 

This picture was taken on the tour of Papeete near the ship's dock.

 

This picture was taken from the tour vehicle.

This picture was taken on the tour.

This picture show some of the pot holes in the road and the water from the rain on the previous day.

This picture was taken of the road and the river we followed for most of the trip.

This is a picture of one of the many waterfalls that we saw on the tour.

This is a picture of the river.

This is a picture of a dam on the river.

This is a picture of another waterfall along the river.

This is a picture of the dam.  We drove right thru this water.

This is a picture of another waterfall.

This picture was taken on the tour.

 

This is a picture of another waterfall.

This picture was taken on a photo stop.

This picture was taken on a photo stop.

This picture was taken of the dam on the way back to the ship.

This is a picture of the river as we were going across the river.

This picture was taken on the road back to the ship.

This is a picture of the waves on the sea.

This is a picture taken of some children.

This is a picture of the river at its dumps in the ocean.

This picture was taken on a photo stop at Tahara'a View Point on the way back to the ship.

This picture was taken on a photo stop at Tahara'a View Point on the way back to the ship.

This picture was taken on a photo stop at Tahara'a View Point on the way back to the ship.

We made a stop to view the sea waves.

This picture was taken on the Lido deck at the Polynesian BBQ.

This picture was taken at the Tahitian show of the dancers.

This picture was taken at the Tahitian show of the group that provided the music.

  

This picture was taken at the Tahitian show of some of the dancers.