After dropping off almost half our passengers we sailed north toward Christmas Island. The Captain announced that because we bypassed French Polynesia, the plan was spend 2 days on each of the Hawaiian Islands. Sounds good. Shortly after this he announced that our stop in Christmas Island had been cancelled. The next day we were […]
Read more
Our third day with this view. The Papeete passengers continued debarking by tender, and we watched occasional flights taking off from the little Rarotonga airport – big planes for such a little airport. After all of them were off the ship, we set sail considerably less crowded, which was good since French Polynesia had not […]
Read more
As we boarded the ship last night from Rarotonga, the Captain announced that the French Polynesian government had refused to let us visit French Polynesia, which includes stops in Papeete, Moorea, Bora Bora, and Huahine Iti. He said he was in negotiation with them to allow those passengers whose cruises were due to end in […]
Read more
Rarotonga has agreed to let us visit – hooray! Rarotonga is the largest island of the Cook Islands, even though its fellow islands are several hundred miles away. While it is a self governing independent nation it is closely aligned with New Zealand for international relations and defense. The capital of the Cook Islands is […]
Read more
Great days at sea as we headed toward Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Some beautiful seascape photos from Zaga. Along the way, the news from the Captain grew more ominous – the nation of French Polynesia (Tahiti) had declined our visit to Moorea, which was to be our first stop in French Polynesia. The coronavirus […]
Read more
Dravuni is a very small Fijian island, directly south of the main island of Fiji. When I say “small”, I mean tiny – perhaps a half mile long, 200 acres in size. Dravuni is a very small Fijian island, directly south of the main island of Fiji. When I say “small”, I mean tiny – […]
Read more
Savusavu is a smaller island, still part of Fiji. Here we have to take a tender into the shore. Dan, Sally, and I went down the main street browsing. Dan wanted to find some small fans for their cabin, to cool it off. Really not much to see in Savusavu, just a commercial street with […]
Read more
Fiji, unlike most of the countries we visit on this trip is in Melanesia, as opposed to Polynesia. This designation has to do with which peoples settled the island group, more than its geographical location. Melanesians are darker skinned and they occupy New Guinea, the Solomons, and Fiji. Prior to getting off the ship in […]
Read more
Bay of Islands is an historic area of New Zealand. It is the site of the signing, in 1840, of the treaty between the Maori and the English, known as the Treaty of Waitangi, which is a very important founding document of New Zealand. It established a British Governor of New Zealand, addressed Maori ownership […]
Read more
Well, after a wonderful month in Devenport, it is time to board the ship for our cruise across the South Pacific back to the U.S.A. We packed everything up and restored our little home to the way we found it and waited (and hoped for) our ride to the ship. Far too much luggage to […]
Read more