Subject: Report # 28 Sailing Towards Bay of Islands, New Zealand January 27, 2016 Wednesday Partly cloudy & 79 degrees
Report # 28 Sailing Towards Bay of Islands, New Zealand January 27, 2016 Wednesday Partly cloudy & 79 degrees
Well, all seemed right with the world once again this morning as we slipped back into our "at sea" routine. Sure is nice to have a few days to absorb what we have seen and done over the last several days of visiting Polynesian ports. During the course of the day, we had a chance to catch up on more details involving the stranded tender boat yesterday. Funny how many different versions we have heard about the events as they happened. The correct story came directly from our very own survivor, Barbie. She said that she felt she had the best seat in the boat, right at the exit in the center. The only bad thing was that when the boat tilted, she was almost flung out of the opening. She doesn't know why she did it today, but she put her ipad in a new plastic bag. If nothing else, it would not have been hurt if it got wet. As it turned out, those folks who chose to jump in the water to shore, had to leave their things on the boat. All of it was boxed up and taken off of the boat. Guess the guests claimed it later.
After breakfast, we took our usual walk outside. Boat # 9 had been switched with boat # 10 so it could be worked on we suppose. They roped off the area around the boat for safety reasons. The worst of the damage was to the propellers and the rudder. The fiberglass scrapes could be fixed, as we have seen when one of the boats got a gaping hole in it from a rough time tendering off of Easter Island. The Captain said yesterday that in case of an emergency, there would be plenty of space for the displaced # 9 lifeboat people.
We have always said that there should be a sign posted to indicate the flow of foot traffic on the lower promenade deck. Lo and behold, we spotted a crew member painting that message in several places around the deck. Counterclockwise is the designated direction during high traffic time. Now that tells us that there must have been an accident or a near one to finally get those signs posted.
New guest speakers have joined the ship. They are Joseph Kess, who delivered a good talk all about the Polynesians, Melanesians, and the Micronesians. Barbara H has always put out a flyer describing the different cultures of these related groups. Alan Wright spoke about the moon, our nearest celestial neighbor.
If you have always wondered how to cook green-lipped mussels or pecan-crusted rack of lamb, then today's demo in the Wajang Theater was the place to go.
The Australian Pearl Divers are onboard with their collection of unique cultured pearls. A few years ago, we purchased a triple strand of South Seas pearls with turquoise stones in the ship's store. Probably costing more than if we shopped for them off of the ship, we are guaranteed of their quality. Takes a lot of guessing out of the purchase, when you know they are guaranteed to be authentic.
Anyone out there know how to dance the Haka, or the Maori version of the New Zealand dance? Guess we will find out. This has to be the start of the new Location team activities for the area we are heading to.
After being missing at the aft deck for about a week, we spent some time in the sun. The temperature has dropped to a comfortable high 70's, and the heavy humidity is gone. We will still have to be vigilant about using the sunblock, especially in New Zealand, where the ozone layer is thin. Very easy to burn here, as we have seen in the past. While sitting out there visiting with Barb, we spotted the first tropic bird of this trip. It was all alone, soaring over the ship. There is no land nearby, so this pretty bird with the long tail must be migrating. Strangely enough, this is exactly where we saw a lone tropic bird last fall, right after leaving Rarotonga. Hope to see more of them.
We have been having difficulty getting online in these remote areas, as the internet goes up and down unexpectedly. Bear with us if we cannot be consistent with the reports.
There were three of us at dinner tonight, since Bonnie was feeling under the weather. She and Paul decided to eat in the Lido, and call it an early night. A wise decision. Sometimes a full day in port can wipe you out.
After dinner tonight, we found all of the room stewards disinfecting the walls on the passenger decks. Don't usually see the housekeeping staff after 10pm doing that kind of work. When we found our room stewards near our room, we asked why they were doing this cleaning now. Their answer was that enough cases of the GI bug has been reported, and this is the required procedure to put a stop to the spread of the bug. Guess we had better double up on the Purell for a while.
Bill and MaryAnn
A tropic bird
Flying over 260 miles from Rarotonga
