The days are slipping by quickly now as we completed our third day at sea on the way to the Cook Islands. The one hour forward on the clocks last night left us with one hour less sleep. That sure does not work well with one of us and reminds us of why we never wish to do an eastbound itinerary, especially on a Grand World Voyage. Looking ahead to next year, we will have some of those negative time changes as we head back from Japan to the west coast and back to Florida. Guess we will have to deal with it.
We had a pretty stream-lined day with our usual catching up to do. There were up to 1100 photos of the island and the fantastic tropicbirds and terns to be processed, so that took all day to do it. Having some more free time to read for one of us has been nice too. One big job of the day was passport collection time. It was part of the procedure for arrival to French Polynesia. These passports will be inspected and returned back to us on November 13th. It is always a good idea to have copies of your passports as well to keep in a safe place. Sometimes these are provided to us after we board on the grand voyages. Tables in the mid ship elevator lobbies were set up for quick collection where we were handed receipts with our names on them. These will be needed to retrieve the passports in November.
The Captain came on with his noon update and confirmed what we already knew. The weather was fine, the swells were high, and the temperature was about 77 degrees. It sure felt a lot cooler than that since the winds were blowing at 25mph. We have travelled 470 nautical miles from Tonga and have another 365 nautical miles to go to reach the Cook Islands. The sea depth was 16,000 feet, but he forgot the sunset/sunrise times again.
With Halloween coming up, there was a contest as to who had carved the best pumpkin in the Lido this afternoon. That is – "crew"-carved. That brings to mind the fruit and veggie carvers of the past that created the most artistic pieces of veggie art you ever saw. Most all of the crew that did this were from the Philippines. We seldom see this in the dining rooms or Lido anymore as it does tend to take time. And remember the ice carvings? Those were the days when the gigantic blocks of ice were brought out to the poolside and carved with chainsaws and hatchets among other tools. There would always be a guessing game as to what was being created. Even back then, we heard that these blocks of ice were quite expensive, so eventually, they were eliminated.
It was two sliders for each of us from room service for lunch…..keeping it light since we have Pinnacle Grill dinner reservations this evening. About the same time, there was a call for blood donors for a seriously ill patient. We have heard this request more often these days while on the longer voyages. Sure hope they found someone since the blood type was not a common one. As the day advanced, we heard no more.
Taking a long promenade walk at 6pm, we went to the aft to watch the sun go down. Of course, with the time change, it was still up high the sky. And the starboard side of the deck had been closed off due to deep scrubbing. Then it began to lightly sprinkle, creating a brief rainbow on the port side. We gave up on the sunset, if there was one, we will never know.
Dinnertime was 8pm in the Pinnacle Grill with wedge salads, clothesline bacon, dressings filled to the max, and tasty bread with garlic butter. That was a meal in itself. However, we ordered the Hawaiian pork belly, and it was really good and meaty. For us, it is a nice alternate to the steak or chops. The skinny fries go with everything, so we shared a flute of them. There was a tad bit of room for a shared dessert of Baked Alaska, but we said no thanks to the macaroons. The food was great, and the service excellent. What more can we ask?
And there was entertainment tonight with a songstress by the name of Rebecca Harkin from Ireland. Piano man and husband, Kurt Russell, accompanied her while performing songs from the famous female artists of all time. An alternate idea was a movie in the Wajang - Beetlejuice. Gosh how old was that movie??? Oldie but goodie we guess.
One more day at sea, and we should be making a landing at Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Hope the seas, winds, and swell co-operate.
Bill & Mary Ann
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