Day four at sea found the Zaandam doing an average speed of 17 knots with 79-degree weather with 79% humidity. The winds were 13 mph at 8am, however the swells would increase later in the day to over 10 feet with mostly overcast skies.
On our way to breakfast on deck four, we encountered an "alligator" lurking on a hand truck outside the elevator. OK, we guess this is the "towel animal day" where certain towels have been turned into the cutest creatures we have seen. We did hear from other guests that these creations were here and there in the elevator lobbies, but we are not sure they were on display in the Lido pool area as they are on grand voyages. To tell the truth, we did not take the time to look this morning. There was a" guests vs officers " towel folding in the atrium at 11am, so that may have been as good as it got. In addition, there was a shipbuilding competition trail in the Lido Poolside at 2pm, so having hundreds of towel animals there may have been too much for one day to set up and remove.
Our morning started with some more packing, which was going well enough to continue until noontime. Even though the ship was rocking and rolling, we stayed with the project and eventually got 98% of it done. And since we needed to know how much stuff we used cosmetic-wise, and snack-wise, that would determine what we could spend our shipboard credit on. So our first visit to The Shops produced nice clothes from Heli Hansen with one vest, a sweatshirt, a fleece jacket and one long-sleeved t-shirt. They are of excellent quality and were 20% off today to boot. Glad we checked because their selection was limited and we got exactly the sizes we needed.
There was a second Mariner Recognition lunch in the dining room at noontime with about 500 more guests in attendance. Therefore, there was no Sunday brunch today, disappointing many guests we heard.
The Captain came on with his noon talk and said we were 1690 nautical miles from Nuku Hiva and had another 1134 nautical miles to go to San Diego. Slowly but surely, we are getting there. He expected the winds to die down a notch but increase later to over 20 mph with high waves of 10 feet or more. Within 24 hours, he said the waves would subside. Of course, that would be the ideal time to pack for most folks. Once again, he did not mention the sunrise or sunset times. Turned out the sunset was another fizzle.
So here is today's little bit of Polynesian facts. The first one is all about fishing. More than a sport, fishing is an important part of Polynesian life. It can be net fishing on a beach, trolling, or using a reel. Can you imagine using a spear or a harpoon fishing for mahi mahi, tuna, marlin, and even the larger tropical fish such as parrotfish, angel fish, and red snapper? We saw many of these fish being sold in Papeete's marketplace, including the pretty reef fish.
Canoeing is big here. The outrigger canoe is also called a pirogue, or in Tahitian, va'a. These boats were originally used for traveling from island to island and were made with vegetative materials like coconut fibers for ropes, a tree trunk for the hull, and pandanus leaves woven for the sails. Guess you could say they were ahead of their time for using recyclable things from nature. These modern days, the outrigger canoe is a national sport with va'a clubs in every big city. The rowers can be seen practicing between noon and 2pm or the evening at sunset. The big Polynesian event is the Hawaiki Nui Va'a race that happens in October or November every year connecting the islands of Huahine, Raiatea, Taha'a and Bora Bora. And we did see the monument signs showing the races that were held in each of those islands. Pretty cool we thought, but we had just missed it by a week or so.
This afternoon, we took the time to write many thank you's via the Navigator app on the computer. The list was long. We had to put a lot of thought into it so we did not miss any department on the ship that we dealt with the most. Later in the day, we got return thank you's from the crew and staff members we had complimented.
Taking our second walk of the day, we visited with Susie and Eddie on the promenade deck. Susie had a birthday yesterday and we wanted to wish her a belated one. That was followed by another shopping stop netting another Mary Frances purse. We have decided to use all of our credit and not deal with trying to get the "cashable" amount credited back to an account when we get home. Reading Cruise Critic, we have noticed that the transfer does not always happen in a timely manner, so we will just spend it here and be done with it as it is not a huge number.
We made a stop in the Pinnacle Grill because we discovered that "there was nothing to eat" in the dining room tonight. That's Greg and Heo's favorite quote on many a world cruise. At least there was nothing that appealed to us. Funny thing, we ran into Nancy on her way back from the early seating, and she admitted having lasagna because there was nothing for dinner she liked. We had to laugh….she is such a kick and we have enjoyed our conversations with her. We asked if she had received the photo from the Mariner Recognition Event, and she said….yes, she did. Lo and behold, there it was in our mail slot as well. Nice to know they saw fit to gift us at least one photo. We will need to thank Kumar our Mariner rep for this one.
The Pinnacle Grill was still busy when we arrived at 8pm with folks that were using the last of their complementary dinners in here. Sometimes a dinner here is included as part of the Have-It-All package. Anyway, we combined our wedge salads with one slice of clothes hanger bacon and one marinated chicken taco appetizer. Then we asked for larger plates so we could cut our iceberg lettuce without spilling it on the table or on our laps. RJ gladly plated up our requests with no problem. Mains were one lamb chop meal and one 8 oz. filet mignon. Our one side was ½ baked potato each with the toppings. Plenty of food, we added a shared Baked Alaska for dessert. One of us asked RJ if he could plate up the macaroons to go, which he did, bringing them wrapped in a foil chicken. They will be just right at lunchtime tomorrow. He also remembered that I preferred the raspberry flavor the best.
There was a combined show this evening with mentalist Santiago Michel and trumpet player Nathan Samuelson with a performance guaranteed to please. The Wajang movie was Top Gun: Maverick.
And so ends day 4 at sea with 2 more to go.
Bill & Mary Ann
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