Day number three at sea brought nice weather with it. We did have some light showers and passing clouds, but the heat factor remains the same at 82 degrees with 76% humidity. Winds have been light at 12.6 mph with a 3-foot swell.
When we returned from breakfast, we had a knock on the door from the ship's florist with a vase of flowers for our final President's Club gift. Since we have a healthy stash of Coke Zero's, we asked for one $60 beverage card instead. Should work for some specialty coffees.
Captain Thomas came on with his noon update with lots of news regarding our current position, which is 911 nautical miles from Kona and 1221 nautical miles to reach Rangiroa, French Polynesia. We are nearing the Equator, and the trade winds and currents are pushing the vessel sideways. Modern technology is keeping the ship sailing in the correct direction which is south. The other news was that upon contacting King Neptune, the Captain discovered he was fully booked for a ceremony insuring our safe passage. But be assured, the King will grant us a dispensation this one time. Our actual crossing will be around 9am tomorrow morning. We bet that there will be a formal ceremony on our way back to San Diego after leaving Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas.
Since we are approaching our next stop in a few days, we thought we might start adding some basic info on the area. French Polynesia has five archipelagos spanning over 4167 square kilometers. We do not have the exact formula to square miles, but suffice it to say, that is an area bigger than all of Europe, we seem to recall. The Society Islands are the largest of the archipelagos with nine high islands and five atolls. They are split into two groups. The Windward Islands are Tahiti, Moorea, Maiao, Tetiaroa and Mehetia. The Leeward Islands are Huahine, Raiatea, Taha'a, Bora Bora, Maupiti and some uninhabited islets.
The Tuamotu/Gambia Archipelagos are the low islands and all of the atolls - Rangiroa and Fakarava among them. The Australes Archipelago has five inhabited islands, and the Marquesas have twelve high islands without lagoons, a most powerful landscape.
French is the official language for the 300,000 natives that reside here , however most Tahitians speak Reo Mao'hi and other similar dialects due to the fact the islands are so far apart. English is widely spoken these days. The exchange rate for the $US dollar is 100 Pacific French Francs more or less. And not all credit cards are accepted .
We went to deck 6 forward to watch the sunset, but never saw the actual sun due to extreme cloud cover. What was more amusing was discovering three birds that decided to perch on the flagpole on the ship's bow. Two boobies had found a perch midway up the pole,while a lone young frigatebird with a fuzzy white head took the very top of the pole. Never saw that before. And what a mess they were leaving on the deck. We guess they will be spending the night bobbing up and down with the swells. Enough fun....time for dinner.
Back in the dining room, we ordered one calypso shrimp starter and one arancini plate with red sauce. One of us had a salad while the other the tomato soup. It was a toss-up as to who had the best entree. It was either the turkey dinner or the chicken Parmigiana, which were both winners. Desserts were one scoop of rocky road ice cream and a chocolate torte - more like flourless chocolate cake.
There must have been a mistake in the entertainment listed, because we heard there was the funniest comedian on stage last night and not the World Stage Cast. We will have to check out the funny man when he returns for another show.
Bill & Mary Ann
