Today at Raratonga, we scored the bookends of a first for us. We made it off on the first tender and then, drum roll please, I was second to the last back on board on the ship while Angela was the last one to reboard the ship. Before arriving at this port there was some concern about whether we would be able to tender due to sea swell conditions. Jonathan, our cruise director, even requested patience as the sea conditions produced swells of 6-8 feet. It was a rough tender boarding from the ship and rough reboarding at the end of the day. Plus the swells in transit were in the 6 foot range.
Once on shore, we obtained maps and walked across the street to wait for the Cook Island bus. The island has a ring road and two bus routes around the island. One runs clockwise and the other runs anti-clockwise (they don't use the term counter clockwise). We took the anti-clockwise bus for a full 18 mile loop around the island to get a feel for the island. An older lady and her daughter and grandson boarded the bus and it turn out that the older lady was the mother of the bus driver. The cost for an unlimited stop daily bus pass was $16NZ per person. A single stop was $5NZ. And other pricing options were available. At the end of the loop we got off the bus in the main township of Avarua and did some walking around and shopping and unsuccessfully trying to find a copy of Rose & Tani's CD before reboarding the anti-clockwise bus for a ride to Muri Beach. We happened upon the Te Ara Cook Islands Museum of Cultural Enterprise which is a small museum recounting the history of the Cook Islands. It was very good and the history message conveyed was parallel to what we heard on the ship.
Afterwards we walked the Muri Beach area where I finally found a Cook Islands non-cotton shirt before boarding a clockwise bus back to the port and city center. That bus was late and totally packed to the point that Angela sat on my lap to make space for another passenger on our seat. The bus driver graciously dropped us off at the post office which is a shipping container with post office boxes mounted in the side. There is also a retail facility next to it. We then walked back to the tender dock and noted at least 3 tenders worth of passengers waiting to board. We got on the last tender and made it back on board as the last two passengers.
Rose and Tani performed during the sail away. It's probably worth noting that the Maasdam was unable to anchor due to the depth of the water. It maintained its position by use of the bow & stern thrusters and main propulsion system. We enjoyed another great Guest Chef's dinner in the Pinnacle Grill with the good company of Don and Barbara from California before watching the 10pm comedy show of Jim Short.
Tomorrow is another sea day as we make our way back to French Polynesia.
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