Day 28 - Sun 10/07/18 At Sea to Polynesia - Day 3

Polynesian Cultural Ambassadors with Angela and Pitcairn Island in the background 

Today was another of those "bucket list" days and I don't even keep a bucket list.

Early this morning we sailed by Henderson Island which is an uninhabited island. But the gem was to be had later in the day when we reached  Pitcairn Island. Pitcairn Island was the Island that many of the mutineers of the English naval ship Bounty ended up on in the early 1800's. Currently only 42 people reside there in a small town called Adamstown named after one of the mutineers. There is only one place to come aboard the island and the ballast from the Bounty lies in the bay of the same name in front of Adamstown. It's hard to believe we were able to come so close to the wreckage site. And before leaving the island waters, we circumnavigated the island.

With the two island sailbys, we had a light lecture schedule today. I led the final 9am interdenominational worship service (most of the travelers will get off next Sunday) and preached out of 1 Peter. We had a very good attendence. The big talk today was Martin Cohen's final lecture on the Humble Coconut. I watched a couple of BBC movies (one on Wind and another on Polynesia) and we enjoyed a Polynesian themed dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. It was excellent! Afterwards, I watched the new Planet Earth II in Concert, and I liked it better than the first version which we have seen many times.

I should mention that there was a Maasdam Zoo in the Lido Pool area today. It was comprised of all kinds of towel animals and showed great creativity by the staff.

We have another sea day tomorrow with a very light lecture schedule. Stay tuned.

Day 27 - Sat 10/06/18 At Sea to Polynesia - Day 2

It was another sea day. One interesting thing I learned today was an explanation for the terrible internet connection yesterday. It seems that the course we are sailing on put the mast in the way of the satellite antenna. The solution was to have the ship sail a gently wavy course to allow the antenna to have a clear view of the sky. It shows up on the course monitor very clearly. This required permission from Seattle.

The lecture schedule was a bit light with lectures on future cruises (one tempting one involves repositioning the Koningsdam to Vancouver in 2020 for its first use on the Alaska cruise routes). That really expands capacity for HAL. It was also confirmed that a third yet unnamed Pinnacle class ship will join the fleet in 2020. Also all of the projected Maasdam sailings will be EXC in-depth cruises. We are booked on two of them. Other presentations included Land Birds of Polynesia, Captain Cook, Identifying Coastal Features, Authenticity in Polynesian Art, and a reflection on Pearl Habor which while quite moving but was sort of out of focus for this cruise and its ports.

Story time had David Happe share his story about his first trip to Alaska. It was pretty amusing with lots of audience participation.

Tomorrow we'll be scenic cruising by Henderson and Pitcairn Islands. Henderson is uninhabited while Pitcairn has a population of 42 and falling. I'll also be leading the interdenominational service. And we're planning to enjoy a special Polynesian dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. Stay tuned!

Day 26 - Fri 10/05/18 At Sea to Polynesia - Day 1

We're back to sailing for 5 days to reach French Polynesia. With that comes a series of lectures and cultural presentations.

Angela attended a Tahitian ukulele and singing class and a language basics class and there was a wildlife photography class, a Polynesian art class, and a presentation on the Hawaiian monarchy. I think the last talk was a little off topic given where we are sailing. Dr. Cohen also gave an encore presentation on vats with a focus on flying foxes in Cannes. We've seen those bats before so the talk took on a personal tone for us.

The Unexpected Boys did a Broadway show tunes themed stage show, and we went to both the 8 and 10pm shows. In between I went to Dr. Peter Carey's story time which covered his first two visits to Easter Island. Afterwards a few of us got to talk in detail with Dr. Carey about the EXC In Depth program. 

Our clocks are being set back an hour again tonight.

Day 25 - Thu 10/04/18 Easter Island Day 2

We're now in the second half of our voyage. Day two on Easter Island started very early with Angela getting position #1 in the tender line at 6:30am while I ate breakfast. Then we switched places. At 7:45am we boarded the tender and were soon ashore. Most of our group #1 assembled plus we added a few new members and were put on a different bus with a different guide (Chris). This replacement bus was very crowded and used very uncomfortable jump seats. When our guide asked if we would like to change buses, it was a virtually universal yes response. Unfortunately the replacement bus was 2 seats smaller than the original bus so one couple had to take the next bus.

We made 5 stops today with an emphasis on background culture of the moai. Those stops were at:

1. Rano Kau (large crater with a fresh water lake covered in floating flora).

2. Orango (ceremonial village at the crater and part of the annual bird man competition).

3. Vinapu (empty Ahu (platform for displaying the moai) with fallen moai.

4. Puna Pau (crater and source of stone material for red stone hats for the moai.

5. Ahu a Kivi (7 moai aligned celestially)

After our tour we were dropped off in town where we shopped and found more ceviche (not a top contender). I found a local seamstress who had a commercial serger and a sewing machine. She was surprised to learn I have a similar commercial sewing machine. I ended up purchasing a nice machine embroidered polo shirt for $14. We found the local craft market which had similar items to what we've seen at the various stops we've visited over the past two days. We then found the local post office and stamped our National Park Pass before walking back to the port.

The tender process back to the ship went much smoother and we prepared for our departure and 5 days at sea: Pitcairn Island ahead! While watching the tendering process from the outside promenade deck and hearing a public address announcement for one person, we saw the last tender boat return from shore. It was pursued and passed by a small outboard boat carrying what appeared to be a ship's passenger. The passenger passed a tip to the boat driver, jumped on the tender and then climbed up the tender platform stairs! Talk about calling it close! The same little boat then collected the Chilean officials on board and motored back to shore.

The Captain came on the PA system and announced we would do a scenic cruise past the Island next to the Rano Kau crater. This island is the one that the competitors in the bird man competition had to swim to after free scaling down the crater wall to the sea. It was a terrific gesture to have the ship pass by this landmark.

We ate a really light dinner before attending the 8pm show which featured an Irish comic/magician, Patrick McCullagh. We finished the evening listening to Dr. Cohen's stories of observing primates in the wild.

Fortunately, tonight we set our clocks back an hour as we head west. It was a terrific two days on Easter Island. It is truly a magical place and belongs on any serious traveler's bucket list despite its remoteness.

Day 24 - Wed 10/03/18 Easter Island

What a day! Visiting Easter Island today was all that it was promoted to be. While there were delays in the tendering process due to Chilean harbor rule constrictions, a medical evacuation amidst the tendering process and an engine problem on a tender, we we able to get ashore by 9:45am. We then had to wait for an hour and twenty minutes for the rest of our group to get off the ship.

We visited 4 Moai sites: Ahu Tahai (the only Moai with white eyes), Anakena (landing beach for the migration to the island), Rano Raraku (moai quarry), and Tongariki (15 moai reputed to be in line with celestial seasons). Pictures hardly do it justice! The sheer size of these sculptures is stunning and all were created with stone tools! More pictures will come later.

After the tour we enjoyed ceviche at a local restaurant and it is now the front runner in our search! It had lots of seafood and was served dry on a wooden plate. One serving was enough for both of us!

One tip I would give is to pay one's meal bill with a credit card as the exchange rate for using dollars is 500 pesos to a dollar compared to the official rate of 672 as of today. Also a regular can of soda is $4.50 and I thought the ship's price was high!

It was also surreal to approach the airport staring at a centuries old stone carving with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner parked behind it!

There was a bit of a crowd to tender back to the ship so tender tickets were needed and that seemed to bring organization to the process. While tendering was to end at 7pm, we didn't get a tender until after 7:30 and there were more after us. Back on board, the Captain announced we would be circling out in the ocean overnight and beginning the tender process an hour earlier tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Day 23 - Tue 10/02/18 At Sea to Easter Island - 5

Overnight the ship certainly did some rocking and rolling, but I slept like a baby. The winds increased to a Beaufort 7 (near gale) and the seas increased to around 12 feet with lots of whitecaps. Throughout the day the seas started to calm down and the Captain's noon meteorological/ nautical report indicated that it was looking positive for a successful for a stop at Easter Island. The anticipation among the passengers continued to build.

Today I picked up my prize package for winning the creativity section with the picture attached. Ironically, my subject turned out to be the ship's black & white photographer .

The EXC lectures continued to be great and started an hour later which I appreciated. The topics were commonalities among Polynesian nations, Extreme Waves, Bats (fascinating), and Tahitian black pearls. The evening's entertainment was James Grant-Peterkin's final lecture on "Islands on the Brink" about the challenges facing both Pitcairn and Easter Islands as well as a sordid past on Pitcairn Island. James was probably the best lecturer I've heard on a HAL ship and his presentations were fully attended whether it was the first time or the encore presentation.

The Polynesian ambassadors spoke at the story time. And so ended Sea Day #5 on our way to Easter Island.  

Assuming we are able to tender, it is projected to get started at 9am. Stay tuned.

Day 22 - Mon 10/01/18 At Sea to Easter Island - 4

We continued sailing on our diverted route to Easter Island. The Captain announced today that had we continued on our original course, we would have sailed into 30 foot seas. As it was, the sea was a little more rough today with 6 foot swells.  

Program wise, the lectures continue to be excellent with ones on The Mutiny on the Bounty (really good), Adventures of a wildlife biologist, Polynesian migration, and the top 5 issues in Oceanography. The Unexpected Boys presented another terrific show featuring songs from Europe and New Jersey. The Polynesian Ambassadors told stories at Story time.

We have one more sea day before reaching Easter Island and the seas are supposed to be calming down. Stay tuned.