I made sure that both M and I were up and out on the balcony at 6:45 a.m. in time to see us come through the reef and get situated in the lagoon at Bora Bora, French Polynesia. Even with its top edge covered by cloud, Mt. Otemanu is impressive.
Then the ship swiveled around so that we had a good view of the island Motu Toopua which is part of the ring around Bora Bora.
The Oceana Marina is also here at Bora Bora today. That means even more tourists ashore in this tiny village of Vaitape. I decided that I was just not in the mood to expend the energy to go sit on a smaller boat while more agile people snorkel. So I skipped my early morning tour for today.
By lunchtime the clouds had thinned so the whole mountain was visible. Much more impressive! I even made M get dressed and take her camera upstairs to see it. Judging by the number of photos she took, she liked it. Then by the time we sailed in the afternoon, the clouds and showers were back.
No photo to prove it, but M was there and saw it also. I SAW DOLPHINS WHILE ON A SHIP!! Until now, I have always been on the other side of the ship whenever any ocean life was spotted. Today as we watched our departure from the lagoon at Bora Bora, a whole group of dolphins saw us off in fine style. Very exciting!
M got her appetite back and went to dinner this evening, so we think she's turned the corner on this bug. The cough killer stuff from Medical is helping also. Tomorrow is a sea day so she can rest up some more before we get to Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Even then, depending on weather and currents, sometimes they have to cancel the Rarotonga stop as there is not a good protected harbor there big enough for the Amsterdam. So they have 2 places to try to see if conditions are calm enough to use the tenders...Plans A & B...and Plan C is to wave at the island as we sail away.
January 27
A sea day full of crocheting, cards and dominoes. Just about everybody was happy to relax for a day. I turned my finished blanket, but forgot to get a photo.
M is feeling better and went to see both of the new guest speakers who came aboard in Papeete to replace the first two. This evening was another formal night at dinner. The ship's photographer came around. I can no longer say he was wasting film because it's all digital these days, but he was wasting battery power on me as I almost never buy ship's photos.
I understand from those who actually follow the news and weather that the northeast is getting some nasty winter weather. I hope everyone is safe and warm.
January 28
Up at 6:00 a.m. to see if we can go ashore at Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Our friends Penny and Ginger say that the ship winds up with Plan C (sailing away) more often than not. Ginger says that in all her world cruises, this one hasn't worked yet. Penny says she spent a week here about 20 years ago and there isn't much to it and it's only about 3 miles around.
Plan A on the north side of the island near the town of Avarua got scrapped pretty quickly.
So we moved around to the west side near Arorangi which was Plan B. Then the Captain came on the PA system and said that on this side there are two competing sets of swells so he was canceling this stop...Plan C wins again. After a few minutes for those who wanted to take photos, we sailed away to spend an extra day at sea leaving Rarotonga in our wake.
Bulletin! The Captain just announced a major change in schedule and route due to a tropical storm brewing west of us with a full roster of high winds and seas and lots of rain. As the scheduled stop of Alofi, Niue would be a tender port right in the middle of the storm, we are skipping that one also. Now we are heading straight for Nuku'alofa, Tonga where we should arrive late tomorrow and stay 2+ days until we're back on schedule leaving Tonga on February 2. If that doesn't match your calendar, it's because we will have crossed the International Date Line and lost a day.
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