October 25 - 27 Catching Up the Past Few Days

Time is flying by and I have been very busy. This is actually one of the first times I have had to sit down and write since the last entry. So, I figured I'd just write one long entry, combining the last few days together.

When I last wrote, I was still in Papeete getting acclimated. I did end up going to the central market with Marcia. We took the local bus into town and wandered around the market looking at the local crafts and foods. We opted not to eat lunch in town, but instead back at the hotel. This was a good call, as I was able to try the local dish of poisson cru - raw tuna marinated in lime and coconut milk. Wow, was it delicious. In the evening, we had a reception for the passengers and then all had dinner and watched a traditional dance performance. This cruise is small - there are only 34 passengers in total! My first impressions when I met them were great, and now, a few days later, I can say that my impressions were correct. The group is wonderful and it is so nice having such a small number.

The following day (October 26th) the passengers all went on an island tour while I went to the ship to help get things ready. We had a lot to get organized since a different company had previously charted the ship and we were basically an entirely different team. The day flew by, and before I knew it the passengers were on board and we were doing briefings and drills. After dinner and after meetings, I finally went to bed exhausted at around midnight.

One side note - upon getting on the ship, I learned that there is not only satellite email, but also satellite TV. The kicker is that we get only one station. One station in the entire world and it is FOX news. So, fear not, I can watch the elections unfold. It is so strange to have access to TV. It completely changes the experience of immersion. I actually have only turned it on once and then quickly turned it off. I can also check my regular email, but it is slower than molasses and seems to work only sporadically. I think I liked the old blast email system better.

Another thing to note is that one of my jobs this cruise is to write the Abercrombie and Kent weblog. Ingrid is doing the photos for it. So, each day, we have to post the log and the photos back to the office where they then post them on the web. I have asked Jess to post a link from here to that blog so you can look at that too. (Link is to right towards the top of the blog - please note that link takes you to most recent posting. Click on previous post to view earlier posts.) I think you will enjoy reading it, as it will give you a good overview of the different activities all of the passengers are doing. In addition, there are five photos each day so that is nice. So far, writing the log has been challenging, because I have to write about everything and obviously I can't be everywhere. However, the rest of the staff has been very helpful at filling in the gaps.

I spent Monday, October 27 in Bora Bora. We arrived early in the morning and jumped right into everything. There were three tours in the morning and I was assigned to the mildest of them all, the basic circumnavigation around the island. It was very interesting and I learned a ton! One thing I did not know is that there is a large Chinese community on the island. The Chinese came to Polynesia originally to work in the sugarcane and cotton plantations.

Along the way, we stopped to see a demonstration on how to make the native sarong or pareu. Basically, they dye the fabric and then put linoleum shapes onto the fabric as it dries in the sun. This marks the shape permanently onto the fabric, resulting in really beautiful designs. I've attached a photo of the pareus blowing in the wind.

Pareus of Bora Bora

At the pareu demonstration, they also had some fruits for us to taste and other crafts for us to purchase. I however, was distracted by the children running around and opted to take photos of them. The photo I am attaching is one of my favorites from the day of Grandma smiling at her grandchildren.

Beautiful Polynesian Grandmother

One of the most interesting sights along the tour for me was seeing the Polynesian version of boat davits. I've attached a photo so you can see how they put the boat into slings and then use two large wheels to lift it into place. They do this with all size boats and I wondered how hard it is to lift the larger ones.

Boat davits in Bora Bora

Although Bora Bora is not as developed as Papeete, it is still a very populated island with a large tourist presence. I learned that there is only one locally owned hotel on the whole island. That surprised me. Bora Bora is also a pretty popular place for celebrities. We stopped at a famous restaurant called Bloody Mary's and saw about one hundred names of celebrities that had also visited. They have them listed in the order they have visited. Paul Allen, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet were added recently and were listed one after the other so they must have come together - Can you imagine going on vacation with those three? Their visit was sandwiched in between Danny DeVito and Martin Short.

Another thing I learned is that there are no cemeteries on the island, so people bury their dead at their homes. It is not a great photo but I've attached a photo of one of the gravesites just outside of a house. Our tour guide told us that sometimes when people want to add an addition to their homes, that they often end up enclosing their loved ones in the new addition. So, you can end up with your ancestors in your living room!

Bora Bora gravesite

I had a few moments to wander around town before heading back to the ship for lunch. I was able to duck into a few black pearl shops and see some of these amazingly beautiful pearls. I tried on a few earrings and necklaces, but none found their way home with me.

In the afternoon, I led a snorkel safety briefing at the pool and an introduction to snorkeling session. We also handed out gear. It was a hectic time as immediately after it was over we went out on the zodiacs to snorkel. We stopped first at a sandy area to get everyone comfortable in open water, and then we moved to a patch reef just inside the lagoon. Although there was not a lot of coral, there were a good number of fish. Now I have not seen Indo-Pacific fish since learning how to dive in Australia in 1993, so I was thrilled. I was able to identify all of the families of fish, but not any of the species. All of the fish were so colorful. I tried to take a bunch of photos so that I could bring them back and ID them in the book. My best photo of the day was a Picasso triggerfish.

Picasso triggerfish