JANUARY 30, 2008 I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE WE ARE.

We both woke up before the alarm sounded at 7 am. I wanted to go to a computer maintenance (free) class at 9 am. Ed went out to walk on deck.
EMAIL: Since I was ready early, I went up to the internet café hoping that I would have an easier time getting onto email. I’m not sure it was any faster but I did get a few messages, some spam, and some unclassified. I cleaned up everything there and made it to the computer class with the laptop in hand.
COMPUTER CLASS: Some folks brought their laptops, some of which had Windows Vista loaded on them. Since we have that on our home computers, I was interested in that as well. The wife of the computer teaching team is a red hatter so I gave her a copy of our photo on a flash drive (such handy little things to have). I went so far in the clean up when I wasn’t allowed to go on because the computer said I wasn’t the administrator. This surprised me since Ed had told me I was. I checked the user groups and it lists both of us as administrator. So I made my apologies and brought the computer back to the room where I set it to defrag. While I was gone.
CULINARY CLASS: this chef is so much fun. He loves food and it’s clear you should not mention artificial substitutes. He will tell you about cholesterol and calories in general terms as he does the dish, but those considerations are not constraints for him. He also shows cute ways to decorate the food so that the presentations are always gorgeous. I took photos of each of the dishes and the sculptures of the squash on his work table.
Of course, everything had been chopped and prepared for him in advance. And there is a crew handy to take away the used dishes and utensils. We should all have such resources to cook. While he says he’ll teach you to do a meal in 20 min., clearly it will take any normal person much longer.
He will be with us to Sydney where he gets off. He will then rejoin us in Mombai and will again leave the ship in Barcelona. If you attend all his classes you get a certificate of some kind from some important sounding culinary board. If I frame it and hang it in the house, those who know me will laugh til they cry when they see it.
PHOTOS: Sofia took a picture of us at the rail at Pitcairn Island so we located it and added it to the others from which we will choose just before Sydney. They had black and white photos last night but it didn’t look like many did this.
WATERCOLORS: Hank and Erna were doing watercolors near the purser’s desk when we went down to check our bill (internet charges still aren’t correct; I’m lost but Ed seems to understand it). Since I’m using WiFi that’s one charge: 50 cents per minute. Prints are 50 cents a page. Then there’s the “free” minutes we get because of our Platinum status in the Captain’s Circle Club. We have to buy a package of time which is later offset by a credit. This is the part that I’m lost in trying to put it all together.
Well Hank was doing a painting of a Moai; his original was a post card with a row of them. Erna was painting a Helaconia (I think that’s what it’s called: those gorgeous bright red ones that you associate with Hawaii—where they are from). Absolutely gorgeous. She showed us some others in her portfolio and they are all beautiful and would do well in any show. She makes 11x17 all the way down to greeting and note card size. She had a real plant to copy from. Easy for her. My attempts would look like a Jackson Pollock at best.
LUNCH: Fr. Cribbin was again at our table regaling us with his stories. A woman with whom I had sat before, was again at this table and it turns out she is the wife of a former republican assemblyman in San Diego. We know many of the same people and it was fun to share stories of folks we know. Another couple from Canada shared a story of writing Ahrnold asking if he’d like to run for President of Canada since American law precludes him from running in the US. They didn’t get a response. That’s a shame really. At least the Republican State Committee should have given these folks a courtesy reply.
Father carries an Irish and a USA passport so we discussed the mischief he could get into with the Irish passport. So far he only has the Pitcairn stamp in it (they stamped both of his passports for the $5: such a deal). He wasn’t able to get a Chinese visa prior to the trip, so we are speculating about his luck if he uses his Irish passport. We’ll keep you posted if we hear.
WORLD WAR II IN THE PACIFIC, PART 3: I wish now I had gotten my father to tell me more about his war experiences because I do know that he was in the European and SE Asia theatres. As a child a recall a ring he brought back from Manila; no one knows where it is now. I recognized the names of the officers and of course Gen. McArthur is always good fodder for ridicule due to his arrogance and hubris. It seems that the famous photo of him keeping his promise to return to the Phillipines took 9 takes and there was a clean pair of pants available for him for each take. I should take my pocked atlas along for these lectures. The speaker has maps and they are very well done but I’d be able to see the atlas better I think.
NEEDLEPOINT: I can’t crochet or knit anymore, but I might be able to needlepoint. I saw a lady doing a small purse that I liked, so I bought the kit. It has “Princess Cruises” on it to be needlepointed but I think I’ll substitute my name. One lady said why should all your work go toward advertising the cruise line, particularly since you paid for the kit!
CERAMICS AT SEA: I still want to do this but there are conflicts in time as I mentioned before. You buy the needlepoint kits at the same location and time, so I saw four people making items, 2 men and 2 women. That did my heart good and their work is so pretty. Maybe late in the cruise, the timing will fit. ,
THE SS UNITED STATES: Even though she hasn’t sailed in many years, she still holds the world speed record among ships. She’s been passed from owner to owner without anything really being done with her. Her engines are well preserved. One of the main problems is that she uses so much fuel. She uses about 3 times as much fuel as this ship we’re on! Too bad.
CATCH UP ON FOX NEWS: Well, isn’t this political season just the most bizarre. Who would have thought 3 mos ago that we would now be down to the current field of 4 candidates (well only if you ignore the indomitable Ron Paul). There is a very congenial and very large man on this cruise who is dyed in the wool republican. He believes that GW Bush will go down as the greatest President in American History—on a par with Abraham Lincoln. Even though I fail to agree with him on most things, I do enjoy talking with him. Of course, I do have to bite my tongue when he repeats unsubstantiated rumors about the candidates, but I also know it won’t do me any good to try to neutralize all this. After all, we must always keep an open mind to hear what others think no matter how much of our character is tested.
DINNER: All 6 of us were here and we spent a lot of time recreating the old radio shows we knew as kids (The Shadow knows….The Green Hornet…) later we began with the old TV shows when the screen was a 10 inch round affair which was later followed with a magnifying device attached. Even later was the blue top and green bottom laid over the screen to mimic sky and grass.
The food tonite was exceptionally good and so we were conspicuously quiet during the entre. Tomorrow night is Indian food. One of the ladies was married to a man from India (who sadly died much too soon) and so she knows Indian food well. Ed of course, is wild about those dishes. I can take most or leave them; I did look for my favorite dish. I don’t know the name but it is okra swimming in clarified butter. This led to a discussion about some Southern dishes as one couple live in Arkansas and Padre Island, Texas (second home).
TONITE’S SHOW: Is a two parter. The first part is a program by the principal female singer in the dance troupe, a young woman from Australia who is a tour guide for mines during her non-contract months. She has a pleasant enough voice and her choice of songs was interesting and included some familiar ones, and some she seems to have successfully adapted.
The second part is a comedian – juggler. A large part of the audience beat a hasty retreat while the floor was being set up for this act. Ed stayed as you might expect. I’m not worried I’ll miss anything.
FRUITS: The real kind that is. It seems that we are so far from civilization, that the supply of berries is exhausted and bananas are under lock and key. We did manage to get fruits in our cabin: apples, oranges and two Asian pears.
The menus contain a lot of cold soups which blenderize a variety of easily accessible and long-lasting fruits. They are delicious but I can’t help but think of their high calorie count since ice cream is their base. They are sometimes listed under soups; other times, as smoothies and are served in a cocktail glass. Clever devils they are around here.
STAFF CHANGES: Those staff who leave the ship in Sydney are marking off the days on their calendars; you can hear it in their conversations and it is amusing. Still, we can all identify with their longing to get home and wish them well.
DR. BRADLEY WEBER’S MASCOT: I told you about Curious George which Bradley has attached to the front of his scooter. They have a friend who makes doll clothes and has contributed a wardrobe for this monkey that must require it’s own steamer trunk. Today George was in a ship Captain’s attire. I got a photo of course. What a clever idea. Somehow it reminds me of the first nude centerfold in Playgirl magazine (of Burt Reynolds in his better days). One fellow who was in isolation mounted it on the wall of his room in such a way that you had to gown and glove to go far enough into the room to see it. He had a steady stream of visitors for a long while after that.
POST-PRANDIAL DROWSINESS: Well I guess our nap yesterday helped after all. It certainly didn’t interfere with our sleep last nite and today we weren’t drowsy during the lectures.
TOMORROW: is a quieter day. Not much going on in the morning: cards and games, Mass, Bridge lectures, Men’s ping-pong get-together (be still my heart), tara pearl seminar presentation, discussion about the truth about Pitcairn Island, Quilling, Snowball Jackpot Bingo (pretty popular as always), Trivia---and then lunch which features a Rapa Nui (the real name of Easter Island among the locals) luncheon buffet. There are two lectures we’ll attend tomorrow afternoon.
TIME AGAIN: Tonite we turn back our clocks one hour; tomorrow we turn back yet one more hour. I’ve now lost tract of what time zones we are in but I do recall that I made the wrong connection with UT yesterday. The 2 refers to how many time zones to the international date line. At some point between Feb. 4 – 8th, we will cross it and lose a day. But then we’ll be ahead of y’all for a change.
So I’m off to upload this.

JANUARY 29, 2008—PITCAIRN ISLAND

Ed was up early getting ready to go up and do a few laps around the upper deck. I took my shower and rushed down to the Casino Lounge to be in line to get our passports stamped with the Pitcairn Island stamp. As it turns out, we were running late and the newsletter had given the wrong times for this.
So I went to breakfast to kill time. Nice folks at the table. One man made a rather uninformed comment about something and as gently as I could, I gave a different perspective. Forever after, whatever I said he would edit, or probably more accurately “correct”. It was annoying but more amusing than anything. It is nice to meet new folks even those acting out their specific needs.
PITCAIRN ISLAND: We saw it in the distance with a rocky and not very inviting coast, which of course, was the reason Fletcher Christian chose it. The weather threatened showers. This necessitated some changes in plans on the ship.
The island is green and lush with many areas of forestation. It has at least one natural spring. The flyer states there’s one public phone booth on the island. I tried for cell phone service without luck.
We watched the long boat arrive with probably 80% of the population of the island on it. There were significant swells and it was a dance to get onto the ship’s platform. One fellow had long hair and tattoos elaborated on his shoulders and down his spine. I never saw him while they were on the ship.
After they offloaded the people, they lifted the flat deck on this long boat and proceeded to upload an unbelievable number of parcels, boxes, and bags full of their wares. This seemed to go on forever; incredible how much that boat could hold!
One of them, Tim Young, began narrating what we were seeing as we cruised around the island. At the same time, for $5, you could get your passport stamped with Pitcairn’s stamp. Probably several hundred of us did this as our contribution to the economy of this isolated piece of volcano. It was our contribution to the local economy.
Meantime, the locals had set up their wares in the Pacific Lounge, a new venue since the original plans of displays in the pool area would have risked showers. As it turned out, it would have worked out fine.
They had shirts with Pitcairn Island on them; they were from Mexico or China. Ed got a grey polo shirt type. There were woven baskets for $20, postcards for a $1 or 2 for $1; stamps were $1 for a postcard from Pitcairn; envelopes were $5. There were wood carvings of sea animals and such which fetched various prices. Again, there weren’t any bargains that I saw and I wasn’t tempted by their offerings.
Later, there was a Q&A session with Tim and the current mayor of Pitcairn, “cookie” (Mike). Their accents are close to Australian; however, most of what they described involved New Zealand so perhaps that’s the best comparison. There were all kinds of questions. All the houses are hooked up to a 256 line to the internet; there are satellite phones, a weather station, seismic sensors and such. Like most isolated or rural areas, most of the youngsters don’t return to the island. Many have married spouses from elsewhere (Tim’s wife is Australian for example). They now have a doctor who lives there to serve the 50+ residents. Surely, he must have an additional job because there won’t be enough business to support a full-time practice. A lot of what they do is communal effort. They bring everything to the island on these long boats and that includes cars, furniture, appliances. You name it.
Ed read the 1 page summary I found about Pitcairn and remarked that they can get CNN on this island but the ship can’t.
LUNCH: We sat with folks from El Paso, Cincinnati, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. One of the El Paso couple is a serious Trojan fan so we told them about Neal’s commitment to USC. The ladies from Puerto Rico are well traveled; the mother of one is a missionary; she is a psychology major in college taking 6 mos off for this cruise.
BLING: The ship had some CZ and rhodium faux rings so we got two of them for my fun wearing.
TRACKED AND HACKED: THE SECRETS OF SURVEILLANCE: Our on board spy specialist regaled, and disturbed, many by discussing the different types of surveillance we are subjected to in our lives. The Brits are probably the most spied upon by the CCTV (closed circuit TeleVision) cameras all over London. He holds everyone’s interest despite the fact that it is the post-prandial dip of the day. Many folks snooze off not because of disinterest but because they’ve just eaten and the swaying of the ship is very soporific.
SPEAKING OF WHICH: Every afternoon, Ed and I are both trying so hard to not be drowsy during this fascinating talks. Since there wasn’t much going on this afternoon, we both took a nap. We must have needed it because I woke up about 2 hrs later, right when dinner starts (OK any snide remarks about waking up to eat…again…are understandable).
DINNER: There was just Dave and Twyla and us tonite. We discussed the Pitcairn events; they had somehow missed the interview with the natives. Since a lot of the times were changed this morning that is understandable but they were really disappointed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it was taped for rebroadcast later on the ship’s TV.
We had our usual free ranging discussions and eventually settled into books we enjoy reading. Like me, Dave enjoys Clavell and Michener. He also recommended John Jakes to me. I’m not familiar with this writer but will see if the library has any of his books. I’m still wandering through Spain in Michener’s Iberia but will pass it along to Dave when I’m done as it is one of the few he hasn’t read by that author.
Dave taught high school physics after he retired from the Navy (he was at Annapolis in the same class with John McCain). This led into an enthusiastic discussion between Ed and Dave that Twyla and I listened to politely while our eyes glazed over. Now there’ll be no stopping those two. We find areas of commonality each day it seems.
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM: Instead of the usual entertainment, this movie is being shown in the theatre section tonite. Dave and Twyla have seen it several times. Since it’s not my type of movie, I’ll spend the time reading. It will be shown on the ship’s TV tomorrow for the die hards who love lots of special effects and not much plot (sorry, my peanut gallery observation).
EMAIL: I went up to the internet café to check my email and after 10-15 min of eating up time, I gave up trying to connect. I may or may not have trouble uploading this blog as many other folks seemed to be connecting as usual (which means very slowly). When I read that Pitcairn has internet connection everywhere, I tried to see if WiFi would work today. No luck.
FUTURE TOURS: We were waitlisted for a tour on Papeete, Tahiti, and I see we finally moved up in the queue as the tickets are here this evening. We have two more days at sea before hitting Tahiti. On the map (we have the National Geographic posted on the wall and I have a pocket Atlas with us) this looks like an area dotted with many islands so perhaps we’ll be close enough to see some of them along the way.
MEDICAL NEWS: I’m fascinated by how medical and dental issues are addressed on these cruises. A lady had a problem in Lima and was seen for surgery while the ship was there. They then arranged for her to have a follow up visit in Sydney I believe.
Ed’s glucose tablets are getting low (I find this amazing since almost all the room in one of the duffles was pills of some sort) so I suggested he go to the Clinic and ask them to recommend a way to get a back up supply.
TIME AND TIME AGAIN: I see by tomorrow’s platter that we turn back our clocks one more hour tomorrow evening. That will put us out into the time zone just west of LA and East of Anchorage (I can’t find a label for that zone in the Atlas but the map shows it). If I’m reading this correctly, we are now 3 hrs ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT for us old timers) or Universal Time (UT) as it is now called. So for Tahiti, we will be on Alaskan Standard Time. Until I looked this up just now, I don’t think I ever paid attention to the label “Alaskan Standard Time.”
Our Sunrise for tomorrow is 5:42 am; Sunset is 6:50 pm. I now understand the confusion Lisa and the kids have when they come to the US because we wake up these past few days without a clue as to the ship’s time.
STABILIZERS ON SHIPS: Along with the bulbous nose which lies just under the water line on the bow and reduces the energy demands on the ship by about 7-8%, the stabilizers are the next thing I find most intriguing. Here’s some info from the patter: Automatic stabilizers operated by gyroscopic control are retractable and are stowed while in narrow inlets, ports, or calm waters. A stabilizer has the form of a pivoted fin or horizontal rudder like those used for effecting fore and aft trim in a submarine. As the vessel begins to roll and thus deviate from the fixed plane of the gyroscope, the stabilizing mechanism comes into play and the angle of the fin is made to vary against the ship’s tendency to roll.
WEB SITE TO CHECK: Dave told us of a web site where they sell one item a day that they have purchased in bulk. It is http://www.woot.com I think. I wanted to put it in the log so I’d remember to check it out when the cost of internet connections isn’t so dear.
UPDATE ON WEIGHT AND EXERCISE: I wore my tight (usually) white jeans yesterday and they fit about the way they do at home, so I must be doing OK. I take the stairs with very rare exceptions; I could probably count on one hand the times I’ve taken the elevator. By the time I reach the 3rd deck up, descending is never a problem, my knees are burning but if I still have one or two more decks to go up, I trudge on. Of course, none of this will make up for the indulgences of today but there’s always tomorrow.
TRIVIA: Because of conflicts, we’ve not attended any of the trivia/quiz events on this cruise. At the table this morning, one man was telling that there was a quiz question: “what is the smallest particle in chemistry?” (I think the word was particle but I could be wrong on that). The answer is atom but some folks were arguing saying that it was protons, electrons, or neutrons (and now even subatomic particles out there). The woman who was the staff for this event, explained that in chemistry, it is the atom; in physics, it might be the other things. Since, these events are often contentious where “smart” people want to show how much more intelligent they are than anyone else, I secretly cheered when I heard this story.
TOMORROW’S SCHEDULE: I see that at 9 am they have a free computer maintenance and check-up so I think I’ll drag this old (by today’s standards) laptop up there and see what I can learn. The woman of the team is also a red hatter and I met her when we had our get together.
10 am is the second of the culinary lectures so we’ll be front and center. In the afternoon we have the 3rd part of the WWII series and the Drs. Weber have another talk, this time about the SS United States. Sarah was nice enough to take an advance order for her book on the great ocean liners and mail it to us without shipping and handling charges.
There is a common get together for medical professionals, police, fire and rescue. It conflicts with one of the lectures and while I would find the chat interesting, I’d rather soak up more of Dr. Weber’s tales of the grand ole ladies of the sea.
There’s still many more events I’d like to do but they are scheduled at times when other things are going on. I don’t think I realized quite how much scheduling would determine the events we go to see.
We send our love to all. I got a personal email from one of my friends, but almost all of the emails are spam, or newsletters I tried to unsubscribe from before we left, or jokes which I ordinarily enjoy but am trying to avoid due to the slow download time on the internet. We have found that text messaging has worked well when we have a cell phone signal, but being lost in the Pacific doesn’t allow for that much. We see that LA has had punishing rains. The irony is not lost on us: we needed the moisture but egads! And we follow the primaries on Fox News. I’ll be glad to get the British version of CNN later as their perspective is always enjoyable as well.

JANUARY 28, 2008 PITCAIRN TOMORROW

With the extra hour we wake up before the alarm these mornings.
CULINARY CLASS: The top chef for Princess Lines, who lives in Santa Clarita these days, made 3 dishes in less than 20 min. each. Of course, he has helpers to prepare everything in advance and to clean up after him. Nonetheless, he is fun to watch and his pride in good ingredients and flavor are infectious.
After these dishes were finished, and beautifully presented, we were invited to a tour of the kitchen. On th last US public health survey, the kitchen of this ship scored >99%; the fleet average is > 98%. It is clean enough to eat off the floors there and it is amazing what they are able to accomplish in these tight quarters.
He then took our cabin numbers for the certificate we will receive at the end of this series of demonstrations. Clever touch. The cookbook he created is beautifully done by discrete areas of the world.
LUNCH: This was a golden dragon buffet and you know how Ed loves Chinese food so we ate up there today.
PORT TALK: This was about Papeete and Tahiti. Ed is still uncertain what he wants to do at that stop. I had picked out some things and we are wait listed on one tour. He also met a couple who want to share a taxi ride to see the sights.
Apparently the Gaugin Museum is a small open air building with only one original Gaugin in it’s collection of copies. He’s not my favorite painter but I do find his history interesting. Robert Louis Stevenson also did research here and thus came Treasure Island.
There is apparently a large, open air market of not just food but local crafts. That’s something that seems like it would be interesting.
WORLD WAR II IN THE PACIFIC PART 2: I find military history and discussions pretty boring but this Brit weaves such an interesting story, that his talks are well attended. This talk focused on The Coral Sea and the battle of Midway. In many ways, the Americans were the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. Still, in the end, we prevailed over the Japanese. Really quite remarkable when you get the maps and data.
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY: This is the Charles Laughton version. I’ve been viewing it in snippets all day long in between other activities. Since the ENTERTAINMENT tonite is two performances we missed (but which we heard weren’t that good), I’m going to make one last try this evening to see it in full.
Speaking of Mutinies, Ed has the state of the union address on right now. We do need to know the content but I’d rather be watching Clark Gable and Laughton. Perhaps I’ll have time to find a good account of that mutiny when I get home and see what really happened.
DINNER TONITE: The now permanent three couples were here. We had rousing discussions about various topics from insurance for volcanos and earthquakes in Hawaii, whether there was really chocolate in the white chocolate mousse, and other trivia. A discussion of the statues in Frogner Park in Oslo led to a giddy recounting of learning to do a physical assessment and experiences with nurses. I of course had nothing to do with this last topic. We laughed a lot sharing stories and left with big smiles and giddy laughter.
Speaking of giddy laughter, we passed the Karaoke in the Casino Lounge on our way back after supper.r
Our wait staff: Two of them are leaving us in Sydney: the head waiter and the assistant. We enjoy both of them for differing reasons. They are so excited to be going home. Rod (Rodrigo at lunch; Rod at supper- per his name tag) will still be with us and he knows us too well by now.
MEDICAL CLINIC: I dropped in to see if I could use the bladder from a blood pressure cuff (with an aneroid dial) to recalibrate my Reid sleeve. I detected a MEGO (my eyes glazed over) when I was trying to explain my request. They (I presume both were nurses) responded that their equipment was checked regularly by people hired by headquarters. I don’t know if this means they didn’t want to let me use the equipment for this peculiar purpose, or if they thought I was going to dismangle the equipment for some nefarious purpose. Either way, the answer was No. To be candid, I’m not sure it would have worked well. The bladder I use to calibrate that sleeve is about 3-4” x 2” in size and the bladders in the usual BP cuff are considerably larger. Just a little trivia along the way.
PHOTOS: We found our pics from last night and they really are quite good. I’ve been impressed with how consistently good their photos have been. You can clearly see my beet red sunburn, but aside from that, the black outfits Ed and I had on were a great canvas for the poses Sofia put us into for the shots.
We are saving all the photos until just before Sydney when we will have to make a decision about which ones, if any, we want to buy. The cycle starts anew after Sydney as there are about 10% of the passengers who are only doing 1/3 of the world cruise with us. 90% of the passengers are on for the full 102 days.
TOMORROW AND PITCAIRN: For $5 processing fee, you can have your passport stamped for Pitcairn. I’m a sucker for this stuff so I’ll probably do it. There will be some Fletcher Christian decendents who will come on board to sell crafts. I’ll take a look at those and see if there’s anything that peaks my interest. The whole time near this Island of 32 adults and 60 total population, is less than 5 hrs.
JUPITER AND VENUS: Especially for my son: apparently these two planets (well poor Jupiter has been demoted, but) will pass close to each other at about 2:30 am on Feb. 1. At least at that time on the ship. They are to give us the absolute specifics nearer the day and time so we can see it if we choose since apparently it only happens every few hundred years.
TURN BACK THE CLOCK…AGAIN. Goody Goody, another extra hour. I wonder how long this will be going on. Pretty soon we’re going to lose a whole day!
SUNSET: Absolutely gorgeous again. A little rain here and there on the ocean. Salmon pink skies near the horizon and cotton candy clouds all around.

JANUARY 27, 2008-TO PITCAIRN ISLAND

Another gorgeous day at see with perfect weather and a hot sun. The extra hour of sleep was appreciated though instead of turning my Treo back one hour, I turned it ahead one hour and it beeped early.
THE LAUNDROMAT SAGA CONTINUES. I went down to the Laundromat to iron a shirt I got in Hawaii to wear today. It was busy as you might expect but there were TWO washers empty! So I called Ed to bring his laundry down quickly so we could take advantage of this unexpected good luck. We traded off in monitoring the progress. He brought me a plate to nibble on while he went to breakfast. I had inadvertently given him the quarters when it was time to do the drying. So a nice lady named Pat O’Brien loaned me the change. We sat outside the door and visited. She’s from Montana for 7 mos of the year, and Bullhead City, AZ the other 5.
A man was ironing his shirt and mumbling about how someone had come right at 8 am and filled several of the dryers. He felt this was unfair since the washer only takes 20 min and the dryers take 40 min, thus leaving him without a dryer when his wash was done. I’m conflicted because one strategy we’ve discussed is washing during the last hour of the laundry room hours, and then bringing them back the next morning to dry when the washers are the desired machines. Perhaps one would be forgiven for taking only one dryer at a time. None of us women offered an opinion but the man was mumbling about the injustice of it at every opportunity.
Many ladies wanted to know how he learned to wash and iron. He was single for a long time on his own and that’s how he learned. One lady asked if he was married…of if he wanted to be married as there were lots of women who would prize a husband who could do all this. We discussed teaching our sons/husbands how to do these things. When I met Ed, he knew little of all this but I felt it was my job to make him self sufficient. And that he is. I have no qualms that the laundry will be done extremely well if he’s responsible for it.
SHIP LECTURE THIS MORNING. This time it was about the SS Bremen and the SS Europa. It is so interesting to learn about particular ships but also about ship building including it’s risks, the politics around so much of shipping and cruising. It is like a whole new world.
Dr. Bradley Weber uses an amigo to get around ship and he has a mascot tied to the front, a little monkey that looks like Curious George. George is dressed in different attire each day; today it was camo. There is a woman who makes all these ensembles and sends them to him. I’m told tonite George will also have a tuxedo on and I’m assured I can have a photo of him. Since their table is only 3 away from ours, I’m looking forward to this.
I’ve also given them an order for copies of their soon-to-be-published book which will cover much of the material upon which these lectures have been based. This has been a hobby of theirs for over 40 yrs.
SUNBURN: My brain wasn’t working well yesterday and I’m really lobster red today but only in certain parts. My left arm and neck are especially bad so I’m slathering on Gold Bond lotion with aloe at every opportunity. I attribute to Aloe Vera gel slathered on 4 times a day with my easy skin condition during radiation.
SHARING FUN: One of the Galapagos photos shows a baby seal, it actually looks like it was just birthed!, which came around two of our ship mates while they were trying to get the sand off of their feet. I snapped two photos of this which are very cute and the woman was so excited that someone had captured that moment. I did remember to bring along a flash drive and she also has a laptop computer along, so it’s easy to give her a copy.
SPEAKING OF COMPUTERS: Somehow the disks I set aside to bring along didn’t make it, or we can’t find them. Thus I can’t copy things off for folks who lost their camera when it fell in the tide pool. Another fellow said that he’s hitting Wal Mart on Papeete (Sydney?) and he’d pick up some for me. What a deal! He and his brother are both serious photographers and he’s running out of disks to store the pics on.
RATATOUILLE: It’s back by special request. See, I’m not the only one. So I’m piecing it together little by little since I don’t have a 2 hr block of time to simply watch it straight through.
PERSONAL TRAINING: Ed has religion again about fitness so he’s signed up for personal fitness sessions. The good news is that they don’t have much business on this cruise so he gets lots of time and personal attention. The not-so-good news is that the trainer is not so experienced; so they are teaching each other I guess.
TODAY’S BRUNCH: Since it’s Sunday and we changed time, and probably as s special treat, the ship didn’t have the usual breakfast and lunch in the dining room. Instead they had a brunch with a wide selection of dishes. Since Ed joined me late, we ate at a table for the two of us. The wait staff are some we know from dinner and they are so very hardworking. This new routine put extra demands on them since it was open seating and it went on from 10 am to 2 pm.
TIME: We move back another hour tonite. Let’s hope I get everything coordinated because I can’t get a land based connection from here to give me the local network time. If all else fails, we look at the ship’s channel where they give us all the day’s important details.
PITCAIRN: While I’m thinking about this, this will not be a visit on the island. Someone said there are only 32 people left there. Instead it’s “scenic cruising” around the island. If a native naturalist doesn’t come on board, the port speaker will regale us with details about the island. We do this day after tomorrow in the morning.
Speaking of the port speaker, I’m amused with the reactions he generates in many folks. So many complain about how disorganized he is. I don’t think it is that he’s disorganized so much as he digresses often with little tidbits. He is so enthusiastic about the sites and he sprinkles hints about photography and such through out his talks. I don’t mind him but I do find the polarization amusing.
WORLD WAR II IN THE PACIFIC: Air Vice Marshall Ron Dick regaled us with photos and vignettes about the Malaya and Pearl Harbor debacles and sketched out the Japanese plan for dominance in the Pacific. He shows you the missed opportunities on both sides of the conflicts. Sometimes you just have to shake your head but of course it’s all in hindsight. He promises that his next presentation will be more optimistic.
COMBATING INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM: Glenmore Trenear-Harvey brought home to the Americans especially, that this terrorism is not just an American problem. You’ve heard about all the attacks he refreshed in our minds. He gave us some behind the scenes information and speculated on the fact that many of the terrorists are well educated and British citizens in the case of his country. He speculated on what would turn it around but alas, that probably won’t be for one or two generations.
POST-PRANDIAL DIP: Many of us are having real challenges in staying awake during the afternoon talks. It isn’t for lack of interest. It is that you’re sitting and the rolling of the ship is very seductive. The fellow next to me had a difficult time with both talks and I heard him snoring lightly on more than one occasion.
SHIP’S PHOTOS FOR SALE: The photogs from the ship have been taking some pictures of the various sites along the way. And clearly they took them on this voyage because the Chinese ship next to us in the Panama Canal is one of them. And the natives on San Blas Island are ones we recognized. Of course, theirs are perfect unlike ours. And since I haven’t mastered Photoshop, I can’t create any bells and whistles. Many of our photos were underexposed so I did make this correction. Other folks had the same problem so I didn’t feel so bad. Until I looked at the pics taken by the ship’s people, I didn’t realize that the Moai behind us in the picture of Ed and I on the beach, have red hats on top of them.
WHAT’S IN THE NEWS: You know that our only source of news about the world outside is via Fox news and a few sentences from the Library newsletters. That’s not much but we do follow the bizarre twists and turns of the Presidential race with amazement. Clearly, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over!
TONITE IS FORMAL NIGHT: I wore my black tuxedo looking outfit. I’ve forgotten which thrift store contributed this addition to my formal wardrobe but I am grateful it’s a tall so I can sit comfortably and the sleeves will fit. Ed of course had his choice of the rented tuxedos; he chose black again tonite and looked very spiffy. We had portraits made after dinner. This should be interesting since my cheeks are now showing the sunburn from Easter Island. We’ll keep you posted.
DINNER: Just us and Dave and Twyla. Hank and Anna often don’t come to dinner as they like to eat only one big meal a day. Wish I had that kind of self control! We shared excursion stories and looked at photos on our cameras. Dave and Twyla had heard that Rod had a tattoo so he convinced Rod to flash it for the camera. It’s a lovely rose on his right bicep. Some of the staff shared their war stories over the years with us. Many staff are leaving for home from Sydney so we’ll be getting some new folks.
We’ve learned not to ask Rod to help us decide between two different dishes; he simply brings them both.
MEN’S SPA TREATMENTS: There’s a special for 3 services for some (for them) ridiculously low price so Ed made his hair cut and other appointments for the same day I’m getting trims and such.
ENTERTAINMENT: tonite was Linda Gentile, a virtuoso pianist who studied under Liberace. She is entertaining as he was and she’s got a lot of his flare though not his flamboyance. She wore a red to-die-for, fitted, red glitter dress. What’s worse, ladies, is that she had the figure to carry it off beautifully and modestly! And her red sequined heels would make a lot of money at a red hat event raffle.
Ed spoke with her afterward and it turns out her father is a Judge Ed knows from his career. Again, another small world story.
BRADLEY’S CURIOUS GEORGE MASCOT: Dr. Weber uses an amigo and I told you earlier about tonite’s tuxedo. Well George looked as spiffy as anyone there this evening and I have photos to prove it.
ANOTHER HOUR GAINED! Yippee! We turn our clocks back another hour tonite (and again tomorrow night). So tomorrow we will be on Mountain Standard Time, and for Pitcairn Is. we’ll finally be on PST.
TO LOOK FORWARD TO TOMORROW: The first of the Mutiny on the Bounty movies, this one with Charles Laughton is being shown tomorrow. It is 2 ½ hrs long and this presents a dilemma for me as it begins at 10 am and plays through the afternoon. Many of the lectures we attend will be while it’s showing. I’ll probably have to watch it in segments. I spoke with JJ, the Cruise Director, and indeed, they have copies of the other two movies by the same title and will be showing them on following days. He also whispered that they’ll have the original South Pacific movie soon as well.

JANUARY 26, 2008 EASTER ISLAND: FINALLY!

The weather was around 80 and the sea was still with calm surface but significant swells. We were to be in the Casino Lounge at 9:15 am but if you came, they shooed you out. I had watched the set up of the disembarking platform on the starboard side of the ship from our balcony, and then again on the port side as many of us waited to be allowed into the Lounge. Because the swells were so high (often over 6’), there was a delay and reconsideration of whether or not we could make it to shore on tenders.
For many people this was a devastating possibility because Easter Island was the reason they came on this cruise. Any time you have a tender port, you risk not being able to go ashore. So while we delayed for a while, during which time we got acquainted with others in the same boat (no pun intended). Finally we were given the go ahead. However, only half the passengers could get into each tender. We had to keep two seats on each side of the tender empty. It was a challenge to get from the platform onto the tender. It involved timing the swells with your hop onto the tender. Still, this was a piece of cake compared to the dinghies at the Galapagos (it’s all relative isn’t it?).
Getting to the pier means fjording some substantial waves and a narrow inlet between numerous sharp, lava rocks. Once inside this natural breakwater, the water is calm and many sail boats are here; many folks from these sail b.oats were swimming around their boats. Getting off on the pier was a breeze.
Easter Island is on Chilean time (this belongs to Chile) which is still EST in the US. We have been wondering when we’d start gaining time since geographically we’re about over the CST right now and will quickly be on MST. Since this is Chile, Immigration and agricultural officers came on board and on the pier to check that we didn’t bring any fruits off with us. You may recall I forgot the apple in my bag last year and got busted in one of the ports.
THE TOUR: Easter Island is a Chilean National Park and a World Heritage Site. You may go only so close to the platforms upon which the moai are posed.
Our tour guide, James, came to Easter Island as a linguistics student from Cambridge University to study the native language(s). He liked it so much, he’s back now as a tour guide. There were 3 9-10 person minivans and James was the guide for this group of about 30 folks.
It was in the 80s and you do drip sweat at various points, especially when we climbed this mountain (an old volcano mount) to get to the quarry. Some of the monoliths were in various stages of completion in this area. Once again, one is struck by the ingenuity of the natives who made these multi-ton statues. They are called Moai (mow-eye). They stand with their backs to the sea, they are carved from volcanic rock, stand about 13 ft. high and weight up to 14 tons. They are probably representations of ancestors who have died. All the faces are different and the eyes are the final part that is completed.
There are hundreds of them on the island though many have been broken through the years by vandals and tsunamis. The damage from the latter has been revised largely through donations especially from the Japanese.
One suspects that this island was once forested. It is believed that the population pressure on the limited resources was the eventual downfall of the societies here.
One oddity is that when you go into these fenced off (with lava rock) areas, you must squeeze through a tiny turnstile type entrance. It can’t be to keep the hundreds of wild horses from going in because you see their scat everywhere. Some of our more “robust” folks had some challenges getting into these areas.
I know you’re all dying to hear about the products sold by the locals. They claim they carve the little miniature moais; perhaps they do. But the abalone shell bracelets they are selling here for $20 as if they made them, are sold in LA for $5 or less. I know because many of us red hats have them.
LUNCH: About a hundred of us on various tours were treated to a barbecue on a gorgeous beach under tents. We had wine, red and white, real Coca Cola, and water with gas to drink. There were salad makings, fish, beef, chicken on the BBQ, rice, and banana bread for dessert. Many people were picnicking in this area and swimming and sunbathing on the beach.
RETURN TO SHIP: This was easy compared to this morning’s experience. While there are still swells, they are nothing like this morning. I managed to get sunburned on my left side; this was the side to the window. Ed and I were “lucky” enough to have the back seat of our minivan. This meant that we swallowed dust all day. When we blew our noses, it was brown with dirt.
AAAAHHH, A SHOWER! We both took a shower and had just enough time to get to supper.
DINNER: The fellow of the outburst last night was there with his wife. I sat next to his wife and acted as if nothing was amiss. She and I visited cheerfully and at one point during dinner, the Matre d’ gave him a note telling him they had a table for them. The wife explained to me that it is a table with just the two of them and would be better. I feel sorry for her because she is a charming lady but frankly, it will be more pleasant without him and his complaining about something new each day. The couple who come each evening were on the tours with us today and they didn’t show; in fact, a lot of people didn’t come to dinner probably because we were all tired from the day. The couple we see erratically were there and they are delightful. They also did some touring on the island but I was never clear that they were on a formal tour.
Dessert: We all had a lemon pie (actually more like a tart) with a “flappy” top. Honest, that’s exactly what the menu said. We tried to figure out why it was labeled flappy without any luck. But it was really good and we all enjoyed it tremendously.
Princess tours or on your own: We’ve done it both ways and for us, it is usually better to take the tour sponsored by Princess for numerous reasons. But folks who negotiate with the local taxi driver feel just as strongly that their’s is the best way to go. The fellow who does the port talks, tells of experiences he’s had where he didn’t make the ship and had to fly to the next port. Any money you saved by going on your own, is gone and more. Furthermore, you don’t have experienced guides or many other arrangements made for you. We didn’t worry about getting sick from the lunch today for just that reason, but we would be fool hardy to eat on the island.
TONITE’S ENTERTAINMENT: Is a comic juggler. Ed likes jugglers and I thought surely he’d go. But he said he’s tired and wasn’t interested. You know it’s bad: he’s watching Fox News about the primary vote in So Carolina. We still can’t get any other satellite programs.
WE GAIN AN HOUR: Tonite, we turn our clocks back one hour which will put us on CST for tomorrow. Then tomorrow evening, we turn back one more hour which will put us on MST. The weirdest part will be when we cross the international date line again. We’ll lose a whole day in one fell swoop.
So…I’ll see if I can upload this and a few photos. Hope all is well back home. We send our love to all.