March 17, 18 and 19?, 2019

March 17, 2019

    Today is St. Patrick’s Day and Sea Day #6 – the first of two days of cruising to get to Tabuaera (Fanning Island), one of many islands in the Republic of Kiribati.       



  The sun is shining, the temperature about 24°C and the waves are just 1.5 meters high with a few whitecaps.  The ship’s course is 197 as we cruise generally south and bit westerly to Tabuaera.
    The morning post breakfast walk on Deck 3 was warm and sunny. This morning’s destination presentation was about the island of Mo’orea which we visit in eight days. The “Hawaiian Ambassadors” presented part 3 of the history of Hawaii covering the 20thcentury.
    The afternoon presentation was called “Sir Francis Drake and Errol Flynn” talking about Errol Flynn’s film career and his portrayal of Sir Francis Drake then about Drake’s exploits in the Caribbean during the reign of Queen Elizabeth Iof England in the late 16thcentury. We purchased a 24 hour internet package to post the first week of entries to the blog as we could not find any wi-fi on the two Hawaiian Islands we visited in the limited free time we had. 
    At least 50% of the passengers were wearing some green today and in the main dining room for dinner, there were dollar store accessories including scarves, ties, top hats and socks.  There was a special St. Patrick’s Day dinner menu including corned beef with cabbage and a Bailey’s liqueur cheesecake.
    The after-dinner trivia theme was St. Patrick’s Day and the March Paget Pages article about St. Patrick helped with questions about St. Patrick’s colour, where he was born and the location of the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in North America.  
    We enjoyed the classical piano & string quartet’s performance called “Bernstein to Bublé” before going to the standing room only, early performance of the Jersey Tenors quartet tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
     B.B. King’s Blues Club offered recorded dance music with a DJ, before, during and after the St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl flowed through the bar.
   Steps 12,327

March 18, 2019 

      Sea Day #7 – the second day of two days of cruising to Tabuaera.  The temperature at breakfast was already 26°C and by 11, it was 30°C under a mainly cloudy sky, wind speed of 40 kph and ocean swells of about two meters. There is very little rocking of the ship.
    The PolyFit class this morning consisted of steps and hip moves for Tahitian dances, which are a quicker pace than the Hawaiian dances. The hip movements are very similar to what Catherine and I learned in Belly Dancing class 10 years ago. The class was led beside the outdoor pool by the ladies of the Hawaiian Ambassadors, now known as the Polynesian Ambassadors.  We walked up on the Deck 10 track in the sun as it broke through the clouds.  The track is only 421 steps, while the Deck 3 Promenade deck is 729 steps.
   The destination talk today was about Papeete, Tahiti where we arrive in six days in the evening and stay until the next afternoon.  The next presentation was by Bruce Petty about the battle of Saipan in the Pacific Ocean during World War II.
    We did the rest of our walking on Deck 3 under the shelter of the lifeboats.  Steps 8,917. After lunch Tim Calvert’s talk was titled “Nostalgia” and he pointed out that it had only one small reference to ships. Then it was joining the Cruise Critic cards players for the rest of the afternoon.  Every day 4 pm. In the Mainstage Theater there is a movie shown.  Today it was “Amelia” about the woman pilot Amelia Earhart.  A few days ago, the movie was the “Green Book”. The cabin TVs offer a large variety of free movies including current releases.
   On the BBC World news there was coverage of cyclone Idai that hit Mozambique and Zimbabwe causing widespread flooding.
   The white flowers, that were given to all passengers several days ago, I put in a glass of water and the petals started to curl slightly, but they still have a delicate perfume when you smell them.
   Dennis and Carol celebrated their 50thwedding anniversary today. They had streamers on their door down the hall from us.
    After dinner we enjoyed the classical piano & string quartet’s performance featuring music from Schuman. The mainstage entertainer was Akos Laki, a saxophone virtuoso. During the evening performances the alcoholic drink specials are 2 for $5.
     Finished the evening with a visit to the Casino.    Steps 13,093

March 19, 2019 



   Due to crossing the International Dateline, there was no March 19, however, March 21 was two days long when we crossed the International Dateline after leaving the islands of the Republic of Kiribati.  If you look at the International Dateline on a map of the Pacific Ocean, there is a jutting of the line to the east. This is where the Republic of Kiribati is located.

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