March 21 & 22, 2019
March 21(on west side of the International Dateline)
The sun returned this morning with a morning temperature of 28°C. The waves were just swells of 2 to 2.5 meters. This was the first of three Sea Days to get to Bora Bora. (Sea Day # 8)
We crossed the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere about 10:15 this morning during the destination presentation about Fakarava, Tuamotu, French Polynesia where will visit on March 28. We attended the presentation by Haulani, one of the Hawaiian/Polynesian Cultural Ambassadors, about the Tahitian culture and its royalty.
After lunch, out at the Sea View deck, deck 9 aft, the King Neptune Ceremony was held. It was a fun event, where “King & Queen Neptune” passed sentences on the “Polliwogs”, who were paraded along the Sea View aft deck to their “prison”. “Polliwogs” were crew members who were crossing the equator or the first time. Today, two crew members from each of six departments, participated in a play by the Sea View pool, and the struggling crew members were either sentenced to “Surgery” and then pushed into the pool or guided to a table to lie on their stomachs to receive their “punishment” of being slathered in coloured foamy soap, after which they were dumped or jumped into the pool. The “King and Queen” read out the reason for the person’s selection and then the captain and four other senior officers decided the sentence for each person. The hot sun beat down on the 30-minute performance and we were glad to have our hats on. Very later this evening the ship re-crossed the International Dateline, changing the date a day backwards.
Tim Calvert’s talk today was about Captain William Bligh, who was the captain of the HMS Bounty whose crew mutinied and forced him and 19 loyal crew members into a small boat that sailed to Tonga and other islands before getting passage back to England in the late 1700s. Several Hollywood movies have been made about the ordeal.
We changed up the evening routine a bit – after dinner we dropped in on the Trivia game to hear the answers; then found a seat at the mainstage featuring the singer/guitarist Duncan Tuck and ended going to the 9 p.m. Lincoln Center Stage performance of Latin music.
Total steps: 8,957
King Neptune Ceremony
March 21 again(on east side of the International Dateline)
During the later evening last night, we crossed the International Dateline, changing the date to March 20th, therefore, it is March 21 again today.
It was Sea Day#2 from Tabuaeran to Bora Bora. There were fluffy clouds in the sky and some thin cloud making the sunshine less intense. The starting temperature was 28°C which seems to be typical on the southern side of the Equator. The ocean was swells of about two meters. This was the second of three Sea Days to get to Bora Bora. (Sea Day # 9)
During breakfast, after our morning walk, the ship halted about two kilometers from Starbuck atoll. Because of the underwater coral reef, ships are best to steer far away from the atoll. Starbuck, named after a ship’s captain, was about 1.5 kilometers long with a few coconut palm trees on it and mainly sand. During the late19thcentury, the bird guano was retrieved and there was a mining office and accommodation for workers, which are now abandoned. It was a minor course change to the east to view the Starbuck and the captain said that ours was the first cruise ship to record seeing the atoll.
The morning destination talk was about the town of Taiohoe, on the island of Nuku Hiva still part of French Polynesia. The ship visits Taiohoe on March 30.
After lunch, we climbed up to Deck 9 and the Lido Market for the Chocolate Surprise. The “surprise” was a disappointment. Some waiters were passing trays of two bite chocolate brownies on a stick to anyone on the Lido Market, Sea View patio or the main pool area. We expected more of a display of chocolate goodies. The noon temperature was 30°C and there were some wispy clouds.
Tim Calvert’s presentation was slides of his visits to Mo’orea, Tahiti ad Nuku Hiva. Some Cruise Critic members gathered for the regular Sea Day afternoon card or board games.
Each afternoon, at 3, there was Afternoon Tea in the Deck 3 dining room followed at 4, by a movie in the Mainstage theater.
We were all at our table for dinner, which was served faster since we were finished in 90 minutes instead of 105 minutes. We participated in the 7 p.m. trivia game. One of the questions was “What do you call a pregnant goldfish?”
We listened to the musicians perform classical favourites In the Lincoln Center Stage before going to the Mainstage Theater to enjoy ventriloquist, Don Gaylord Bryan with his puppet, Noseworthy in their humourous performance.
The answer to the trivia question is – a twit. Total steps: 12,449
Starbuck atoll
March 22
It was Sea Day#3 (Sea Day #10 overall) cruising to Bora Bora. This morning, the sky was sunny with the familiar ring of fluffy white clouds around the horizon. The post sunrise morning temperature was 28°C. The ocean swells were low, less than one meter. We walked on Deck 3, Promenade Deck, before and after breakfast to be sure we got our 10,000 steps completed for the day.
With no talks of interest this morning we read listening to recorded classical music in the Lincoln Center Stage. Steps 11, 537. After lunch, we met Carol, Dennis, Susan and Jeff on Deck 11 in the Crow’s Nest Lounge to play our card game, Five Crowns. There was hardly a detectable swell to the ocean this afternoon and evening.
Before dinner we finished our bottle of Robert Moldivi Private Selection 2017 Merlot. Dinner this evening was Gala Attire dress code and the Lincoln Center Stage performance was one we had already heard. We finished dinner before 7 and decided to make a team of the six of us for the 7 p.m. Trivia Game. The bonus question was to guess how many questions our team answered correctly. We guessed 7 out of 15 and were correct and got two bonus points, but only placed fourth of 14 teams. The Jersey Tenors were back for a second evening for the Mainstage Theater show. Total steps 14,971
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