More Sea Days, and a Port At Last: Fiji

We left Raiatea, expecting one sea day and then stop in Raratonga. As mentioned in our last post, we were looking forward to seeing something of the island we had last visited 14 years ago. We had also asked a few of our fellow guests to report back on Pa, as he was still listed as the guide for the Nature Walk tour.

We arrived to a very nice, bright day – something of a change from the Polynesian ports – but a bit of wind that was apparently coming from the opposite direction than usual. There was some early activity around the tender platform, but the captain announced at 7:30 that we would not be able to stay. The wind was whipping up a swell that was breaking over the platform, and he could not maneuver the ship to eliminate the problem. Another ship was nearby and faced the same issue, so no-one went to Raratonga that day.

Rarotonga - Hello and Goodbye!

So now we had another sea day to add to those we were looking forward to before the next port of Nuku’Alofa, Tonga. So this stretch became 4 sea days, and the Entertainment Department was scrambling again to arrange lecturers and other programs for the day. So once again, we settled into our sea day routine, for not one, but two sea days, plus the next two that were planned. Or so we thought! Also thrown into the equation was crossing the International Date Line the night of Sunday, February 9. When you cross the IDL, you lose a day and today becomes the day after tomorrow. On a ship this has the effect, for us this time, of going to bed Sunday night and waking up Tuesday morning! The ship schedule for Monday, March 10 said simply “Day Does Not Exist”, a very effective way of dealing with the Monday Blues!!

One of the specialty drinks at the Sunset Bar

Some of the sunsets have been beautiful

Day Does Not Exist!

So after four days at sea, we arrived February 12 off the coast on Nuku’Alofa, Tonga, except that when we looked out the windows, and then turned on the Bridge View on the TV, there was no land in sight. Anywhere!! Apparently the government of Tonga advised the ship at 5:30 AM that due to the Corona Virus situation we were Personas Non Grata in Tonga that day, along with another cruise ship, the Columbus. So, once again the Entertainment Department swung into action! Larry mentioned to Rick, the Cruise Director, that he might want to start unplugging his phone at night so as not to get these phone calls from the Captain. He said that by the time he got to his office at 6:15 AM the word had gotten out and all of the lecturers on board were waiting for him to offer their services! At his 9:00 AM update the Captain advised that they had requested the government of Fiji allow us to arrive a day early and have an overnight, and that request had been granted, so once again he cranked up the hamsters for a 24 hour speed run to Fiji. This is now five consecutive sea days for those counting at home, and yes, some people, those that had boarded in Pape’ete and had only seen one port of call, were getting just a bit antsy!!

We sailed a good distance around Fiji from the
channel through the reef to the port of Lautoka

It was steamy hot and humid all day, so of course we
had an afternoon rain - more than just a shower - but
a beautiful rainbow showed up afterward.

Sunset from Lautoka

Even though we were happy to be near land, there wasn’t much to see in the town of Lautoka, so we stayed on board for the first day. We had a tour scheduled for the original port day, and waited for that before we ventured out. It turned out to be a good idea. It was very hot and humid, and according to people who did go into town, there wasn’t much there to see, not even much in the way of souvenir shopping!

The next morning was nice and hot, just like the day before, and it felt like it would rain at some time, just like every other port day we’d had since Los Angeles. We were going on the Schooner Island Escape tour, which would take us to a boat, which took us to an island for swimming, snorkeling and lunch, and then reverse the process to return to the ship. All packed up and with beach towels in hand, our group was divided into two – one small van for those who couldn’t deal with getting in and out of the bus, and a regular highway bus for the rest of us.

Fiji is quite a large island, as we had discovered the day before, with a more developed infrastructure and economy than most of those we had seen previously. Our guide seemed highly intent to make sure we understood all of this on the way to Denerau Island, where we would meet the boat. In fact, it seemed that he barely stopped to take a breath for the whole hour it took to get there.

We got a break once we boarded the ‘Whales Tale’, our schooner, when we split up and were seated all around the outer deck of the boat for the 90-minute ride to the island.

Schooner Island, our destination

Once we got on the island, using a smaller aluminum boat – that doubled as the glass-bottom boat for the tour of the coral reef – we discovered that it was really just a little too small for the size of the group. Anyone who didn’t get on the first lift from the schooner didn’t have too much choice of lounges or chairs for relaxing if they weren’t in the water. The snorkeling was fairly good, but nowhere near those pictures in the travel brochures. Here are a few photos:

Lunch was provided on the tour, and was actually quite good. There was plenty of choice: chicken, fish – which was apparently marlin, and quite tasty, beef and sausages along with salads and fruit for dessert.

After lunch, the leftover sausages were used as bait to attract the black-tipped sharks that hang around the island. It was quite amazing how quickly they showed up. The guides explained that they are just young sharks, and would not try to bite because we are bigger than they are. Once they grow to a larger size, they just head for deeper water and their normal prey.

Yes, that's how close they were. Monica got the above
photos standing in ankle-deep water with the camera on.

We had a little more time to wander around the island before we were ready to return to the schooner.

Looking toward another small island not far away

It was raining near the ship - and heading right for us!!

Our return trip was similar to the outbound journey in all respects, including the incessant narrative by our guide. He may have been giving us some useful information, but it was getting harder and harder to listen to him and to take it in. We were all very glad to get back to the ship and relative peace and quiet.

It was also Valentine’s Day, which was being celebrated with an evening of before and after dinner dancing in the Crystal Cove. There is usually a ‘White Nights’ party during every segment, so it was combined to the ‘Red and White Nights Party’, with the necessary decoration:

The drink of the day even kept with the theme, and, of course, the photographers also got in on the act:

Before reaching our next port, Bay of Islands in New Zealand, there were also the last couple of sea days to get through.  The Grand Gala Buffet and a formal night, as well as a trip to Prego for us.

It all looks so good, but we see it in terms of
the number of laps of the Promenade Deck we need
to use up the calories.

One of the 'informal' formal shots - requested by Jane

Veal Parmagiana

Potato Gnocchi with Alfredo Sauce

Larry was quite ready to see some ‘civilization’, and we looked forward to our overland excursion.

Raiatea, Cradle of the Polynesian People

After leaving Tahiti and all the rain, we hoped to have a nice sunny day on the island of Raiatea. We had booked an island tour by land and sea, neither part of which would be particularly comfortable in heavy rain like we’d had upon leaving the previous night.

Things started out pretty nice:

Sailing through the channel into the lagoon. Raiatea is on the left,
and farther away is Taha'a.

…but we knew from experience that they could change pretty quickly, so when the tour was divided, one part doing boat then bus and vice-versa, we opted to do the first half of the tour by boat, and then transfer to the bus for the return to the port town of Uturoa.

Our guide was a native of Raiatea, who was also a tattoo artist (can you tell?). As in the other islands, the art of tattooing a person’s history on his body was frowned upon when the missionaries first ‘civilized’ the natives, but has made a resurgence in the last 40 or so years. This fellow had spent 17 years tattooing his family history all over his body, but told us that he left part of his face free to show that he was also a man of the 21^st century.

He was covered literally from head to toe with
tattoos, except for the other side of his face,
which he left bare.

We set out in our motorized outrigger while the weather was still clear and sunny, heading first for the Faaroa River and then to the Marae Taputapuatea, where we would meet up with the other half of the group and change places.

The boat ride along the coast took us most of the way down the east side of the island. We passed a few buildings on stilts out in the lagoon, looking like the ultimate in over-water bungalows, which are really pearl farms. The pearl oysters are strung in the water below the buildings. Because of storm damage, and probably also the difficulty in getting tourists out to 'pick their own oyster', there aren’t many farms out in the lagoon any more. They are building long piers and putting the farm building out at the end.

Pearl farms out in the lagoon,

and at the end of a pier.

Our first destination, the Faaroa River, is the only navigable river in French Polynesia. Our boat could go quite a distance in, but our fellow guests, who had chosen to paddle their kayaks on the river, would have been able to go much farther inland.

The mountain in the back looks like the face of a woman gazing up to the sky, with
her hair streaming out to the left (off the photo). 'She' is a protector of the island.

While we were at the farthest point, we stopped to listen to the sounds of the island, and our guide invoked a prayer to the gods, along with playing the nose flute. It seems odd to use the nose to play an instrument, but in the Polynesian tradition, it is believed that the air coming from the nose is purer than that coming from the mouth, and the gods will only bring good fortune to the purest offerings.

After leaving the river, we headed toward the Marae Taputapuatea, the largest marae in Polynesia, over 1,000 years old. Archaeological studies over the whole region have concluded that much of the expansion of Polynesian civilization did originate from here. One of the traditions for explorers leaving an island to discover new lands was that a rock from the marae of the island would be taken on each boat, and used to establish a new marae on the new land, and this is one of the ways the movement of the Polynesians has been traced. This marae in particular is over 2,100 hectares in size and since 2017 has been included by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Part of the marae from our boat as we docked.

The Polynesian version of the expansion. It looks like an octopus, with the island of
Havai'i, now Raiatea, at the centre. Yes, the Hawai'ians of today
are descended from the Polynesians, as are the
Maori of New Zealand.

Our guide explained that the marae, the most sacred site,
was where the rites were performed to connect
the people, their ancestors and the spirits, and was
the centre of spiritual and social life in the community.

He is explaining how the boats would leave from
this very beach, taking explorers and their
marae stones to new islands.

After leaving the marae in our open 4x4 vehicles (yet more 4x4s!), and noticing that the skies had begun to cloud over, our drivers took us to visit a vanilla ‘orchard’ that was established by an American who came to Raiatea in the 1970s. He gave us some background on the production of vanilla, and explained why pure vanilla and vanilla beans are so expensive…lots of middle men involved in the whole process.

This is a vanilla orchid. Each flower produces one
bean, but only if the conditions are right and
remain good until the bean matures.

Our last stop was in the central valley, the source of the Faaroa River. There had been a lot of rain during the current rainy season, and there was lots of water in the waterfalls. As we drove through the valley and up into the growing area, where there were pineapple, coconut and breadfruit groves, the ‘road’ we were on crossed over one of the streams. There was very little wash across the road and the drivers didn’t hesitate to take us over.

The central valley. There is a lot of agriculture going on here, with
breadfruit being the newest and fastest growing product. It is
being grown to send to Tahiti for processing into a gluten-free
flour.

It had been spitting the whole time we were out here. You can see
that it must have been raining on the mountainside.

But when we came back, it was another story. We had heard some thunder and had a sprinkle of rain while we were at the vanilla farm, and it had been spitting during our time in the valley. There must have been some heavier rainfall out of those thick clouds, because on our return journey, no more than a half an hour later, this is what we had to cross over:

The little wash over the road had turned
into a roaring current!

All three drivers hesitated a bit, and their boss was on the other side of the road, watching the water rush across. They decided the vehicles could do it – after all, they would have to, in order to get us back to the ship on time! – and all of us got across in short order. It was amazing how the water flow had changed in such a short time.

We drove back under some heavy cloud, but fortunately no rain. That waited until we were back on board the ship….and wondering where the other half of our tour group was. We had seen their boat after we came from the valley, and they were still a good distance away from town. At that point, we were REALLY glad that we had chosen to do the tour the way we did.

When we left Uturoa that evening, rather than just heading back out of the lagoon the way we had come in, Captain Vorland sailed Serenity along the channel between Raiatea and her sister island of Taha’a. These two islands sit within the same reef system, and one of the ‘must-dos’ according to the tour books is to sail between them. Although the channel is big enough, we don’t think that cruise ships of our size are among the usual vessels using it. It was a stunning and interesting sail out that took over an hour.

The island of Taha'a.

Wonder how it must have looked from the shore. We weren't more
than a hundred yards away!

From another perspective, this is how it looked
from Palm Court.

And once we were out at sea again.

We headed for our next port of call – the island of Rarotonga. We were looking forward to finding out if Pa, the island mainstay who would guide the nature walk, was the same Pa we had seen 16 years ago, when we did the same tour!