The Club Bar again was the repository for an entire collection of Jack o'Lanterns, intricately carved and artfully arranged by ice carver/ fruit and vegetable carver Samuel from the Philippines. We continue to be so impressed by his work! Waiter Ricky had headed up the team of six waiters in charge of decorating the Club Restaurant; and it was filled with black and orange balloons, lots of spider webs and spiders and Halloween garlands. What a lot of work!
The crew immediately started asking us if we would be wearing Halloween costumes during the evening (as they would be), and, of course, we brought nothing with us (packing for three months in various climates required all the creativity we could muster), but, after all the men he's seen wearing pareos in French Polynesia, G decided he would wear my black and white pareo to dinner, and I thought I just might be able to buy another pareo (that's a joke!) somewhere today in Bora Bora and wear that.
Between you and I, G had been dying to find a way to wear shorts in the dining room for dinner ever since, last cruise, this young, shapely woman was allowed in for dinner with short short cut offs and a bare midriff. G has been teasing Maitre d'Oscar and the headwaiters about how shorts are not allowed at dinner...unless one happens to be a 21 year old female. He walks up to the entrance of the Club Restaurant with his slacks rolled up to the knees and everyone gets a laugh out of that. Here was his opportunity...he would dress as a French Polynesian guy tonight, but instead of a pareo over a G-string, he'd wear one over shorts and a tank top.
By 10:30am, we had our Halloween costume plans in place and had done some hand laundry from yesterday's outing. I had noticed that the floatation strap on my new waterproof camera was threatening to slip off the camera (which would be disastrous when snorkeling in 50 feet deep water), and G took some time to address that issue, utilizing the tiny screwdriver he packs to fix glasses. It was funny yesterday...three of us on the same boat on Patrick's tour had the same camera in the same color, all purchased at Sam's Club. It's a great camera, but we will return ours for a new one when we get home only because of the strap issue.
G headed to a hot tub, and I headed to Deck 4 in the Reception Hall (atrium) to try to upload some photos. I am getting seriously behind with that, which presents not just a problem with getting caught up but in keeping the various photos straight in my camera roll on my iPad, especially as they are imported from my iPhone, my Fuji XP-80 camera, and G's iPhone and appear out of order. Was that snorkel site in Moorea or Bora Bora or Rangiroa? Do Bora Bora stingrays look different than their Moorea cousins? You can see my dilemma.
I sat right under a router and managed to upload a few pics from the Moorea Lagoonarium trip, one at a time, and used 25 minutes of WiFi just doing that. I simply don't have that kind of Internet time on the ship. Photos, except for one or two, are going to have to wait until we return to Papeete. We have plans all day tomorrow in Raiatea, and WiFi at any price does not exist on the tender dock on Huahine, Rangiroa and Moorea.
We grabbed a quick lunch and then took a tender to Bora Bora, with only one plan for the day: to return to Matira Beach but also walk beyond it to the Intercontinental and Sofitel Resorts (the only major resorts on mainland Bora Bora) to check out the current year prices of their day passes. All of these day passes include a three course lunch: the Intercontinental day pass ($65pp) does not include the pool or watersports equipment; the Sofitel mainland resort day pass ($50pp) includes both; and the Sofitel special motu resort day pass ($95pp) includes the boat transfers to/from the motu, a more private beach and a coral gardens snorkel opportunity. We may do one of these next cruise.
It was hot by that time, and very sunny, and walking between these resorts on the southern tip of Bora Bora was getting tedious. G flagged down a taxi and we rode back to the tender pier in style, arriving back on the ship at 4pm. I helped G get dressed in his costume (including a floral crown on his head!) and I wore the new pareo I'd just bought on the tender pier for $10. I have to admit...he attracted far more attention than I did! After a quick Elite Lounge visit, we were off to dinner to test the 'shorts are okay for dinner in the dining room if part of a Halloween costume' theory. Oh yeah, shorts were mild compared to what Maitre d' Oscar, the headwaiters and the waitstaff were wearing. Most of them had purchased their outfits (and blood and gore makeup) in Honolulu in September and were well prepared for the holiday.
Tonight at 8:30pm was the final performance by the production show cast we've gotten to know so well, Do You Wanna Dance, one of our favorites and one where the dancers really shine. We were there in front row seats, enjoying every minute of it, and, afterward, as Cruise Director Sammie was making her close out, she called back Company Performance Manager / Dancer / Entertainment Staffer Alex for special accolades. We were still in the Cabaret Lounge when we could hear the cast behind the curtain in tears, as they will be going their separate ways after this cruise. We will miss them!!
There was a then big Halloween party in the Pacific Lounge, but we are having to miss it. We are on day 7 of 9 port days in a row, and have two all-day excursions planned for the next two days in Raiatea and Huahine. Just two more days and we'll have a much-needed day at sea. We can do this...but only if sleep remains a higher priority than partying. ;-). We sail at 11pm tonight (I think...does it matter?) and once again will go in circles until we arrive in nearby Raiatea early tomorrow morning.
