I did not do one darn thing today. Let's see how long it takes for me to say that... ;-)
Our plan for the day has been to take Huahine Nautique's all day snorkel and motu picnic with Marc. We had done this tour twice last year and loved it, but, frankly, I did not want to spend $110pp to endure a day in the rain. G (whose religion apparently demands that he get off the ship in every port) said he'd take a tender to shore to let Marc or his representive know our plans had changed.
I took advantage of that time to take my iPad up to Deck 9 where I sat just feet away from the WiFi router just outside the Internet Cafe to try to upload some photos from several days ago. I am getting so behind, and don't know when I'll get caught up. I did upload several photos to the blog posts for Days 53 and 54, but burned through 35 minutes of WiFi doing it. I am giving up that effort until I get to Papeete on turnaround day. There are less frustrating ways to spend my time and money.
I took advantage of the ship's stability while anchored in Maroe Bay to verify final payment dates for our cruises beginning in January. (Have I mentioned we will be home for Christmas? Yes, I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately?) We are beginning to make final payments for those cruises, and it's too easy to overlook due dates for those cruises when we're already on a cruise. (Again with your eye rolling. Please stop!). ;-)
G had returned to the ship by then, totally soaked from the rain. And, in the absence of anything else to do, we, of course, returned to the Panorama Buffet for a late breakfast. Or early lunch. Or mid-morning snack. We sat with Douglas Pearson and showed him some of our photos from yesterday's drive on Taha'a (which you haven't seen yet, but someday...) and he was so impressed with a couple of them that he wants me to share them with him which is high praise indeed. We did have a most interesting day, really getting a feel for the local culture.
The rain finally disminished at times to a heavy mist, and we changed into swimsuits and spent a lot of the afternoon sitting in a surprisingly hot hot tub while the mist fell on our faces. I switched back and forth between the pool and the hot tub and it felt delicious, but it was especially nice to have the time to do that, after eight port days in a row.
The rest of the afternoon was spent napping (G) and reading (me) until it was 4pm and time to start getting cleaned up for the evening. Captain Ciruzzi made an announcement that everyone was on board early (shocker) and so we'd be sailing a little early. We are expecting 30 knot winds overnight and tomorrow en route to Rangiroa and the extra time would allow us to go a bit more slowly and comfortably.
We went to the Elite Lounge to watch sailaway but didn't drink anything or eat much...we are seriously cutting back in preparation for a visit to the specialty steakhouse on board tomorrow night. We ate just two courses plus sorbet at dinner and made it to the 7pm performance of comedian David Deeble, a new entertainer for us. His comedy is so strange and quirky that it is harious, and is a welcome change from usual cruise ship comedians.
There is a lot going on tonight, but we returned to the cabin just as the movie South Pacific was beginning on our cabin TV and decided our stable, Deck 3 midship cabin was just where we wanted to be. The Love Boat Disco Deck Party will not be a deck party after all, but will be held in the Pacific Lounge at 9:30pm due to the wind and rain. We'd love to attend, but the Pacific Lounge, up high at the front of the ship, would do me in tonight. Even in our cabin, I can hear the waves crashing against the bulkhead just inches from my head.
As Cruise Director Sammie said tonight, when we wake up tomorrow, we can go back to sleep. No island arrival, no excursions, just a relaxing day at sea en route to Rangiroa. Even better; G and I have no wine tasting and no Most Traveled Passenger event either. There aren't enough Elite passengers on board this cruise to have either a luncheon or a cocktail party, so we are being given a complimentary specialty restaurant dinner instead. Frankly, it's my favorite MTP recognition perk of all. A whole day with nothing to do and then dinner at the steakhouse. It may just be another best day ever!
:-)
