What I did notice (when I finally woke up) was that we were approaching our anchor point in Opunohu Bay on the north side of Moorea and that G was (no surprise) MIA. He wakes up and leaves the cabin and, if the click of the door as he exits doesn't wake me, I just sleep and sleep. Part of it is that I am awake at least an hour later than he is every night, typing a blog post. But most of it is that he just loves the early morning hours on a ship, when even it seems to awaken slowly and come to life.
Still, we always catch up with each other, generally in the dining room where G knows I'll be eventually. Apparently he is in the habit of checking in there periodically throughout the morning to see if I've arrived; if told I haven't, he goes away and does something else and then returns. I often hear, "Sir G (Really, that's what they call him. Can you believe?? And I'm the one who has to live with him when this is all over!) was just here looking for you". Today was blueberry pancake morning, and they just sounded so good that I splurged.
I took some time after breakfast to answer emails that seem to go unanswered for too many days when I'm on a ship. Our travel plans for the rest of the winter are coming together...it looks like we'll be on the Caribbean Princess (I need to set up a shortcut for that on my iPhone) for at least four weeks from early February to early March. And by then we might just be ready to go home and stay home. Or not. We'll have to see how we feel. But, as I've said before, this is shaping up to be our craziest but funnest winter ever. G did a load of laundry (I keep forgetting to mention that when we overnight in Bora Bora, the passenger laundry is closed) and by the time I was done on the Internet and he was done with that, his early breakfast was starting to wear off and he wanted to get some lunch.
We walked out on the terrace behind the buffet to this view. Really, does it get any better?
While we were sitting there, the skies that had been threatening all morning finally opened up and it rained hard for awhile. We waited until that subsided a bit and took a tender to the island. I had worn my new black pearl bracelet for two days, getting the length of it adjusted juuussssstttt riiiigghhhttt, and wanted the designer to cut and seal the excess cording. When we arrived at the tender pier, the rain momentarily subsided. My bracelet attended to, we walked just a bit further. The oldest Protestant church in the South Pacific was built here in Papetoai Village in 1822 on the site that was once the royal Marae Taputapuatea, where heathen gods were worshipped. The octagonal church, called Ebenezer, has been rebuilt several times but is still in use. Today, a funeral service for a local dignitary was being held there, and the music coming from the building was beautiful. That was as far as I went for the day, choosing to sit under a tree as close as I could be without intruding to listen and watch. Despite the fact that it was standing room only inside, people continued to arrive, all carrying huge floral displays or what appeared to be gift bags. Every so often, a song was sung just by children, and those were particularly beautiful. This went on for quite a while, and though I could see the police escorts getting lined up, I left before the mourners started to file outside. The whole thing was very interesting and moving.
While I was sitting and listening and watching, G walked down to a small magazin (store) to buy "du pain" (bread) for 53 CFP, which he enjoyed feeding to the stray dogs and fish.
By the time we returned to the tender pier, about 4pm, it was once again raining hard. We were soaked and somewhat chilly while riding the tender back to the Pacific Princess, but the real cold set in once we had returned to the air conditioned ship. The rain continued for the rest of the day and into the evening, forcing the Captain's Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party from the pool deck to the Cabaret Lounge. Captain Maresca told us that, sadly, tomorrow looks to be the same, with no improvement in the forecast. We have two days at sea en route to Nuku Hiva, and, while I don't mind rainy sea days, I do hope for better weather on the islands.
We sat at the party with Cathy and Ron and Janet and Derek, talking like we'd known each other for far longer than one day. This will be a most enjoyable cruise. And, on our way to dinner, we met Tracey, traveling with her mom Nancy and two adorable young sons. Tracey had emailed me before she left home offering to bring us supplies (we have a regular Berlin airlift taking place on our behalf), and we had seen her and her sons on the terrace when it started to rain at lunch as her boys were thoroughly enjoying standing in the rain in their swimwear and were just so darn cute, but it took until tonight for me to connect the dots between the Tracey who emailed and the young boys whose enthusiasm in the rain was so contagious.
We meet the nicest people when we cruise!!
The ships is really bouncing tonight, as a thunderstorm rages outside and we're seeing frequent lightning light up big waves. Following dinner, we chose to skip the production show Cinematastic tonight. We enjoy it a great deal, but I'm not sure I'd fare well sitting in the Cabaret Lounge at the very front of the ship. How the dancers will be able to perform, I have no idea. Instead, I'm cozied up in our low, midship cabin, possibly the best spot on the ship to be. We are tired tonight, and a rainy sea day tomorrow may be just what we need to recharge for many more days at sea.