It was another rainy day in Papeete, though, true to form, at times the rain slackened to a mist and then intensified. It took until sailaway at 5pm to finally see the sun. Again I say that's ok...we're reserving our Papeete and Tahiti sightseeing for the ten days we'll be here in late December - early January. But I couldn't help but feel badly for those passengers who just arrived and have ten days to experience the best of French Polynesia. Because French Polynesia has definitely not been at its best these past two days.
G and I met up for breakfast in the Club Restaurant and pondered our day. We had planned to take a walk along the waterfront park area where all the outriggers are stored (see green area in map below), but the rain disincented us from doing that. We finally just packed all our electronics in a zip lock bag in my backpack and ran over to Chaplins again for coffees and to use Internet. Well, G had coffee. Apparently the French do not believe in decaf coffee so I had another Perrier. Like Hinano beers; they're quickly getting old but I cannot drink fruit juices all day long (the calories!).
It was cozy sitting there- well, as cozy as things can be sitting practically on the street with cars and trucks and motorcycles and scooters and emergency vehicles with European sirens screaming by non-stop. The rain dripped constantly off the canopy and occasionally we'd hear the horn from a departing ferry. I am now fully updated on both iPhone and iPad...well, at least for that one moment (it's kind of like having all our clothes clean at one time in that way. It's a short-lived victory). G did not update his operating system in case we have incapatability issues with any apps. I am the test subject; he is the control (how very appropriate ;-)).
Speaking of that...did I tell you what happened last cruise? We were in British Pub Lunch one afternoon and G felt a notification come in on his phone. Someone had "legally" (by unlocking the front door) entered our house. We do have some comings and goings we are aware of in advance but this one caught us off guard. G immediately went to find the closest wifi router to stand under (so as to get the best possible wifi signal available on a bouncy sea day) and called friend Martha using Vonage (for free! Get the app!). She had to laugh...she was the one who opened the door and she had gotten back to her own house when G called. She had placed our fall door wreath in our house, and hung a Christmas wreath instead. It just goes to prove that all the time G spends getting these things set up when we are home does pay off, but, really, to be on a ship in one of the most remote places on Earth (en route to Nuku Hiva) and have that whole process work perfectly still amazes me. And G doesn't want to risk that functionality by updating anything.
So, back to today...after a bit we started getting hungry but also needed to stand up and walk (those chairs at Chaplins aren't the most comfortable) and so returned to the ship for lunch. There was a momentary lull in the rain at that point, so it was a good time to move on. To show you just how close the places I keep referring to are, I took a minute to do a screen capture from Maps.me and highlight them on it.
We started lunch by sitting on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet but were eventually forced inside by blowing rain. After lunch, a long afternoon with nothing to do stretched in front of me, so I went to the fitness center to work out and then settled in our cabin to read the latest Bridget Jones novel that friend Janet had left for me at the end of last cruise (thank you, Janet! I am now half way through the book and know what happened to Mr. Darcy.). Meanwhile, I texted a bit with the twins, always guaranteed to make me simultaneously happy and homesick.
Speaking of our Berlin Airlift from the US to the Pacific Princess in French Polynesia (because we were, about one cruise ago), blog reader Allison emailed me a week or two ago to say she was coming on board yesterday and ask if there was anything else we still needed. Well, I actually placed orders online and had them shipped to another reader, Paige, who is bringing them onboard on our December 18th turnaround, but G had just mentioned that he was missing his Irish Spring soap. Allison was happy to bring it (thank you, Allison!!) and when we returned to our cabin yesterday afternoon, she had already delivered it. What would we do without all of you? Even the crew is jealous of our supply line...everyone on board is counting the days (hours...minutes...) until the ship gets back to Honolulu (it's 36 days 15 hours and 37 minutes as I type this). This ship is going to dock and the entire crew will take turns making a mad dash to the WalMart next to the Ala Moana Mall.
As I read, G took advantage of a lull in the rain action to run to an ATM to get more local currency. Unfortunately, while he was gone, I could once again hear the rain pounding against our porthole. He returned to the ship at 4:25pm soaking wet...but about that time the sun finally started to come out for the first time in two days. The sailaway champagne waterfall that had been planned for the pool deck had been moved inside to the Cabaret Lounge, but, in the end, it might have worked to have it outside. There were plenty of puddles on deck but the sun was definitely out by sailaway at 5pm.
One of Paul Allen's (of Microsoft fame) yachts, the Meduse, was docked next to us today. It's for sale right now for $29 million.
The joggers were taking advantage of the sun coming out. This little park (the green area on the map above) is just a few minutes from the Tiare Tahiti Hotel we'll be staying at (I think).
Olexandr, our junior waiter for dinner was just promoted to assistant waiter, and moved to a new station in the Club Restaurant. Justin from India is now assisting Jose. There were several promotions at the end of last cruise; we're tickled by waitstaff coming up to us proudly showing off their name tags with their new positions. As (new) waiter Ricky told us, "You're our family on board; we can't wait to tell you". We feel the same way. :-)
After watching production show Do You Wanna Dance (now tied with Motor City as our favorite) we returned to the dining room for more sorbet. Last night had been a "no dessert" night so we needed to catch up. Jose was harious when we were seated in his section again. "Two salads, right?" Wrong, Jose. Very wrong.
We received notification tonight from Passenger Services that our flights home on December 18th have been cancelled. Mission (finally) accomplished, and I suspect two people will be thrilled to get those seats the Friday before Christmas. Sure, after texting with the boys I was ready to abort our cruise extension and head home in eight days to bake cookies and drive around looking at Christmas lights, but the deed is now done and there's no turning back. And I'm okay with that, too. Almost.