Whew! We closed down the tropical deck party last night. It was hot and muggy and we were wet with sweat from dancing by the time it ended. We are seriously "musician-challenged" this cruise...two of the four members of the Pacific Princess orchestra have had to return home, so a five piece band, made up of ultra-talented guitarist/vocalist Dan Riley, the duo 2 Cool and the remaining two orchestra members (a keyboardist and drummer) was put together on a last minute basis and they were incredible. Cruise Director David sang Mustang Sally and it was like real life Garage Band and great fun.
Showers were again in order and it was nearly 1am before we got to sleep. Before we returned to the cabin last night, we were surprised to see the cruise ship Paul Gauguin cruise in and anchor not far from the Pacific Princess. A TWO ship day today in Bora Bora (though both ships together are less than half the size of the Sapphire or Diamond Princess, on which we'd visited Bora Bora on transpacific cruises in the past! That's the beauty of this little ship.)
No surprise, I didn't make it to breakfast in the Club Restaurant until just after 8am, and even with that lie-in, I knew I'd be feeling our busy day yesterday by this afternoon. Still, we were packed for the beach and on a tender by 10am, in order to catch the 10:30am boat shuttle to the Hilton Bora Bora Nui, located on the other side of Motu Toopua just behind where the Pacific Princess was anchored. We were planning to spend the day there, and were thrilled to finally see the sun shining on iridescent blue water in the Bora Bora lagoon. There was just a little wind, and the few clouds provided a welcome relief from the heat of the sun.
We set up on the far end of the beach, looking for a little space and solitude. I snorkeled all around the lagoon area of the resort, and found the best snorkeling under the walkways going out to the overwater bungalows. But, other than that, we were beach slugs, moving from our loungers only to have lunch in the sand-floored restaurant right on the beach. Sadly, and very, very stupidly, I neglected this morning to pack my long sleeved rash guard and snorkeled for the first time without it. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I have red spots on my back in the same odd shapes as the openings on the back of my swimsuit. It's my worst sunburn this cruise (to date) and it was totally preventable. Luckily, we don't have any beach days scheduled in the next few days.
We took the 3pm shuttle back to the mainland, and then immediately returned by tender to the Pacific Princess. The Vaitape wharf area was hopping today, with the Paul Gauguin tender loading area just to the left of the Pacific Princess tender loading area, excursion boats and the airport ferries coming and going, and, as always, the outrigger canoeists waiting in the water to ride the tender wakes. We had time for just a quick rest (me) and hot tub (G) before it was time to start getting ready for our second formal night of the cruise. Between you and me, I'd really prefer the second formal night be on a sea day. I'm less inclined to be up on deck for a windy sailaway when I'm dressed formally and a Bora Bora sailaway when the sun is shining is a beautiful thing to see.
It became obvious about 5:15pm that our sailaway was not occurring as scheduled, and, sure enough, Captain Ceruzzi made an announcement that, when the anchor had been lifted, it carried a wire (cable?) up with it. It needed to be lowered again in the hopes the wire would dislodge. G said "And the Hilton Bora Bora wonders why their power is cutting off and on right now". It was a joke, of course, but you do have to wonder what kind of wire that was, stretched across the lagoon floor between mainland Bora Bora and Motu Toopua.
We went up to the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet to watch as the Pacific Princess finally did start to cruise out of the Bora Bora lagoon, and what a beautiful sight the island was behind us, golden Ain the glow of the almost-setting sun.
There was no Elite Lounge tonight, due to the Captains Circle party being held at 7:30pm. We went to dinner at 6pm (I had escargot and lobster, more delicious since the new Executive Chef's arrival), and sorbet for dessert and next-tablemates Kathy and Loren shared their ring toss championship bottle of champagne. We needed to be outside the Cabaret Lounge at 7:20pm and had invited a honeymoon couple from New Jersey, Tara and Nestor, to join us. New (this cruise) Captains Circle host Tiffanie asked us about our favorite cruise experience when we received our most traveled award and I was able to give a shout out to the entire crew, saying that they, along with this small ship and these beautiful islands have definitely made this our best cruise experience ever. EVER!
Production show Cinematastic followed, then quick to blog and bed. We have an early excursion tomorrow and need to be on the first tender to shore in Moorea. Tomorrow was supposed to have been our last day on the Pacific Princess, and we had planned to go out with a bang (hopefully, not literally).