SAO MIGUEL ISLAND, THE AZORES : FINAL PORT IN THE 5TH LEG OF OUR GRAND VOYAGE

Taken at last night's dinner in the Pennant Grill

Crater Lakes

The final tour we did from Aurora was to visit the crater lakes in Sete Cidades, 10 miles north west of Ponta Delgada.  If you look at the photograph very carefully, you might be able to see the reason why these crater lakes have so many visitors.  Not only is the setting beautiful, but if the sun is shining and there are no clouds – not the case for our visit as there were some clouds – the farthest lake is meant to look blue and the lake nearest the camera is green.  Quite honestly, not all of us could see this – and we all took off our sunglasses just in case it made a difference, but we dutifully took our photograph and are now publishing it on the web!

As the title of this blog suggests, we are now on our way home to Southampton having cruised about 40,000 miles in 95 days, visiting 29 ports.

I hope my blog has enabled anyone who has taken the time to read all the entries (and I admit yes, there were a lot of them!) to appreciate some of the enjoyment, pleasure and excitement from what has been for us the voyage of a lifetime. Yes, photographs can show you where we’ve been, but the memories will last us forever.

Thank you for keeping up with our adventures during this Grand Voyage and should we ever be lucky enough to do another one, then yes, I’ll be there with another blog.  It won’t be until January 2013, but watch this space!

 Until the next time, goodbye!

ST LUCIA

Pointe Seraphine Duty Free shops!

View from our balcony!

Bird that just flew past our balcony!

Our arrival into St Lucia was very wet, quite a few heavy tropical showers that lasted about an hour or so, then typically Caribbean weather, the sun came out.

We were in St Lucia last December so did very little yesterday apart from walking around the attractive Duty Free shopping area called Pointe Seraphine. 

We watched some small aircraft landing and taking off, as we were berthed opposite the small airport and also a ripple of interest as an American destroyer came in and anchored just behind our ship.

My next blog will be from Ponta Delgada, which is our final port in this Grand Voyage.  I will probably write a final blog to round off the whole adventure, hopefully just before we arrive in Southampton, but if not when we get home.

ARUBA

Aruba is situated in the southern Caribbean, 18 miles north of Venezuela.  The island is roughly 19 miles long and 6 miles across at its widest point.

We arrived in cloudy skies, very windy and a temperature of 26c, which was very comfortable.  We took a walk shortly after breakfast and came across very many iguana-type creatures, sunbathing not only on the rocks next to the sea but also on the walkway nearby. Although a couple were small, no more than 10” (25cm) and quite a pretty shade of green, the majority were well over 4’ (121cm)!  These are not my favourite creatures but thankfully the camera has a reasonable zoom!!

We had to be back at the cruise terminal by 1045 to board our motor launch to the waiting Atlantis submarine.  The sub was built in Vancouver in 1990 at a cost of $3.5 million.  It is 65 ft long (19.8m), holds 48 passengers, 3 crew and is all electric.

Entry into the sub was via the conning tower and a very steep ladder!  It was quite cramped but fully air conditioned.  We were taken to an area that contained a couple of boats, deliberately sunk to form an artificial reef for the start of our 45 minute ‘tour’.  It was very difficult to take photographs because of the light and the thickness of the glass which gave everything, including the people, a greenish-blue tinge!

We were surprised that there was no ear-popping and no sensation of diving at all, just the noise of the thrusters taking us down or up, and we did reach our maximum dive capability of 135 ft (41m) where we rested on the bottom of the sea. We did see fish, many quite small, but photographing them was an impossibility because we were travelling quite fast and so were they – generally in the opposite direction!

Still, it was great fun but we could have done with a much longer time down there!  Maybe next time!

A day at sea next, then to final warm destination, St Lucia.

PANAMA CANAL

The lock is just visible in the background

The 'mules' that guide us through the canal

Our transit through the Panama Canal went well and with the temperatures relatively comfortable at 25c.  We sailed under the Bridge of the Americas around 0630 and negotiated the last lock into the Caribbean at about 1600.

As we had done this transit three years ago, we didn’t take very many photographs this time, so not much choice to show on this blog. 

We are at sea now, 2 April and not particularly Caribbean seas – quite a large swell/waves although the temperature is now 28c at 0945.

Tomorrow is Aruba which will be the topic on the next blog.

HUATULCO

First view of the bay from our balcony at 0700

Part of the beach where we spent the day

Following the success of Cancun, the Mexican Government looked for an equivalent resort on the Pacific coast, the result was Huatulco, based around 9 bays and 22 miles of stunning beaches.

Huatulco Bays are located at the foothills of the Southern Sierra Madre Mountains in the beautiful state of Oaxaca.  It is 513 kilometres south, down the Mexican coast from Acapulco.

What a pretty little place, and so unexpected to find such a lovely beach a minute’s walk from the ship.

The temperature was 25c at 0700 and forecast to be 34c by the afternoon.

After an early breakfast we walked around the little town, which took all of half an hour, then back to the ship to change so we could have a swim and spend some time on the beach.

The water was beautifully warm and the beach was backed by little restaurants serving drinks and meals.  We decided to have a drink, a local beer and a Margarita for me.  Very refreshing!  It didn’t take much thought to decide to have lunch by the beach instead of the ship, so another Margarita joined a white wine to accompany our fish lunch, which was delicious.

We got back onto the ship around 1630 ready for an 1800 departure, but unfortunately a passenger was taken ill and he had to be taken off the ship into a waiting ambulance.  He gave us all a wave from the stretcher so hopefully he will recover soon.

We are now at sea for two days, ready for our transit of the Panama Canal.

FIFTH AND FINAL LEG : ACAPULCO TO SOUTHAMPTON

Part of Acapulco beach

Catch of the day!

View from Aurora on leaving Acapulco

We arrived into Acapulco in glorious sunshine and that remained throughout the day with temperatures around 30c.  That’s more like it! 

Because we had been to Acapulco before, we chose this time to take a long walk along the front, stopping off for a refreshing beer  - or two!

We went back to the ship for lunch and off again in the afternoon for another walk, this time along the beachfront the other way.

We left Acapulco at 1800 for a short trip down the coast to Huatulco.

SAN FRANCISCO : END OF 4TH LEG

What a disappointment that for the first time on this long voyage we had rain all day. In fact the only thing that made it better for us was learning that it hasn’t really stopped raining there for three weeks!

We did venture out, just after breakfast, and immediately found the pavements etc were flooded.  Despite having waterproof jackets on below that trousers/jeans were soaked in minutes, so after 45 minutes we decided to call it a day.

A quick trip to the launderette on board found us in a queue of people trying to get trousers and jackets into tumble driers before they were going out again!

So, not many photographs I’m afraid.  The first one shows the view from our balcony and you can just make out the bridge in the distance. The other two were taken on our departure at 1800 when yes, you can guess, the sun shone briefly.  Alcatraz is the second photo and finally the bridge, as we sailed beneath.

Time is simply flying by now and our next stop will be Acapulco.  The temperature in San Francisco was 8c but we understand it will be around 30c in Acapulco.  That’s more like it!

HONOLULU

The Buddhist Temple

Wooden Buddha

Green sea turtles, with people shown for scale

Something different, bark of eucalyptus tree

Despite rain on our arrival into Honolulu the weather did clear to be mainly bright, fairly warm with some showers.

We were booked onto a tour entitled “Oahu’s Famous North Shore” which started with a drive over the Ko’olau Mountains to the Valley of the Temples, location of the stunning Byodo Temple.  This beautiful Buddhist temple is a replica of the 900 year old Byodo-In located in Uji, Japan.  Inside the temple is the largest wooden Buddha carved over 900 years ago and decorated with gold and lacquer.

From the temple we went to Sunset Beach, famous for its huge waves, but unfortunately these waves usually only occur in the winter season, so the sea was fairly flat.

From there we went to Turtle Beach where we were lucky enough to see three of the rare green sea turtles resting on the sand.  They are called green sea turtles because although now protected, they were hunted for food and when they were cut open their body fat was green – they live on a diet of only seaweed.

From there our final stop was to the Dole Pineapple Plantation where you can buy pineapple in all its forms, from ice cream to chocolates to spices.

Honolulu is a lovely place and because there is so much to do and see, one of only a few places we would like to visit again for a holiday. 

At sea now on our way to San Francisco which is the end of the fourth leg.  It is so hard to imagine that in just over three weeks we will be home!

Our clocks go back at 12 noon today (Monday) which will make us GMT -9 and this will continue for the next 2 days so on arrival there we will be GMT -7.

CHRISTMAS ISLAND

Yes, that rain cloud did come our way!

The local council offices!

Christmas Island, or Kiritimati as the locals know it was our port of call yesterday, and quite an adventure it was too!

The height of this island is only 10 feet above sea level so although it was in the path of the last tsunami, thankfully for them not enough wave height to do any damage.  They are afraid though, that a really big wave will wipe the island out.

The first tenders left just after 0900 with their 100 passengers and on their return, some hour or so later, they were immediately hoisted back onto the ship – the tenders that is, not the passengers! It seems that the journey from ship to shore was in extremely shallow water and both tenders had “bottomed out” on the coral below.  Not good for the coral and definitely not good for the tenders.

After inspection they were returned to duty later, but the ship could then only safely carry 20 passengers ashore and they had issued over 1,000 tickets. Logistically that meant our chances of getting ashore were very slim, but around lunchtime the number was increased to 39 passengers because it was high tide – the only difference between high and low tide is 3 foot! 

I have included some photos but please don’t rush down to the nearest travel agents to book a cruise there!  We were there only 25 minutes, just enough time to photograph the children dancing and a quick walk up the road.  Sanitation arrangements, like their housing is extremely basic – and smelly! However, they are very happy and smiley people and seemed genuinely pleased to see us as not many cruise ships stop there.  I wonder why!

The water looked very inviting, but we had been warned there were tiger sharks and interesting to note there were no locals in the water either.

So, Honolulu next stop, a place we haven’t been to before, so we are very much looking forward our visit. 

APIA, SAMOA

Frangipane, botanic gardens

Our lobster lunch at Aggie Greys

Tsunami

For anyone reading this blog who might have been a little concerned about our welfare during the tragic events of the last few days in Japan, especially with regard to the first tsunami, the ship was ‘hit’ around 0500.  P&O Southampton were monitoring the situation, but we were north east of New Zealand, closer to the tsunami, but were advised our position in the ocean was the safest anywhere.

Our next stop, Western Samoa, was also hit by the tsunami but thankfully with no loss of life.

Our arrival into Apia, capital of Samoa, located on the northern coast of Upolu island, was very damp, with tremendous squalls and dark grey skies.  As were had a tour booked, it didn’t look promising but our rain dances must have worked because by the time we got off the ship at 0845 the skies were clearing, mosquitoes were out in force and the sun shone.

It was a pleasant tour that ended with a visit to private botanic gardens, which were absolutely beautiful.  Our arrival was greeted with a selection of tropical fruits and the choice of coconut ‘juice’ still in its original container!  It was very refreshing but there was such a lot of it!

Following the tour we wanted a walk and made our way to Aggie Greys, a very famous hotel which seems to be frequented by ‘celebrities’ and royals.  We looked at their lunch menu and decided to stay for a local beer and a lunch of lobster, and very good it was too.

The ship sailed at 1700 for our next port of call, Christmas Island – which is not to be confused with the Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.  More of that in my next blog.

P.S. Because we had March 12 x 2, we are now GMT -10!

AUCKLAND, CITY OF SAILS

We arrived in Auckland early – around 0700 – again to miss the ferry traffic.  The weather was beautiful but we had to be off the ship by 0840 to find the dentist for my 0910 appointment.  An hour in the chair, lots of drilling and probing, I came away $300 lighter – about £150!  I will have to see my own dentist after 14 April because the filling is only temporary.  All the work was just to insert antibiotic dressings into the roots!!

Not coming out of the dentists until 1030 we had time for a coffee and a quick lunch on the waterfront before going back to the ship for a visit to three wineries!  The first winery was Soljans, a winery that unfortunately doesn’t export to the UK but the wines, port and champagne were excellent.  In fact we bought a bottle of champagne to share with the other couple on our table who were married in the same year and the same date as us!

The next winery was Nobilo, with a larger number of tastings!  After that it was Coopers Creek where he had lined up around 15 wines that we could taste.  We gave up after a couple of tastings at the last winery because after you have tasted around half a dozen, then apart from the colour, the individual taste etc is very difficult to discern.  Very enjoyable though and a very happy coach load of passengers embarked Aurora to sail for Apia, Western Samoa!

Just had the 12 noon briefing on and it seems we are set for a few more rough seas.  The ship is pitching about at the moment, but the sun is trying to shine through and the majority of us are used to the movement now.

You may remember in one of my previous posts I told you about going to bed on a Monday night and waking up the next day and it was Wednesday?  Well, we’ve gone the other way now, and we have two Saturdays, 12 March!

The ports are going down very quickly now and we have under five weeks left before we return to Southampton!

Will post another blog after Apia.

P.S.  Is this blog still on a white background?  All I can see on my laptop is blue which makes it very difficult to read.

TAURANGA

What another beautiful day, and much warmer.  As I write this at 1600 the temperature is 22c.

We took the shuttle bus into Tauranga town at 0930, and what a pretty place it is.  Kept my hands in my pockets because there were really wonderful kitchen shops – even better than Lakeland! – and I was sure I could find something that I needed!  But I didn’t buy anything – keeping money ready for the trip to the dentist in Auckland tomorrow morning, as not sure what he is going to do.

We decided we would go to a winery for a tasting and lunch, and joined up with a couple from the cabin next door to share the taxi.  Very good tasting, and an excellent lunch, with plenty to drink of course!  We came away having bought 6 bottles of wine, so will now have to find out how much we can take back into the UK, otherwise we have some drinking to do!

A couple of photos, one of the street where we had a coffee and the other of a very large stingray which was just cruising around at the very edge of the marina.  He must have been some 3-4ft across, so glad I wasn’t swimming!

Will post tomorrow after we have left Auckland.

NAPIER

We cruised into Napier around 0800 to blue skies and the temperature a little warmer at 15c. 

Because of an earthquake in 1931 measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, Napier was rebuilt in the Art Deco style of the time.  It is also New Zealand’s oldest wine growing region owing to its superb Mediterranean climate.  No vineyard visits for us today, but we decided to follow Napier’s famous Art Deco Walk which was extremely interesting.

Unfortunately an abscess under a tooth necessitated the finding of a dentist in Napier who could prescribe some antibiotics for me.  This was done and the ship’s Reception are hopefully getting another appointment for me in Auckland to get it properly checked. 

We are sailing today at 1700 although goodness knows why as our next stop is Tauranga, a port which has to be under 100 miles away.  We all reckon we’ll be going round in circles during the night!

So you know our next port, and hopefully another post after that; we are also hoping for some warmer weather, which we should get around Auckland on Thursday.

WELLINGTON

The 'beehive', parliament building

We arrived in Wellington at 0900 on Monday 7 March; skies were overcast and the temperature still only 10c.  After breakfast we left to do some exploring, making first for the cable car that would take us up to the Botanical Gardens.  From there we planned to walk back down and look at the Beehive – the parliament building – and find the oldest wooden building in the Southern Hemisphere (and third oldest in the world).  These photos are included in this blog.

After that it was lunchtime and after purchasing some jewellery asked where we could find a good – but not too expensive – restaurant for lunch.  The sales girl directed us to a small restaurant called ‘Pravda’ which proved to be excellent.

We had the fish special of the day – New Zealand snapper on risotto with green lipped mussels together with a pear and rocket salad.  A fantastic glass – or two! – of Sauvignon Blanc each rounded off the lunch excellently!

After a final look around the shops we got the shuttle bus back to the ship at 1600 from where I am writing this blog.

In all, an excellent day, and apart from a shower or two, good weather.  At least the sun is shining now and we can catch up with a bit of sunshine on the balcony, as it is our side of the ship – starboard.

Off to Napier tomorrow from where the next blog will come.

SECTOR FOUR - SYDNEY TO SAN FRANCISCO

Milford Sound

The Old Station, Dunedin

MILFORD SOUND & DUNEDIN

Saturday 5 March saw us entering Milford Sound on our way to visit a total of five Sounds, Milford, Thomson, Doubtful, Breaksea and Dusky.  The weather was good although we had had a very rough 24 hours prior to entering the Sounds -  force 8 gales and a swell of 8m and Aurora did a fair bit of dancing around!  We were ok though, again no need of any medication.

The early mist and rain cleared to reveal sunshine for the greatest part of the cruise through, and when the rain came later, I changed to black and white photography!

On Sunday 6 March we docked in Port Chalmers, the port for Dunedin, South Island.  It was very cold, especially having only recently been in temperatures of 35c in Sydney.  It was 8c and forecast to rise to 13c!  Again it was dry and reasonably sunny for our walk around the town centre.  Being a Sunday there weren’t many shops open, but although we had a coffee in McDonalds, the earthquake in Christchurch had taken out a lot of broadband/wifi signals, so had to wait until I got back onto the ship, which is even slower!

The old railway station was wonderful and definitely worth a visit.  Built in the Flemish Renaissance style with a majestic interior of colonnades, balustrades and mosaic paving; with so many people around difficult to photograph, so the outside was all I could manage.

It was a short visit to Dunedin having to be back on the ship by 1430; we are sailing to Wellington (having to miss out Christchurch, of course) and need the extra few hours to reach there.

Will post again tomorrow following our visit to Wellington.

SYDNEY - END OF SECTOR THREE

We arrived in Sydney at 0645 on the 1^st March; it couldn’t be any later because the ferries start running at 0700.  Aurora was berthed in Circular Quay, right in the heart of Sydney.  We were off the ship soon after 0900 as we had been warned the weather would be extremely hot.  It was, 35c by midday!  We have seen so much of Sydney before in our previous visits, but we re-visited all the tourist sites and eventually arrived in Darling Harbour where we were ready for a beer and lunch.

Further walking in the afternoon around the Rocks area and then back to the ship about 1700 to shower and get ready for dinner.  After dinner we walked around to the Opera House which I think makes a more striking photo than in the daytime.

We have now ended our third sector of this voyage, and as I write this we are at sea on our way to New Zealand and it is 1015 on Thursday morning.  I believe yet again we have rough weather ahead of us, but whether this is because of the earth tremor in Wellington yesterday, or just that this is a rough patch of sea, I’m not sure.  Time will tell – or certainly the captain will!

We are cruising in Milford Sound on Saturday, so the next blog will not be until the evening of Sunday 6 March, when we will have visited Dunedin.  We put our clocks forward tonight which will make the time GMT +12.

BRISBANE

Again we have been so lucky with the weather, especially when you consider what Brisbane was like a short while ago.  We docked in beautiful sunshine, but the cruise into the port showed upturned small craft, some jammed into the river bank, and marks on the shore side where the water had risen.  P&O laid on a shuttle bus to take us into the centre of Brisbane, and the driver told us his bus is 4.3m high, and if he had driven it into the city centre, like we were doing, then it would have been completely under water.

We stopped in a shopping mall for a coffee and were able to get wifi so I could check emais etc.  We had a look around the shops, the malls are very like Cribbs Causeway or Cabot Circus, but the prices are much higher than at home. 

We had lunch out, our first since we embarked at Southampton, and had two glasses of wine each, some grilled Moreton Bay Bugs (like crayfish) together with king prawns – all in their shells – and a couple of scallops.  A green salad accompanied it and we ended the meal with a coffee each.  The bill came to $A136, which with a 10% tip came to just under £100!  This was in a café down the middle of the shopping area, so dread to think what we would have paid in a restaurant!

We then went for a walk into a park where Ian pointed out a ‘lizard’ on a tree.  Difficult to give you scale on a photo, but his tail was just about a foot long and his body the same, so glad he was some distance away!

We are now GMT +11 and it is 1100 on Monday here.  I am sitting on the balcony typing this, the sun is shining and the sea is flat calm.  We can just see the coast of Australia some 19 miles distant, but we are really looking forward to our sail in tomorrow morning past the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.  That will mean a really early start, probably soon after 0500, but definitely worth getting up early!

We have two days in Sydney, so will update the blog towards the end of the week.

NOUMEA, NEW CALEDONIA

Just as we were about to sail from Pago Pago the captain gave us an update regarding the tropical cyclone.  It was now some 750 miles south of the ship and still going in a southerly direction.  However he did warn that the air was still very disturbed and we would experience some 36 hours of rough weather, a swell of 5 metres and if we needed medication we should take some that evening!

Well we haven’t needed any yet and didn’t take any this time, but there were a few empty tables at dinner!  Very peculiar movement when there is a heavy swell, first pitching and then rolling followed by what seems to be going into some very deep potholes as the whole ship ‘shudders’ as her bow hits the water!

Absolutely poured down all day yesterday (Thursday) but thankfully our arrival into Noumea this morning (Friday) was blues skies and sunshine again.  We had arranged to take a tour to the botanical gardens for a couple of hours just really to do something different.

All the birds were under netting or in cages with very small netting so almost impossible to take photographs. 

We went back to the ship for a reviving glass of wine with lunch (nothing changes!), then took the shuttle back into town to have a look around.  We were there all of half an hour as the good shops were extremely expensive (it’s a French territory) and the others weren’t worth going into!

We sail at 1630 for Brisbane where we arrive on Sunday.  We are now GMT +10.

We are awaiting an update regarding New Zealand after the devastating earthquake in Christchurch.  The port we would have used was Lyttleton which was the epicentre and is very badly damaged as I’m sure everyone saw on the news.

That’s all for now, will post again after Brisbane on Sunday.

PAGO PAGO, AMERICAN SAMOA

Our tour bus, with its decoration of fresh flowers

Our tour guides, who are young students

Pago Pago, another island in the beautiful South Pacific, or as I saw on one man’s T-shirt – “Where the hell is Pago Pago”!

The Samoan group of islands lies in the centre of the South Pacific surrounded by Tokelau, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji and the Ellice Islands. Since 1899 they have been divided into the now independent nation of Western Samoa with nine islands, and American Samoa with seven islands. Tutuila is the largest island on the American side being one third the size of the Isle of Wight and Pago Pago is the capital.

Pago Pago is pronounced Pango Pango, because the early missionaries didn’t have a letter N in their printing set, so had to print the name Pago Pago.

The islands are not blessed with very many beaches, and there are sharks in open water, so swimming was not an option for us!  We took an organised tour in what are the island’s normal buses, which are always decorated in fresh flowers!  We were told there was one bus with a grass skirt around it, but unfortunately we didn’t see that one!

Pago Pago gets some 200 inches (508 cm) of rain a year, and we certainly experienced a bit of it while on tour.  However it doesn’t last long, and we soon dried out.

We had to be back on the ship for a 1530 departure to make our way to New Caledonia and our stop at Noumea and that tropical cyclone.

THE DAY THAT NEVER WAS!

We went to bed as usual on Monday night 21^st February, GMT -13 and when we woke up Tuesday had disappeared completely and we were GMT +13 on the 23^rd!  We also have to put the clocks back another hour tonight so we will then be GMT +12.

BORA BORA, FRENCH POLYNESIA

Apart from arriving in a torrential rainstorm, Bora Bora is simply beautiful.  The colour of the water has to be seen to be believed, but I will include a couple of photographs, just to give you an idea.

We used the ship’s tender to get ashore from where 6 of us piled into the open Land Rover to start our discovery of the interior of Bora Bora.  Having travelled from the Faanui Valley in beautiful sunshine, Cyril, our driver suggested we were going to get some “liquid sunshine”!  He handed out yellow rain coats and we managed to scramble into them just in time.  The heavens simply opened and no matter how hard we tried, although the roof had a tarpaulin over it by now, the open sides meant that every bit of water and mud was going to land on us.  What rain wasn’t running down your sleeves (where you were having to hang on whilst we negotiated ruts and almost perpendicular hills, but it also ran down behind my back and the seat so ensuring I was also sitting in a pool of water.  I had zipped the coat up at the front over my shorts, but the folds were making ideal channels for the rain and I ended up with shorts as wet as if they had come out of a washing machine without being spun dry!

The rain did ease quite quickly but we were all so wet it was going to take a bit longer than our 3 hour drive to dry out!

We visited a pareo (sarong) house high up in the hills and were treated to fresh fruits, just picked off the tree – pineapple (which was peeled and sliced in half, then each half was cut into slices.  We even ate the core it was that soft and sweet). We also tried a huge fruit like our grapefruit and papaya, all simply delicious.

We paid a visit to a black pearl farm where we were shown how the black pearls are harvested from the oysters, and also how to recognise fake black pearls should I ever have the money or the inclination to buy!  Another opportunity to try some more pineapple and fresh coconut.

Compared to Papeete yesterday, Bora Bora is very basic. The main street of shops are mostly shacks, huts and stalls.  All the roads, schools, electricity station and telephones etc were all put in by the Americans during the Second World War.  Up in the hills we even came across two huge canons that had been used in the First World War.  The locals had used a bulldozer to create a road up to the top and the canon were carried up in parts then reassembled.  An interesting photo opportunity.

We now have two days at sea before arriving at Pago Pago on the 21^st February where we have another tour booked!  Next blog after this!

Update: Just before we were due to sail, the captain announced the weather will be fine for the next three days.  However …. they are keeping an eye on a cyclone, which is forecast for our arrival in Noumea, New Caledonia.  We will receive an update after we leave Pago Pago, so watch this space.

EASTER ISLAND, PITCAIRN ISLAND AND TAHITI

The fifteen stone carvings on Easter Island

Pitcairners preparing to board Aurora

Museum in Papeete for Mutiny on the Bounty

How everyone believes Tahitians dress!

Our 8 days at sea have really gone very quickly; we cruised around Easter Island but it was really barren and not much sign of life, although we believe it has around 1300 inhabitants.  I have included a photograph of the 15 stone carved figures which were taken on full zoom, so may not be very clear.

Pitcairn Island was very interesting.  The islanders boarded Aurora with their wares to sell, but before that started there was an exchange of gifts – the Captain to the Mayor and vice versa.  We were the first P&O ship to make a stop at the Pitcairns, so we have been part of history really. Only 57 people live on Pitcairn with10 children between two families.  The mail ship comes every three months, so not much use if you’ve forgotten to order the tea bags!

One amusing moment came when the islanders came to leave.  Several cabins on Aurora have had their carpets changed, and the islanders took off this used carpet together with empty beer barrels!

The first time our feet touched solid ground was this morning in Papeete, Tahiti, where the sun was shining and it was very hot.  We were met at the quayside with a Polynesian band and some drummers who accompanied young dancers. What a beautiful place, lush, beautiful flowers, palm trees – although no beaches as it is a volcanic island and what sand there is is black.

I have taken so many photographs today it will be difficult to choose, but as uploading any photograph, although reduced size, takes a long time, I will limit the number to four.

Bora Bora tomorrow, where a ride to the interior in an off-road vehicle awaits us.  We are keeping our fingers crossed for dry weather, but will let you know in the next blog.