Foiled again in New Caledonia!

So, our second day in Fiji brought us to Lautoka/ I had been to this general area before – the international airport, Nadi, is nearby/ As we docked, I could tell we were in a much more rural area – much preferred to the big city of Suva/ Not that it mattered much, as the agenda for the day was to catch a catamaran to another small island and spend the day swimming with the fishes/ For some reason, I was operating under the assumption that the boat ride to the island would be short; I was wrong;)

However long the boat ride was, it was gorgeous the entire way and aside from being super eager to get my face in the water, it wasn’t a bad way to spend some time.

As we rolled up to the dock, we were told that we were the first cruise ship passengers to this brand new tiny private island resort/ What an incredible place/ The staff came out to greet us with singing – it reminded me of a very special time on a old wooden “cruise ship” called the Tui Tai – weaving around the smaller Fijian islands, the crew often singing/ A wonderful memory of a wonderful trip many years before.

It was a wonderful day – swimming, chasing after fish, eating delicious, local cuisine, trying the Fiji bitter beer I remembered/ We chatted with a nice couple from Orange County / a good lazy day with a spectacular view/ Hard to beat/ They named the place Malamala Beach Club/ If you ever find yourself in this area, check it out.

Swimming and being in the sun all day is tiring, and we figured we wouldn’t be up late – so true
The next day we were back at sea on our way to New Caledonia/ I had so much curiosity building about this tiny island nation (French) that I really couldn’t recall ever even hearing of prior to seeing this cruise/ I’d since learned it was the newest “must go” in the diving community/ I brought my dive card – unsure of whether I’d go or not, but I didn’t want not bringing my card to be the deciding factor.

I love diving, which still surprises me/ Never thought I would/ It’s the freedom to breathe under water, I think/ It’s the most other worldly, mesmerizing experience/ It is also a dangerous hobby/ You have to follow some pretty specific rules/ I’m slightly spooked by 3 things: a dear friend dying while learning to dive, the loss of my all-time dive buddy (who is now my ex-husband), and having a very bad last dive myself in which, in retrospect, I feel happy that I didn’t die from my own stupidity/ Anyway, I figured I could at least do a shallow dive, even without a dedicated buddy and just pop to the surface if the proverbial poo hit the fan.

Before I get into telling you about our 3 days in NC, let me pause to tell you about our next sommelier wine tasting and our wine master dinner/ I know you are dying to know/ Unfortunately, both of these things took place on the same day, so we were attempting to stay hydrated all day which meant we pretty much just drank and peed all day/ I realize that isn’t eloquent, but there you have it/ The tasting that day was around California blends/ I think/ See, I’m already losing it/ This being totally relaxed thing is bad for the memory/ I noticed some familiar names – and one of my old favorite daily drinkers – The Coppola Claret. There were also two from Franciscan – the Equilibrium, a white blend that was lovely, and the big, bold Magnificant, which was, in fact, magnificant/ Is that a word? We also had the Moet and Chandon champagne, which was awesome/My brain has let go of the other white, so it must have not rocked my socks.

The best part of the tasting was sitting near Mark and Rod again/ Mark is from Adelaide so we started picking his brain/ We found out he and his wife were going to the wine dinner, too, so Rod asked them to seat us all together/ I’m so glad he did.

So, later that night we meet up for the wine dinner/ This was hosted in the Pinnacle Grill, where we hadn’t yet eaten because it is an additional fee and we already paid to eat the regular food;) The usual gang was there and it looked to be a good night/ We started with a glass of sparkling rose, that I really enjoyed but Jason found a tad too sweet / Before long, we were seated in the dining room with lots of glasses on the table! Things were looking good/ Our favorite sommelier, JoJo, was in the house and ready to rock / I apologized to all in advance for being that annoying American who photographed everything but, hello, I have like 3 dedicated blog readers who will want to see this stuff/ You know, one day when I have enough bandwidth to successfully transfer images between devices.

When enjoyed many delicious courses – including the absolute best foie gras I’ve ever tasted/ The main was a tender veal chop/ Quite good – all of it/ And the wines were lovely, not that there was any doubt/ However, the best part of the dinner was talking with Rod and Louise and Mark and Elizabeth/ R&L are Canadians and M&E are Aussies/ They are all highly educated, acutely aware of world politics and affairs. We had the kind of conversation that, in my personal experience, you only ever have in this sort of setting/ Indeed – the only other similar experience I’ve ever had was on another ship in the south pacific/ I recall discussing the immigration problem with a bunch of Australians/ That is the Australian immigration problem/ Which of course I didn’t know was a thing, much less a problem/ But, I digress...

Among topics of conversation were euthanasia – both of their home countries allow limited  forms of this and a current law is on the table now in Australia, marriage, travel, presidents, import and exports, wine storage, “wild game” meat in Australia, American dolls (seriously)/ the best ports (wine) in the world . It was a lovely, warm, spirited discussion among people of varying ages, countries, life experiences, and perspectives – and it was good hearted and open minded/ What a treat.

In addition to all that – Mark and Elizabeth rattled off a lot of wonderful ideas for us while in Adelaide and I frantically took notes on my iPhone trying to not forget a single suggestion/ I’m looking forward to that portion of the trip immensely.

And so, let me tell you about New Caledonia/ We visited three of their small islands and saw 3 remarkably different places.

Day 1 was in Lifou, and we came ashore in a tiny little place called Easo/ The water was incredibly beautiful and I was bummed out all day because we couldn’t get in it/ The night before, we’d all received word from their government (The Lord Mayer Weinie himself) that a severe black algae had washed in and could give the skin quite a nasty burn/ They advised not getting into the water at all in a certain area and strong caution for the rest/ Poop/ So, we set about walking and enjoyed the exceptionally sparse population and general lack of damn near everything/ Unfortunately, we hadn’t traded for any Australian $ or Francs, both of which were widely accepted in the few tiny little “shops” and the one little “restaurant” (in quotes because both are far too big of word to convey what was there) – we’d really wanted to buy something and enjoy a local beer, but, thwarted again! We did a nice hike up a very steep hillside to see a tiny church build on a sheer cliff/ Is it weird that I felt intensely proud of my fellow passengers (you know, all the old people) for attempting and making the same hike? Bam! It might have been slow, but they made it! After, we continued walking the other way and found another church and a tiny cemetery/ We saw a few locals along the way – most offering to sell us a coconut with a straw for about $1.50 US – would have paid it because it was hot as blazes but, alas, thwarted again/ The people seemed happy and kind and welcoming. I’d like to think that the cruise ships won’t ruin this tiny little gem – but I think I know better/ With sadness, we talked on the tender ride back to the ship that if we’re lucky to return, it likely will not look anything the same/ I felt so lucky for getting to see it.

A quick note on the tender ride – it was incredibly rough/ The seas were angry that day/ It was very hot/ And the dock was small/ So, we got loaded into the tender and then had to sit in the hot sun, violently rocking – waiting for the other boats to finish unloading the very slow moving passengers. I recall passing the time by praying to Jesus that I wouldn’t barf on anyone/ Mercy! So worth it – but sea sickness is no joke.

Day two brought us to Ils des Pins, or Isle of the Pines/ Our port was Kuto/ We again had to tender in, but the seas were happier, as was I! The wind was blowing like absolute CRAZY and we weren’t at all sure we’d want to snorkel so we didn’t bring our gear/ In retrospect, I wish I’d have just forced it and done it anyway, but we didn’t know how things would go/ I will tell you this – without even a split second of hesitation, this is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been or ever seen. I feel like God placed a piece of the Garden of Eden itself in the South Pacific and people called it Isle of the Pines/ The colors were so shockingly pretty – I think I walked around with my mouth hanging open for hours/ This island area was a bit larger – but not much/ We found a little campground/hotel/resort that I would give anything to come back and stay at/ Seemed to be a divers’ paradise – we saw many carrying their gear through the sand from the ferry// walking down the beach trying to find the camp ground/ There is a Le Meridien resort somewhere on the island, but we didn’t see it/ I am quite sure it is the most spectacular place ever/ We found a little restaurant and were ready for the local beer – only to see the no credit card sign at the window – the machines were down / We had been told they would accept US$ but they did not/ Darnit! Further down the road, we found a local handicraft stand and, incredibly, the woman there accepted our US$! Woohoo! She didn’t have any local beer for sale, but we were able to get some postcards.

So, now we were left with one final day in the incredible New Caledonia/ We had high hopes – wanting to get in the water, try the local beer, find a few small gifts/ As I watched us pull in to dock, I started to suspect we wouldn’t get to do all those things;) One thing about cruise travel is that you tend to either arrive in a very large shipping port or absolutely nowhere at all/ Which makes sense, of course/ You need space to park a large boat/ At Noumea, we parked in a very large shipping port – it is their biggest city, international port, and government center/ But, still, very small!

The rules here were no walking through the port (bummer!) so we had to take a shuttle bus outside the port and right to city center/ Once we got there, we had lost our bearings, thinking that the (rather subpar)  map the ship gave us was marked from the ship, not from the shuttle drop/ We wasted a few minutes getting ourselves situated before realizing the map we had was for where we were/ Bam! Off and running.

We ran into Rod and Louise waiting for a hop on hop off bus – we briefly considered that before deciding to first walk to the spots we knew we wanted to see/ We’d heard about a large park with cafes, free wifi, beautiful coconut trees, and the general bustle of the town/ The Noumea city museum was also there, and I was interested in perhaps seeing the WWII exhibit/ We quickly found the park, enjoying several city blocks on the way/ We found the city to be pretty darn cosmopolitan, very clean, very safe/ A simple pleasure to walk through

At the park, we noticed they were setting up for a decent sized local market --- but it wasn’t to open till 11 (so late!) and it was merely 9/ We didn’t need to eat yet, so there wasn’t much to do to kill the time for 2 hours/ Even with free wifi—which was too slow to count for anything at all/ We sat on a nice park bench for awhile and people watched/ The people seemed very friendly – often hollering in delight when they spotted a friend in the park, greeting each other in the typical French manner (kissing on the cheek)/ We saw no hint of homelessness, “bums”, “thugs”, any of the other things that would be typical to see in a large city park/ The other thing we noticed there was how strongly the wind was blowing! Holy cow! It was crazy strong – I gave up on my hair and just let it be stupidly wild/ Seems the wind must be common as it in no way bothered the locals.

We decided to walk on and eventually (accidentally) found another market that I was hoping to find/ We were just in time to see the rest of the morning’s catch in a large, fresh fish pavilion that would rival Pike Place Market any day Yum!

Adjacent to that, was another large open market with clothing, local handicrafts, etc / We noticed that it seemed that every booth accepted francs, Australian $ and credit cards/ To our surprise and delight, they also all accepted USD when we asked/ I marveled on our walk home that they all speak so many languages, and can quickly convert between 3 currencies in their heads/ Mad respect/ We also really enjoyed that the markets were friendly and simple – no one was pressuring us, begging, following us around/ It was really a nice experience all through the South Pacific/ Finally, we noticed a farmer’s market towards the back of the handicraft area and really enjoyed walking through that – so many things we couldn’t identify! But beautiful, organic produce sold cheaply/ All clean and yummy looking/ What fun!

We walked back to city center and I wanted to go through the grocery store/ I’m weird, but it is one of my things/ I love foreign grocery stores/ Man! All kinds of interestingness in there/ They even sold fabric! Our hunger was getting the best of us, though, so we found a spot in the shade to enjoy some local fish and – finally—a local beer! We got the meal and beer for $15 australian, which is something like 12 USD/ It was marked up because we were back in tourists central, but hey, when you are hungry, you are hungry/ They had actual working free wifi and we were each able to get a wifi call through to our moms for a few minutes, which was a nice treat/ Our fabulous Hawaiian waitress, Mona, had told us about a free app called Vibr way back in Waikiki at the start of our trip/ What a great tip! We did call internationally for free! Yay!

Anyway, it was a nice day of walking and exploring in Noumea, but I wasn’t able to get in the water – again! Absolutely craziness!! I’m adding Ils des Pins to my “must return to” list and will swim with the New Caledonian fishes then/

At that point, we returned to the boat and settled in for 2 final sea days before reaching Australia/ I was so excited/ One surprising thing has been how much I’ve been enjoying the days at sea/ We were a bit worried about them because we have a lot – especially at the front of the trip/ We have been filling them easily – some days we are busy all day long and others we relax, read, nap/ Each is different and hasn’t felt monotonous or boring/ I’ve certainly been cranking through a lot of books/ I would download more, but, that whole internet thing!

The scoop on the internet access is that it is decent on the boat – but costly/ We bought 1,000 minutes for $250 and are making it last over the 31 days on the boat/ If that sounds like a lot of minutes to you, it comes out to a shared 20 minutes a day/ We usually each spend several hours a day between reading, texting, emailing, Facebooking, looking up sports scores, Pinteresting – whatever/ So each getting 10 per day has been interesting/ And, several minutes of that is lost to slowness each time/ I will say it has been easier that I thought it might be/ What I miss most is being able to quickly google something – mostly, maps of wherever we are (the ship ones aren’t detailed enough and we’re always wasting time trying to figure it out) and recommendations for local places/ But, I also miss getting pictures of my nephews, checking in with my parents, and daily hilarious texts with friends around the world/ It isn’t a big deal at all, but wish I had a little bit more time each morning over coffee for these things.

That said – spending time watching every sunrise and sunset has set my soul right again/ I miss that so much from California where I’d see both daily while out walking / Sure, the sun rises and sets every day in Texas – but with the weather you just never know if you’ll want to be out in it or not! Every single day, I’ve seen both sunrise and sunset and taken a walk near the ocean/ Mostly, this has been on ship, as we want to make sure we get the walk in before disembarking – but certainly we’ve had good walks on land, too/ Good for the soul.

Anyway, it finally came to the last wine tasting, a blind wine tasting, and the final dinner before Sydney/ We’re on a repositioning cruise, which is a bit different from a regular cruise where often everyone gets on and off at the same time/ At Sydney, half the boat would disembark and a new 1000 people would board/ Whoa! We felt a bit sad – having gotten used to our boat/ And, much of the crew was going to change over, as well/ We spent a lot of time running around asking everyone who was staying.

We had a great time in our final wine tasting but the best was the blind tasting/ Louise showed up for that one so Mark, Rod, Louise, Jason and I got to sit together with a couple others who often attend/ Elizabeth (Mark’s wife) was in the stateroom packing—they were disembarking in Sydney.

JoJo made us official sommelier tasting sheets – which was fasctinating to see and learn to use/ We had 6 glasses to try and we got something like 6 minutes with each to taste, smell, view and then rate/ We could try to guess the grape, location, year, and producer, too/ At the big reveal, we got to see how our score compared to sommelier’s scores, what our group average score was and then see if anyone was right in guessing what it was/ Oh man, was that a hoot/ In exact zero times did I correctly guess the grape! Hahaha/ Twice, I scored a glass exactly the same as the official sommelier ranking/ But don’t be impressed – that could be a total fluke as there are many categories and ranges of points/ I could have scored it completely differently from the officials and still ended up with the same points! Another eye opening thing was that we all had at least one instance where we rated a wine we didn’t really care for pretty highly/ JoJo told us that made sense – every sommelier doesn’t like every glass of wine they drink either, but they learn to judge on color, aroma, various types of taste, whether the flavor lingers, etc/ It was the perfect way to see that a) we don’t know anything at all about wine! And b) it doesn’t matter/ You like what you like.

Later that afternoon, we had the final Sip and Savor and everyone showed up/ We gathered our little crowd for a final toast with Mark and Elizabeth/ We’d already exchanged information with them and have plans to meet up for lunch in a couple weeks in Adelaide when we fly back to Australia/ What fun is this? They’ve been married for 50 years this year and Mark is set to retire in December from what seems to have been an incredible global career of pediatric and geriatric emergency care/ We are looking forward to seeing them in their city and reconnecting.

We all decided to carry on to dinner together and ran off to change and meet up in the dining room/ It was a lovely final meal as a group and we’ll miss that very much.

That meant, however, that we were about to reach Sydney! My excitement was continuing to grow and I really couldn’t wait to get there/ As I laid down too sleep, I kept thinking – tomorrow when I wake up, I’ll be in Australia! It’s so rare as we get older for life long dreams to happen – what an absolute delight to remember how it feels to be so excited about something/ 

Reunited! Seeing my long lost Fijian roommate in Suva

Note – sometimes the period key is working, and sometimes it still isn’t / Sorry for the annoying punctuation;)

It was the spring of 2008. We were living in a luxury apartment on Colorado Blvd in the heart of Pasadena/ A few months earlier, we’d watched the Rose Bowl parade from our own balcony while we ate cinnamon rolls and drank mimosas/ Lance, my then husband, came home from work one night and mentioned that there was a kid coming from Fiji to work at the company – they were hoping someone might be willing to house him/ Interesting thought/ And, really, without much more thought than that, we asked to be the ones.

To better situate the housing to now be for 3, and because we were in the middle of looking to buy a home in the mountains up in Lake Arrowhead, we needed to move into a larger, but cheaper apartment still near the office/ We found one that would work – a crappy 2 bedroom, 2 bath in Burbank down the street from, well, everything. 

I can’t remember the exact day I met Dramea, which is odd. He moved into the apartment slightly before us—the company helping set up his room with a bed and desk/ This was later funny because we had absolutely NO other furniture, including in our bedroom, where we, quite literally, slept on side by side air mattresses the entire time we were in the apartment.

This was the perfect setup to meet someone like Dramea who is as unpretentious as they come. He seemed completely content with everything there was and unconcerned with what there wasn’t/ The three of us would gather to watch “the world’s smallest tv” (an old 9 inch tv that my bridesmaids had pooled their money to buy me for my first kitchen at the ranch)/ Eventually, our mountain neighbor connected us with some family members who were getting rid of their couch and suddenly, we were almost like normal people.

Dramea was quickly family to us. We ate all our meals together, took trips together, he’d help walk the dogs, clean/ He found a rugby team to play with and sometimes we got to go watch him play. On weekends, we’d head up to the mountains for fresh air and quiet breezes. We’d sing karaoke with the neighbors or play RockBand until late at night/ At christmas, we bought Dramea a guitar and he’d always have it with him after that – often sitting outside for hours playing and singing quietly/ We took him with us to Christmas with my family in St Louis – he loved the Arch and later named our apartment “The Arch”/ My family adored him, as well – taking him right in as the family member he was/ In the early spring, Lance and I had the opportunity to go to Fiji for 2 weeks – and though Dramea wasn’t able to travel home with us, we were able to visit his village and meet his family/ It was such an honor.

I guess I could describe the entire friendship with him as a honor. He was polite, quiet, good hearted, smart, curious, giving, honorable, and hard working. All the time. We absolutely loved having him as our little brother.

A year into all this awesomeness, Lance suddenly got laid off/ We had to immediately change everything – no longer being able to afford a single residence, much less 2 residences/ We had to give up the apartment first which meant Dramea had to move/ I felt so crushed by all of it/ It felt unfair – like how can something so mean happen when you are trying to do something so good? As it turned out, it was the beginning to the end of a lot of things – but thankfully, not the end of our friendship with Dramea.

We moved to St . Louis for about 8 months before moving back to California in the summer of 2010. Happy to be back near Dramea, we invited him up to visit/ He could ride the train or bus to Oakland and we’d go get him and bring him up to where we were at the time, just outside Napa. That Christmas was our last to spend together – he came up and it was like old times- cooking, playing games, laughing. Shortly after, Dramea went to live in Arizona for about a year/ Shortly after that, Lance and I began crumbling/ We had been living in Santa Cruz at that time and had talked about wanting Dramea to come up and hang out – visit the beaches and maybe even do some surfing We never got that far.

And so, here we are now 7 years later/ Can that be right? Seven years? Everything has changed and I do mean everything, for all of us/ But God is good, all the time, in the exact moment I get another chance to go to Fiji, Dramea happens to be back and in the same city we’ll be stopping in (not on his island, where I visited before)/ I wasn’t sure what he’d think, or if it would be weird for him/ But I reached out and he immediately wrote back! 

 
2 days ago was finally the day! I woke up early because I was so excited/ We had agreed to meet at the movie theater, which meant nothing to me so I was hoping it was obvious when we got off the boat. Sure was! It was literally next door!

We stood waiting, wondering if he’d come walking up, or drive up. And then I heard a familiar voice yell, “Bula Bula!” (hello! In Fijian) I looked and found his face, driving by in his car, waving that he’d circle back/ Oh the joy just to see that smile. I cannot explain it.

We spent the day hanging out. I loved introducing him to Jason, of course/ We drove around and Dramea talked us through life there in Suva/ It’s a big city for Fiji and is most lacking all the elegance and beauty that you think of when thinking of Fiji – but, of course, he knew a spot/ Within a rain forest, down a long path to a glorious blue green pool with a rushing waterfall and a big rope swing/ Pure fun/  Plenty of locals where there taking turns jumping, cheering for each other, sharing a picnic lunch/ It’s so different from what you’d find in the states. Namely, no one was drinking. No one was loud. There wasn’t music blaring. People weren’t swearing They were just talking and laughing and enjoying the nature sights and sounds. It’s so oddly beautiful and hard to put into words.

We ran out of things to see before we ran out of time, so we stopped for lunch at the Contain Yourself Café (made from an old shipping container – what a hoot!) and enjoyed talking some more there/

I feel so proud of Dramea. In a big sister sort of way, I guess. I wouldn’t be shocked if he is one day the prime minister or the head coach of the rugby team, or the owner of a major business. He’s always been good – but he found his voice and now I think he’ll be unstoppable.

What a blessing he’s been to me.

I can’t wait to see him again—maybe in Roatan. Geography is no match for family. We’ll always find a way.

Pago Pago, American Samoa

Much has happened since I last wrote!

We had our second sommelier wine tasting and boy was it a good one! The usual suspects were back and we ended up seated at a table with Rod and a few others we hadn’t met yet, including a gentleman from Adelaide Australia – we are on a mission to talk to him next time since we’ll be spending almost a week there next month/

Anyway, so we get in there and I immediately spot the Veuve Cliquot champagne! W00t! I wandered over to check out the other selections and IMAGINE THE BLISS when I spot the Col Solare! This is a wine we discovered while in Washington state last year (or was it 2 years ago? Who knows) They had a pop up tasting room inside Chateau St Michelle and, being curious, we stopped in/ It was the best wine we had the entire time and we signed up to join their wine club/ The next day, they called and said that since they were technically an Italian winery, they didn’t have full shipping rights and Texas was a state not in agreement to ship international wines (UM, WHAT?!) So, they booted us out of the wine club/ WAH! And now, here we are deep into the glorious international waters of the South Pacific, ready to drink it again with JoJo, whom I now consider to be my personal sommelier/ He doesn’t know yet so don’t tell him/ The Col Solare was just as good as we had recalled We were also pleasantly surprised to taste the Eroica Riesling, which was a dry riesling/ Not sweet at all and really quite good/
On our tasting plates was a delicious smoked salmon – we knew that was on the menu for the sip and savor later so we knew we’d have to go;) Oh, darn

Oh, let me back up because I forgot that we attended another art auction right before the sommelier tasting and I won a prize /// but in order to find out what it was, we had to come back later that night/ Sheesh/

At the sip and savor, we sat with Rod and Louise again and got heavy into discussing international politics (oddly) / I always find it refreshing how well educated and aware people from various other countries are about the politics of countries in which they do not live/ I’m really not all that political, but I read a lot every day and try to stay informed/ These guys knew the ins and outs of our system, names of our senators, etc / Seems like they knew well more than most average Americans/ Anyhow, good chatting with them again/ We split off to go freshen up for dinner (read: Jason has to put on pants and I have to stop wearing flip flops) and somehow ended up in line for dinner right next to each other! We then ended up eating together, too, because getting a table for 2 is usually quite a wait/ We’re not opposed to dining with others but often by dinner we’re worn out and don’t have the energy to engage in a long conversation Another couple came to join us – they live in Pennsylvania now but are originally from Australia/ It was hard to hear them all the way around the table, but it was nice to chat/ They filled us in on the cruise ports in Sydney – there are 2 and we are coming into the one they didn’t want, and it appears we don’t want either/ Not a big deal, but one is in the city center, which would be the most easy to immediately walk somewhere/ The other probably means a taxi ride/ We’ll live/

Oh, so we signed up for the wine pairing dinner over at the Pinnacle Grill with Rod and Louise for next//Monday? I have no idea what day it is/
We had to leave prior to dessert, which was fine for missing dessert but I felt a smidge rude leaving the table – but I had art to claim, for cryin’ out loud To be honest, we weren’t expecting much/ What we got though, was our choice of one of 5 large pieces/ To Jason’s surprise, I selected the piece that had owls – I think it’ll match well with a precious, small painting of owls that Jason’s Mema painted/ While chatting with one of the art ladies, we learned that she was also from Zimbabwe but had been in Grapevine, Texas to work at the Gaylord for the famous ICE event one winter! What a hoot! We laughed thinking that we likely crossed paths in another corner of the world/ Small, small world/ She now lives in South Africa/ What a life of globe trotting!
Oh, please let me stop to mention coconut ice cream/ Glory be/ Hallelujah/ Amen / Fresh, tender, real coconut chunks in the most glorious creamy ice cream you can imagine/ Good thing the serving size is quite small and they’ve only had it twice

After 5 days at sea, we were finally unleashed onto dry land at Pago Pago, American Samoa/ When I woke up, I could tell the sun was starting to rise, so I ran to the balcony, threw open the curtains and saw the most gorgeous, green, lush land! What a delight to the eyes/
We didn’t have an excursion so we let those who did wander off ship first and followed along around 9/ As we stepped off, I heard a lady say to her husband, “Well, we’ve seen all the highlights,” and they walked back on board Again, it was 9 am/ First possible time to get off was 8/ Man/ That was a fast tour;)

So, American Samoa—how can I properly explain the beauty of this slice of paradise? I must begin with the people who are, by absolutely ANY standard, some of the most exquisitely beautiful people we’ve ever seen in all the places we’ve been/ Oh, and the babies/ My word / I thought Jason might start kidnapping them/ It reminded me of Fiji in that the children were very quiet and calm – that was such a shock to my system when I spent time there years ago/ Life without much of any wild stimulation beyond human conversation and singing clearly creates quiet, peaceful children

We didn’t book an excursion so we just packed a tote with snorkel gear and started walking, we hoped, toward a national park that Rod had told us about/ Apparently, we skipped the talk about what to do in Pago Pago so we were, quite literally, completely clueless/ As we walked along, we stopped to admire and photograph the natural beauty of the island – flowers everywhere/ Everything green and lush and healthy/ Wonderful creativity in using what was available (as we often see on Roatan) – they made ample use of old tires in their landscaping—spraypainting them various colors and using them as planters around trees and flowers/ I had no idea that old tires could be “cute”/

We saw a sign that pointed the left for the National Park and so we made a left of the next street/ (side note, we also saw a sign for the National Park office, but duh, didn’t bother going in/ As we started up the road, a younger man, maybe 20, came walking up and asked us in a very friendly tone where we were going/ It’s in our nature to be suspicious of everyone and everything so we hesitated a moment Then, “the national park” Oh, he said/ Hmmm/ That’s the other way/ “Well, we saw a sign that said it was this way” (Cause, of course, we know) Oh, he said/ well, there are several parks/ But, it is this way – and pointed back to where we’d come from/ “But, the sign/” He was incredibly gracious the whole time and never tried to indicate we were wrong directly/ Finally, he said, “well, ok, continue on if you’d like” So, we did/ A few moments later, we were thinking he was right and we/the sign were wrong/ As we stopped to look around and consider it, an interesting thing happened/ Not that I saw it/

We turned to walk back and Jason says, “I think I was just propositioned” Me, “huh?” Jason: repeats self / I hadn’t seen or heard a thing so I had no idea what he was talking about, but apparently, there were some houses up in the trees and as we stood looking around, a woman on a porch waved to Jason (as if to invite him to come up) and then lifted her shirt to show of her goodies! HAHAHAHHA 

We walked more quickly back to the main road – I guess our young friend knew what we were walking towards/ As we got to the road, we ran into him again/ A lady near him asked if we needed help/ Again, being dumb and suspicious, we just shrugged and said we were heading back to the ship/ The young man came and said, “I’ll walk you over to the park and show you where it is” Hmmm/ ok

And so he did/ And he pointed out things along the way – places destroyed by tsunamis, the breadfruit growing on the trees, and finally, the national park entrance and the office/ He also waved at everyone going by – cars, taxis, pedestrians/ As we were ready to part ways, we were unsure if we should tip him or//?? He seemed like just a nice person willing to help a stranger/ He asked for nothing in return and made no indication we owed him a thing/ He simply said good bye and walked back/ Why is it so astonishing to encounter people who are just nice and expect nothing in return? It made our day/

We bought some things at a local market, stopped into a shop which miraculously sold teva flip flops in Jason’s size (his other pair have been rubbing his feet raw)/ In the shop we met a lovely woman who told us lots of great things, including where to go for a wonderful local lunch/ Away we went to enjoy some delicious fresh fish and a local Samoan beer—for about $12/ The find of the day, shopping wise, was this totally rad Samaoan red and green shirt for Jason/ There are plans to wear it at Christmas;) I also found a couple yards of gorgeous sarong material for super cheap and a small Christmas ornament made from coconut shell/ Bam!

We got back on the ship right as a rain came in and it proceeded to rain the entire rest of the afternoon! Intense rain and lots of fog/ I was glad we were somewhere out in the national park caught in that/ Oh, and by the way, the national park office was really nice – a tiny museum in itself with more truly kind, helpful people staffed inside helping everyone /
Another thing I loved there were the buses – they were small, holding maybe 20 or so and each one was individually painted up – very lively colors and scenes depicted on them/ What fun! The island was quite busy, but relatively quite and very peaceful/ We thought the prices were really good – not really marked up for tourists, even in the little tent market place outside the cruise pier/ We really enjoyed spending time there – thankful that I got to see it and its beautiful people/

Last night we went to bed – it was Wednesday around 10 PM/ Woke up this morning and it was Friday at 5 am/ Overnight we gained 23 hours! No Thursday, October 12 for us/ I thought we would be missing the 13th, but surprise! Every day is something new/ I believe we’re now one day and 6 hours different from Texas time, but it is getting hard to keep track/ And really, who wants to?

This afternoon, I’m off to learn about coral reefs, attend another art auction, and kick butt at Bingo!

Life at Sea is Busier than Life Ashore

At our first sip and savor, we ran into Rod (whom we sat with at the first wine tasting) and his   wife, Louise/ We sat with them and enjoyed talking about their lives and sharing about ours/ They are from Montreal and have 4 grown children, one of whom just got married and was in Las Vegas during the shooting last week – they took a very eerie photo just outside the music festival prior to its start/ incredible the vast reach of things like that – that we could be in the South Pacific talking with a couple from another country and hearing that their only son was there/ Agonizing / Jason got to share about the urban farm, which continues to be a fascinating topic for literally everyone we’ve met/

Later that night, the ship crossed over the equator and we woke up to official certificates proving we have made it to the southern hemisphere! I’ve been trying to recall whether anything like that happened when I went to Brazil either time, but I don’t think so/ We also finally ventured into another time zone and lost another hour/ Because our phones are in constant airplane mode, they aren’t adjusting to the time/ Highly entertaining around here trying to figure out what time it is, or what day it is/ The good news is, who cares?

Yesterday, we enjoyed a cooking class on various types of chili peppers/ The America’s Test Kitchen on board is really quite fun/ It is always packed, so we had to stand/ We also worked in 2 separate walks around the outside deck on 3/ 3 times around = 1 mile/ I tell you, the miles feel longer than they do at home Not sure why/ But anyway, we continue to ensure we’re not gaining weight with all this delicious food and wine! The stairs are helping, too/ We’re on deck 5 – bars are on 2 – dining room on 3 – gym on 9—buffet and pools on 9 / Makes for a lot of up and down/ Sore legs prove it’s helping!

We had a couples massage yesterday morning, too/ Oh, the bliss! My masseuse, Nora, is from Zimbabwe/ Beautiful, talented lady! Was very happy to be in her studio/

So, then after the cooking class, we had our first sommelier tasting/ JoJo was back to impart his incredible knowledge and share some fabulous wines from the belly of the ship/ We began with 2 sauvignon blancs—the first is widely considered to be the best in the world and is regularly named as such/ New Zealand’s Cloudy Bay Sauv Blanc/ I loved it/ Jason isn’t typically a SB fan but enjoyed it in the moment/

We also experienced something totally new! JoJo pointed out on our small bites pairing plate that we had a lemon wedge/ He said – you know how to drink tequila, right? (hilariously, all the “old” people immediately said oh yes!) And so we tasted the sauvignon blanc again after a quick suck on the lemon wedge/ UNBELIEVABLE! Completely changed the taste—almost turned a sauv blanc into a chard! Have to try it to believe it/ We then moved into a cab franc and 2 cab sauvs. We enjoyed them all but particularly the Caymus Cab Sauv from Napa/ Our food pairing bites were quite delicious, as well/ We had one yummy chocolate truffle, a little ball of goat cheese, filet mignon bites, a scallop/ All small – just a bite/ Perfect!

We were seated with a nice couple who turned out live in Keller, Texas – mere miles from us back home/ We enjoyed talking with them/ They had been cattle ranchers post retirement but just sold off their 150 acres to some Californian dude who wanted to have bison So, then they moved back to the metroplex to be near their kids/ Small world/

After that awesomeness, we realized we should probably take another walk so out to deck 3 we went to get another mile in/

Around 5:30, I was wanting to get out to watch the sunset, which happens on the starboard side – so we can’t see it from our balcony/ We got ready for dinner and headed to the Ocean bar for a glass of champagne/ The boat is really in need of a stop because we’re running out of wine;) Every thing we tried to order was gone! These old people are pounding the wine! Anyway, we skipped the sip and savor because of the wine tasting so we missed any normal build up to dinner and just enjoyed the sunset out on the deck/ The ocean bar band had the place packed again with lots of dancing going on when we went back inside/

Dinner was interesting in that Jason was ridiculously uncomfortable the entire time/ They seated us in what should have been a lovely little private corner nook, but it was unbearably hot! Even I was hot and I am never hot! Jason was sweating profusely/ In retrospect, we should have just asked to be reseated and waited for another table/ Unfortunately, for the first time ever, the service was also quite slow – which made it worse/ Poor Jason probably lost 5 pounds in sweat during the hour we were there/  Afterward, we had to go back to the cabin so he could change and cool off/ We decided to stay in and watch a movie!

I forgot to mention the other day we went into the casino and won some money! That is to say, we only lost $13! Fun to see the new Aristocrat slots on the ship (Australian gaming company I worked for prior to PayPal) They make it quite easy to begin losing your money – we used our room key as a player’s card and in seconds we were off

In addition, we get several smaller versions of newspapers each morning/ I've been reading the New York Times, something british and something Australian/ As of yesterday, I've now crossed over into the world that is people who do the crossword puzzle/ You know this is a different world and you are either in or you are out/ I'm in! And I suck! But, today is day 2 and Jason is pretty good at it so as a team, we might finally get through one by the end/ However, today's has several periodic table references, which is incredibly rude and uncalled for/ This morning I felt quite intercontinental as I dined on the European cold breakfast plate (boiled egg, pickled herring, roasted beet, ham, swiss) and read several different country's newspapers/ Like a boss!

Tomorrow we will get off the ship for the first time since boarding last Thursday, October 5/ We’ll be in American Somoa/ I’m looking forward to it very much, although I skipped the presentation on what the island is like so we’re just going to find out when we get there/ Hoping for a short visit to a lovely beach bar/restaurant with wifi to have more of a chance to check in and a pharmacy to buy some more just in case dramamine/ Haven’t had any other issues, but they don’t sell it on the boat so gotta stock up while we can// they sell this homeopathic liquid that you dab behind your ears and then smell of frankincense and myrr , which isn’t altogether bad and hey, maybe it works/ It’s either that or I got my sea legs/ Hard to know which/

We are, like, nowhere

       So, where did I leave off? I think we were heading to the wine tasting yesterday. Turns out, it was the last of a 4 part series that the ship sommelier had been giving. The wines of Italy. It was a lovely tasting set up in the dining room for about 25 people. We got seated with 2 older gentleman – one from Canada and one from Australia.  We had 5 tastings that were each more like small pours. Generous helpings I really enjoyed the rose and the Valentino merlot. Yes, that Valentino. Apparently, his vineyard is in Sicily. Delicious. We were also served a Brunelo, which everyone went crazy for. I’m typically not a Sangiovese person so I thought it was decent but I wasn’t swooning. I was, however, swooning when he (Master Cellar JoJo, a funny Philipino man) said he was going to open an Opus One at his next sommelier series Consider me signed up!

We met a nice man from South Africa at lunch – he’s been on 16 cruises with Holland America Good heavens! Anyway, he’s a stock broker. He was very curious about Jason – leaving a 15 year finance career to become a farmer. Once he’s digested it, he said, “well, we need more people who want to do some good in this world!” I agree!

We are discovering a favorite hangout is the ocean bar. The quartet plays there several times an evening so we went to hear them before dinner…mostly to stall and not eat so early but also because we’d enjoyed them so much the night before. There are these 2 wonderful older women who dance together everywhere we go. They are clearly the best of friends and having a wonderful time. So much fun to watch them enjoying their golden years.

Because we ate dinner later, we managed to stay awake for the comedian! Feeling so proud of ourselves . I was a bit… apprehensive because I don’t think I’ve ever heard a comedian who wasn’t foul mouthed. And, I feel like I’m on this cruise with 2000 grandparents.  He did great – good, clean show with plenty of laughs. Afterward, we went to the BB King blues club – finally! It was awesome but packed and we had to stand. We know we want to go back and get in early enough to grab seats /

And, because we’d somehow managed to stay awake past 9 PM – we slept in till sunrise – which was glorious and unfolded directly in front of our balcony/ We called for room service coffee to stay and enjoy it/ That is a nice perk! Free room service! We prefer to just go eat in the dining room/ The portions are small and the service is wonderful/ But that coffee in the room during sunrise is hard to beat

This morning, October 8 – Sunday, we went to a talk on the agriculture of the south pacific islands/ Pretty cool/ We planned to do a few other things this afternoon – like going to the test kitchen to learn how to make some salmon dishes and attending another art auction – but then we happened by the sports bar and they had the cowboys game on!! WHATTTTTT??? So fun! Well, it was fun until we lost in the last minute/

We got our walk in down on deck 3 outside/ Lots of walkers here – a very active albeit older group on board/
Let’s see//oh, I went to the library and checked out the 9/11 report/ I know; I’m a total dork face/ Spent some time outside reading this afternoon/ These are the days I choose – exercise, learning, reading, being outside, cheering for a sports team/ nothing unique or special EXCEPT that it is exactly what I want to do and not a single thing I don’t want to do/ I feel extremely at peace/

We’re getting reading to head to a sip and savor pre dinner shindig because JoJo promised more Valentino merlot/ Carpe Diem!

Didn't plan on the barf

Greetings from cabin 5158 on Holland America’s MS Noordam . We are presently on day 2.5 of 31 days floating somewhere out in the ocean near absolutely nothing at all! We left Honolulu on October 5 after spending  2 nights lazing about in Waikiki. It’s been interesting – Jason and I have both been to Waikiki but many years ago. In fact, Jason said the horrifying words, “It’s been 30 years since…” before we both had to stop and fake barf at how old we are.  Anyway, back in the summer of 1994, my family and I ventured to Hawaii for an islands cruise in celebration of my graduation from high school. We stayed at the Outrigger Reef right on the beach in Waikiki. It’s forever burned into my brain because immediately upon stepping out onto our glorious oceanfront balcony, I saw a exceptionally large, older gentleman who was glistening in the sun with suntan oil which lit up his golden, hairy, speedo covered body. Oh, my eyes.

Anyway, I wanted to walk over and see if I recognized it (the hotel, not the oily man) Off we walked. Toured around and nothing was familiar. Later, I realized we were at the wrong hotel. So, there you go I’ve proven that I’m not yet old enough to declare remembering places I’ve never been. Bam!

Waikiki was just a distraction while we waited to get on the boat. I always like to arrive plenty of early because I’m excessively familiar with my flights being cancelled Had we more time, we would have preferred to stay in another area Jason hasn’t been to Maui and I adored Maui Maybe another time

That said, the restaurant in the Waikiki Hilton was insanely delicious Our jet lagged butts woke up at 1:45 am the first night – after having gone to bed at 7PM, local time. We waited till about 5 and then went down to breakfast where you can get anything on the menu, anytime! Chicken and waffles – dude, straight up best we’ve ever had by a clear mile. Plus, we got to meet Mona, our awesome waitress who gave us plenty of awesome tips, Hawaiian recipes, and generally just loved all over us/

Editor’s note – my keyboard doesn’t want to use periods \ I can’t describe how annoying this is, but we’ll just have to carry on and type in code/ From hence forth, the / is the new period/ Also, it could be \ Cause I can’t be bothered to remember the new code/

All that to say, we were happy to be boarding the ship on the 5th! We went super early hoping they’d let us on, and they did It took very little time and there we were! We didn’t even have to wait to get into our cabin! The boat had plenty already on ship – some since Vancouver, some since San Francisco, some since San Diego\ All of them are approximately 80 years young and seem happy to be alive\ I can live with that\

The first couple of hours aboard, we wandered around checking everything out\ It was surreal in that there was quite literally no one in any of the bars or little nooks around the boat\ Where were the people? We finally ran into a crew member who asked us if we needed any help and we said, “YES!” where can we get a drink? Good heavens! Crisis averted up at the pool bar\ There were about 7 people around the pool and most of them were crew\ Never seen anything like it—had the entire ship to ourselves \

Jason had champagne and roses delivered to the room with a sweet card welcoming me to my sabbatical! We enjoyed the champagne on our balcony as we casted off around sunset/

Dinner the first night in the dining room was delicious\ We both had the macadamia crusted ono (Hawaiian white fish)\ Man was that good\ I oddly felt like dessert – got a scoop of coconut ice cream and it was AMAZING\ We met the wine steward and have become fast friends;) We prepurchsed a wine package that gave us 14 bottles to select from a list of reds and whites\ We started with Wild Horse Chardonnay and it was really nice with the fish\

We turned in early that night because we were still a bit jet lagged\ As we left the dining room, I noticed that the crew had put barf bags out in some holders by the elevators \ I didn’t think anything of it, until the next morning when I was in need of one myself\ The seas were quite rough the entire night and throughout the morning\ I have certainly been sea sick before, but I am not a barfer, so that was an unpleasant shock\ Jason was a trooper and brought saltines, ice water, barf bags, etc\ I was able to continue on semi normal by lunch time but just felt a bit off all day A bummer for a day one, but what can you do?

The first of 5 gala dinners was last night (day 2, and the day of the unfortunate barf)/ I’m so glad I was able to eat because there was filet mignon, lobster ravioli, crab legs\ Delicious/ The wine steward found us and we ordered a petit sirah from Spellbound Winery in California Really good! No dessert \ We looked quite cute in our dress clothes – there was a broad selection of dress from mumus with scarves to tuxedos/  We were pretty low on the fancy scale \ Just enough to be allowed in
This morning brings a whole different ballgame/ We’re both feeling well and spent about 2 hours working out/ It’s raining today so we caught a mile outside walking and then went to the gym/ We did various things for about 45 minutes and then took a 30 minute stretching class with a bunch of old people/ What a hoot! At one point, I started laughing at Jason at got “shushed” by a woman/ There’s no laughing in stretching, apparently;)

This afternoon, I think we’re going to a wine tasting We ordered a movie\ There’s an America’s test Kitchen on board so maybe we’ll learn to make chocolate/ There’s a ton of live music\ Oh, last night we listened to a lovely quartet and enjoyed watching elderly couples dancing like young kids/ Very sweet \  If we can shake off jet lag and motion sickness and stay up late enough, I’m anxious to go see the Blues and Jazz club/ Things are looking up for tonight!

Much more to come, but wanted to capture all this before too much time goes by/

Oh, one interesting thing from the stretching class – Jason was shocked when he was able to touch his toes \ He’s always been incredibly inflexible—but there he was, leaned over and grabbing his toes\ Farming – it works wonders for a man in all kinds of ways <3

Gadgets

I'm really not a gadget person. Mostly because I'm really not a shopper. Mostly because I really don't want to own things.

However, there are occasions where things should be owned because they make said occasions better/easier/more efficient/whatever. This trip is such an occasion.

To document the things we've purchased for the trip's sake, I present thee with this fabulous photo.

What you see in this picture is: my travel purse slash day trip bag (can hold a water bottle and a kindle or tablet), a gopro Hero 5 for pictures and video in any environment, including underwater, a Nomadic backpack/carry on, a roll up, lightweight travel keyboard and adapter so I can type normally but only bring my small Google Nexus tablet (rather than a bulky/heavy laptop) and a bag of shampoo bars. Why shampoo bars? because they don't leak and are very easy to transport.

Also, there was this-- the world's best travel/adventure skirt:

this skirt and I are going to rock the South Pacific. It's got zippered pockets and button pockets sort of like cargo pants but it is cute! 

So, that's about it. We didn't need a lot but we needed a few, very specific things. My next challenge is to now figure out how to get the SD cards to offload their pics and videos into my tablet...Every new thing arrives with it's own challenges, you know?

We will also bring a few gadgets we already owned -- like the mentioned Nexus tablet and likely my husband's old iPad. We're trying to figure out the wifi situation. We've got fantasy football teams to manage! In talking with the cruise line (where we will live the first 31 days), it seems that the biggest wifi package we can get will give us 20 minutes a day, if divided equally. Of course, it won't divide equally. Days at sea will take much more and active days off- boat will take much less...but no matter what, I bet this isn't quite enough, even with wanting to stay pretty unplugged. As my dad pointed out the other day, 20 minutes on a cruise ship in the middle of the sea could be the time it takes to load 4 pages. It ain't your momma's wifi. 

Aside from all this, for me it's clothes and my kindle which will be chock full o' reads. Unfortunately, I read very fast and will undoubtedly need some wifi time to download more books. 

The strangest thing for me is that I've pretty much decided to not bring my cell phone. My brain is trying to trick me into thinking this is a horrid idea and death will surely occur. But without wifi, it's just a camera and note taker, right? And I've already got those handled. Imagine the gloriousness of 50 days without a phone in hand!!!!!!! ohhhhh....ahhhhh....