Tuesday 12 September At Sea

 This morning we are in the South Pacific Ocean heading sw towards NZ at 18 knots. The temperature is 20 degrees, cloudy with sunny breaks. The wind has eased a little bit, but the seas are still rough with a 4 metre swell. The ship moved around quite a bit last night, but we both slept well and we gained another hour. We are now on the same hour as Auckland but a day behind! Tonight we go to bed on Tuesday night and tomorrow we wake up on Thursday morning. No Wednesday the 13th for us.

We had a delayed start to trivia this morning with a medical incident where a gentleman either collapsed or fell over. He was down for a while but the medics arrived and put a sheet around him ???? After about 20 minutes he was able to get to his feet and was escorted out and everyone was relieved that trivia was able to go ahead ( just joking). With the body types on board, the amount of food and alcohol being consumed and the ship’s movements I am a little surprised these incidents have not occurred more often. Trivia starts at 10.15 am but there are always some groups who enjoy a beer or cocktail while playing trivia!

We are also enjoying the towel art at the pool, the attendants are very creative when stacking the pool towels. 

The wind has died down this afternoon as has the swell, but the temperature has remained at 20 degrees.

Monday 11 September Rarotonga

 It was a rough night last night as we made our way to Rarotonga. The wind had increased considerably and with it came rough and choppy seas, so the ship was moving around quite a bit. 

I went to the gym early at 7 am and the wind had not died down nor had the sea. We were off Rarotonga just on 8 for the transfer of the ill passenger. At least on the sheltered side of the island there was some respite. A tender was lowered to transfer the passenger. The captain announced that a successful transfer had been made, but we had to wait for the ambulance to arrive on shore, then they did not have the right medical equipment, so the ships paramedics had to continue with the patient to the hospital to make the transfe and bring back the ship’s medical equipment. Just after 10 am the tender had been secured and everyone back on board and we were on our way. 

The weather forecast was for 40 to 50 knot winds which is 70 to 90 kmph winds. Naturally the seas are rough with quite a bit of ship movement. The temperature is still 22 degrees. The captain is still confident that we will be on time in Auckland.

Rarotonga harbour 

Tide going out

Sunday 10 September At Sea

 Clocks went back another hour last night. Woke up at 6.30 but it was 5.30 am. We are now 21 hours behind Melbourne time, but we cross the international date line on Tuesday and then we will be 3 hours ahead of Melbourne time 🤨. 

This morning is cloudy but 24 degrees. The ship moved around a bit during the night so there is a decent swell running. It is a light wind and we are travelling at 15 knots. We have five days at sea before we arrive in Auckland. 

The clouds increase in the afternoon as does the wind as we head south west. The temperature has dropped to 20 degrees.  Hopefully we will get some more good weather before we reach NZ!

At around 4 pm the Captain makes an announcement that because of a medical emergency on board he will be altering course to Rarotonga to offload the injured/ill person. He does not believe it will affect our arrival time in Auckland. He expects to arrive off Rarotonga around 8 am where the transfer will be made. So now we will get to see some of the Cook Islands.

Papeete

Moorea

Saturday 9 September Papeete Tahiti

 We arrive in Papeete at 7 am. We have light winds and 22 degrees with a sunny cloudy morning. By the time we head ashore the wind has picked up considerably and the temperature risen to 26. It is also getting cloudy with dark clouds off in the distance.

We have been here before so have not booked any tours. There is a very nice walk along the harbour front, but it is becoming hot and humid. After about an hour walking around the town, we decide to head back to the ship, it is now 29 degrees. Our air conditioned cabin is very refreshing.  At this stage of the cruise we are starting to look forward to getting home, but reluctant to give up the comforts of cruising. Shortly after we get back the dark clouds come in and it starts to drizzle.

We are now starting to think about what is waiting for us when we get back. All the things we have to sort out on our return before I go into hospital for my knee replacement on 2 October! It is going to be a busy 12 days. I think we will have to have a drink this afternoon to get back into cruising mode.

Before dinner we went to the show which was a Tahitian cultural group with the hula dancers, unbelievable the way they move those hips. Nobody on board better try it or there will be a rush for hip replacement surgeries. After dinner we then went to the sail away party around the pool and had a very good night. 

Leaving Papeete

Sail away party

YMCA

Friday 8 September At Sea

 This morning the wind has eased and the swell has dropped a bit, still running at 3 metres. We have changed our heading and instead of sailing almost due west we are now heading north west towards Tahiti. As a result the swell is now coming from slightly aft on the port side. We should also get some sunshine on our balcony this afternoon. At 7 am the temperature was 24 degrees. We were awake early having gained another hour! We are now 20 hours behind Melbourne time, I am writing this at 11 am Friday our time, while it is 7 am Saturday in Melbourne!

We have a lovely afternoon on the balcony after our walk. The wind has died down to a zephyr, the seas very calm with a gentle swell, the sun is out, it is 25 degrees and the wine is cold.

Sunrise

Sunset

Going

Going

Gone with green flash

Thursday 7 September At Sea

 It was a rough night last night. The wind increased to 30+ kmph from astern and a 4 metre swell form the port side meant the ship rolled a bit and the cabin became very noisy with the ship’s movements causing the balcony doors to creak and groan. We eventually got up early and went to the gym at 7 am. The temperature is 22 degrees with cloudy skies and the occasional shower.

By 11 am the cloud is starting to break up and the sun worshippers are out on the sundeck by the pool. We have another full day at sea tomorrow before we reach Tahiti on Saturday.

It has been windy with big swells all day. At 5 pm the temperature is 23 degrees so we were able to sit on our balcony sheltered from the wind. 

Sunset last night

Morning view

Wednesday 6 September Pitcairn Island

We  managed to sleep through to 7 am. We are now 18 hours behind Melbourne as we head towards Tahiti. It is a bright sunny morning with 20 degree temperature. In the area we are in the temperature does not seem to move much in the 24 hours, and days! Either that or we have trapped a particular weather pattern and it is following us.

We reach Pitcairn island just on 10 am. It does not look like an island paradise. It looks pretty rugged with steep cliffs and hills, no beach to speak of and houses built into the sides of hills. There are only 49 permanent residents. We actually have a direct descendant of the inhabitants who has family on the island. As we sail around the island the guest is able to speak to the island which was pretty cool. They tell us it had been raining for the last two days and they are thankful we brought some nice weather with us. We spend an hour slowly circling the island and fortunately it was on the port side so we could watch from our balcony. On leaving the captain allows the guest to give three blasts of the siren to say farewell, and he had informed the island that the guest would be doing it.

As we leave, two whales are spotted off the starboard side. We catch a glimpse just as we got upstairs to the starboard side.

We continue cruising in the South Pacific Ocean on our way to Tahiti. 

Approaching Pitcairn Island 

Getting closer

Houses on the Island

Boat shed and launching area