Tonga - the Kingdom

The Kingdom of Tonga is a Polynesian culture that is ruled by a King and has a class system among it’s people. It’s famous for the coral cliffs that create beautiful blowholes as the ocean waves crash on the shore.

They have a type of bat here in the southern hemisphere that is out in the daytime and they hang by the hundreds in trees, chirping constantly. If you look closely, you can see them in the photo of the tree.

Alofi Niue

Alofi Niue was a maiden call for us – which means it’s the first time a cruise ship has stopped there. It’s an island surrounded by a coral reef and it wasn’t necessary to snorkel to see the coral and the fish in the clear, turquoise water. It also claims to be the first nation in the world to have free wifi connection for their entire country and all school children have been given computers. Their population is 600 so our ship coming in with 1200 passengers and 600 crew members was quite an event for the locals. Many people sat around the local town square with their laptops and took advantage of the free wifi however of course this put quite a drain on their bandwith and connection was extremely slow.

Rarotonga in the Cook Islands

Then we were off to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands where land is still communally owned. Extended families share all rights and profits from their holdings. Land cannot be sold or traded here, only leased.

more to follow on this one

Bora Bora

Our next stop was Bora Bora. I took an off-road jeep tour that was lots of fun and laughs. Our drivers stopped at an artists home on a high point of Bora Bora, got out their guitars and other musical instruments and we had a sing-along. Later we stopped at the famous Bloody Mary’s Restaurant, a very tropically designed place with soft white sand on the floor and a “shoe and sandal” check at the front entrance. This is a beautiful, exotic place for all warm-weather fanatics.

Sad to say, the drop in tourism has really hurt these islands as people just do not like fly anymore.

Tahiti – The Best of Times and the Worst of Times

After 11 sea days with only one stop to get our feet on “terra firma” (solid ground) we arrived in Papeete, Tahiti. This port brings back many memories for me as this is where I was sailing on Renaissance Cruise Lines on 9/11/01. I remember it well as we were awakened with an announcement from the Captain stating that America had been attacked by terrorists. Most of our passengers on board were Americans and many had ties to NYC so it was quite upsetting. The crew was from all over the world and they seemed even more upset as they could imagine the world wide implications of such an act. Even though we felt safely distanced from any danger, it was a time when everyone just wanted to be home. For our next cruise, only 11 people showed up because people didn’t want to fly. Since the cruise line had mostly American passengers and never sailed to a US port, they couldn’t get through the cancellations and filed bankruptcy about 10 days later. They did manage to get all passengers flights home so none were stranded. As a crew member, there was no money for tickets to get us home. I was “stuck” in Tahiti (I know you don’t really feel sorry for me) for about three weeks before funds were released to get us home. So I have good and bad memories of Tahiti. It is a beautiful tropical island and owned by the French.

Mutiny on the Bounty!

Pitcairn Islands are a group of four islands that are the last remaining British overseas territory in the Pacific. There are 55 inhabitants of the island, the only inhabited one of the four. You may have read the book or seen the movie “Mutiny on the Bounty”. On the British Royal Navy ship, the HMAC Bounty, a mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian against Captain William Bligh. Bligh was cast adrift in a small open boat with 18 loyal men. These mutineers and some Tahitian companions settled on Pitcairn Island and set fire to their ship, the Bounty. The wreck is still visible under water in Bounty Bay. The settlers have survived by farming and fishing. There are now nine families living on this remote island, some direct descendents of Christian and Young families.

So our visit there was quite exciting. Since there is no landing on the island, ALL of their population came out to our ship in a long boat. They climbed aboard the Amsterdam via a rope ladder – people of all ages, the young and old – bringing with them crafts and wares they had been preparing all year for the ship’s visit. They set up a post office for the purchase of the rare Pitcairn stamp, sold postcards, t-shirts, hats, fans, wood carved products, hand woven items, books, etc. They do have internet on the island so some of their products were ordered elsewhere and shipped to Pitcairn because of course they do not have a t-shirt factory or book producing equipment. Items were high priced but of course it was a treasure when considering where it came from. My purchases were a hand woven fan – for those of you have seen my “museum” home, this will add to my collection of fans around the world, and a book, The Bounty Trilogy which includes the “Mutiny on the Bounty”, “Men Against the Sea”, and “Pitcairn Island”. It was published in the USA and I paid more than the listed price but my treasure is that I got it from the Christian family.

The mayor of the island gave a presentation about their life and history. Some of these people have never worn shoes! They all take turns doing their share of road maintenance, long boat maintenance, fishing, cooking, minding their local store. The most popular thing for them they enjoyed on the ship was ice cream. We sent plenty of food back with them after a very enjoyable day on board.

Exotic Location

One of the most fascinating places I’ve been to yet was our visit to Easter Island, Chile, or as it is known in their language Rapa Nui. It is in the South Pacific Ocean and is 2237 miles west of the mainland Chile. It got it’s name as it Was discovered on Easter Sunday in 1772. The inhabitants are an exotic blend of Polynesian and South American cultures.

As this is a seldom visited place, they do not have a ship pier and we were to drop anchor here and visit by tender service. The ocean swells were too large to make this a safe operation so our Captain (who is a miracle worker) sailed to the other side of the island and we assembled a pier from equipment carried on board so we were able to visit this island that is famous for the Moai statues that dot the landscape of the island.