Dawn Princess World Cruise 2010 - Wednesday August 25

Day 96 Sailing towards American Samoa
We had another day at sea today with sunny weather and a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius and hardly any wind. It was glorious to spend time reading and chatting on deck. We went to a 7.00 p.m. show by the Dawn Princess singers and dancers, entitled “Extreme Country.” It was a most vibrant country and western show with some very acrobatic dancing feats. After the show we went to late dinner with Lyn and company. Then we joined our group for trivia, which we did not win tonight since we only got 24 out of 26 points. We should have known that C.S. Forrester wrote Horatio Hornblower and that the mythological woman with wings and a female head was Harmes. Thus our trivia crown has been lost. (Barbara)

Dawn Princess World Cruise 2010 - Tuesday August 24

Day 95 Sailing from Moorea to the Cook Islands
It was great to have a relaxing day at sea after our two days on shore. I read, chatted and relaxed in the sun, realizing that as we near New Zealand the weather will become colder. Passengers are always telling us that it is 12 or 13 or 14 degrees in N.Z. today. This sounds unbearably cold after the temperatures we have been experiencing since we left home in May. We learnt some extra steps for the Merengue today in ballroom dancing and tomorrow all the people who have been learning dancing are going to have a group photo taken. Tonight was our second last formal night and one of the members of our table had a birthday, which we celebrated at dinner. For entertainment we went to see Mike Harris who is a comedian. He is English but lives in Australia on the central North Coast. I thought he was quite funny. One joke went like this. There were two Irishmen, Paddy and Mike, flying a plane into Mascot airport. Paddy said to Mike “That is the shortest runway that I have ever seen. You will never land the plane there.” Mike said “I’m sure I can land it” and Mike lands the plane and pulls up 2 cm before the end of the runway. Paddy says “Well done, Mike, it really was a short runway but look how wide it is!” (Barbara) Don’t forget to read the posts for Sunday and Monday describing our adventures in Tahiti and Moorea. We have written all three of these today. Another joke to cheer you up. A woman goes into a library in New Zealand and says to the librarian: “I’d like a piece of fush and some chups please.” The librarian is astonished and says: “Madam, this is a library!” The woman whispers: “Sorry! I’d like a piece of fush and some chups please.” (Bill)

Dawn Princess World Cruise 2010 - Monday August 23

Day 94 Moorea
We left Tahiti at 4 am this morning and sailed the 20 kilometer distance to Moorea. Here Bill and I did different things. He went snorkelling with the sharks and the stingrays, while I did a round island trip, which included a visit to a local village. At the village we saw how people can live very simply supplying most of their needs from the plants that grow on the island and from the fish in the sea. They use the coconut tree for many of these things including the making of their houses. We saw how they open the coconuts, and watched a demonstration of how they tie their sari like material to make 36 different outfits. They demonstrated how they tie dye this material, and also performed dances for us. One of the men got me up to dance with him and then have a photo taken with the group of male dancers. The island, itself , is just the most beautiful land that I have ever seen. Moorea is shaped like a butterfly surrounded by a sea of three different coloured blues. The island is surrounded by a reef with just eleven natural channels in through the reef. The Dawn Princess had to anchor just near the reef and we had to use the tenders to get ashore. Moorea is an uncrowded tropical island of dramatically jagged mountains, lush forests turquoise lagoons, coconut fields and glistening white-sand beaches. There are no high rise buildings here at all. Most of the people live in houses on the water front and their large allotments have the lawns beautifully manicured. We went to the top deck to watch the sail away in the evening and watched the full moon rise over the jagged mountains. We had a late dinner, and then joined four others for the trivial pursuit competition based on entertainment, which we ended up winning. Tonight we put our clocks back another hour so we are now 21 hours behind Melbourne. It was great to see pictures of Ben’s 21st. We were sorry we were not there for it, but will catch up when we return. We are now en route to Pago Pago pronounced Pango Pango in American Samoa. (Barbara) My snorkelling adventure was one the best things I have done on the cruise. We first went to an area with a large number of stingrays of a different species from the Australian ones with the barbs. These friendly creatures are like puppy dogs who like to be patted on their wings. They came for the small fish that our guide provided for them. They stare at you with their big eyes on the tops of their flat heads and can be trained to give you a kiss. The food brought other fish into the area including large but harmless black tip sharks. The visibility under the water was the best I have ever experienced. We moved on to a fabulous reef snorkelling area. The current was against us so we had to swim out towards the main reef before drifting back. A superb variety of fish of all shapes, sizes and colours. I need an underwater camera to capture these moments. (Bill)

Dawn Princess World Cruise 2010 - Sunday August 22

Day 93 Papeete Tahiti
We arrived in Tahiti this morning and were greeted by Tahitian singing and dancing on the pier. Bill and I had booked an excursion into the centre of the island of Tahiti in a four wheel drive. Our driver had a Tahitian father and a Hawaiian mother. He loved the birds and the flowers on the island. He told us about the wild Hibiscus that grows on the island. It is yellow in the morning and changes colour to red in the afternoon. They boil 100 of these flowers and apply it to babies to rid them of rash. The views of the mountains and of the sea were stunning. We ended up inside the crater valley, which had over one hundred waterfalls. In the afternoon Bill and I spent time walking around Papeete. There was a festival on in the town, and families were out for the Sunday afternoon. They were walking, riding bicycles, roller skating and enjoying the sunshine. I have never seen so many children. The average age of the population is 26. Evidently, most Tahitians die in their sixties because of too much drink, but we did not see evidence of this. The families looked very happy. One custom that is strange to us is that if a family has three boys, then the third boy is brought up as a girl. We saw locals making hats from the coconut tree and jewellery using shells and pearls. Bill and I did a long walk along the foreshore of Papeete. It looked quite new and was beautifully kept, with lots of green grass and paving, with small grass huts for picnicking scattered along the path overlooking the bay. At six o’clock, vans arrived and within a few minutes the pier had been converted into a market selling locally made jewellery, brightly coloured sarongs, vanilla, oils made from the coconut and foods such as crepes, pizza and egg dishes. On the pier, we were treated to the local dance and singing by a group of about 35 locals. They got some spectators up to dance with them and imitate them doing the hula. Some of the men, particularly, were very funny as they tried to move their hips at faster and faster speeds. Tahiti is very pretty and the locals are delightful, but it is very expensive. Bill had a local beer and I had a watermelon juice and it cost us about $20. When we returned to the ship we went to a late folkloric show starring the Hei Tahiti Group where we enjoyed the sights and sounds of Tahiti through traditional song and dance. They did the hula with many changes of lavishly decorated costumes and also did peace dances. What was so great about these performers was that they encouraged people to come up and have their photos taken with them at the end of the performance. As many people were taking advantage of this, we did not bother to go up on the stage for photos, but enjoyed watching other passengers do so. (Barbara)