Fanning & Apia Islands

Fanning Island, Republic of Kiribati is the least developed of the Pacific Islands I’ve been to so far.  It’s an oval-shaped coral atoll with pretty beaches and swaying palm trees.  The locals were out selling their crafts and seemed to be a happy people who live a very simple life.  Sadly, this island is expected to be the first to disappear under the rising waters associated with global warming and will likely be uninhabitable within 15-20 years.

 

I loved the prices written on a leaf!

Some dressed up for photos to earn money.

And, more cute kids.

Next up was Apia, Western Samoa where a friend and I took a shuttle into town to check out a craft market.  Much of the market was made of new wood and more stalls were being added.  Turns out, the other market stalls had burn down only two days prior and they put this new one up in with lighting speed knowing that a cruise ship was coming to town.  

On the walk back to the ship we stepped into the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.  This church is amazing with many beautiful stain-glass windows, a mahogany ceiling and an interesting Christian-meets-Samoan motif painted in the dome. 

 

 

We also wandered into a cultural center where we watched a bit of native dance.

 

Trees with beautiful orange flowers were in bloom along the harbor walk.

 

Honolulu

We had a pretty short visit to Honolulu where the first of two shore-side events was held for those of us on the full world cruise.   We docked at noon in Honolulu Harbor, next to the Aloha Tower (seen in the background behind the hula gal) and set sail again at 1am.  Just enough time to party!    
 Amazing how much this city has grown since I was last here 10 or so years ago and a far cry from when I worked here in 1981.

The world cruise event was aboard the Battleship USS Missouri – aka ‘Mighty Mo’.   Now a museum, the ship is permanently docked next to the Arizona Memorial on Ford Island.  It was built in 1944 and was the site where MacArthur accepted Japan’s surrender.  In addition to WWII, she saw action in the Korean War and Dessert Storm.  Party aside, it was also a time to reflect and appreciate those who served. 

We were greeted by children presenting us with leis and Hawaiian dance.

 

The event was a take-off on a 40’s USO show with the typical big-band music and song.  The singers, wait staff and crew were all dressed in the clothing and hair styles befitting the time period.  A couple of the women told me how much fun the event was for them as well. 

We’re currently in route to Fanning Island.  Here’s to hoping for a great beach!

 

California

From Mexico we cruised up to LA where I met a friend from last year’s world cruise at the Getty Center.  She brought along her daughter and 3 grandchildren making for a very fun day of exploring the art, gardens and architecture of this amazing museum.  As we wandered around I couldn’t help but think that architect Richard Meier must have had such fun designing this place.  

 

 

Plenty for the kids to do too, including taking some time in the sketching room.

 

The next day we sailed into San Francisco.  I’ve been over the bridge a number of times but had never seen it from this angle.  Beautiful!

 

 

It was a good weekend in the city where I visited with cousins and with another friend from last year’s world cruise.  With the later, we walked the streets of Chinatown and went for a dim sum brunch.  The chrysanthemum tea was good but the scent was oddly reminiscent of marijuanaJ. 

 

Preparations are being made for the upcoming Chinese New Year so the streets were packed with shoppers and traditional celebratory foods were on display.

 

The official world cruise has now begun and we’ve set sail for Honolulu.  These four days will be the longest stretch of sea days of the trip – quite different from last year when we crossed three oceans.  I’ll enjoy them for now but looking forward to hitting So Pacific islands!

More from Central America

It’s been a while since I updated… I’ll blame it all on the internet issues here on the ship J.  Since I last posted I’ve been to Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Mexico.  Lots of fun with some excursions better than others. 

From Caldera, Costa Rica I went up to Poas Volcano National Park.  It was a good day, but unfortunately the volcano was clouded in by the time we arrived.  Too bad because it looked like a pretty interesting place.  I took a photo of a photo that was hanging in the visitors center.  Would love have seen this crater for real.

 

The drive up to the volcano was quite scenic with coffee growing everywhere - apparently much of it for Starbucks.  We also stopped at the Oxcart Factory.  The story goes that Oxcarts were once the primary mode of transporting coffee from the mountains to the Pacific ports for shipment.  Each plantation had their own design so people knew at a glance to whom the coffee belonged.    

 

The next stop was San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.  I choose to do a catamaran cruise and snorkeling trip.  The sailing and the ship’s crew were great.  Snorkeling… not so much.  There wasn’t much to see from a snorkeling perspective, but a jellyfish found me.  Those guys always seem to find me!  Nothing to show from that day other than the sad remains of the itchy stings.  I’ll spare you.

On to Mexico where I did trips up into the mountains and small towns from our stops at both Huatulco and Puerto Vallarta. These are my kind of days.  I love to visit the small towns to see how people in the area live.   Some photos from my day outside of Huatulco:

 

 

 

From Puerto Vallarta I took a speed boat over to Boca de Tomatlian Beach where we switched transport to a 4 x 4 Unimog truck and took off into the Western Sierra Madre Mountains.  

 

A road-side bakery.

 

 

Cactus blossom at the area’s botanical gardens.

 

Freshly made cow’s cheese along with a still warm blue corn tortilla and spicy salsa combined in taco-fashion made a great snack.     

A stop at a small tequila distillery where we tasted 6 different varieties.  This was some very smooth tequila! 

 

Columbia and Panama

In Santa Marta Columbia I took a trip into the mountains to a coffee plantation.  The plantation and processing equipment are more than 100 years old and the couple who run it were delightful.  However, they make very little money on coffee these days and it’s become difficult to find workers willing to hand-pick coffee beans.  This will likely be the last generation to grow coffee.  In fact they have already begun a transition to growing corn.  How sad.  

Very pretty up in the mountains. We took an hour or so walk out to one of the waterfalls that supply pristine water to the farm amidst large stands of bamboo. 

As a non-coffee drinker, when coffee was served I was provided with a bottle of their self-produced beer.  Pretty good too.

From Colon Panama I was off to visit one of the 7 indigenous Indian tribes who reside in the country. In many ways, this tribe of Embera Indians still live as they did years ago, but they had to reinvent themselves when their land was designated as a national park.  Now living in Chagres National Park, the Indians were no longer able to hunt, clear land and maintain other traditions necessary to their way of life.  So, they became master weavers of grasses making beautiful bowls, plates and masks as well as carvings and jewelry. 

The children are educated by a teacher sent to the village by the government and some have even gone off to college in hopes of becoming better advocates for the village when seeking government funding and services. 

Some of the clothing worn when we were there was ceremonial.  I was told that when there are no guests they wear less than what we saw with women wearing only a sarong.  They do, however, dress in more conventional clothing when leaving the village to go into town.

Today we went through the Panama Canal.  It was my third time to transit the canal and my 4^th time in Panama (the first being a land trip when I saw the canal from a local’s perspective and from the air as I flew to the other side of the country).  The water is brown these days due to the dredging for the new canal which runs parallel to this one.   It was to have opened by now but they’re having issues with leaks.  Seems to me that they were better at mixing cement 100 years ago then they are today…  I posted a photo of the locks on FB last year... won't bore you with all of that this time :).

We now have a day at sea before stopping in Costa Rica.

Another Long Journey Begins

I’m settled into what seems to be my home away from home these days on Crystal Serenity.  Yes, I’m doing another world cruise as I just couldn’t say no to this itinerary.  Since this will be my last world cruise (and I mean it this time!), I decided to go whole hog and tacked on the cruise just prior.  What’s not to like with getting out of the cold New England weather a bit sooner?!   I sailed from Miami on Jan 5 and will be arriving in San Francisco on Jan 24 where the world cruise will commence.  I’ve already run into a number of people from last year’s cruise and more will be joining on the 24^th – nice to see familiar faces.  

Today we were in Grand Turk and I did my first of many planned snorkeling excursions; I’m particularly looking forward to the Great Barrier Reef in late February! Todays may not have been the best snorkel site out there, but I always enjoy my underwater experiences and have a few photos to share: