Saturday 7/2/2015 Day 33 Sea Days X 5 until Samoa

It takes a day or two to become accustomed to the hour the clocks go back, and today we feel normal again, waking at 6:45 to sunrise coming dazzlingly into the left side of our balcony window. So we must be going in the right direction. Breakfast done, just about to go deck walking.

There will be some more bobbling around in hot water today. At the Aquarius pool there’s music playing all day. Yesterday we listened (and I was compelled to sing along) to Rumours, the whole album. I wondered whether Mick Fleetwood lives in Hawaii? There was a restaurant called Fleetwood’s yesterday with a logo looking like the figure on the Rumours album cover.  Can’t really Google on here but maybe if you’re reading this and can find out for it would be lovely to know.

Dancing is at 11 today and oh heck, it’s the Quickstep……  Hope to have a better experience this time.  My problems are that my feet don’t move quickly enough, my memory struggles and there are a lot of steps in a short space of time.  Thankfully Khachik and I don’t get dance rage.  When we are people watching (in other words when we watch because we have failed!) we are aware of that dance rage between some couples, some storm off, some shout, some just give “the look” – so we seem to have come a long way, as every error just makes us laugh these days.   

Today’s art is at 2:30 and Easa has promised that we will be painting two monkeys “acting the goat” 

Will report on both tomorrow.

We have been invited to a coffee morning with the Captain tomorrow at 10:30. This is for the 500 or so of us going right round. We already feel special, and lucky, and grateful, and surprised to wake up to find its really happening every day, but the ship’s company keep adding to that special feeling by arranging these different events for us.

So bye for now. Back for sea day 2 towards Samoa tomorrow. x

Friday 6/2/2015 – La Haina, Maui. Welcoming, easy going, blissful day out.

This morning after breakfast while we were waiting for the tendering to start we had a coffee on the open deck at the back of deck 9 (AKA Aquarius Pool). I couldn’t believe my eyes when the hump back whales started to pop up out of the water in groups of 7-8, all over the place.  Not close enough to take pictures, but close enough to enjoy enormously. All the better for knowing that when they are courting the males compete with how high they blow water! Of course I might be the only one who is learning about whales for the first time, so apologies if these bit seems unnecessary ;) The bigger the lung capacity, the more attractive the male. There is a lot of water blowing into the air at the moment as it’s that time of year.  Once the whales have paired up, mated and grown a baby, they stay in the warm waters until the baby whales are weaned and become independent. The females lose 40% of their winter weight when they are in these warm waters feeding their young, and don’t bother eating very much until they return to Alaska and start eating lots of fish again.

Tendering is good fun. 30-50 people per boat go ashore and return on the ship’s own little boats when we have to anchor away from the port.  Usually it’s because the ship is too big for the port (today), but sometimes there isn’t enough room (Sydney in a few weeks’ time). Because the boats are so small you feel everything and are very close to the sea.  It feels like you’re riding the back of a dolphin (or how I imagine that would feel). When the sea is rough you move about a lot, and there’s great potential for getting soaked. You are also close to marine life and get the best views.

We walked through the town La Haina and had a really good look around.

Housekeeping activities - Khachik found a supermarket today selling 5 litres or red wine for $20, so he’s very happy. We visited 2 shopping centres, a local café and Starbucks, but most notable a little shack selling Hawaiian food, so we enjoyed a hearty lunch, Khachik the Kahlua pork, and I had a tofu with teriyaki sauce. We caught up with Facebook – very important.

Temperature today has been high 20’s most of the day, just a few clouds, and a little bit windy so we have also spent an hour in the hot tub on the open deck, a few minutes in the sauna, and about 3 laps round the Promenade deck (1 mile that is), a 5 course dinner the main course of which was a juicy Mahi Mahi Fish Steak, followed by an hour of cabaret, and now a quick blog update before bed.

Heading south west towards the Samoas in the South Pacific, starting with Pago Pago (pronounced Pango Pango) where we have booked a tour called “Village Life”.  But that’s after 5 creative and energetic days at sea with daily practising of both our painting and ballroom dancing.  Updates every day of course.  Bye for now.

Day 31 Thursday 5.2.2015 Honolulu

Thursday  5/2/2015 Day 31 – Honolulu, O’ahu. Warm, windy, sunny, beautiful (and shocking)

We were both awake and sitting up in bed drinking coffee at 6 a.m. The clocks had gone back another hour (10 hours behind UK now) and we were both ready to go. At first we were just watching the reflections of the moon on the sea, then the dawn breaking, and then we just got up and walked our first 6 laps of the day before breakfast!

Soon it was time to get off the ship, unfortunately our first impression was shocking.  We started to walk and coming in the opposite direction was a young-ish woman wearing only a bikini, looking very pregnant.  As she got closer we could see that her abdomen was covered in huge abcesses and there was pus flowing out of one of them. She was really angry, and obviously very ill.  She raged at us about class and poverty and then walked away.  We were seriously stunned and had never in our dreams imagined Hawaii to be a place of such inequality, poverty, drug dependence, sickness.  We talked to each other for a while about the NHS, and our other privileges, but there's a lot of unresolved stuff, powerlessness to come to terms with.  

After a little while we headed for our whale watching lunch, which didn’t disappoint (yes we have pictures!),  even though I got a jolly good soaking and had to sit like lady muck drying off in the sun on the boat, wrapped in a fleece blanket.  Afterwards we walked towards the town. Everyone greets us with Aloha!

I have been in the hot tub for a while since we got back, great for my joints. It’s at the back of the open deck, music plays, people sit around the pools and tubs chatting and drinking. There’s a friendly atmosphere there too.  We have just had another 5 courser, but decided to give cabaret and dancing a miss as we are not surprisingly very very tired.  We are instead about to watch the sail away from our balcony. It’s after 10 p.m.

Overnight we are sailing to another Hawaiian island, Maui. We haven’t planned an excursion, so tomorrow will be a mystery, maybe just a wander around the vicinity of the port, that’s once we transfer ashore by tender – I do like tendering. Here’s one for my Ashtanga yoga friends, Maui is the home of David Williams and Nancy Gilgoff and I feel it’s special to be here. It’s a short trip so no time to find them to share an early morning Mysore style class. But I will be thinking about David, especially his and David Swenson’s anecdotes.

Hopefully there will be some free wi-fi tomorrow so we can chat, as there are 5 sea days after tomorrow, and that’s a long time to imagine being without good wi-fi  and personal contact. Whatever happens the creativity will begin again, and we will be perfecting our ballroom dances.

Bye for now, back after the mystery tour x

Wednesday 4/2/2015 Day 30 One day left at sea before Hawaii, calm sea and sun out.

Phew, the rain we had yesterday stopped overnight and now the sun is out, the waves are a lot smaller and the wind has dropped from force 8 to force 5. Temperature at 3.30 p.m was 27C.   Deck activity has started again, and the factor 30 has come back into play J.  We are back to all outside activities and feel good. We noticed “motion discomfort bags” had been strategically placed around the corridors overnight, but not a great deal of uptake. One of our dinner mates suffers terribly. I told her about covering one eye, and she is going to give it a whirl.

All is well as we approach Hawaii for our 2 day stay, one long day in Oahu from early a.m. until 11 p.m. tomorrow, then sailing overnight to the second island Maui for next day. We are going whale watching in Oahu on a catamaran, lunch out and then time for a good look around.

Today we have revisited the cha cha cha in our dance class and will be going out  again to the Retreat later to practice, after Cabaret.  This is a special venue set up like a night club with candles on the tables and hosted by the dance teachers for people like us, just getting up the courage to take the dances out. I have started to enjoy this.

And our art subject was a paradise island landscape with sun sea palm trees, rocks. I am not as proud of this as I was of yesterday’s whale, but it’s all good fun.

KHACHIK'S PALM TREES

So now it’s time for dinner, back again tomorrow. x

Tuesday 3/2/2015 Day 29 - 4 absolutely wonderful and fascinating weeks at sea

What a night, and a day. Even though the temperature outside has risen to 20C again, there are some very strong winds (ship’s info reports force 7 overnight and force 8 now, sea state rough, swell short and moderate) and really heavy rain. These have meant nobody is allowed out on the decks, doors are locked and we are advised to keep the balcony doors closed.  Everyone holding on to the rails when walking, and, for my yogi friends, standing postures all very unstable, nearly lost it in my wide leg forward folds, and my practice had to be split into two today.

There are going to be few doctor consultations for sea sickness I think. Not for me though I have three contingency arrangements.  If gazing at the horizon doesn’t work, I am going to try the one eye closed technique, and if that doesn’t do it the Stugeron will be out of its packet for the first time. An early night anyway as lying down and feeling the ship rock and roll feels lovely.

Last night was the Captain’s Gala dinner and we had the best dinner yet (five courses from Marco Pierre White’s menu, the main course of which consisted of the most delicious lobster EVER, and the puddings were extremely chocolatey and decadent). Photo opportunity with the Captain duly taken J.  Then we went to the Black Tie Ball and danced our three favourites – foxtrot, jive and waltz. Getting a little bit more brave by the day.

Because of the near gale force winds today there was no deck walking, so for tonight there’ll be no pudding for me! Enough said. There’s always the 10 flights of stairs, walking the corridors, potentially the jogging, rowing, cross training machines and lots of different exercise classes in the gym. Potentially I say, because apart from yoga and Pilates I don’t fancy anything else at the moment.  So instead I joined a craft class and came back to the cabin with a fabulous card making kit.  See what I mean about something for everyone all of the time.

At our dance class with Jeffrey and Brenda today we danced the waltz, in every direction with a lot of attention on posture, arms and transferring the weight more positively. I would go so far as saying we wouldn’t be worried at all if we were invited to dance this one without our teachers. As long as the lights are low, and nobody looks for too long!

Now today’s art was something else. A water colour of a whale’s tail above the sea, and its shadow on the sea’s surface. I cannot believe how life like mine looks. I showed it to my dinner mates tonight and they said it looked like a photo! Is this just a one off I wonder, or a turning point?  Khachik’s is wonderful as always, with a different interpretation of the sea state. We are both very happy.

KHACHIK'S

MINE

So, another 2 sea days to Hawaii, where rumour has it the temperature is 28C. We are assured this storm will have passed and we will all be feeling comfortable again soon.  

I will be back to confirm! x

Monday 2 February 2015 – Sea Day 2 to Hawaii

There have now been several sightings of pods of dolphins playing in the wake of the ship, this never fails to make us smile.  I missed one of these yesterday but Khachik was there and said they were really close and obviously performing! Water temperature is coming up again, and the air is warming up again now 19C, bright sun.  The moon is looking stunning too. My Moon app says 1 day and 4 hours to full. Time for a lovely rest.

I forgot to say something on Saturday about our tour guide in San Francisco.  I can just about remember her name  - Barbara!   She said there were a lot of songs about San Francisco (I left my heart in SF, SF nights, Dock of the Bay, If you’re going to SF) and she promised to sing us those songs. Born and brought up in SF, in love with her city, full of enthusiasm and knowledge, but she said her husband refused to let her sing in the car.  She saved the reason why until we were returning to the ship in the coach, now we know why her husband wasn’t too keen. Flat and tuneless unfortunately, but on the plus side everyone joined in,  it was a relief to know our own voices weren’t too bad.

Remember yesterday I said that sometime on this cruise we just might try dancing without Jeffrey the dance teacher calling out the steps – we are really self-conscious and forgetful, but nevertheless we tried a proper dance in the Retreat last night without any assistance. We had a go at the Rhythm Foxtrot, Jive, Waltz and cha-cha-cha! What can I say! We felt brave, and it was a jolly good effort ;) I think it’s like anything else, there’s a way of getting by when you make a mistake without drawing too much attention, stay close, maintain great posture, don’t fall apart, and sway gently until you’re ready to count yourselves back in.

In San Francisco around 900 people left the ship to fly home or journey on another way, and 900 joined the ship, 500 from Australia travelling homeward, many fly cruisers from the UK and a good few from USA. All very interesting.  Did I say this is a ship for adults only, no children? We both notice that  only when we leave the ship for the ports we see whole families again, little ones running around and playing, babies in slings, babies feeding, little ones in prams. 

The average age of the cruise looks to have fallen a bit since SF, I think this must be because people flying long distance might be younger and more mobile (on the whole), whereas if you join the ship in Southampton and return to Southampton the trip is much more accessible for people with varying disabilities and frailties.

Back tomorrow. Bye for now.

Day 27 Sunday 1st February 2015 Pacific Ocean to Hawaii

Everything went as planned on Sunday, the City highlights was such good fun and our tour pictures are already up on Facebook because we found a Starbucks for hi speed internet just before going back to the ship. Golden Gate Park, Golden Gate Bridge, look out points, Twin Peaks, Union Square, the cable cars, trams and buses  On one of our stops we tried the clam chowder – enough chunky and tasty food for a day in one bowl!

The jobs we had to do all got done too, paying bills and keeping our bank up to date with the countries we are using our account in.  We found a Fedex agent so we could send important documents to the UK, and a hairdresser for me so I could have another “haircut of the world”, and then spent the afternoon walking towards Union Square up Market Street, taking in the feel of a new city.  Lots of pop up craft stalls more street performers, places we recognised from movies. We made it back in time for dinner, and enjoyed the cabaret, and then were off to sleep in no time with very little waking up.  The clocks have stayed the same for 2 nights now.  I imagine they will start to go back again on the way to Hawaii.

On 13^th we are told we “miss a day” to bring us back to reality as we cross the international date line, otherwise we would be going back in time until we got home.

As it’s a sea day we have started our stretching, dance and art together again. In art we painted a penguin with chick, and were very happy.

Dance actually felt comfortable today. You know what, I am beginning to think I might even be able go to one of the dances on board without a “caller”! Steady on.   Today we worked on our rhythm foxtrot, which we are reassured we can resort to for anything in 4:4 time.  Time will tell.  Other sea day activities include sitting on the deck for coffee, doing brain training puzzles and chatting away.

We have attempted not to eat too much today, and we have maintained 9-10 laps of the Promenade Deck every sea day, so efforts are in place not to overdo it (too often ;) )It’s easy to eat very well as there’s so much choice, it’s also just as easy to add a slice of cake, chips, in fact ANYTHING your heart desires 24 hours a day.

Another sea day tomorrow, bye for now.