December 30, 2003
Pictures
So, true to my word, I'm posting again. I thought I'd put up a couple pictures from my hike the other day. Here's the view from the top of the hill in Raiatea. We hiked up through loose cows, loose horses, loose dogs, and loose pigs in the sweltering noon day sun, but ultimately decided the rewards were worth the effort.
December 29, 2003
Jesus won't bring me strawberries
I have been reminded by web mentor to us all Kris Bell that I'm not posting frequently enough. So, this is likely to be a long one. One of the funny things about life at sea here in Polynesia is that I can have all the exotic fruit I can eat - mangoes, papaya, the best pineapple in the world, are piled up in the buffet every day, along with the cutest and best bananas ever. Yet lately, down in the officer's mess, we've developed a hankering for strawberries, and every so often, if I happen to be sitting at a table with the officers, we can prevail upon Jesus (the boss of the officer's mess) to go beg the chef's for a bowl of strawberries. But just as often Jesus will look very sad, and say "Please don't ask me for strawberries." So it's become a bit of a joke, that even Jesus can't get strawberries down to the officer's mess.
Now, on to Christmas at sea - it was very jolly. Parties all day, which I attended between classes, because it was a sea day, and thus, one of my busy days. For the evening, I was shanghaied into appearing in the Christmas show, which involved me wandering on stage covered, apparently, only by a shower curtain (I was, of course, very decently clothed - but most of the passengers were c onvinced I was not), I did this not once, but twice, and this was followed by a long night in the night club. It's been parties every night this week, and now it's become something of a routine. I don't even know how to go to bed before 1 now. Anyway, I have promised KB to post more faithfully, so provided I can get some internet time (which proved impossible this cruise) I shall do so.
December 23, 2003
Fakarava
No excuses for my lack of postings except sheer laziness and an excess of Christmas cheer. Last port day in Papeete was a Carnival of sorts (I'm told it was sort of the equivalent of Mardi Gras, but if so, it was a very tame Mardi Gras)- so everything was crazy and loud everywhere, and we had to bring the ship into the cargo port, so no email. Still, we managed to make it out for the parade and lots of beer that night. Since then, it's been a party every night on board, each one hosted by a different department, so we've been all over the ship. Today was a lovely day spent on the "metal beach" otherwise known as the sundeck, with a large fruit punch in hand, battling dehydration. It's strange to think that somewhere right now it's cold and drizzly.
December 16, 2003
Girly Night at the Spa
So last night they opened up the spa for all the female crew, and we had wine and cheese and they put out all the spa products for us to play with. We ran around in our bikinis, sat in the Thallasotherapy tub, played in the fog shower and sat out under the balmy tropical stars drinking too much wine. I must say it was very nice getting out of the hot tub in the middle of December and not racing across a snow covered deck to get inside where it was warm. I sense the Christmas season is comencing on board, as the parties seem to be increasing their frequency. Tonight is the one year anniversary party for the ship up on deck.
December 09, 2003
Why I'm not Coming Home for the Holidays
So here are a couple pictures from yesterday....
December 07, 2003
All the Holidays at Sea
Well, looks like I'm going to be in Tahiti a little longer than anticipated. I'm having such a good time (and none of you slackers apparently wanted to spend the holidays in sunny Tahiti) that I've decided to stay on until January 8th. I've been promised by everyone on board that Christmas will be a rollicking good time, and I'm not quite ready to leave the sun and the beach yet , so New Year's on board it is. After that, I get almost two months off before rushing off to join the brand new Diamond Princess to cruise the Mexican Riviera. I'll be sailing out of LA, so there's no excuse now for my friends not to come join me aboard.
Incidentally, I've gone a bit blonde today. Something of a miscommunication between me and the stylist, but I rather like it. I haven't had this much blonde hair since I was 8 years old. I'll post a picture when I get a chance. Look for a new web page after I get to Papeete.