Sunday 19th July – Wed 22nd July
I don’t know where the past few days have gone, but I don’t seem to have had time to update the Blog daily. We have been at sea most of that time doing the usual at sea things.

We sailed past Christmas Island – a long chain of uninhabited islands except for the wild life and probably park rangers or scientists (GD spotted a couple of people walking on the beach through the binoculars). Evening entertainment has been excellent as usual. We had a nice day on land yesterday at Honolulu. We took a shuttle bus to Waikiki beach, did a bit of shopping at the supermarket and at the International Market then had lunch at Moana Surfrider resort. It’s an historical colonial building, reminiscent of Raffles in Singapore. We both had the most delicious seafood crepe with hollandaise sauce. We then took a taxi back to the ship, napped and then did the market at the port. We were not terribly impressed with Honolulu on our first visit a few years ago but we both agree that our opinion is now changed and we actually enjoyed our visit this time.

Sunrise at Equator


King Neptune ritual

. Friday 17th July
A day at sea, much the same as every other day at sea. Didn’t think the show was up to scratch this night – a female entertainer whose singing was OK but her fill in persona left a lot to be desired

Saturday 18th JulyWe crossed the Equator this morning and the usual Neptune ritual was held later in the day. A full day at sea doing all the usual things we have been doing on sea days, like catching up on the ironing, playing cards, eating, sleeping, reading, other games and shows etc.. Too late – house full at the show we wanted to go to and the other show was a continuation of the previous night which hadn’t impressed us so we just had to slum it at a 50/60’s music bar. Before you know it it’s bed time again

Thursday 16th July
Woke up this morning as we arrived at Bora Bora. The weather is fine and not too hot. After those with booked tours went ashore on the tender, we went across to the island. The tenders were going back and forth all day. We did the rounds of some of the stores – mostly selling sarongs and black pearls and charging the earth. Everything is expensive. They use island francs, which cannot be used anywhere else and based on the euro. The do take American dollars. We went back to the ship for lunch. Since barter had failed to get us on a tour around the island in the morning, I decided to go back with the right money and try again while the GD had his afternoon nap. I am so glad that I did. I did not do the whole island but took the shuttle bus to a public swimming beach which was absolutely beautiful, just like they are shown in the brochures, had a swim in water just to my liking and then took the shuttle back to the pier. Back in time to rest for a few minutes and then get dressed for sundowners and dinner. After dinner we went to one of the shows – a comedian, Mike Harris – he was great – lots of laughs.


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