Friday, February 4, 2011

Rarotonga Cook Islands

Sunday, Jan 30 – Rarotonga, Cook Islands
The islands are named in honor of Captain James Cook who charted the remote group in 1770. The 15 islands in the small archipelago are spread across 768,800 square miles of open sea!
The capital of Rarotonga is Avarua and the entire island is fairly small. There are a few restaurants, boutiques and an internet café. There is one road around the island and the town retains the nostalgic atmosphere of an old South Sea trading port.

We had very cloudy skies and some rain but took a very nice bus ride (for $10) with a new friend, Willy. We saw the many gardens filled with breadfruit, passion fruit, papayas, mangos, tomatoes, beans, bananas…passed the chickens and pigs roaming wildly…and this was all in the residential section of the island! The hotels are on white sand beaches with nice views to the small motus, reefs and calm waters. Car and scooter rentals require a New Zealand license; English is spoken and the currency is the NZ dollar. It is a 10-hour nonstop flight from LA that arrives on Monday mornings. The 15,000 islands are spread over a territory the size of Western Europe!

It is a Sunday. After lunch, we found the only thing open on a Sunday – the internet office at the phone company – Telecomm. We have to submit a test by tomorrow so we are waiting patiently for a computer. The sun is coming out, along with a rising humidity level. The island is 20 miles in diameter and Te Manga is the highest peak on the island, a volcano nearly 31 miles in diameter. There is no road crossing the island and there are only two bus routes – clockwise and anti-clockwise and the routes are labeled that way!

In the center of town is the “Seven in One Coconut Tree” which is either a single plant with seven shoots or seven separate coconut palms. There are many marae (hallowed meeting places) such as Arai te Tonga. Most of the land is still communally held and huge extended families share all rights and profits from their holdings.

Received the guest list for the voyage – there are two others from Delaware! One from Hockessin and one from Wilmington so I will contact them when I can.

The comedy magic of Chris Blackmore was the entertainment. We have a culinary arts demonstration area which also doubles as the theatre; I watched the movie “Robin Hood” and wondered again why movies must be so violent.

“My eyes are the ocean where my dreams are reflected.” - Unknown

Monday, Jan 31 – At sea
Tai chi, walked, exercise class. Behind the scenes kitchen/galley tour with food samples in several areas. Choir practice. Lectures: 1) (Mr. Cluny MacPherson) “The Paradoxes of Progress” - How community life has changed on the island communities in the Pacific with the arrival of electricity (TV, internet and cell phones), money being pumped into their economy since so many children left to earn money abroad to send home and foreign aid. It reminded me a lecture class from university but it was a gently reminder of the influence we have on the lives of others around the world and 2) with Astronaut/Brigadier General Charles Duke, Jr. from Apollo 16 and the moon landing. He signed autographs and sold CDs on his spiritual and moon-walking journeys. We hope to have lunch with him and his wife, Dottie, later this week.

There are 96 persons in the galley of the Amsterdam with 122 service staff. We are 1187 passengers and 616 crew on the ship. Average weekly consumption of food on board:
8500 lbs meat, 3814 lbs poultry, 1875 lbs fish, 2575 lbs seafood, 1175 lbs butter, 12500 lbs vegetables, 4750 lbs potatoes, 1800 lbs watermelon, 500 qts dairy, 200 gallons ice cream, 18040 eggs, 750 lbs sugar, 2100 lbs rice for crew, 2850 lbs flour, 262 cases sodas, 232 cases beer, 450 bottles champagnes and sparkling wines, 1636 bottles assorted wines and 280 cases water!

Judy Carmichael, a Grammy nominated jazz pianist and vocalist, was the entertainer. I really enjoyed her music – perfect voice for a small club and she had an incredibly soft touch on the keyboard. www.jazzinspired.com
Star-gazing!! Perfect location on the forward deck, with Donna Geisler. We recline on the lounge chairs as we learned about the sky in the southern hemisphere.

We are now six hours behind Delaware time!

“To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone.” - Reba McEntire