Niue is a coral uplift island, unlike all the islands we have encountered so far, which are volcanic. It is the (or at least one of the) largest coral islands in the world and is about 100 square miles in area. It is very lush, but the shoreline is craggy, 30-50 foot high bluffs. Geographically, it is part of the Cook Islands, but politically Niue is internally sovereign in free association with New Zealand, which means that NZ manages it’s international affairs and it uses NZ currency.

I took an early tender in. Once you scale the coast, Niue is relatively flat, the highest point being closer to 200 feet than the 2000 of recent islands. It is a tropical rain forest with no discernible dry season and average high temperatures in the high-70′s to low-80′s year around. But I was struck by how warm and humid it was as early as 9 AM. I walked a ways up and down the main street along the coast. I followed a couple of paths down valleys worn into the limestone to the shore. The rock formations and tide pools were amazing. Of course, I’ll post some pictures when I get the chance.

I also wandered up one of the side roads. I was struck by how quiet it was compared to the main road. But I was also struck by how much friendlier the locals were. On the main road, drivers just pass the tourists by without a glance. On the side road, every driver acknowledged me with at least a small wave of their hand, which I returned.

One of the remarkable things about this island nation is that it is the first country that is a free wireless hotspot and every school-age child is given a laptop computer. Now when hundreds of laptop wielding tourists descend upon a town of 600 looking for an alternative to slow and expensive satellite-based, ship-board Internet, they are bound stress the system. And they did. I was not able to even connect. One large tree in the market square that had picnic tables and benches under it was christened the wireless tree for all the tourists crouched over their laptops under the tree.

Around the square there were some shall shops and the post office. In the middle of the square was a shelter with some more vendors. In one corner was a small playground where the local children mixed with a few of the little ones from our cruise. One of the officers has his wife and baby on board, and there are two families with two kids apiece. The older children are being tutored by their parents, I guess you could call it ‘home schooled’ since everyone on board consider the Amsterdam home at least for the few months of the cruise.

I returned ‘home’ in time for lunch. First, I took a dip in the pool to cool off. Then I decided to eat at the pool-side Terrace Grill, something we don’t often do. I skipped the bergers and hot dogs and had some pizza and taco fixings (w/o the shell or meat).

Then I listened to Cluny talk about the future of the Pacific Islands while I sorted through the days photos. Cluny continued from the post-war phase nation-building dominated by the US and European powers to the post-cold-war phase during which a wane in the interest of the big powers shifted support to international institutions, which had different goals from nation-builders. Where the US and European powers seemed willing to provide continuous aid, the international institutions wanted to create self-sustaining countries. The only problem was that the island nations cannot generally be self-sustaining in the modern economy. The current trend is to develop regional institutions that can provide benefits to, and be sustained by, groups of countries.

The talk reminded my of what Janice and I have been learning from the GISPIA lectures at home. Municipal consolidation is almost impossible in Pennsylvania, even though many municipalities are not self-sustaining. One solution that is being used some areas and would probably benefit Southwestern PA is regional cooperation through regional authorities and revenue sharing. Then municipalities don’t have to compete against each other with drive-to-the-bottom tax give-aways that don’t really pay off.

Entertainment: Comedian Jack Mayberry, a funny west-Texan.

Crossed the International Dateline tonight, so we lost a day. Some people are upset that we missed Ground Hog day. From the weather reports from home, though, it sounds like Winter will last forever.

Tai Chi in the morning, followed by a combined presentation by Barbara, the port lecturer, and some one from the Excursions office talking about the ports and available excursions in New Zealand and Australia.

Then I listened to a lecture by a new speaker, Cluny Mcphearson, a Kiwi with extensive experience in the South Pacific. In 1996 he was a professor on Pitt’s Semester-at-Sea program. He gave a fascinating talk about how the social/political life of Pacific islands have changed since WW II. For example, some islands, like the Cook Islands, were able to export the young people and relieve congestion. But the remittances returned to the islands by these emigrants have transformed social relations. For example, wealth accrued to families that formerly had been poor, so the formerly wealthy and powerful families started to lose their importance. But other changes, like electricity and refrigeration have meant the families no longer had to give away food—from a fishing trip or a pig slaughter because they could not preserve it for themselves—which reinforced relations with extended family and significant religious and political people.

Janice went to another culinary demonstration.

Movie: Salt with Angelia Jolie. It was a pretty good, non-stop action/suspense movie.

Rest of the day just hanging.

Dinner was at the Pinnacle Grill for their French Dinner. It was to have been the three of us and Jinny and Noel, two friends from the ’09 cruise. Unfortunately, Jinny came down sick last night so she couldn’t come. Each course was accompanied by a different wine. The meal was very good. (Unfortunately afterwards Janice came down with the same bug Jinny had.)

Entertainment: Stride Pianist Judy Carmichael. She was excellent, both musically and personality. She also hosts a radio show called Jazz Inspired (jazzinspired.com).

There was supposed to be star gazing, but since our dinner started at 6:45 and lasted until after 9 PM and I went to the 10 o’clock show, I just joined Janice in bed.

At 7:55AM: temperature 75ºF, relative humidity 83%, wind from the NE at 25 kts 6 Beaufort. We have traveled 7103 nautical miles from Fort Lauderdale.

Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the 15 Cook Islands. It sits by itself, smaller than Tahiti but larger than Bora Bora with 9 thousand people—11,300 in the whole country and 110,000 abroad. It has two roads that circle the island, an old coral road—that is now paved over—and a newer one closer to the shore. Most days there are two bus routes, both use the outer road but one runs around the island clockwise and the other runs counter-clockwise. The former is labeled ‘Clockwise’ and the latter is labeled “Counter Clockwise.” Since today was Sunday, only the Clockwise bus was running. Also all banks, most stores, etc. were closed. A few of the locals had booths near the dock with their crafts, jewelry, and shirts.

I got out on the deck about 6:50 AM and saw that the island had a rain cloud hanging over the saddle between a couple of the mountain peaks. I subsequently learned from one of the Cook Island Customs Inspectors at breakfast that they had had rain for the last week. (Well it is the rainy season, but residents of some of the other islands we have been to on this trip had commented on the lack of rain.)

I then noticed that the crew was beginning to get the tenders and platforms ready. But the seas were pretty rough and the tender at the platform was bobbing and weaving. They did eventually run the tenders with advise that only the fully mobile attempt the landing. There were a few pauses in the service and they finally stopped letting people go ashore about an hour and a half a head of schedule so they could make sure they could get everyone back.

John stayed on the Amsterdam, but Janice and I eventually made it ashore. We just wandered along the main street. Yes, most of the stores were closed but the churches were full. We stopped for a few minutes to listen to their singing. The rain made it off the mountain and down to the shore once or twice, but we didn’t get too wet. Around the public market area the free-roaming chickens were the only occupants. Probably half of the people we saw on the street were fellow cruisers.

We bought some T-shirts with really neat Maori-like/tattoo designs. Tattoos are a Polynesian tradition. They often were clan identification. When we were in New Zealand five years ago we learned how the Maori used to tattoo just about all of their bodies. Robert and Bronwyn said they talked to a native who showed them the tattoo that stretched up her arm from her wrist and recorded the history of her family.

We got back to the ship after a wild ride in time for a late lunch. Janice then went to the movie, Robin Hood with Russell Crowe, while I hung out on deck looking at the island and the tenders struggling to make it back to the ship. Unlike Easter Island where the problem was land-side only, today the problem was ship-side.

Even though they stopped taking people over, and had everyone back, ahead of schedule, we were two hours late leaving our anchorage because they had a problem with one of the winches and couldn’t raise the last tender until they repaired it.

Entertainment: “The Comedy Magic” of Chris Blackmore. We found him very funny. For example, at one point early on he grabbed a set of large steel rings and asked how many people had seen a magician take solid rings, link them together, and then separate them again. After a lot of the people indicated they had, he threw the rings behind him and said, “so much for that trick.”

Listened to Diane while working on our journal/blog. Savored some Benedictine. Requested Etta James’s At Last.

Clocks set back one hour.

Tai Chi in the morning: added Jade Ladies on the left side. Then Barbara talked about Niue and the Kingdom of Tonga, the ports coming up after tomorrow’s Cook Islands stop. A new speaker, Brigadier General Charles M. Duke, Jr., talked about the beginning of the space program. Duke was an astronaut with over 21 hours of extra vehicular activity, including time on the surface of the moon. He is a good speaker and gave a general review.

After lunch we went to the Tai Chi practice session with Bronwyn. Most of the rest of the day was just hanging out. Dinner was formal with a tropical island theme. We had Sam at our table, an up-and-coming young officer who is currently in charge of safety. We’ve heard her voice announcing the crew drills, and we’ve seen her assisting with the tendering. A very nice and smart woman from the English midlands. The gift was an apple-green (the cruise color) messenger-style bag with the cruise logo on it.

Entertainment: a Rat Pack tribute trio that could have been better. We left early and turned in early. Janice is at the end of a cold and still somewhat congested.

It was gorgeous, again: a white sandy beach next to the deck with the infinity pool and bar.

We dragged several chaises into the shade. The beach sloped gently down to the water, which stayed relatively shallow for a ways out. There was a bit of dead, broken, sea-smoothed coral and some volcanic pebbles right at the entrance to the water, but not enough to cause a problem. The water was warm enough that we didn’t shiver as we walked in, but not so hot that it wasn’t refreshing. John was in a couple of times and Janice and I several more.

About waist deep in spots there was some large (maybe 20 feet around) coral mounds. It wasn’t obvious that the coral was still living, but there were three or four types of fish swimming around. Gradually, other people from the ship, mostly people who had been there the day before on the same tour we were on, arrived. We clearly outnumbered the hotel’s guests.

About the middle of our time on the beach there was a gentle rain that came and went. Later we learned that it didn’t rain on the other side of the island at the public beach. But the rain was light and refreshing and filtered the sun’s rays for a few minutes.

We were back on board in time for lunch. After a bit, Janice and I returned to town, wandered around some more, and bought some vanilla beans and beer. We talked to a tattoo artist—tattoos are really big in Polynesia—who said we could see some of his designs at boraboraink.com and look for JJ’s work.

Sail away started about 5 PM, so we had a chance to take a few more pictures before dinner. I even got a last photo out the stern windows of the dinning room while we ate.

We all really enjoyed Bora Bora. Aside from it being such an expensive place and being so far to come, the only real problem is that their best season is also our best season!

Entertainment: “Musical Comedy Actress” Sally Jones. She has quite a resume, but we left early and went to bed.

Bora Bora is beautiful. Hot and humid this time of year, but beautiful.

Like Tahiti, Bora Bora is part of the Society Islands. Unlike Tahiti, Bora Bora is part of an atoll. Bora Bora is the mountainous inner island surrounded by motus, or lower islands and islets. That makes for beautiful views in all directions, calm waters, and a variety of blues in the waters corresponding to a variety of depths. Other differences include Bora Bora is a much smaller island and it is much less developed, although there are more “large” hotels, but no highrises. Also we were anchored not docked. The Princess Line’s Paul Gauguin was also anchored off Vaitape between Bora Bora and Toopau.

Our excursion in “Le Truck,” a truck body with an open-air, bus-like back-end, took us all around the island. This time being on the water-side of the bus meant we had great views across the shades of blue toward the motus. No impressive valleys but a few big craggy mountains in the middle.

Our tour made several stops for photos. One included the remains of a marae (ancient temple) with petroglyphs, including one obvious carving of a tortoise.

Another stop was to see pareos being dyed. They sort of tie-dye a cloth, sort of because they don’t tie it, they just twist and dip the cloth in acrylic dyes. Then they open it up lay it out in the sun and lay linoleum cutouts and palm fronds, etc. on it. The sun enriches the saturation of the dyes and the objects keep the colors subdued. How they fix the colors they didn’t say.

Another stop was to see a cluster of Sand Crabs. At first we just saw a bunch of holes in the sand below a few coconut trees. The driver threw hibiscus flowers out the window and slowly several crabs emerged from their holes. I have a really good video of one sampling the flower and leaves, which they drag back into their holes and eat it.

Another stop was to see broken up coconuts drying in the sun. They would eventually be sent to Tahiti to have the oil extracted.

We also stopped at the Sofitel Hotel for a sumptuous snack on the water front looking out at the bungalows on stilts over the water. We saw very few guests as the recession has hit paradise and several of the major hotels have closed and unemployment is up.

On the way back to the ship we stopped at the famous Bloody Mary’s Restaurant and Bar, founded in 1979. They have several boards at the entrance with the names of many of the famous people who have stopped by, including the Phantom Diner from KDKA’s (no defunct) Evening Magazine!

Upon our return, we had a light lunch and Janice and I tendered back into “town.” It’s really just a string of buildings either side of the road. Lots of vendors offering excursions, pareos and other brightly colored fabric and clothing, carved wood and shell, pearls, etc. One vendor had a couple of tables of fruits and vegetables and a metal rack at the side of the road with about eight 18-24” salmon handing by their tail fins.

Dinner was a “Bali Hai BBQ” on the Lido including roast pig—delicious. Entertainment was the movie Avatar. Janice went to the movie while I enjoyed the cool of the evening on deck, took more photos, and took care of some Internet business.

Too tired for Diane’s piano. The heat and humidity are very wearing.

Our excursion: circled Tahiti Nui, the big part of the island. Tahiti Iti is a little tail of land connected by a small isthmus. Tahiti Iti is much more primitive and rugged and has a road around less than a quarter of it. Our excursion only included Tahiti Nui—Big Tahiti. The heart of the island is Papeete. The farther out of town you go, the less expansive the real estate, the few people live there, and the more it looks like a tropical paradise.

We stopped at Vaipahi botanical garden, the Gauguin Museum Restaurant for refreshment—Hinano Tahiti biere—and rest stop, an impressively tall waterfall, and a final stop at a small blowhole. The flowers in the garden and around the island were beautiful. The beaches are black. Many of the waterfalls dry up if there isn’t much rain. It is the rainy season, but there has been a shortage of rain. I liked the beer, hoppy but not bitter. For some reason we didn’t hear, the restaurant had a dock beside which there were fish pens with a variety of fish, including a small shark.

Captain Cook came to Tahiti to observe the passage of Venus across the face of the sun. Captain Bligh came for breadfruit. Many more modern authors and painters came to Tahiti, too, including Paul Gauguin, Herman Melville, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Jack London, and Marlon Brando (who came to film The Mutiny on the Bounty, married a Tahitian girl, and bought an island.

Modern-day Papeete is not paradise, it’s a crowded, urban capital and largest city of French Polynesia. The island does have its charms however, especially its beautiful valleys. Unfortunately, we were on the ocean side of the bus, which had partially tinted windows and so no picture opportunities.

After lunch back on the ship, Janice and I walked around downtown and through the two-story, public market: colorful pareos, many shades of Tahitian pearls, carvings from shell and wood; fresh fruits and vegetables.

Entertainment: Australian singer Peter Cousens. We were too tired to go. The heat, high eighty’s, and humidity, high eighty’s, and the congested city were too much.

Sat and listened to Diane for a few tunes, including her attempt at Brewer and Shipley’s One Toke Over the Line.

Tai Chi in the morning: added Jade Ladies. Barbara talked about Raratonga, where we call after Bora Bora. We’ll be there on Sunday when much of it will be closed. That was followed by Melvyn on “The Great Ocean Liners”.

Lunch was a Mongolian BBQ on the lido deck. That’s where you collect the raw ingredients and the cooks stir fry them to order. It was delicious!

After lunch we had a Tai Chi practice session, some ice cream, and naps.

Dinner was at the Pinnacle Grill, the premium restaurant. Lillian, one of our table mates and also on the ’09 cruise, received a free dinner for four and invited the three of us. It was delightful. Lillian is from Texas via Michigan.

After dinner we strolled the deck, then listened to Diane’s Movie Themes set.

I got the Blog up to date today, and invited many friends to take a look.

Tai Chi in the morning, followed by Barbara talking about Papeete, Tahiti and Vaitape, Bora Bora, both part of French Polynesia, our next two ports of call. That was followed by Melvyn on Captain Cook who made three voyages in the Pacific and died in Hawaii. After lunch we had a Tai Chi practice session. We are learning a form that we did not have two years ago: Golden Cockerel Stands on One Leg (except at sea it is hard to stand on one leg).

Rest of the day just hanging. Janice did some more laundry. I worked on photos and learning more open-source Linux programs.

Formal night tonight with a gift of a security wallet, the kind of pouch you hang around your neck and tuck under your shirt. Very nice quality—with the 2011 Grand world Voyage logo on it. The theme was pirates and all the waitstaff were in pirate apparel. Of course Pitcairn was about mutiny, but pirates are nautical as well.

Entertainment: The Amsterdam Singers and Dancers in Broadway’s Grand Voyage. In ’09 we saw more of the ship’s dancers. We are wondering if it is part of the general belt-tightening. Standard glitz by second rate performers. Oh, and the movie of the day was Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard, and Richard Harris.

Spent about an hour listening, and singing along with, Diane and her “Pirates and Pub Songs” set. Had another Chocolate Versailles. About 10:45 PM a woman came in and had a word with Diane, and they hugged and talked. Turns out the woman’s husband died this morning at 59 years old. We don’t know the circumstances, but we had several deaths on the ’09 world cruise. Diane sang Cabaret for the woman.

Clocks set back, again. Now we are on Tahitian time.

What a delightful surprise, to sail around Pitcairn Island on the 221^st anniversary of Bounty Day, the day they burned what was left of the Bounty.

Not on the initial itinerary, we arrived about 9 AM (while we were at Tai Chi class), many of the islanders (there are only about 60) came aboard using one of their longboats, and stayed until about 2 PM. The ship set up tables for them on the Lido by the pool and they laid out their wares. They had hand-carved ships, sharks, turtles, plates, spoons, and walking sticks; T-shirts, polo shirts, and caps with “Pitcairn Island” on them; native honey from certified healthy honey bees; stamps and postcards; jewelry from local and other materials; CDs of a local singer; baskets, coconut oil, and various other merchandise. About 11 AM, they presented a narrated slideshow on island life. The Mayor then presented the Captain with a carved replica of the Bounty. Finally they sang a few songs, got back into they longboat, and returned to their island. We were on our way by 3 PM. While the islanders were aboard, the Captain had the ship sail slowly around the island. Perfect weather, beautiful blue sea and sky.

Pitcairn is a British protectorate that gets financial support from the British treasury and physical support from New Zealand. We met their policeman, a NZ policeman here for one year. They also have a NZ teacher for the 8-10 children of school age. The general store is open for two hours, three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The electricity is available 10 hours a day, five in the morning and five in the afternoon, which is sufficient to keep their frozen food frozen. Each household has to catch and store their own water. They have telephone, internet, and two TV channels—TCM and CNN—available from New Zealand.

Pitcairn is part of a four island protectorate. The farthest is an atoll about 300 miles away that they cannot reach in their longboat. The nearest is an atoll that they can easily reach and is used as a vacation island. They have built a kitchen and a latrine there. Otherwise they use tents and tarps for shelter on it. The fourth island is not an atoll, about 150 miles away, and, although they can reach it in their longboat, they have only used it as a source of wood for their carvings. Recently they have planted those types of trees on Pitcairn, so they go there less often.

They have a regular supply ship from New Zealand that comes four times a year. They see eight to twelve cruise ships a year. An occasion freighter comes by, with which they will do some trading, but most freighters these day are making a bee-line from New Zealand to the Panama Canal.

The current population of 55-60 people is not optimal. They are developing plans to attract back Bounty-descendent families to double the population. They also have plans for building an alternative harbor on the other side of the island. The current harbor is tricky to maneuver. Neither the current not the planned harbor will be able to handle anything bigger than their longboats.

Even after talking with several of the Pitcairn residents, I still have a hard time imagining what daily life is like for them.

Entertainment: a return of Horizon, the Motown tribute trio. A fun, get-you-on-your-feet group.

Joined the Piano Bar crowd listening to Diane for about an hour. Enjoyed a Benedictine.

Back in the cabin, we received certificates for visiting Pitcairn Island. I don’t remember so many certificates from the ’09 cruise. One for crossing the Golden Line—the equator and international date line at the same time.

Clocks set back, again.