Still in the north Pacific
THis is the last evening of a week at sea. Seven days since we were anchored, and 10 days since any of the crew have been ashore. Things are getting colder - it feels like an English winter now. And things are getting bumpier - it's windy out there, and the ship is moving more than it has since we left the European coast almost two months ago.
Tomorrow - Yokohama and Tokyo.
posted by Simon Thursday, February 27, 2003
God knows what this bit of water is called. Perhaps it's just a bit of the Pacific.
We're still enroute to Japan, and crossed the equator at about 2330 last night. Night before last we diverted to an island called New Britain (no, I didn't know there was such a place. THere is even a smaller island next to it called New Ireland) , one of the Soloman Islands and administered by Papya New Guniea (spelling?), to land a medical emergency. This meant we were anchored overnight about a mile away from an active volcano! Not that we saw very much, there was a hill with steam coming out of it...
posted by Simon Sunday, February 23, 2003
Corel Sea
Which is probably just like any other bit of sea. I can't really commet, as I haven't been outside for a total of more than 10 minutes today...!
Grease is on in a few days. It's a fun show, but what is it's message? Couple find happiness by abandoning their principles to conform with their peers? Hmm.
posted by Simon Friday, February 21, 2003
Six miles off Hamilton Island, Whitsunday group
This is the closest we're allowed, then they send fast cats to pick up our passengers. We're not allowed off. They say it's cos there isn't enough space on the cats, which is partially true, but also I think they think that having lots of crew around will spoil the nature reserve.
Oh well...... it is at least a very pleasent anchorage, surrounded by islands in blue-green water...
posted by Simon Thursday, February 20, 2003
Great Barrier Reef. Nearly
Ah, sattelite is back at last.
Sydney struck me as:
- A tall city
- A beautiful harbour, which was worth getting up at 0500 to see us sail in to (in the dark)
- A city with a zoo, at which one can see koalas and kangaroos :-)
- A city with far too many ferries (they're STILL coming... how did they all fit in the terminal?)
- A city where it seems impossible to find an equivalent of WHSmith
- A city with a rush hour on the underground nearly the equal of London's. And not enough ticket machines.
- A very cheap city when you're coming from the UK with current exchange rates
- A city with a big bridge. Which I climbed to the top of. Wohoo! (http://www.bridgeclimb.com)
Anyway, we left Sydney the day before yesterday, and ever since have been in sight of the Australian coast. We passed the largest sand island in the world an hour ago (75 miles long, made of nothing but sand), and in the next few hours will be entering the channel between the Great Barrier Reef and the mainland. We're stopping at Cid Harbour tomorrow, which is near to the island of Hamilton. Unfortunately crew aren't being allowed ashore, as it's a nature reserve. Hmm. This is bad because:
(a) It means I'll be within 20 miles of the Reef, possibly for the only time in my life, and not get to see it properly
(b) It means that as we're going straight off to Tokyo next, which will take a week at sea, it's a total of 10 days without getting off the ship. Grr.
Oh well...
posted by Simon Tuesday, February 18, 2003
From a film on the crew channels a few days ago:
"What are you doing?"
"It's called sex. It's fun. You should try it sometime."
posted by Simon Friday, February 14, 2003
Bay of Islands
Lack of posting recently is due to lack of sattelite link. For now, though, it's back. I haven't managed to get ashore today due to an ear infection. I can't actually hear anything out of my right ear at present, and this morning I had to pull out of escorting a tour because my balance was screwy. Still, ear infections are something I'm used to ;-)
The Bay of Islands is veryt nice to look at from the middle. In fact, this may be the best place to appreciate it from. There's apparently a lot of early NZ history, which is ashore. Oh well...
I've just been exchanging SMS messages with Sockii and wonding if I'll ever visit NZ again. I was reflecting that there's no way I could ever visit all of the places that I've been in the last four months and do them all justice in my life. It's quite a thought...
Some retrospective posts:
Auckland
Hey! I'm on the other side of the world!!! So to speak...
A nice city. We arrived a day early in order to land our medical emergency as soon as possible. So an extra night in port, if not for good reasons. I went up the Sky Tower (by lift!), and then went to an Antarctic Adventure thingy, which was interesting, and then met Sockii. Who is nice. It was great just to talk to somebody from the real world, somebody different to those on board ship...
I'm signing off for a few mins to watch the scenery go past, this seems to be a good bit... back soon.
Somewhere in the South Pacific
First night of the play, Charley's Aunt. The first half was good. Then in the interval somebody collapsed in row D. It's the first time I've had to call in a medical emergency on board... we cancelled the show to clear the audiotorium and give people room to work, and the ship went to full speed to get him to hospital as soon as possible...
Nuku'Alofa
... the capital of Tonga. My summary is that while the Kingdom of Tonga as a whole may be, and probably is, a tropical paradise, Nuka'Alofa has a pollution problem. THe people were really friendly though. And there was a nice strech of coastline, and the royal palace.
One odd thing is how many and how large the consulates from other nations are, considering that the total population of Tonga is under 100,000. Apparently the reason is that the King of Tonga, back in the 70s or 80s, was fed up with being ignored by the rest of the world and so shrewdly approached the Russians. This immediately guarenteed him permenant diplomatic contacts from most of the Western world...
posted by Simon Thursday, February 13, 2003
Tonight we cross the International Date Line. So we go from 2359 on Friday 7th Feb to 0000 on Sunday 9th Feb.
This is a bad thing for one person on board who has their birthday on the 8th...!
posted by Simon Friday, February 07, 2003
Tonight we cross the International Date Line. So we go from 2359 on Friday 7th Feb to 0000 on Sunday 9th Feb.
This is a bad thing for one person on board who has their birthday on the 8th...!
posted by Simon Friday, February 07, 2003
Pago Pago
Some more facts about this place:
The island of Tutuila (on which the capital of American Samoa, Pago Pago, is built) is around a third the size of the Isle of Wight. But somewhat bumpier. This is the only US territory south of the equator, although the locals have no vote in American government. We're here at the hottest and wettest time of year, in the middle of summer. Average temperature now is around 30 degrees C, with 200" of rain a year.
Despite this, or perhaps because of this, the place is beautiful. I opened the door onto the open deck today and was struck by green. The harbour is surrounded by mountains covered in lush green forest, climbing up steep slopes. In fact from where we're berthed you can't see the open sea - we're in a cauldron of hills mountains. Three of us got in a taxi for a look around the island, and were taken to some sites on the coast where I could happily stand and watch for hours as waves from across the Pacific pound themselves on black, volcanic rock, sending water shooting 30' into the air.
Sadly, watching for hours was curtailed by having to get back to the ship ;-)
I also bought a tacky loud shirt, for those tropical dress nights...
Oh, it seems that Aurora's arrival roughly doubles the population of Pago Pago...
posted by Simon Friday, February 07, 2003
Mid-Pacific (still)
Well, Crossing the Line was fun. The passenger ceremony involved many people getting thrown in the pool many times. And there is something amazingly theraputic about beating one's boss around the head with a bag of balloons...!
There were actually no evil crew events... apparently the people who sometimes instigate these are not on board at present.
Tomorrow, Pago Pago. According to figures from the Lonely Planet website, our arrival will up the population of the entire island group by around 2%!
posted by Simon Thursday, February 06, 2003
The equator
Actually a little late, we crossed the equator at about 0932 this morning - I was lying in bed watching the navigational info channel on the TV and saw the latitude tick down to zero! As far as the ship's activities are concerned, however, it actually happens at 1530, as that's when the ceremony on deck is organised. The passenger one should be fun... we'll see if anything else appears for crew who haven't crossed the line before...
posted by Simon Wednesday, February 05, 2003
Mid-Pacific
Not a good day, for reasons I can't go into on a public forum. Grr to the world.
posted by Simon Tuesday, February 04, 2003
Kahului
I hope I spelt that right... I don't get on with Hawiian place names!
I only had two hours ashore today due to a combination of crew drills and in-port manning, but the island of Maui is spectacular, scenery-wise. But there doesn't seem to be much here, other than a mountain or two...
I finally got thirteen postcards posted today, from as far back as Curacao... oops.
posted by Simon Monday, February 03, 2003
Honolulu
Well... today was manic but good.
In the morning I got on a bus to Pearl Harbour, and went around the USS Missouri, the battleship. I would have liked to do the USS Arizona Memorial, but there was not time...
Then I got in a cab, instructed the driver to go fast (!), and at great expense ($25), got back to teh ship in time to get a cheeseburger and leave on tour 10 mins later. Which took me all around lots of coastal mountains and volcanic craters to look at the view. Which was spectacular.
Now I'm back on board, and knackered, and starting work.
In other news, I gather a space shuttle has blown up... I have no other info on this - when I saw the flags at half mast I assumed that they were alwasy that way around Pearl Harbour as a memorial or something! No doubt I'll find out when I have time to watch the news...
posted by Simon Sunday, February 02, 2003
Pacific, near Hawaii
Hawaii tomorrow, which promises to be a manic day.
The plan is as follows:
- Be waiting at the gangway at 0800 to get ashore as soon as we have clearance
- Bus or maybe taxi to Pearl Harbour
- See the USS Missouri. Arizona Memorial as well if time, but there probably won't be
- Bus or taxi back to the ship, in time to:
- Go off on a tour of the volcanic coastline at 1400
So, I'm giving myself about 5.5 hours to do Pearl Harbour. Hmm.
posted by Simon Saturday, February 01, 2003