We stayed in a town called Show Low. It was very interesting how it got it’s name. Supposedly two men owned a huge ranch, but no longer got along. They decided to play poker to decide who would get to keep the ranch. The game went on and on until one suggested they “show low” which meant the one with the lowest card in their hand would win. One of the men had the 2 of spades which was the lowest card and won. The main drag in town in called the Deuces of Spades. The campground is at 6,400 feet in the hills so it has been very pleasant, highs in the 60-70’s.
Yesterday we went to the Petrified Forest National Park which also includes the Painted Desert. It was gorgeous in an otherworldly way. We started at the southern end which is where most of the petrified remains from a forest millions of years ago are found.
This petrified log is 110 feet long. The logs look like they were cut by a chainsaw but it was because of the crystalline structure of the petrification. It was historically reinforced with concrete to keep it in place.
The geology of the area is incredibly interesting, with layers that show the evolution of the area for millions of years. In millions of years ago the area was a jungle if you can believe it! They have found not only dinosaurs but an animal that looks like a dinosaur but is actually closely related to crocodiles.
As we drove north we transitioned into the Painted Desert area of the park. This is were the geologic layers were most distinctive. The layers show the evolution of the millenia of changes in the habitats of the area during evolution and the deposition and weathering of the sedimentary layers.
The Painted Desert Inn.
At the very northern end of the park it joins with a remnant of the old but famous Route 66. This picture is a 1926 Studebaker and the poles behind it line the old highway which has been reclaimed by the land.
The managers Ann, Mennina, and Edwin had a lovely sendoff for us in the morning from Naboisho. We all agreed that the people in Kenya are some of the warmest and most caring folks we’ve ever encountered traveling.
Departing from Naboisho we had a long drive to the air strip and then flew to another airport near the border of Kenya and Tanzania. There we were met by a driver to take us through immigration and across to Tanzania. Then another air strip and the flight to the Serengeti. It took most of the day. We were met on arrival by our guide for this camp, Nangida, and off we went.
When on safari, everyone talks about seeing “the big five.” These are Lions (check+++++), Elephants (check+++), Rhinos (check+++), Buffalo (check++), and Leopards 😦
Nangida told us he would find us one.
The first animal we saw on our way to camp wasn’t a leopard but close – a serval. It is a smaller cousin to leopards. He/she obligingly left the tall grass and crossed the road:)
Next critter was a leopard tortoise lol. Nangari relocated it out of the road. Continuing the leopard theme…
Next, lions in the late afternoon sun.
It was our first day here but I was getting a bit discouraged with all the leopard wanna be’s. Then, Nangida came through with the real thing! This boy was magnificent!!!
A gorgeous male leopard. I went a little overboard with the pictures, but couldn’t resist.
Getting a good scratch.
Don’t think I can top that!
Holding to the pattern, we closed out our drive with lions.
The expression on is guy reminds me of Beau when he’s bad rofl.
The next morning we started out at sunrise with – you guessed it – lions. These three are last year’s cubs.
The zebras were keeping a watchful eye on the lions. If you look closely, the lions all have full bellies, they weren’t interested in the zebras right now.
We drove a little further, and this is probably why the lions were full. The hyenas were doing the final cleanup.
That didn’t do much for our appetites, but the next stop was our bush breakfast.
On our way back to camp we were fortunate to find another leopard and a cub.
After watching them a bit, a second cub popped up from the grass.
When we got back to camp, our room had been decorated.
A view of the lounge area for a drink before lunch.
We had an amazing lunch of rare burgers and fixings. All the food was excellent and the local beef was delicious!
After lunch and another nap we went out on the evening game drive. And it ended as it began, with lions.
Christian captured this great video with his phone. if you look closely, at the beginning you’ll see the corner of the jeep to get an idea of how close we were.
Our view with our evening sundowner.
On our last full morning, the first thing we found were lions.
Then a Kori Bustard.
King of the hill watching over his girls.
It rained hard during the night so lots of water everywhere. Seven lioness drinking.
This was the only time we saw a lion in a tree.
We’re in a different spot than the day before, a hyena doing more cleanup.
We seemed like we were wandering around, it turns out we were. The camp had planned a special surprise breakfast for us, and was going to set up where we just saw the lions on the rocks. So Nangida told them over the radio (in Swahili) that it probably wasn’t a good idea and they had to relocate so he was killing some time 🙂 Surprise!!!!
Champagne, cooked to order omelets – in the middle of the bush by our crew!
We made our way leisurely back towards camp. A Marabou Stork.
Harem of ostriches.
Rock hyraxes in the sun.
Baboon and baby.
Nangira and a buffalo skull, show off:) The things that look like worms kind of are. They are bugs that build cases (the wormy things) to consume the keratin horn of the buffalo. Yuck!
I took the afternoon off to rest my back before the trip back to Nairobi the next day.
At dinner that night the staff wished Christian a happy early birthday with song and a cake. The staff was awesome!
Our warm sendoff in the morning. These guys were the best!
In closing, it was a trip of a lifetime and we would (and will) go back in a heartbeat. Our outfitter, Asilia, couldn’t have delivered more. Every one of our guides and staff were outstanding and a real pleasure to get to know. If you would like more information this is the website https://www.asiliaafrica.com/
That’s it for this trip. Next up, Christian and Beau are already on their way to Arizona in the Beast. I’ll be flying out to join them in a couple of days in Albuquerque. So more to come then!
Our morning started out cloudy and damp. Because of my back pain, I was riding in the front with Jakob and he kindly brought me a hot water bottle to cushion my back.
This small herd of elephants had two babies that were playing. It was an auspicious start, because at lunch the elephant research project was going to come to speak with us and then spend the afternoon with us in the bush.
There was a break in the clouds and gorgeous light as we found another pride of lions, this time two females and two cubs. And just to clarify, all of our encounters here with lions have been with different groups.
Then on our way to the next encounter, a spotted hyena – the garbage collectors of the plain. This picture shows how well camouflaged they are.
A male and female dikdik, one of the smallest antelopes. The male has very small horns.
Baboons.
We went in search of leopards again, didn’t find any but the scenery was beautiful.
Maasai women gathering firewood.
Headed back to camp to meet the elephant research team and lunch, a pair of crowned cranes.
After a wonderful time learning from the researcher and three interns about their work to identify elephants and to reduce elephant/human conflicts we went out in the field with them. As you can see, we didn’t have to go far from the camp to find a herd.
The researchers were able to use their photo-matching software to identify this guy. They look at the shapes of the tears in the ears and other markings.
The researchers left us then because they had a long drive back to their camp.
We continued on our search for other critters. Here is a Hammerkop.
And what would an evening be without seeing lions? This was a large group of females and cubs in the late-day light.
Tomorrow, travel to the airstrip and our last stop in Tanzania.
While we had to get up early to go to the airstrip, thank god it wasn’t as early as the game drives! Our trip to the strip would take about an hour but we left with time to stop if we saw anything of interest.
On our way out we came across a young bull elephant and stopped for a minute for pictures, but he had different ideas. Slowly but surely he strolled over to the jeep where my friend Naomi was taking a video. Everyone held it together pretty well!
After that it was uneventful drive to the strip. This flight was a bit longer headed south to Naboisho. This Conservancy is know for its cat population.
About to land among the Acacia trees.
Our next guide Jakob met us at the air strip. Almost immediately after leaving the strip we came upon a small group of wildebeest.
Jakob noticed that one was about to give birth. First she was laying down.
Then she got up and started to circle rapidly, essentially using the centrifugal force to get the baby out. In the picture below the baby is more than half way out.
After the delivery she and the herd tended and protected the baby.
A vervet monkey.
We once again had a warm greeting from the staff at Naboisho, this time with a rhythmic accompaniment.
This camp is located in the Masai Mara, a location known for the “Great Migration” of 15,000 wildebeest from July through October. It is also known as the home to the Maasai people, historically cattle herdsmen (as well as goats and sheep), recognizable by the red “shukas” and intricate beadwork that they wear. Many of the men have had their lower front teeth removed. Our guides were all Maasai.
Unfortunately when we were all doing the meet and greet I took a step backwards onto a rock and took a very bad fall. Turned out I fractured a vertebrae which I didn’t realize until I got home. But for now all I knew is that it hurt like hell!
After lunch, 800 mg of ibuprofen, and another nap we went out for the afternoon game drive. The first thing we saw were these Lappet-faced Vultures in the tree top.
Then our first lions here in the Masa. You may notice a pattern. When we found lions in the late afternoon, they are all waking up from their afternoon siesta:)
A bull elephant.
As sunset approached, guess what we found? More lions 🙂 This time it was females and cubs.
A troop of baboons taking refuge in a tree to stay safe from the lions.
And this evening’s sunset with our sundowners.
Once again we were up before the sun and off for the morning drive. And the first thing we found was … lions 🙂 This time two males and two females.
A couple of fascinating things occurred in this encounter. The first was that it appeared that at least one of the females was in heat.
The second was, after we had been there a few minutes, a third lioness appeared at the top of the hill.
It soon became obvious that she was not a member of this pride. The two females we were watching took great exception to her approach and began to stalk towards here, roaring every few steps. The second male emerged from the brush to see what the commotion was about. Then the other male followed behind. They walked only feet from our jeep.
The two females continued to the top of the hill and the third interloper retreated.
When they were convinced that she was gone, they headed back down to the males.
We left them to their nap.
Next up, a herd of zebras at a watering hole.
Then a spotted hyena.
Giraffe.
A pair of ostriches, the male is black and the female – gray.
Secretary Bird.
And back to camp for lunch, more ibuprofen, and a nap. We were taking our cue from the lions 🙂
After tea, off again with Jakob. He heard over the radio of a large pride of females and cubs in the bush, so we went cross-country to find them, crossing a deep creek and crashing through bushes.
To give you an idea of how much the lions ignore the jeeps and people…
A cub determined to follow the lioness.
And lastly, on our way to our sundowner we came across some elephants. These two babies were having a dominance battle. Once it was done, returned to mom.
That night at dinner we were treated to the Maasai staff members Maasai performing a ceremonial jumping dance known as “adumu.”
After lunch we went onward to see what else we could find.
Our guide, Duma – explaining where we are.
Another herd of elephants with a baby.
More jackals, this time with three pups. Jackals are monogamous and mate for life. They are opportunistic omnivores.
A very muddy rhino! Rhinos, hippos, warthogs, buffalo, and elephants use the mud wallows to cool themselves, and to battle insects and parasites.
Giraffe.
Someone in the Conservancy has a sense of humor 🙂
More zebras.
Impala mom and baby.
Grants Gazelles.
Looking for lions and leopards.
Found a pair of lioness.
And our view while having our evening sundowner.
The next morning we once again headed out very early. As the sun was just coming up, we came upon a different group of two lioness and cubs. We watched for awhile because the adults were playing with the cubs.
It ended up there was a male in the group.
On our last afternoon in Ol Pejeta we came across two male Grant Gazelles resolving a dispute.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon looking for leopards, but none had been seen in recent days.
As the sun began to set we saw this handsome guy in the twilight.
We left the our floating home in Mauritius with our friends David and Naomi on a four+ hour flight to Nairobi to start the safari.
We were visiting three locations in Kenya and Tanzania, Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, Mara Naboisho Conservancy in Kenya, and Namiri Plains in the Serengeti, Tanzania. The three locations each offered different habitats and wildlife.
Our flight didn’t get into Nairobi until 11 pm and we faced the challenge of repacking our things because we were only allowed a 33 lb. duffel bag on the small planes we were taking between the camps. The rest of our luggage was stored by the company in Nairobi.
Bright and wayyy to early we left the hotel for our first flight to Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Our plane – this was typical for all the planes we took.
It was amazing seeing giraffes and elephants from the plane. The first surprise was upon landing. There were men on motorbikes that would go up and down the dirt runways to keep the wildlife off of them while the planes take off and land.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy (140 mi2) started out as a working cattle ranch in colonial Kenya, and was even owned at a time by the arms-dealer Adnan Khashoggi. Late in the 1960s Kenya was suffering with a serious poaching crisis. As wildlife populations and in particular elephants and rhinos faced a dramatic decline, the then owner recognized the problem, and in 1988 established a game reserve adjacent to the ranch and in 1992, the Chimpanzee sanctuary was built for chimpanzees rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. The Conservancy is now known for being the home of the last two Northern White Rhinos on the planet. Cattle are still raised there and freely roam amongst the wildlife while being tended by Masai tribesmen.
Our guide for our time here, Duma, was there at the airport to pick us up and take us to camp. The drive time was about an hour, but there was wildlife to be seen on the way so it took a lot longer. We were amazed at how close we were able to get to the wildlife. They have become so used to vehicles that they pay little attention to them unless they are hunting or have babies.
We had to ford a river and there was a roadblock.
We arrived at camp to a warm greeting from the staff. Our “tent” was pretty luxurious:)
Our lunch spot in camp.
While at lunch we were treated to elephants wandering in the grass across the river.
We unpacked, had a brief nap, and then were off at 3:30 for our afternoon game drive. Ol Pejeta is known for the numerous rhinoceros throughout the conservancy.
But there was plenty of other wildlife as well. A topi.
Giraffes.
Jackals.
Splendid starling.
A pair of Crowned Cranes.
Thompson’s Gazelle.
As sunset was approaching, Duma heard that a pride of lions was sighted so off we went to scour the bush looking for them. I caught a movement under a tree and there they were, waking up from their afternoon nap. There were four females and cubs and subadults, 12 in all. The cubs were getting rambunctious, playing with each other and the adults.
As the sun sunk began to set the pride went off to start their evening activities. This female had a radio collar.
Then it was time to leave them and find a spot to have our “sundowners” -cocktails by the jeep, and watch the sunset before returning to camp for dinner.
The next morning started bright and early at 6:15 am and COLD! After having coffee and juice delivered to our tent, our escort arrived to take us to the jeep. This camp has an electric fence, however wildlife are still able to come and go so when it was dark we always had a guide. We piled into our jeep with Duma who brought us fleece-lined ponchos to stay warm. And off we went to see what we could see.
Mom and baby Southern white rhinos. Rhinos are the second largest land mammal; only the elephant is larger and heavier.
An impala.
Another topi.
It was time to keep our appointment with the last two remaining Northern White rhinos in the world, Najin and Fatu, both of which are female. But first, a visit to the memorial and graveyard for the Northern White Rhinos that have died, both from poaching and natural causes.
Najin, a female, was born in captivity in 1989. She is the mother of Fatu. Her mother was Nasima and her father was Sudan. Fatu was born in captivity in 2000. Her mother is Najin and her father was Saut.
They both belong to a zoo in the Czech Republic, but live here in the Conservancy. They arrived at the conservancy in December 2009, along with two male northern white rhinos from the zoo, Suni and Sudan. However, Suni, born at the zoo in 1980, died from natural causes at the Conservancy in 2014. Sudan, caught from the wild in 1975, died on 19 March 2018. They were and are under a 24-hour guard due to the poaching of rhinos for their horns.
Efforts to have them breed with each other and with Southern White Rhinos both failed and it was determined that neither female could bear young. However, eggs were harvested from both females and sperm had been frozen from the males prior to their death, and some eggs were fertilized successfully with the sperm. The embryos have been stored in liquid nitrogen since 2020. Their keeper told us that this year, as soon as some of the enclosed wild female Southern White Rhinos come into season, the embryos will be implanted in the surrogates with hopes of some baby Northern White Rhinos in the future. The two girls live with a female best friend, a Southern White Rhino.
Then it was time to leave and continue our morning drive.
A zebra mom and baby.
We came to a large wetland that had a number of inhabitants.
Saddle-billed Stork.
Olive Baboons. They carry their babies on their backs.
A jackal on the hunt.
Duma moved us on to another area where we saw African warthogs, otherwise referred to as “pumbaas.” That is the word for idiot in Swahili, and if you remember The Lion King, it was the name of the warthog character. They are the comedians of the plains.
African Spoonbills.
African Buffalo. We dubbed them the three stooges 🙂
We found another pride of lions, this time with two males.
We came to find out that lions do a LOT of yawning.
This was a very large pride.
After watching them for awhile it was time to go and find a spot for our bush breakfast.
Sorry I’m posting this belatedly. I took too many photos!
After Madagascar we went to the small island of Mayotte and then on to Zanzibar, an island in Tanzania, know for the birthplace of Freddie Mercury. While the population on the mainland is largely Christian, the island is 99% Muslim with mosques on every corner.
We took a excursion to the east coast of Zanzibar which has a spectacular reef.
That night we had the White Night Party on the ship where everyone dresses all in white and the ship’s officers serve dinner on the deck followed by some great local entertainment.
From Zanzibar we headed up the coast to Mombasa in Kenya. We did a great tour in Mombasa, starting with the famous tusk arches.
Then we had a tour of Fort Jesus. It was built between 1593 and 1596 by order of the Spanish king, who also reigned as king of Portugal and the Algarves, to guard the Old Port of Mombasa .
Fort Jesus was the only fort maintained by the Portuguese on the Swahili coast and is a testament to the first successful attempt by the West to establish influence over the Indian Ocean trade. The fort was captured and recaptured at least nine times between 1631, including when the Portuguese lost it to the Sultan of Mombasa, and 1895 when it fell under British rule, who converted it into a prison.Â
After the fort we visited a woodworking commune on the outskirts of Mombasa. The commune employs 3,000 people who carve beautiful objects from ebony, rosewood, and other woods. As we walked through the workshops the people were so welcoming, all greeting us with “Jambo!”
After walking through the workshops, we finished at the shop where we could purchase the carvings. Each carving had a tag that indicated which of the groups in the commune did the carving, so that a portion of the proceeds from the sale go directly back to them. What was so surprising was how inexpensive they were. We wish we had more room in the luggage!
Lastly, there was a stop at the spice market.
The ship departed for our last stop in the Seychelles.
There was a nice boat trip through the islands but the stay was too short.
The ship departed to Madagascar from Mauritius for the first of our stops. We went onto the island to see the lemurs. Unfortunately we started our tour in a torrential downpour 😦 We ended up soaked literally to our skin!
Lemurs are considered to be the most social primate and they are so darn cute to boot. There are a number of species of lemurs that evolved to cope with the various influences of Madagascar ecoregions and microhabitats. They vary in size from 9 cm (3.5 inches) to nearly 70 cm (28 inches). Lemurs are monogamous and the female typically bears a single young and carries it with her for three months.
There were other interesting species common to Madagascar.
Chameleons.
Crocodiles.
The local turtle species – need to get a room!
And giant tortoises that are not endemic to the island but have been brought here. This guy is 200+ years old.
We closed our time in France with a great lunch with Christian’s sister and husband in Goudargues.
When we got back we took the Christmas tree down, packed up our stuff that stays in France and drove 8 hours back to Paris to the airport.
This began the trip from hell 😦
The Hilton that I booked – you couldn’t pull the car up to the door, there was a hill from parking down to the entrance. Only one luggage cart in the entire place, you had to roll it up a ramp and then roll it down again. Because this trip was both cold/snow weather and hot/tropical/safari we could not pack as light as we would normally do so it was a challenge. The room I thought we had booked was misrepresented so I had to go on a “tour” of available rooms to find one that worked for us. OK, great, we think we get settled. Then Christian notices there was shit on the outside of the toilet, and not a little…. yuck! Tell the desk, the poor girl has to go clean it herself and we go and do have a very nice dinner. Come back and our room has no hot water. They give us a key for another room to use in the morning for showers —- really?
So after tromping down the hallway to start the day and hauling the luggage back up the hill we are off to fly to Mauritius standby on Air France feeling OK – we are off to the next step of the adventure. Not so fast… have to pay to check two of our bags … but fine. Then we get to the pre-security screening and find out there is a carry-on weight limit, but AFTER we had checked our large bags. So in the middle of the airport we’re on the ground trying to consolidate the heavy but not valuable stuff into one carry-on that we now have to check. Good, do that, meet the weight limit. And then get middle seats for an almost 12 hour flight with seatmates from beyond hell lol. I won’t go into the details but it was an ugly flight!
Get to Mauritius and one bag goes temporarily missing but we do get it (thank god for air tags). Get the car and drive to our apartment rental in the beach town of Pereybere for New Years Eve.
Had a great dinner on the beach with fireworks over the harbor, but then at midnight….
The town erupted with fireworks from every direction!
Views of Mauritius.
And on to the ship 🙂
Our suite is at the back of the ship. I have to confess we didn’t try to take pictures before we messed the place up lol.
We stay at a lovely rental that we have been to for years just minutes from Christian’s family. It is in the small medieval village of St Victor la Coste.
Our Christmas tree 🙂
We went to the vineyard Chateau d’ Aqueiria that Christian’s niece manages to get some great wines for the stay.
Then the weather become really iffy. Rain, clouds and gloom 😦 We had a break in the grayness for a day and went to Abbaye de Montmajour, which was first built in the 10th century on a hill that was surrounded by marsh.
At that time it was home to Benedictine monks and expanded over the following century. The abbey was fortified during the 100-Year War in the 14th century.
The long dark shadows in the picture below were rock tombs. As early as the 3rd millennium BC the island was used as a cemetery, with individual graves carved into the rock.
Numerous additions were made in subsequent years. It was an important pilgrimage site during the Middle Ages, and in the 18th century it was the site of a large Maurist monastery, now in ruins as is much of the rest of the site. But it is remarkable how much of the ancient construction still stands solid.
Van Gough chose to sketch and paint the abbey numerous times.
After touring the Abbey, we had a great lunch in Avignon at Wilson Cafe.
I had an incredible truffle risotto.
Then we visited a farm where they distilled essential oils from lavender, rose geranium, verbena, and other plants as well as make perfume and cosmetics. The weather and time of year did not lend to any photos worth sharing. But it was a very interesting visit.
The weather forecast for the next few days is rain, and we will be visiting the family so likely no posts for a bit.
We made it on our standby flight to France but just barely! This time we broke up the drive south from Charles de Gaulle to the south of France with a stay in Beaune. We were here previously but it was too short a stay, so this time we thought we would spend two nights. Well… we were totally exhausted when we got here (Beaune) and slept like logs this morning. Our arrival into the city.
We are staying right in the walled city which is absolutely charming. Out our window there was a holiday projection on the nearby church.
The hotel.
But today it was incredibly cold and thick fog and not how I wanted to see the area. But we were able to tour the Chateau Mersault and their cellars with a tasting. It was still beautiful.
The tree in the picture above was very old and massive.
This is only a portion of their production facilities.
So our tour began.
And then the tasting of seven wines, four red (pinot noir grape) and three white (chardonnay grape). These wines aren’t cheap!
We returned in the dense fog to our hotel, and walked and got a bit lost through the fog to a charming restaurant for dinner.
Then a foggy walk back.
Next, off to the south of France where Christian is from.
In the last post I mentioned a storm? Well it was a whopper! We had to reroute to Tahiti to tie up to the dock for a night while they waited to figure out the storm’s path, and then we headed out to sea rather than to the Cook Islands. Tahiti ended up issuing a code red storm alert after we left.
So now we would be at sea for another 7 days :((((
The first 3 days were pretty rough, 12 foot+ waves and winds up to 100 kph. The furniture on our deck was lashed down, the barf bags were out in the elevators and public spaces, and it just wasn’t pretty lol. Entertainment and some aspects of dinner service had to be scaled back because of the rock and roll. But now we are in calmer waters, albeit without our stop (where we would have been diving) on the Cook Islands, and are headed to New Zealand.
The Superbowl for us will be on Monday at (we think) 11:30 am because we cross the dateline. They have a party planned, so we’ll see how it goes. If worst comes to worst and we have internet, I can still watch on it on my NFL international pass and we’ll have a party in our living room for my football friends I’ve met on the cruise, like I did for the Conference championships:) Today we didn’t have an internet connection most of the day and I had planned to work. So, we’ll see what tomorrow brings.
As the seas settled down and things returned to normal we had a lovely Chef’s Table Dinner with a number of other folks. Warning for non-foodies, the pics below will be boring!
I know, this post is a long time coming, but I took too many pictures :) We made it to Fakarava, which wasn’t anything special.
And then to Moorea which was spectacular! First we did an excursion to see the spinner dolphins. They have a really interesting social structure, it is all about love not war :) They have sex constantly and it can be with members of the same or opposite sex, so there is no fighting or dominance behaviors between them. The pod composition changes regularly as well, and it is a democratic structure where group movements are decided by the pod, not an individual.
Then we did a tour of the island which was incredibly beautiful, the pictures don’t do it justice.
A baby pineapple.
The next day we had the scuba diving experience from hell. Ten minutes into it we aborted. The equipment didn’t work, and the dive master was an idiot. We were so bummed out because the waters there were so beautiful. So much for 5-star reviews!
From there we went to the island of Raiatea.
There we had two wonderful dives, just gorgeous. But the weather was moving in. When you dive you’re wet anyway, so rain doesn’t matter but it does cut down on the light that penetrates to the corals. The storm was coming…..
Our next stop was at Pitcairn Island. For Mutiny on the Bounty fans it probably doesn’t need any more explanation, but for the rest of us – here goes.
The Bounty had left England in 1787 to transport breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies. After a number of months on Tahiti, many of the crew had formed “attachments” to some of the native population. The relationship between Captain Bligh and his crew subsequently deteriorated as Bligh handed out more and more severe punishments as the time on the island passed. After heading back out to sea, on April 28 of 1789, Fletcher Christian led the crew to a mutiny, setting Bligh and 18 crew loyal to him to sea in an open boat. Bligh then navigated ~ 4,000 miles in that open boat to a safe harbor and set about his revenge.
credit Wikipedia
The British Admiralty sent the Pandora from England to seek out the mutineers and bring them to justice. Christian and crew took the Bounty and sailed to find a refuge from Bligh’s prosecution, while some crew remained on Tahiti. Christian found that refuge on Pitcairn Island which at the time was uninhabited and due to an error in previous navigation, was not located accurately on the British maps. The Pandora captured the crew that had remained on Tahiti and, on the way back to England, ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef resulting in the loss of 31 crew and four of the prisoners. The remaining prisoners were then transferred to England where they met their fate.
Christian, the crew and the accompanying natives that made a home on Pitcairn Island set fire to the Bounty in January of 1790 to hide their presence on the island. This was successful until 1808, at which time all but one were dead and that original member was pardoned. The current population of the island traces its ancestry to the crew of the Bounty and the natives that accompanied them. There are currently only ~45 residents on the island.
While a small number of cruise ships visit Pitcairn, almost none are able to land passengers on the island. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Captain Carl and his sailors, they were able to do so via tenders! Here is a pic of the landing area in Bounty Bay.
It was a 45 minute hike from the structure at the water’s edge to the top of the ridge and then down another 15 minutes to the small town and museum and then the return trip and the tender loading process was very dicey with the huge swell. There was no transportation on the island as an option. My ankle decided it wouldn’t be a smart move for me :( I have to pick my battles after the surgery to do the things I really, really want to do.
A number of the island folk came onboard and set up a little market and a resident gave a very good talk about life on the island. Even without making land ourselves, it was incredible to be in a spot where such a rich historical event occurred. Here are some pictures of Bounty Bay.
That night they had a Captain’s Party for the folks that have cruised before on Azamara. There were some amazing statistics – only 80 people on the ship had not cruised with Azamara previously, and some folks had cruised over 900 nights with the company!
Tomorrow – our first stop in French Polynesia at Fakarava!
Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is over 1,300 miles from any other settlement in the Pacific. The more than 900 moai statues were carved by the island people between 1250 and 1500 from the volcanic tuff. The carvings were of their ancestor gods and some say of political leaders, which they believed held the sacred spirits or mana. It was thought that the dead would provide everything that the living needed.
Our first siting of moai from the ship.
And a view of the ship from those same moai.
The statues are set on an “alter” called an ahu. To this day, the area within the ahu (which is ringed by stones) is considered sacred and not to be walked on. The majority of the moai standing today do not have the eyes remaining, which were made from white coral. Some of the more recent moai (as in ~1500) have a topknot made from red scoria from a different quarry on the island, which denoted an elevated status as chieftain like the one below. 
The moai were carved from the volcanic tuff (solidified ash) at the quarry Rana Raraku (the red star on the map above), where approximately half of the statues are still located. In the picture below you can see that some are still only partially carved in the rock and appear to be laying down as they were being carved.
The rest of moai were moved to all of the locations around the perimeter of the island facing inward from the sea that are shown on the map at the top of the post. It was quite a feat, as some weighed over 180,000 lbs.!
The island itself it very dry, and in the past water was very scarce until recently when they were able to access groundwater. There are theories that the deforestation of the island during the early days of settlement destabilized the ecosystem that was then further affected by the arrival of invasive species from the ships. The overall result was that there was a significant drop in the native population from ~15,000 to ~ 2,500 by the 1700’s. The population now is ~8,000.
As I’ve said, the Captain of our ship is a funny guy. I was trying to frame the “perfect” picture of the statues and through my lens finder I see this idiot jumping up and down in my frame. I’m thinking to myself what an a-hole! Still working on getting a great shot, all of a sudden someone gives me a big hug and guess what? Captain Carl was the dude trying to get my attention while visiting the island with some of the crew:) So I told him to make like a moai and he did his best – he just cracks me up :)))) I’m going to be so bummed when he leaves the ship in Papeete.
When we got back to the ship it was the White Night Party. It is held on the pool deck. First they introduce almost the entire crew who are waving the flags of their countries.
The passengers are encouraged to dress in white, the senior officers are serving the barbeque and the band is rocking!
There was a gorgeous sunset that night
And because this is still 3 for the road in spirit, Beau has been conditioning jogging with his aunt on her bicycle. I would have thought it that would be a train wreck but he is just a champ! Here is a picture of Beau from today, he will enter his first show in a couple of weeks :) We miss him so much!
Next stop, Pitcairn Island, where the Bounty, Fletcher Christian, and the mutiny crew made their home.
With all these sea days – while I’ve been working quite a bit, the ship’s crew comes up with all kinds of things to keep people entertained. We are particularly fortunate given our cabin that we were invited to a couple of special things hosted by the Captain today.
The first was a tour of the ship’s bridge with only eight of us. It is incredibly impressive with the electronics and all of the redundancy, however in Chile, there are no electronic navigation charts! So it’s back to the paper versions which the Captain explained so well.
As I mentioned before, he is a proponent of the use of the sextant which is so rare in navigation of large vessels today, but he has instilled a spark in his officers who are carrying the torch and have a bit of a competition to see who can mark the location of the ship most accurately. There were at least six nationalities represented on the bridge, all of whom had unbelievable credentials. We are safe!
The next event was our dinner. It is called the Best of the Best and happens for passengers in particular cabin classes. The Executive Chef gets to strut his stuff and the head sommelier as well with the wine parings. Other than the incredible multi-course menu, the fun is having such a fabulous time with all of the chief officers and their great stories. We were seated halfway down the table on the right across from the Captain which made for lively conversation.
The menu.
Needless to say the food and wine pairings were phenomenal! Yes, that is gold leaf on top of the caviar on top of the lobster!
Tomorrow, hopefully the Moai statues of Easter Island! While the swells are pretty big, he has a plan to get us on the island. Many cruise ships that come here (~40%) never can actually visit. This ship is small so he has more options.
We are somewhere in the Pacific, this is where we are according to Azamara’s data.
The seas have been 9 to 12 feet. Because we are at the bow of the ship, it is a bit of a rock and roll experience, but it doesn’t bother us and actually at night it is like a cradle rocking 🙂
Temps have been surprisingly cool so close to the equator, just around 70 degrees F. We have had some periods of sun when it is nice and warm in the shelter of the pool deck, but the waves in the pool have kept me from taking the plunge. 
The ship is lovely, here is a shot near sunset from our living room over the bow.
A shot from the promenade over the pool deck.
Captain Carl is from the Isle of Man and is an absolute hoot. His noon chats over the system are hysterical, he is in love with his sextant! He has said there will be 6 to 9 foot swells when we get to Easter Island which normally would mean we couldn’t go ashore (for cruise ships it’s a 50/50 chance you will) but he says he has a “brilliant” plan in place to get us there, we’ll see!
On this ship they have debuted a craft cocktail bar called Atlas, incredibly inventive drinks and the bartenders are the entertainment:)
As you may have noticed from the pictures, the ship is very mellow. It only has <700 passengers and there are so many places for people to go, but it does not have the bells and whistles of the large ships. We love the intimate experience where we and the crew and other passengers get to actually know one another. They had a dinner on the pool deck tonight, it is so great to be able to dine outside.
And not to worry, our third for the road is having a great time at dog show boot camp, and he has been evaluated by a top handler that finished his dad to multiple titles and others as having an excellent chance to obtain his titles! Here he is relaxing with a new Big Bird toy from his auntie. We miss him so much, but giggle about how it would be if Beau was on the ship – total chaos!
We made it to the ship which was no easy feat. The cruise docks are in the middle of the shipping port and there is “no easy way to get there from here”. It took us a couple of days and a very helpful limo service to get us to a place where there were dedicated shuttles to get us to the ship.
I apologize for the quality of the pics, I was trying to get the post done before internet connection goes spotty.
So we made it and are on board, woo hoo! Some pics of the suite before we mess it up.
We had a nice late lunch relaxing on the aft of the ship. Then did our sail-away at 5 pm. Views from our balcony at the front of the ship.
Lima is an interesting place. The population here is over 11,000,000 people, for comparison, NYC has a population of about 4,000,500. Traffic here is nuts and people drive like madmen. We didn’t get to see many sites as it was just to difficult to get to them. However, we did have a couple of wonderful meals. Lima is know as a foodie city and with good reason, Peruvian cuisine is fresh, filled with flavors, and beautifully presented – and the restaurants we ate at were stylish. We didn’t go to any of the high end restaurants as I dropped the reservation ball, but what we had was excellent.
It was fun to discover pisco in its many forms, all were yummy.
It is an amazingly dog-friendly city, and the owners are diligent about picking up after them, and treating their babies 🙂 This cutie came in off leash and politely went to his table.
Surfing and paragliding are a big thing here. And there is a beautiful ruin in the middle of all of this.
But there are vast inequities in living conditions.
We got here after a pretty long and delayed flight but all is good. We have an apartment through VRBO that is overlooking the Pacific which is pretty neat. Lima itself, well not so impressed. Surprisingly being this close to the equator it’s not very warm, there is a fog off the ocean that has a chill. Here is the view from the balcony to the south.
And the sunset looking slightly towards the north.
3 For the Road 