I’m still feeling a bit disillusioned by the fact that on this first semester we are going to places that are so “easy” – the language is easy, it’s easy to find things you need, there are lots of familiar things, it’s comfortable to travel, tour and talk to people. I know those sound like good things but I believe that a trip around the world should be the opposite of comfortable, familiar and easy. The whole point is to be catapulted into the unfamiliar – your senses assaulted from the moment you touch ground, your cultural frameworks challenged with every interaction, your comfort zones pushed to levels you didn’t know possible and communication tactics forced to be creatively and delicately approached at every step.
I’ve been reflecting on this a lot recently because I’m just now realizing that one of my challenges this semester is that I don’t feel that I have been catapulted out of my comfort zone in many ways during our port visits. At first I was critical of myself asking, “Have I really become so jaded about traveling to new places that it doesn’t feel novel or exciting to me anymore?” That feels really icky and gross to think that might be the case. Where is the openness to learning and experiencing in those thoughts? Then I started thinking about my last trip around the world. What made that different? I think a big answer to that is the places we visited. They were all places that did assault your senses, places that were totally unfamiliar and challenging to our comfort zones. These places threw us off balance and challenged our thinking & our stereotypes, and opened us up to so much learning.
Is this happening for some students on this current voyage? Yes, I’m sure it is, but I’m sad because overall I’m not so sure how much it is really happening this semester for students, faculty and staff. We have gone to “easy” places that feel more familiar than foreign in many ways. In fact the Spanish speaking students aren’t getting to experience a country where they don’t speak the language until almost our last port!
I joined TSS because I was excited about their mission and goals around helping students develop into “global citizens”. Now that I am almost through the first semester I worry that we are creating “global tourists” rather than “global citizens”. Why is that happening? I think it’s happening for many reasons – there have been many missed opportunities on this voyage to prepare students, challenge students and frame things for students but I believe the ports we are visiting are a big contributor.
Unfortunately the geography of the world is not going to change and there are only so many places we can get to in a reasonable amount of time (don’t want to be at sea for three weeks!). That is part of the reason this semester’s itinerary was built the way it was. TSS has particular challenges in creating a dynamic itinerary because Royal Caribbean has very strict safety guidelines as to where we are allowed to go AND because we have so many different nationalities on board – some countries won’t allow certain nationalities in – so that restricts us as well.
The good news is that next semester has a very different itinerary. It will be interesting to be on this second voyage to see how it compares to the first – will going to less “easy” and “familiar” countries make a difference? I guess we shall see.
The other good news is that regardless of the countries we visit students are getting a multicultural experience and being challenged. That fact that we have faculty, staff, students and crew from so many different countries poses challenges and opportunities to learn on a daily basis. You can never say that TSS is not an interesting experiment!
As for me, I’m trying to be open to whatever learning I can in each port. Have the places we have visited thus far left my head spinning? No – but I also know that taking part in an adventure like this is not about any one experience in a particular port. It’s about the total experience – the cumulative experience that builds up from port to port. I guess I have to remember that there will be different lessons for me on these two voyages than there was on my last. What those lessons are – I’m not sure yet and I probably won’t know until much after this experience ends. I guess I just have to be open to whatever comes my way and soak it all in.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Australia
6am last Sunday: I stood on the front top deck of the ship watching as we passed through the two heads into Sydney Harbor. The sun was that brilliant bright color that can only be experienced just after sun rise. It sparkled off the water and glinted off the lighthouse on the South Head. We rounded the corner and caught our first glimpse of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. There it was -- we were officially in Sydney, Australia. The Australian students are jumping out of their skin as they see a few friends and family standing on the shore waving us in. A cockatoo flies right in front of the ship as we sail by the Opera House just before we pass under the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Wow, what a welcome to Sydney!
Before we arrived Australia was feeling big and overwhelming to me. There is so much to do, so much to see, where do you start? Once we arrived I recognized that some of my anxiety stemmed from feeling the pressure to “see and do it all”. I also realized that that is not what I wanted to do – there was nothing that really jumped out at me as something I HAD to do while in Australia, I wasn’t feeling compelled to spend loads of money and I needed some down time after our stressfully short trip from NZ to Oz. So I decided to just take it slow and enjoy Sydney.
My highlights in Australia? – Two that stand out to me. First – THE BEACH! I made it to the beach for the first time this entire voyage. On our second day here a couple of students and I headed to Bondi Beach – a very famous city beach in Sydney. We didn’t do anything but lie on the beach, eat lunch at a nice café and walk some of the coastal walk trail. It was just what I needed. The beach felt so good to me that I decided to go to another beach the next day. This time I went with the PR officer on the ship – Ashley. We took a 20 minute ferry ride over to Manly Beach. Manly was smaller than Bondi and had a very comfortable, small beach town feel. Again we just lounged on the beach and ate pizza. The beaches in Sydney were very nice, the air temperature and the sun were perfect, but the water was VERY cold. It is spring in Australia right now and the water temperature was probably comparable to the water temperature in NJ in late May or early June – take your breathe away kind of cold.
My second highlight? Dinner at a student’s family’s house in the suburbs on our first night. Caitlin is one of the Australian students on the ship – she is my neighbor on the ship, we both take the pilates class every day while we are sailing and we hung out a bit together in NZ. She is a law student at Macquarie University in Sydney and her family lives about 45 minutes outside of Sydney. She decided to invite a number of us from the ship to her house for dinner on the day we arrived. There were about 13 of us that headed out to the burbs for a BBQ.
Caitlin’s family was great – they were warm and welcoming to all of us. It wasn’t until we were all there that it hit us how nice it was to be in a home – with couches and pets, and a back yard and a comfortable floor and a home cooked meal. The meal – that was the best – we barely talked as we ate sausages, chicken satay, au gratin potatoes and real salad with all kinds of yummy veggies. I think we were quite a funny site marveling in the yumminess of it all – sighing and savoring every bite. You’d have thought we had just returned from living in the wilderness for months. For dessert her mom made homemade Pavlova – a traditional dessert made of a baked meringue shell filled with a whipped cream-like topping and fruit. It was fantastic. It all felt so comfortable and, well….homey.
Don’t get me wrong – the ship is home to us, but it’s far from the same feel as a real house. We don’t have comfy couches for lounging, we don’t have pets wandering about, we don’t have normal home smells like fresh laundry & food cooking, I don’t walk out of my cabin with my pajamas on or without thinking about if my hair looks presentable. It has been over three months since I had a home cooked meal or cooked something for myself. Dinner at Caitlin’s was a welcome taste of a home and all of the comfortable and familiar things that go along with that.
The rest of my time in Sydney entailed being a tourist – touring in the Hop on hop off bus, riding to the top of Sydney Tower for a fantastic view of the entire city, visiting the Chinese Gardens, strolling through Darling Harbor, walking through the beautiful Queen Victoria Building that is the most elegant shopping center I’ve ever visited, and shopping at the Rocks outdoor market. I also joined one of our Academic Field Program groups on the day they traveled to wine country in Hunter Valley. It was about a 2 ½ hour drive outside of Sydney. We had a wine tasting at Lindeman’s Winery, a fabulous lunch at an Irish Pub and then we toured the Hunter Valley Gardens. I’m not a huge garden fan but these gardens were beautiful.
All in all I had a nice visit in Sydney. As I write this and think back to my recent posts I feel like they have been generally uninspired recently. Just a tally of the things I did, sites I saw and which touristy things I enjoyed most. This voyage seems so different from my last. I don’t feel like I have the same passion and excitement about the places we are visiting or the sites I’m seeing. I’ve recently been contemplating why it feels so different this time around. I’m starting to formulate some answers and want to share my thoughts….in another post, on another day….stay tuned….
Before we arrived Australia was feeling big and overwhelming to me. There is so much to do, so much to see, where do you start? Once we arrived I recognized that some of my anxiety stemmed from feeling the pressure to “see and do it all”. I also realized that that is not what I wanted to do – there was nothing that really jumped out at me as something I HAD to do while in Australia, I wasn’t feeling compelled to spend loads of money and I needed some down time after our stressfully short trip from NZ to Oz. So I decided to just take it slow and enjoy Sydney.
My highlights in Australia? – Two that stand out to me. First – THE BEACH! I made it to the beach for the first time this entire voyage. On our second day here a couple of students and I headed to Bondi Beach – a very famous city beach in Sydney. We didn’t do anything but lie on the beach, eat lunch at a nice café and walk some of the coastal walk trail. It was just what I needed. The beach felt so good to me that I decided to go to another beach the next day. This time I went with the PR officer on the ship – Ashley. We took a 20 minute ferry ride over to Manly Beach. Manly was smaller than Bondi and had a very comfortable, small beach town feel. Again we just lounged on the beach and ate pizza. The beaches in Sydney were very nice, the air temperature and the sun were perfect, but the water was VERY cold. It is spring in Australia right now and the water temperature was probably comparable to the water temperature in NJ in late May or early June – take your breathe away kind of cold.
My second highlight? Dinner at a student’s family’s house in the suburbs on our first night. Caitlin is one of the Australian students on the ship – she is my neighbor on the ship, we both take the pilates class every day while we are sailing and we hung out a bit together in NZ. She is a law student at Macquarie University in Sydney and her family lives about 45 minutes outside of Sydney. She decided to invite a number of us from the ship to her house for dinner on the day we arrived. There were about 13 of us that headed out to the burbs for a BBQ.
Caitlin’s family was great – they were warm and welcoming to all of us. It wasn’t until we were all there that it hit us how nice it was to be in a home – with couches and pets, and a back yard and a comfortable floor and a home cooked meal. The meal – that was the best – we barely talked as we ate sausages, chicken satay, au gratin potatoes and real salad with all kinds of yummy veggies. I think we were quite a funny site marveling in the yumminess of it all – sighing and savoring every bite. You’d have thought we had just returned from living in the wilderness for months. For dessert her mom made homemade Pavlova – a traditional dessert made of a baked meringue shell filled with a whipped cream-like topping and fruit. It was fantastic. It all felt so comfortable and, well….homey.
Don’t get me wrong – the ship is home to us, but it’s far from the same feel as a real house. We don’t have comfy couches for lounging, we don’t have pets wandering about, we don’t have normal home smells like fresh laundry & food cooking, I don’t walk out of my cabin with my pajamas on or without thinking about if my hair looks presentable. It has been over three months since I had a home cooked meal or cooked something for myself. Dinner at Caitlin’s was a welcome taste of a home and all of the comfortable and familiar things that go along with that.
The rest of my time in Sydney entailed being a tourist – touring in the Hop on hop off bus, riding to the top of Sydney Tower for a fantastic view of the entire city, visiting the Chinese Gardens, strolling through Darling Harbor, walking through the beautiful Queen Victoria Building that is the most elegant shopping center I’ve ever visited, and shopping at the Rocks outdoor market. I also joined one of our Academic Field Program groups on the day they traveled to wine country in Hunter Valley. It was about a 2 ½ hour drive outside of Sydney. We had a wine tasting at Lindeman’s Winery, a fabulous lunch at an Irish Pub and then we toured the Hunter Valley Gardens. I’m not a huge garden fan but these gardens were beautiful.
All in all I had a nice visit in Sydney. As I write this and think back to my recent posts I feel like they have been generally uninspired recently. Just a tally of the things I did, sites I saw and which touristy things I enjoyed most. This voyage seems so different from my last. I don’t feel like I have the same passion and excitement about the places we are visiting or the sites I’m seeing. I’ve recently been contemplating why it feels so different this time around. I’m starting to formulate some answers and want to share my thoughts….in another post, on another day….stay tuned….
Thursday, November 15, 2007
New Zealand
Blue skies, clear water and green, green, green everywhere – and sheep, lots of sheep. That is how I would describe the bit of New Zealand I saw. I had to work all week but I did have time to get out and see some sights in and around Auckland. It was kind of a relaxing port for me. I got to catch up on email with cheap, fast internet in the city (even got to video chat on Skype!); I got to make phone calls; I got to shop at an outlet mall and go on a world tour of eating. Food on the ship has been lacking in flavor lately so I ate out every chance I got. Thai food, Indian food, Japanese food, Italian food, seafood, burgers, pizza, ice cream, Starbucks, and – yes I’ll admit it – McDonalds. I spent more money eating than anything else. It was all sooooo good though.
My biggest cultural lesson in this port was clothing sizes. On our second day I went outlet shopping at a mall just outside the city. At first I was discouraged because they didn’t have anything smaller than a size 6. At home I usually wear a 4 and occasionally a 6. I finally found a pair of pants in a size 6 but when I got in the dressing room I could barely get them over my thighs. I quickly realized how different sizes are in New Zealand. I wear between an 8 and a 10 in New Zealand sizing! I think part of the sizing difference between countries has to do with all of the vanity sizing that runs rampant in the US. I currently wear a smaller size than I did in high school but yet I definitely have more meat on my body than I did in high school. If the sizes in the US keep getting bigger I’ll be wearing a size 0 before you know it!
So what were my highlights in New Zealand? On our first day in port one of our professors – Dana – the former US Navy Captain celebrated his 70th birthday. How did he want to celebrate? He wanted to run 7km! He felt it was his way of saying “Screw you!” to 70. His original plan was to run 7 miles but since working out on the ship is challenging he didn’t feel that he could prepare and train himself to be ready for 7 miles. And since we were in New Zealand – running 7 km only made sense. He was looking for folks to join him so another professor on the ship – Ken – and I volunteered to join him. It was a rainy day but the air was warm so it was a nice run – we sang Happy Birthday to him at the start and at the end of the run. Funny thing is – I think I was more sore after the run than Dana. I walked funny for 3 days and felt like I was 70!
In the middle of the week one of the Aussie students – Caitlin – and I bought tickets for a winery tour on Waiheke Island. Waiheke is just off the coast of Auckland – only a 35 minute ferry ride. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful island. We did three wine tastings at three gorgeous wineries and even did an olive oil tasting. Apparently Waiheke Island has a climate similar to the Bordeaux (sp??) area in France so their wines are very popular. It was a lovely day and the island had beautiful views of the ocean and of the city.
On our second to last day in port Ken (the business prof that ran with us on day 1) and I rented bikes and road all over the place. We rode up along the harbor and coastal areas of Auckland – beautiful views and great exercise – I even did some hills! We then hopped a ferry over to Devonport Island and rode around the island for some more beautiful views. It was great way to end our time in New Zealand.
It’s been three days since we left Auckland and we only have one more day to go before we arrive in Sydney. We hit some pretty rough water as we headed across to Australia – apparently it’s pretty typical of that stretch of ocean. There was about a day and a half of rocking that made almost everyone feel icky. I rarely feel seasick but there were times that I didn’t feel so well. It just made me wonder – how did I deal with feeling that way (and worse) for over two weeks in January 2005? Ugh – the rocking wasn’t remotely close to what we experienced back then but it was the first time on this voyage that I had similar feelings and flashbacks to what that time was like.
Things have smoothed out and hopefully will remain calm for the rest of our journey to Oz. I should have a few days off during our time in Australia but I have no idea what I want to do. I currently don’t feel all that excited because I know Australia will be expensive like NZ and it’s hard to plan when we have so much to do during this short leg at sea. As always, I’ll figure it out. Cheers, mate!
My biggest cultural lesson in this port was clothing sizes. On our second day I went outlet shopping at a mall just outside the city. At first I was discouraged because they didn’t have anything smaller than a size 6. At home I usually wear a 4 and occasionally a 6. I finally found a pair of pants in a size 6 but when I got in the dressing room I could barely get them over my thighs. I quickly realized how different sizes are in New Zealand. I wear between an 8 and a 10 in New Zealand sizing! I think part of the sizing difference between countries has to do with all of the vanity sizing that runs rampant in the US. I currently wear a smaller size than I did in high school but yet I definitely have more meat on my body than I did in high school. If the sizes in the US keep getting bigger I’ll be wearing a size 0 before you know it!
So what were my highlights in New Zealand? On our first day in port one of our professors – Dana – the former US Navy Captain celebrated his 70th birthday. How did he want to celebrate? He wanted to run 7km! He felt it was his way of saying “Screw you!” to 70. His original plan was to run 7 miles but since working out on the ship is challenging he didn’t feel that he could prepare and train himself to be ready for 7 miles. And since we were in New Zealand – running 7 km only made sense. He was looking for folks to join him so another professor on the ship – Ken – and I volunteered to join him. It was a rainy day but the air was warm so it was a nice run – we sang Happy Birthday to him at the start and at the end of the run. Funny thing is – I think I was more sore after the run than Dana. I walked funny for 3 days and felt like I was 70!
In the middle of the week one of the Aussie students – Caitlin – and I bought tickets for a winery tour on Waiheke Island. Waiheke is just off the coast of Auckland – only a 35 minute ferry ride. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful island. We did three wine tastings at three gorgeous wineries and even did an olive oil tasting. Apparently Waiheke Island has a climate similar to the Bordeaux (sp??) area in France so their wines are very popular. It was a lovely day and the island had beautiful views of the ocean and of the city.
On our second to last day in port Ken (the business prof that ran with us on day 1) and I rented bikes and road all over the place. We rode up along the harbor and coastal areas of Auckland – beautiful views and great exercise – I even did some hills! We then hopped a ferry over to Devonport Island and rode around the island for some more beautiful views. It was great way to end our time in New Zealand.
It’s been three days since we left Auckland and we only have one more day to go before we arrive in Sydney. We hit some pretty rough water as we headed across to Australia – apparently it’s pretty typical of that stretch of ocean. There was about a day and a half of rocking that made almost everyone feel icky. I rarely feel seasick but there were times that I didn’t feel so well. It just made me wonder – how did I deal with feeling that way (and worse) for over two weeks in January 2005? Ugh – the rocking wasn’t remotely close to what we experienced back then but it was the first time on this voyage that I had similar feelings and flashbacks to what that time was like.
Things have smoothed out and hopefully will remain calm for the rest of our journey to Oz. I should have a few days off during our time in Australia but I have no idea what I want to do. I currently don’t feel all that excited because I know Australia will be expensive like NZ and it’s hard to plan when we have so much to do during this short leg at sea. As always, I’ll figure it out. Cheers, mate!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
A Small Rip in the Space Time Continuum
Gaining hours but losing a day. It’s a weird phenomenon that you get to experience when you live on a ship that is traveling around the world. Since we left Greece we have had 11 days on the ship that were 25 hours long. Yup, every couple nights during each crossing we turn our clocks back by one hour so that by the time we reach our destination we are on local time.
25 hour days are fabulous! What do I do with my extra hour? Sometimes I stay up later and socialize in the staff lounge or hang out with students - chatting or having a Gilmore Girls marathon with them (yes on the ship it’s become my guilty pleasure and escape from reality). Most times I use my extra hour to get up earlier and exercise – if I had 25 hour days all the time I’d be in great shape!
Well the Universe doesn’t just give away hours for free – so how do we pay back all those hours we are gaining? We lose an entire day of our lives of course! We went to bed on Sunday, November 4 and when we woke up it was Tuesday, November 6. Monday, November 5 didn’t exist for us at all on the ship. How’s that for a mind bender? I have a hard time wrapping my brain around exactly where that day went or why it doesn’t exist. I do better than many folks on the ship in understanding how it works because I’ve done it before but it still leaves me scratching my head at times.
The best way I can make sense of it is to think in terms of a Bank. Since we left Greece we have been gaining hours and racking up 11 hours of “debt”. Now that we have crossed the Int’l Dateline and “deposited” 24 hours we now have 13 hours of “credit” left (24 minus the 11 of debt). We will keep gaining hours as we continue but not “owe” the universe any hours because we’ll be using our credit. So every hour we gain is one hour from our lost day (November 5). I don’t know if that is really an accurate description of how it works but it makes sense in my head so I’m sticking with it.
More than anything else I am thankful that we are going the direction we are around the world. If we were going in the other direction that would mean giving hours back as we go and then getting to live one day twice. Living the same day twice would be cool but those 23 hour days would be killer!
Hope you enjoy reading my afternoon musing. Let me know if I missed out on anything good on November 5!
25 hour days are fabulous! What do I do with my extra hour? Sometimes I stay up later and socialize in the staff lounge or hang out with students - chatting or having a Gilmore Girls marathon with them (yes on the ship it’s become my guilty pleasure and escape from reality). Most times I use my extra hour to get up earlier and exercise – if I had 25 hour days all the time I’d be in great shape!
Well the Universe doesn’t just give away hours for free – so how do we pay back all those hours we are gaining? We lose an entire day of our lives of course! We went to bed on Sunday, November 4 and when we woke up it was Tuesday, November 6. Monday, November 5 didn’t exist for us at all on the ship. How’s that for a mind bender? I have a hard time wrapping my brain around exactly where that day went or why it doesn’t exist. I do better than many folks on the ship in understanding how it works because I’ve done it before but it still leaves me scratching my head at times.
The best way I can make sense of it is to think in terms of a Bank. Since we left Greece we have been gaining hours and racking up 11 hours of “debt”. Now that we have crossed the Int’l Dateline and “deposited” 24 hours we now have 13 hours of “credit” left (24 minus the 11 of debt). We will keep gaining hours as we continue but not “owe” the universe any hours because we’ll be using our credit. So every hour we gain is one hour from our lost day (November 5). I don’t know if that is really an accurate description of how it works but it makes sense in my head so I’m sticking with it.
More than anything else I am thankful that we are going the direction we are around the world. If we were going in the other direction that would mean giving hours back as we go and then getting to live one day twice. Living the same day twice would be cool but those 23 hour days would be killer!
Hope you enjoy reading my afternoon musing. Let me know if I missed out on anything good on November 5!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Tahiti
Twelve days to get from Ecuador to Tahiti – not eleven days like originally planned. True to form we got about a day and half out of Ecuador when we had yet ANOTHER medical emergency. We had to turn around and head back towards the Galapagos Islands. So I can now say I have seen the Galapagos – not been there but seen them from a few miles off shore. You could see sting rays practically jumping out of the water – it was pretty cool.
Unfortunately that delay meant that it was going to take us an extra day to get to Tahiti. Originally we were supposed to arrive at 8am on October 29 and leave at 10pm on October 30. Instead we arrived at noon on October 30 and left at 6pm on October 31. It was a real bummer to lose some of our already short time on land.
So Tahiti – very beautiful place but SUPER expensive. I don’t think I’ve been to a place more expensive. It was ridiculous. Even though it was sad to have to leave land I have to admit it was good that we weren’t there any longer – we all would have gone broke. I think I spent more money during our day and a half in Tahiti then I did in any of our seven days stretches in Ecuador, Panama and Portugal (and I didn’t even spend any money on the second day!!).
During our first half day there I stayed in Papeete – walked around the city and the waterfront with a couple students. Had a great dinner in a French restaurant with a few of the professors on the ship. It was during our second day that I really got to see the beauty of Tahiti. I went on one of the Shore excursions that took us over to Moorea Island (about a 30 minute ferry ride from Tahiti) and after a short drive through the island we got on another boat that took us over to a very tiny, remote island. On the way over to the island our tour guide told us some history of the islands and he spotted a huge sea turtle along the way. I caught a nice glimpse of him before he swam away – biggest turtle I ever saw.
We first stopped in a very shallow area (a little higher than waist deep) and jumped in with our snorkels and masks. Within minutes we were surrounded by gigantic stingrays. They swished around our feet and swam right up to our waists. They were beautiful and their bodies were so smooth and silky. Some of the females were as big as 3 ½ feet across and the males were 2 to 2 ½ feet across. There were also a lot of reef sharks swimming about. They too were about 3 to 3 ½ feet long. Very cool
Next we headed over to the smaller island – just tables, chairs and a couple thatched roof pavilions. Here is where we got to get even more up close and personal with the sting rays. As soon as we arrived the sting rays approached us as friendly as could be. Oh for you environmental and animal friendly folks – no worries they don’t feed the rays – occasionally they will hold fish in their closed hand to lure them with the smell but for the most part they were friendly and social on their own with no prompting. Very tame. If you knelt down in the shallow water the sting rays would come right up and over you – got a couple nice pictures of that. We also did some snorkeling and saw a few cool fish but it wasn’t the best snorkeling I’ve ever done (of course I’m spoiled because Belize and Thailand were the first two places I ever snorkeled).
Then came lunch – fabulous bbq chicken, fish, rice and a delicious native dish – Tahitian coconut marinaded tuna. Our guide made it right in front of us – sushi grade raw tuna marinaded in lime juice then a whole bunch of veggies and coconut milk added to the mix. Toss it all together and voila! It was great – I have the recipe and can make it at home.
A couple more hours of lounging and then we headed home. The feel of that tiny island reminded me a little bit of my amazing trip to Boipeba Island in Brazil – ahhhh so great. Just relaxing and carefree.
So I have been to a few tropical places – Belize, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, St. Thomas (just to name a few) but I have never in my life seen water more brilliant and striking than I did on Moorea Island. It was absolutely breathtaking – the most vibrant blue green color that you can imagine – it was just gorgeous.
Tahiti was a beautiful, nice distraction from the daily routine of work and life on the ship -- all be it expensive and a tad too brief a visit. Glad to say I have been there but doubt I would ever go back. That’s my view on Tahiti and I’m sticking to it. Onwards to New Zealand – only five days away (really only one day away – I wrote this four days ago)!
Unfortunately that delay meant that it was going to take us an extra day to get to Tahiti. Originally we were supposed to arrive at 8am on October 29 and leave at 10pm on October 30. Instead we arrived at noon on October 30 and left at 6pm on October 31. It was a real bummer to lose some of our already short time on land.
So Tahiti – very beautiful place but SUPER expensive. I don’t think I’ve been to a place more expensive. It was ridiculous. Even though it was sad to have to leave land I have to admit it was good that we weren’t there any longer – we all would have gone broke. I think I spent more money during our day and a half in Tahiti then I did in any of our seven days stretches in Ecuador, Panama and Portugal (and I didn’t even spend any money on the second day!!).
During our first half day there I stayed in Papeete – walked around the city and the waterfront with a couple students. Had a great dinner in a French restaurant with a few of the professors on the ship. It was during our second day that I really got to see the beauty of Tahiti. I went on one of the Shore excursions that took us over to Moorea Island (about a 30 minute ferry ride from Tahiti) and after a short drive through the island we got on another boat that took us over to a very tiny, remote island. On the way over to the island our tour guide told us some history of the islands and he spotted a huge sea turtle along the way. I caught a nice glimpse of him before he swam away – biggest turtle I ever saw.
We first stopped in a very shallow area (a little higher than waist deep) and jumped in with our snorkels and masks. Within minutes we were surrounded by gigantic stingrays. They swished around our feet and swam right up to our waists. They were beautiful and their bodies were so smooth and silky. Some of the females were as big as 3 ½ feet across and the males were 2 to 2 ½ feet across. There were also a lot of reef sharks swimming about. They too were about 3 to 3 ½ feet long. Very cool
Next we headed over to the smaller island – just tables, chairs and a couple thatched roof pavilions. Here is where we got to get even more up close and personal with the sting rays. As soon as we arrived the sting rays approached us as friendly as could be. Oh for you environmental and animal friendly folks – no worries they don’t feed the rays – occasionally they will hold fish in their closed hand to lure them with the smell but for the most part they were friendly and social on their own with no prompting. Very tame. If you knelt down in the shallow water the sting rays would come right up and over you – got a couple nice pictures of that. We also did some snorkeling and saw a few cool fish but it wasn’t the best snorkeling I’ve ever done (of course I’m spoiled because Belize and Thailand were the first two places I ever snorkeled).
Then came lunch – fabulous bbq chicken, fish, rice and a delicious native dish – Tahitian coconut marinaded tuna. Our guide made it right in front of us – sushi grade raw tuna marinaded in lime juice then a whole bunch of veggies and coconut milk added to the mix. Toss it all together and voila! It was great – I have the recipe and can make it at home.
A couple more hours of lounging and then we headed home. The feel of that tiny island reminded me a little bit of my amazing trip to Boipeba Island in Brazil – ahhhh so great. Just relaxing and carefree.
So I have been to a few tropical places – Belize, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, St. Thomas (just to name a few) but I have never in my life seen water more brilliant and striking than I did on Moorea Island. It was absolutely breathtaking – the most vibrant blue green color that you can imagine – it was just gorgeous.
Tahiti was a beautiful, nice distraction from the daily routine of work and life on the ship -- all be it expensive and a tad too brief a visit. Glad to say I have been there but doubt I would ever go back. That’s my view on Tahiti and I’m sticking to it. Onwards to New Zealand – only five days away (really only one day away – I wrote this four days ago)!
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