DAY 45- Nov 12: Taiohae, Nuka Hiva, Marquesas, French Polynesia. What a surprise when we looked out of our window this morning and saw dry, rocky mountains! This is not the typical Polynesian Island for sure. We decided to get off, even though there are no shore excursions here. The tender was not long but there was nothing much on shore when we got there. A few stalls dotted the immediate area offering diving and a few dresses. There was a stall for breakfast but nothing was offered. We walked around and headed the opposite direction. We asked people walking back and asked what they found? The answer was everything was closed! Yes, island time. Most of these smaller places close up at 12 or 1p and there is nothing else. We headed back to the tender and the ship for lunch. We barely made it to the Lido Market as it closes at 2p. It has been a mystery to us that they close so early. There is Dive In but that is burgers and dogs only. I think they do have a chicken sandwich but it is a very limited menu. The dining room is only open at lunch from 12 to 1p and that is only on sea days. Anyway, we are back and after lunch we came back to the cabin to rest and do some computer work. We headed out to our Rijsttafel dinner at Pinnacle Grill at 6p. Why an Indonesian dinner on a HAL cruise ship when we are not in Indonesia? The territory that is now Indonesia was once owned by the Netherlands, which ruled it for centuries as the Dutch East Indies. This colonization ended after World War II, leading to Indonesia's declaration of independence in 1945 and the eventual transfer of sovereignty in 1949 after a war of independence. Therefore, you will find a large influence of Indonesia also in the Netherlands! We did browse the menu for some time deciding what Main Course we would choose. Much to our surprise ALL the mains are served to everyone! First, we had a noodle and vegetable salad but we didn’t want to eat too much of that. We also had the breads, which were more like crisps and a place full of condiments. Next was the soup with an astounding broth to die for. Then came the huge family style plate with 2 of all 7 items listed, followed by 2 different bowls of rice. We did our best to try everything. My favorites were the lobster and sea bass. By the time we got to trying some of the items, they were not really hot anymore. It was quite an astounding meal. We aren’t sure if we would do this again or not. While certainly delicious, it is just a huge amount of food and a bit overwhelming. From here we went to Mix to listen to James, we had forgotten it was his night off. I went to the Swing show by the cast, and it was good. Stuart went to play Black Jack. I joined him after the show. I was an okay night for that.
DAY 46 – Nov 13: At Sea. First of 6 days at sea heading back to San Diego. The water is pretty rough, not enough to feel sick but enough that handrails are certainly handy. By the time we made it up to Lido it was lunchtime. We opted for Dive In today. We played Phase 10 until about 3:30p and came back to the cabin to work on the laptops. Facebook is not opening on my phone, but it works fine on my laptop…who knows why? Tonight is the Orange Party. I forgot my orange scarf and Stuart’s orange polo is no where to be found! He does have a Hawaiian shirt that is orange and I have a black dress with gold and red on it, I think that is close enough to orange to work! One does not have to wear orange but most people do wear something orange. Some really deck out in the orange theme. After dinner we headed up to Lido for the party. Tonight’s dinner was called favorites, so the choices were good. At first it was very windy but after a while with orange streamers flying everywhere they closed part of the roof a bit more. They also served appetizers, which was nice. We stayed up there watching the festivities until almost 10p. Then it was a brief stop at the casino. No further luck for me.
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