Day 32 Noumea, New Caledonia

Great day!!!! We left the ship around 0830 and headed for the beach despite being a bit cloudy and overcast. We grabbed a taxi and went to Anse Vata stopping at Le Meridien Hotel. We stayed there for about and hour, enduring some rain showers. Once the rain cleared we decided to walk the entire length of Anse Vata and on to Baie des Citrons…. a fairly long way….. We had a good walk, stopping for drinks along the shore. We ended up walking all the way back to the ship…. Quite a hike. I went up to the pool deck for a couple of hours, had lunch and went out once more for some photos around town. It was a very pleasant day….. It was just what I wanted, a relaxing day. This is my 4th stop here in the last two years so I didn’t feel the need to explore as much as I usually do. Lots of fun. Tomorrow we go to Ile De Pins, New Caledonia….. a pure beach stop. We have to tender ashore and I plan on going early and planting myself on the beach….

Day 31 At Sea

Well today was interesting…. We have been sailing through squalls, some pretty intense for a good part of the day. I guess this could be some of the effects of a cyclone that someone mentioned earlier, I don’t know for sure. I did manage some time outside enjoying the sun for a bit which brightened my day. The voyage continues to go very well. Aside from the few issues I have brought up everything else is just magnificent. The Hotel Manager and his staff are doing a fabulous job. Tomorrow we arrive early in the morning into Noumea, New Caledonia. It is a lovely place which I have been to and three other occasions since 2007. If the weather cooperates, it will be off to the beach. I’m thinking of Anse Vata and perhaps Le Meridien Hotel down by Pointe Mangin. The resort, beach and French food there should be great. I may even take the ferry over to Duck Island, we’ll see. It will be a fabulous day if the weather holds. We don’t leave until somewhere around midnight. I can lay on the beach until about 10:30 in the evening to catch some moon rays…..

Day 30 Port Vila, Vanuatu

Today turned out pretty well. We arrived into Port Vila around 0700 and the weather was much better than yesterday’s rain. I went into town around 0800 and toured the town, did some shopping and enjoyed the people of Vanuatu. They are extremely nice and really make everyone feel welcome. The city itself is bigger than Luganville where we visited yesterday. It is also a bit more modern which can probably be attributed to the fact that Port Vila is the capital of Vanuatu. Around 1130, I took a ferry over to the island of Iririki. There is a lovely resort there with beaches, pools, snorkeling…. The works! While I was touring the island I noticed a fair amount of blood on my tank top and tried to figured out where it came from. The answer came fairly quickly…. My hematoma broke open! Is does provide a little relief. I just hope it will heal sooner versus later. A little note about the blog…. I started blogging over 3 years ago to provide a journal of sorts and photographs for friends and family around the world. It has taken a lot of time, effort and money but it has been worth it. I have friends around the globe that check out the blog on a daily basis and appreciate my efforts to provide a window into my world travels. I have had (and currently have) school kids who follow the blog to get some insight into the world around them. I have always tried to be careful to assure that inappropriate comments and unwanted advertising be eradicated from the blog as soon as I can get to it. I have always had the ability to control who is allowed to post comments but elected not to put those controls in place because it would present a challenge to some of my more technically challenged friends. But alas, things change…. There are people who embrace diversity, tend to create things and look toward the good in people. There are also people who, for whatever reason, try to destroy things and diminish other people. As a result of recent events of trying to introduce hateful things into the blog I am going to take a first step of reviewing each comment before it is allowed to be posted. There is no room in my blog for intolerance. There will no longer be any anonymous postings publishing inappropriate things. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause for my friends…..

Day 29 Luganville, Vanuatu

What an unbelievable day. The rains were torrential…. People were busy everywhere building arks. We are talking biblical kind of stuff….. In other words it was raining like crazy. As we sailed into Luganville, Vanuatu on the island of Espiritu Santo, I was a bit distressed by the weather primarily because I had a shore excursion to the beach. I went to the Queen’s Lounge at 0745 and who did I see? My favorite waiter, Yan Yan from Indonesia. I had him for my waiter last year for about 7 months and asked for him again on this world voyage. He knows what I will order before I do….. He’s fabulous! (nice photo) Anyway, I went to report for my beach tour. Certainly they would cancel it you say? No way! HAL goes at all costs. It was a bit of a joke going to the beach with the rain coming down in torrents but we did go. After an hour at the beach we went to the Blue Hole where things really got comical. It was a steep and slippery slope to get down to the Blue Hole. We had 4 mini buses full of elderly people and some that had difficulty getting around. The steep, slippery slope was just what the doctor ordered. I was afraid that one gentleman who fell may have hurt himself. Many people wisely chose to stay up by the buses rather than risk injury. After we collected the people who had gone down to the Blue Hole things really got interesting. We were sitting in the mini bus with no air-conditioning with lots of mosquitoes (in Malaria country) and it was getting really hot. We sat there for a long time. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and I got out of the bus to see why we weren’t leaving. Guess what? The mini busses couldn’t get up the muddy slope. Attempt after attempt was being made; even some of the guests were helping to push the buses up the hill. What a circus….. We finally go all the buses up the hill and headed back to the ship. Needless to say, HAL got very, very low marks for that performance. After I got back, I headed back out to check out the little town of Luganville (in the pouring rain). It was a fun trip walking through town. The people were very friendly and welcomed us with open arms… It was a pretty good day. The only change I would have made would have been to not go on the shore excursion. Even though you lose your money, sometimes it’s best to not go…. Tomorrow, we will be on another island in the country of Vanuatu, Efate. We arrive into Port Vila early in the morning. No shore excursion for me. I will tour the town and hit an island for some beach time, weather permitting.

Day 28 At Sea

We had a bit of a break from the extreme heat today with a few showers that eventually gave way to a pretty good storm. They put on a pretty good Super bowl party and everyone (except the Arizona fans) had a good time. I didn’t watch much of the Super bowl, just the end which turned out to be the best part. I did get to spend the majority of the day out by the pool until I gave way to the weather. I included a photo of a couple of Holland American’s finest, Ceasar & Susan. It was a good time to go work out. Tomorrow we finally arrive at a port; our 7 days at sea are done… I will be taking a tour in the morning and exploring on my own in the afternoon. Here is a description of my tour: Northern Seaside & Blue Hole Your non air-conditioned mini bus will travel north out of Luganville towards Port Orly passing villages, coconut plantations, cattle, dense jungle and views of the east coast of Espiritu Santo including Elephant Island. Your guide will give information about the areas you pass. Your first stop will be at a pretty beach with fine sand where you can enjoy a swim and relax. The beautiful bay of this peaceful beach has some old WWII wreckage on the beach, crystal clear water with marvelous, colorful fish. On the way back to the ship you will stop for a refreshing swim at a beautiful blue hole.