Dec 31st -  a pic from Pat A's camera

 at sea heading to Easter Island

.....hi again finally.......bronchitis and influenza A hit the ship and laid us low....

If you want to post to our Journal, one needs a google account; sending e-mails to us works great.  

So I have a big post for you today (Dec 29th).....hope all of you are well!

Dec 24th,2014

Easter Island

§      Easter Island (Rapa Nui): We were 4 days at sea and arrived 0730 Dec 24^th, tenders delayed going ashore because of 6-8’ swell between ship and tenders and tenders and pier,  people still wanting to go ashore in wheelchairs & walkers & canes.

§      Main town is Hanga Roa, and beyond is National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Island is 117 sq.km. It was settled by Polynesians and had a tragic history.  Their glory was the quarrying and carving of the huge Moai from volcanic rock but the centuries were marred by environmental degradation, civil strife, and finally by the arrival of Europeans in 1722 with conflict, disease and slave ships.  The demise of Easter Island can be seen as a smaller version of the rapacious self-interest of inhabitants on planet Earth.  Island was stripped of trees,  rats ate palm nuts so no more grew, massive bird colonies were eaten, vegetation wouldn’t grow because they had no more bird guano for fertilization.  Most of the impetus was competition between tribes to keep building bigger and more impressive Moai to “out-do” other Chiefs.  Moai built between 1250-1500 AD. 887 Moai on island but most in bad condition; with 397 still not cut completely out of the quarry.  The biggest one called ‘El Gigante’ was unfinished and probably up to 270 tons.  Largest Moai erected weighs 86 tons, 10 metres high.  Only 1 Moai has legs – a kneeling Moai.  288 Moai were successfully transported to platforms around the island (called Ahu’s).  Ahu’s are incredibly engineered. Roads were constructed to move the Moai.  Debate still exists as to how they were moved:  legend says they walked, and scientists have repeated the maneuver with several sets of ropes to wobble the base back & forth (the front of the bases are semi-circle.  Others say that wooden tripods were used to drag the horizontal Moai over lines of logs.  However there are many toppled Moai along all the roads which indicates that they fell over. Only a few Moai still have red hats called Pau-Pau (pronounced poo-poo) made from red scoria rock. Eyes were white rock with black obsidian rock for the pupils. Hats and eyes were added after erection of the Moai, by building a ramp of rocks to climb to the head. Most Moai face inland to watch over the villages; only a few face the ocean.

§      4 of us hired a taxi (driver Goyman Gonzalez), and paid him $60 US each to tour 3 hours and visit Rana Raraku, Ahu Tongarika, Anakena Beach.  Rana Raraku is the giant quarry on the side of the volcanic mountain.  Unbelieveable!!!  One has to walk up a switch back lane cut out of the rock to see the Moai still lying in the mountain at different stages of construction.  The view shows many scattered Moai all around the dry de-vegetated land. Many Moai were toppled by warring tribes who pushed the statues over a rock to break their necks.

§      There are many horses on the island – all reddish brown with a centre white patch on their head.   Apparently are no pigs here.

§      Ahu Tongarika has the most impressive set of Moai:  16 all facing inland on a huge high Ahu platform, one still has a red hat, a few still have eyes.   A tidal wave from the SE had swept them over 100 yards inland but they were restored to the site.  A goose-bump feeling at that place.   WOW!

§      Anakena Beach:  the Moai stand high on a platform at the edge of the sandy beach, they are the only Moai facing the sea.  This is the north side of the island.  This is the only spectacular beach on the island.

§      Town of Hanga Roa is thriving and busy, and located in a more lush area.  Found some Escuador beer and a great drink called Pisco Sour.  We have seen a few shipmates who consumed too many of those…….heheh.

We Loved Easter Island!

Dec 29,2014

………….some miscellaneous stuff

·      The onboard ~?60 foot pool is saltwater, changed fresh daily, 5’5” deep, with 5’ wide side decks ringed by 18” high edges. The ship motion gets replicated in the waves / surf of the pool.  At one point I was surfed up onto the wide deck like a killer whale going after a seal.

·      Large pool deck seating area around the central pool on the 12^th floor + 13^th floor/veranda (called the 14^th)overlooks with more seating plus a rubberized track.  The 15^th floor (back ½ of the ship) has a circular walking track + shuffleboard + croquet + putting greens + golf swing tent + mini-golf + fitness centre.

·      There is every possible activity on board; no one should be bored but I met a woman who only lived for the bingo and Trivia sessions.

·      4 pm High Teas with a string quartet playing – lovely

·      favorite is breakfast room service every day – aaahhh coffee,etc while we watch the ocean or the TV channels showing views from the bow & stern, plus trip maps, weather, location, speed, conditions, and our cruise director Ray telling us all…….News channels are U.S. and what a bunch of strident crap…….is there really a Canada?

·      Many lectures:  eg.  Dr. J. Kess (Prof from U of Vic) has talked about South Pacific islands and history, culture, languages, and Pacific Battles in WWII.    Eg. A session explaining the Tahitian and South Sea pearls and their differences from others :  Tahitian are black or green or gold.  We have booked a visit to a pearl farm at Fanakarava Dec 31.

·      The time keeps going back an hour every few days as we gobble up the longitude meridians……yeah – extra sleep

·      You can see the curvature of the earth very distinctly being so far from horizons – wow

·      Special birds:   seeing frigate birds and masked boobies

·      Switched from original room 7024 Dec 23 to 8024 after fumes twice came through the floor air return ducting.  Fumes smelled like varnish, causing headache and dizziness.  Staff were very, very responsive.

·      Just concluded a ship wide “ship building competition”;  8 teams had the final sail today (Dec 29^th)  in the pool.  My team came 4^th. I got nailed as the team captain because I had to go for a pee.  Fantastic fun, and tremendous creativity among the groups. The team that won had a 90 year old team member who had gone to D-Day in WWII.  The rules primarily required that it had to carry cargo (6 full pop cans), float over 20 feet, and not be made of anything fastened to the ship……heheh

·      Crossed Mariana Trench on Dec 26^th – the deepest part of the planet ~7 miles, crescent shaped scar in the bottom.

·      Dec 27 wind & weather shift to N, 20 knots, disturbed skies – waterspouts?

·      Cold symptoms during Christmas Eve night, rapid worsening until Dec 26, into clinic p.m. Dec 27 with bronchitis & influenza A.  then quarantined in my room till today. After paying 3 times the cost of my deluxe Travel medical insurance I am better. Luckily I have it. The ship has a top-notch medical clinic, however it is U.S.A style of user pay. You should hear the coughing all around the ship.  Unfortunately poor Pat A is now not feeling well (Dec 29) 

Felice Navidad !  here at Easter Island (Rapa Nui) for the 2nd day.....the island got its name because the first Europeans (the Dutch navy) to stumble upon it landed Easter Day, 1722.
No big blog today....but have saved lots of news for tomorrow......sorry, no photos yet because I had forgotten my camera to laptop cable, and everything else tried to date has failed......will keep trying.
WE WANTED TO WISH EVERYONE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
  Pat A and I really miss our families and friends.  There will be a Christmas dinner at 6:30 pm in the Terrace Cafe.  The staff have their Christmas party after ours....no guests.....heheh.  When we returned  after dinner last night, Oceania had left each of us a Christmas gift.  Beautiful, commenorative wooden boxes with velvet lining. Every guest aboard got one (well, maybe every female?), will have to ask some men.
We then put up a sad looking little Christmas decoration outside our door, for the festivities.
Love, and hugs
the Pats
p.s. please communicate with us through our e-mails.....works better, thanks

......it is now Dec 21....where did 3 days go?  19th on Robinson Crusoe Island (part of Chile), and will be at sea for 4 days T. Today is a Sunday day of rest;  slept till 10 woken by room service, coffee and breakfast on the veranda.  Lapilis coloured seas are down to 4-6 feet from the SE, barometer still steady ~30 " Hg, winds SE ~20 knots, boat speed 16 knots.
Ship statistics:  Marina's keel laid March 2009, LOA 785 ft, beam 106 ft, max draft 25 ft, tonnage 66,000, built in Italy, max speed 20 knots, has stabilizers and bow thrusters, passengers 1250 on 11 decks, 15 overall decks, staff 790, registered Marshall Islands, absolutely pristine ship!
Robinson Crusoe Island:  Awakened ~7:30 am by anchor chain sounds; our veranda is on the port side of the ship so we had the whole island outside our room.  Large enclosed tenders shuttled passengers to and fro the dock;  one had to be fit enough to get across between tender and ship or between tender and dock.  The ship crew handled us well. Bags were searched ashore by the Chilean agriculture people - no food or fruits or....allowed ashore.  Most of the island shores are steep-to, the pier is in the town of Juan Bautista in Cumberland Bay ......This bay was hit by an enormous tsunami in 2010, and they are still rebuilding
Highlights: cemetary - concrete coffin covers or white picket fences around plots with lots of flowers. Unfortunately the 200 year+ old gravesites appeared to have been washed away by the tsunami; we did find a soldier's site from 1877.  There is also a gravesite for the crew of the German light cruiser SMS Dresden which was scuttled in the Bay during a WWI battle.
vegetation - some peeling bark trees that reminded us of arbutus trees, some evergreens, some large leafed trees that had rings like palm trees.  The island has a subtropical climate; the cold northerly Humboldt current gets close to the eastern side. The island was named a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1977:  it has unique flora and fauna.  We were delighted to see some of the critically endangered red hummingbirds, fighting with each other just like our Canadian ones.  The island is also home to Magellanic Penguins, and a unique fur seal.
locals - apparently relatively newcomer Chileans;  however a number of them did remind me of the gypsies coloration and hair that I had seen in Spain. There are ~900 residents.  Main industry is fishing; especially for lobster.  The locally built open boats remind me so much of east coast U.S. and Bahamian styles.
misc - got some cheap Chilean wine ashore, but couldn't locate a delicious local beer called Archipela as it was all sold out.  The ship's cruise director had announced "don't pet the dogs" before we went ashore, as they are apparently not friendly.  The original 'Robinson Crusoe' was Alexander Selkirk who was marooned there in 1574, by his cheesed off Captain who obliged Alexander's criticisms of the ship.  He wasn't rescued for about 4 years by a passing British ship.  We did not do the 4 km hike to the location of Crusoe's cave and house.
........photos to come next.......
We loved the island's uniqueness.

.....the fresh gale (+30 knots) alternating with moderate gale.........is subsiding after 24 hours at sea, 12 foot + seas, rich deep navy teal ocean with white blowing froth. We can't go out on the deck, but lots of exploring inside after we got over the "1st night" with 8 other women hangover, or was it seasickness.  WOW, WOW what a boat with perfection everywhere. The veranda is lovely but one has to hold on..... I especially want to take our bathroom home. Will send photos tomorrow cause it is late, and we are just back from exquisite food in the main dining room after complimentary drinks in the Grand Bar listening to a string quartet.  Pat A had 2 vodka/tonics, but I'm not telling eh.
Trip down was uneventful, but lonnnngggg; treated well all along even with incessant line-ups.  But entering the wonderful world of room 7024 made it all worthwhile.  Pat A did say that it was a good thing she took pics of the room before I landed and created a chaos space.....it's easy to do with 282 sq.ft.   I can only finish with superlatives; we are well and joyous.....
Tomorrow we anchor at Robinson Crusoe Island, aka Alexander Selkirk the original castaway.  Hugs