Down Under 2022

 After a 3 year gap, we found ourselves back in Papua New Guinea.  This time it was at a new port called Alotau located on Milne Bay which was the site of a famous 1942 naval and land battle that was a decisive early defeat for the Japanese.  We arrived a bit ahead of schedule and we were let off of the ship slightly before 10am.  We were greeted by a troupe of native dancers.  It was very hot and I had a great chat with Freddy, a HAL front office officer that we had sailed with a lot on the Maasdam and Volendam. I thought she was going to cry when talking about the Maasdam. There was a temperature check and a port clerk dutifully recorded my passing temperature on his list.  We went outside the port gate and found the tour company, Alotau Tours which was recommended to us by Abby (another passenger) and also by John Hocknull, our PNG guest lecturer.  Ben, the owner, was very personable and easy to talk with.  We secured a couple of spots on a 1/2 day cultural and sightseeing tour for

 Today was a different sort of day.  While it started off like normal with breakfast and Rachael's coffee chat with Dr. John Hardy, the rest of the morning was sort of free time because of the mandatory safety drill for all guests.  We were required to watch the safety movie on our stateroom TV between 10 and 12 noon, check in at our muster station 16 on Deck 3, and listen to the Captain's instruction about the drill.  For the rest of the morning I uploaded my CPAP data to WWW.sleephq.com and reviewed my activity for the past 10 days or so.  It was totally normal. My lunch today was a basic green salad as our dinner meal will be a bit heavy, In the Captain's noon announcement, he reported 44 passenger COVID cases and 4 crew cases.  All are mild or asymptomatic.  He also announced that we would have two days in the Conflict Islands and that was very well received by everyone.  Jonathon, one of the new first officers had worked out the details and permission from the Seattle

 And the sea days just keep coming at us.  We're now on the first of two sea days in order to reach Alotau, Papua New Guinea (PNG).  While we have been to PNG previously, the ports that we are visiting this time are completely different.  Our day started out with Rachael's coffee chat with John & Morag Hocknull.  They had all sorts of keen observations about PNG.  Neil, the shore excursions manager gave his presentation on the Main Stage concerning the upcoming Australian ports of call with specific emphasis on declaring all wooden items and having clean items and clothing.  John then presented an account of what it was like to be a District Officer in PNG as they prepared the country for transition to becoming an independent nation.   After lunch at 1pm, Racheal gave one of her port talks on Alotau and the Conflict Islands.  She was followed by Dr. Jack Hardy who spoke on his years of exploring the underwater world.  I spent much of the rest of the afternoon reviewing and

 Yesterday we confirmed our booking on a turtle snorkeling trip and the need to be there at 8:45am outside the Cruise Ship Terminal.  So we arose early, ate breakfast, and were among the first off the ship at 8am and boarded the first shuttle bus.  We purchased some Coke Zero and liquid yogurt for our trip to Signal Island. We rechecked in and waited until shortly after 9am when we were assigned to the first boat.  We boarded a zodiac and most of the seating was like riding a motorcycle 2up.  The ride out was across smooth waters and we saw at least 3 turtles.  The trip took about 25 minutes and our driver pulled up to the beach and we hopped out into water that was colder than we previously experienced. Angela and I changed into our snorkeling gear and headed out into the water and spotted our first turtle.  We snorkeled the shallow area on both sides of the dock and spotted several schools of fish and a sleeping turtle.  We returned to the beach side of the dock and it was like someo

This morning we woke up in Noumea, New Caledonia after a slow sail yesterday and overnight.  Since we've been here twice before (2016 and 2019), we were in no hurry to get off the ship.  So we had a leisurely breakfast and caught a 9am shuttle bus to the cruise terminal.  Because the Westerdam is about 60 feet too long, we can't berth at the Passenger Cruise Terminal but must dock at the container terminal.  The officials at the container terminal won't let passengers walk from the ship to the port gate.  So shuttle busses were provided for the passengers to reach the cruise terminal which is about a 5 minute drive away.  Those shuttles run from 8am until Midnight.  After 6pm they also make trips out to Lemon Bay and this allows passengers to take in the restaurant activity out there.  The last shuttle returns at 11pm from Lemon Bay and 11:30 from the passenger cruise terminal.  If one misses the last shuttle, one must find their own lodging for the night as the container p

 Overnight and all day the ship continued to rock and roll.  There is a visible increase in the number of passengers and crew wearing masks despite no PA announcements to do so.  There are crew positioned at hand washing stations to encourage hand washings.   Today's 9am Rachel coffee chat was with Bart, the Beverage Manager.  It was interesting but nothing in particular stood out.  Rachel's 10am Noumea port talk was really good and will be on TV. John Hocknull presented an excellent overview of Papua New Guinea.  He's a good presenter. The Lido lunch featured a French theme and it was yummy.  After lunch we watched the chick flick Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.  It was well done but not really my genre in films. We spent the remainder of the after noon reading. After a Lido dinner with Erik & Marilyn, we enjoyed the musical performance of Derek Floyd who covered a wide range of popular music.  We even came back for his 9pm set. Tomorrow is the first of our two days in Noum

 Today was the first of two sea days on our way to Noumea, New Caledonia (New Scotland).  We've been there a couple of times previously so we're still up in the air about what we will do there.  After breakfast Rachael's coffee chat was with the Staff Captain and Environmental Officer.  It was interesting and the most interesting piece of news came from the Staff Captain when he answered a guest question that went like this, "There's a quarantine guest cabin next to us, can you tell us how many Covid cases are onboard?" For the first time since the resumption of cruising, I felt that a ship's officer answered this oft requested question straight up.  He replied, "There are 10 or less quarantine cabins and all of the cases are mild." He went on to say that Covid is going to be with us for a while and we are going to learn to live with it.  While it was good information it does not explain why the sudden emphasis on hand washing.  Is there some oth

 Right on schedule just before 7am we slowly passed through the reefs and entered the harbor at Lautoka.  We pivoted slightly to starboard and nestled up to the container ship dock with the large letters "LAUTOKA" painted on the warehouse roof.  Lautoka is known for its sugar processing activity  and the white smoke or steam wax gushing from its sugar mill's tall chimney.   Our snorkeling group for the tour organized by Hanna P met in the Ocean Bar on Deck 3.  It turned out that there were 25+ of us.  Hanna played "cat herder" and we all got off the ship together and quickly found our contact person.  Most of us had paid in advance, but a few last minute bookers paid slightly more in cash at the dock.  Soon our powered catamaran pulled up across the dock from the Westerdam and we boarded.  The plan for the day was to travel 26 miles off the coast from Lautoka to 3 islands and snorkel at each one of them.  Two of three islands were used for filming the movie Cast

 It's so nice to do an overnight in a port.  With our pact from the day before, no alarm was set and we eventually woke up around 7:30am and just before Rachel read the oft repeated biosecurity announcement from the Fijian government about bringing no food ashore.  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, packed up our things and headed out for our second day in Suva.  I desired to visit the Thurston Gardens, a botanical garden which was about a mile and half from the ship.  We walked along the sea wall as far as we could go and then made our way to Victoria Street.  We passed by the Parliament Building, the Polo Grounds and Grand Pacific Hotel.  There was a line of motorcycle policemen there and they gave me permission to photograph them. They were all riding fairly new white Yamaha motorcycles and dressed in beautiful riding gear including full face helmets..  There must have been a dignitary in the hotel as there was a new SUV in front of the door and an additional police vehicle in fr

 In the early morning the ship slowly weaved its way through the narrow channel amongst the many small boats and a narrow reef passageway.  Ever so slowly we pivoted clockwise and ever so gently nestled up to the pier.  As we ate breakfast, we enjoyed renewing our memories of visiting Suva back in 2016 on the Maasdam. We met up with our group of 10 in the Ocean Bar at 8am and shortly the ship was cleared.  We had to use the forward exit as the exit midships below us was reserved for HAL shore excursions. After a bit of delay, our guide, Eli, found us and we were underway.  We drove out of town past the prison and women's prison (now called correctional facilities), past the Australian and American embassies, a Mormon temple and college, and reached the entrance to the Colo-i-Suva forest preserve.   The hike down the side of the hill was classified as "moderate", but with the recent rains, fallen leaves, steep & root infested terrain, it was challenging.  There were pe

 Last night we gained an hour as we set our Mr clocks back to the Suva, Fiji time zone. So we woke up rested for a nice and relaxing sea day. Rachel's coffee chat was supposed to be with Janice Martin, multi-instrumentalist.  But she was a no show and the Media Coordinator, Thommy, was the surprise guest.  As an Indonesian, he was the first one of that nationality to hold the position which is responsible for the Navigator app and the daily program.  The position normally filled by Americans or Canadians because of their understanding of English.  He was enthusiastic and engaging. While Angela went to her seaday jam session, I attended the port talk for Dravuni Island and Lautoka.  I spent the rest of the morning reading more of my Alexander Hamilton biography. After lunch it was more reading until the 3pm Lincoln Center Stage performance of Mozart music and the Meet the Artist Q&A session afterwards.   The evening entertainment was Janice Martin who apologized for her no show

 Finally, after 5 days at sea after leaving Hawaii, we reached Apia, Samoa.  We had a good sleep and I didn't wake up until 7:30am to prepare for my day.  At this point it appeared we were docked.   During the waiting process for the ship to be cleared, the Captain came on the PA and commented that we had made two approaches to the harbor due to the wind.  I could see three tugs standing by at ready when I was eating breakfast.  When I went out on the aft of deck nine (Lido), there was a very brisk wind blowing.   Our tour group met in the Ocean Bar on Deck 3 and waited for our leader, Penny, who was exchanging money with the money changer who was brought on board.  The ship was cleared shortly after 8 but it wasn't until around 8:30 when she showed up after getting local currency.  We requested that our tour driver make a stop in town so several more of us could get local currency.  We headed off the ship, and the port required that we wear masks in the port area.  I should no

 Today is our fifth and final sea day before reaching Apia, Samoa tomorrow.  According to the onscreen TV the Seattle Seahawks were supposed to be playing at 5:05am our time this morning.  That was in fact 5:05pm eastern time.  So our waking up early was in vain.  The game actually started at 9:05am our time Monday. Two of the ship's 3rd officer navigation staff were Rachael's coffee chat guests.  The venue was packed and they were interesting guests.  Following this Rachael gave a short presentation on Suva, Fiji which will be rebroadcast on the stateroom TV's. I then watched a bit of the Seahawks game silently in the Gallery bar area before going to our room to watch the last quarter on our stateroom TV with sound.  The Seahawks won 19-9 over the Arizona Cardinals. On my way to the stateroom I noted that a medallion ceremony was taking place in the BBKing lounge. After a very nice and long lunch in the Lido Pool area with Erik and Marilyn, we watched the last Jurassic Par

 It's a weird concept: in a 24 hour period we enjoyed 48 hours!  It's one of the most unique features of crossing the Pacific Ocean. In roughly the middle of the Pacific Ocean there is an imaginary line that roughly stretches from the North to South Pole.  It's used as the point that each day's time starts.   For us we crossed that line at midnight last night (Friday) and we had to skip Saturday, 10/15/22 and roll over to Sunday, 10/16/22 as that day had already started when we reached the date line. The interdenominational service was full today.  It was so full that another room was opened for our use.  Linda was also able to put the song words on the screen which helped.  Pastor Dan preached on Missions from Acts 8.  During the preaching he was interrupted many times by announcements related to a major crew drill.  At one point the Captain announced 'This is a drill and no actions are required by our guests.' Dan immediately responded. 'This is a real ser

 Today's coffee chat was unlike any we've ever experienced before.  Before the host, Rachael, arrived, the guest, Patrick McMahon arrived.  He is a large and imposing fellow from Australia and he immediately captivated the assembled audience and began talking about himself and music.  After Rachael arrived the chat kicked into high gear with lots of stories, short song clips, and more.  Rachael had to depart, but Patrick continued on answering questions and interacting with the audience for another 25 minutes. On the Main Stage Rachael present a brief history of Samoa and Fiji, and she was followed but Neil, the shore excursions manager, who not only offered brief comments about the ship's excursions, but also he offered suggestions for things one might do on one's own.  He talked for nearly an hour which is quite long for this type of presentation. We had a LIDO lunch with Eric and Marilyn before adjourning to the Main Stage for the Ask the Captain 2pm session.  It was

 There's nothing quite being awakened from a deep sleep at 4:25am by the PA announcement tones and the Captain's voice saying, "Please pardon this early interruption.  We have an emergency medical helicopter evacuation of a guest by a US Coast Guard helicopter in progress. Please stay clear of the outside decks.  We had to return to Hawaii to be in range of the helicopter." I checked our position and track and computed we turned around about midnight.  I further determined it was dark out so I maintained a prone position but notified family members and our pastor that we were okay.  He was tracking us and would see that we turned around. After breakfast we attended the 9am coffee chat with Racheal and Jenna, HR representative.  It was interesting and we learned that the crew is free to come to guest events in civilian clothes and that they have some specific areas above the waterline they can visit and recreate in.  There's also a a section of the Lido where they

 Overnight we arrived at the bay at Kona where the ship anchored in position for the day.  Angela booked us on a snorkeling trip with Captain Zodiac tours through Holland America the night before.  We met in the Main Stage area and got our tour stickers (RED 10).  Soon we were off the ship and in the tender which was the first tender ride of this trip.  The Westerdam's tenders are old and of a very different design than any other we have ridden in on all the other Holland ships.  There is much more window area and the driver sits high on the right side. We checked in for a HAL zodiac snorkeling tour that Angela had booked the night before.  We boarded the zodiac which was captained by Rick and assisted by Brenna.  I took a front position and we rocketed to K .  Once there I realized that we had snorkeled there in 2016. I was first in the water and it was very clear and about 20' deep.  There were many small and colorful fish but not quite the variety we saw in 2016.  The best s

 Today's adventure would largely centered around snorkeling.  We were up at 6:30am and watched the ship silently glide through the S shaped channel into the Nawiliwili harbor.  With use of the thrusters the ship slowly nestled against the pier with nary a feel of the time of contact.  We waited with Cathy & Pat who we were sharing an Uber with to the Poipu Beach. Once off the ship I hailed an Uber and we were directed to wait up near the Athletic Club which is about a 5 minute walk from the terminal.  Freddie, our driver, soon met us and we were off to the Poipu Beach which was about a 25 minute drive away.  Once at the beach we donned our snorkeling gear and checked in with the local lifeguard for local knowledge about snorkeling.  This beach is the popular one for locals. Our entry point was at the far left end of the beach near a resting large green Hawaiian sea turtle.  These turtles come out of the water to sleep per the naturalist who was there.  The snorkeling was okay a

 Today was pretty much all about scenic cruising along the Napali Coast.  After breakfast we attended the interdenominational service which was standing room only.  Pastor Dan Bailey led the service and Linda led exuberant singing.  Afterwards Rachael our Cruise & Travel Director gave a shirt introductory talk about what would happen this day. Initially I went to the open bow area, but it was too crowded so I went to a secret location up on Deck 9 and spent most of the day there with a few folks.  We had shade and enjoyed lots of conversation.  Most of the day was spent cruising at around 7mph.  Near the start of the scenic cruising some dolphins were spotted.  I spotted a 3' shark at the surface which was impressive.  I've never seen a shark from a cruise ship.   Just before noon I took a break and joined Angela, Erik & Marilyn for brunch in the Main Dining Room (MDR).  This was the first time we have eaten brunch in the MDR in 650 plus cruise days.  Later in the day,

 We woke up at 6:30am safely berthed at Pier 11 in Honolulu.  We ate breakfast and gathered our belongings and met our group in the Ocean bar on deck 3.  Around 8am the Cruise Director announced that the ship was cleared and we could disembark.  We easily found our mfeeting point and our driver was soon there with a nice Mercedes van.   The plan for the day was to visit the Dole Plantation, Swim with the turtles at xx Beach, and then drive along the east coast with stops at key viewpoints before returning to the ship.  The Dole Plantation was not open when we arrived so we went back to a coffee plantation for a brief stop before getting back to the Dole Plantation.  We've been to Dole before but it was nice to be there this time when it wasn't crowded.    We enjoyed a pineapple ice cream cone. At xx Bay, it was a small beach area surrounded by a protective reef.  There were many surfers there.  The water was extremely murky and snorkeling turned out to not be a good option.  So

 This, our last day at sea, was projected to be a relaxing day.  And it did not disappoint.  Our 7:30am alarm was the same and after breakfast I headed up to the coffee chat with Racheal and her guest, Jonathon, from Aruba.  He's the food and beverage director.  He was an enthusiastic guest and presented many insights to behind the scenes operations in his department. His comments on provisioning and re-provisioning were extremely interesting. He even solved audience problems on the spot. He disclosed that Spam will be on the menu starting tomorrow. At the end of the time, Rachael polled the audience and there was an overwhelming desire to have him return as a guest. Afterwards I walked laps on the Promenade deck in the 75° temperatures.  There was also a major crew drill taking place.  Racheal then presented a nice lecture on volcanoes.  The rest of of my afternoon was spent walking the deck, reading, and just staring at the water. After our Lido dinner, the Hawaiian Ambassadors s

 Today was an interesting combination of activities as we ply our way to Hawaii.  We started the day with mandatory Covid self test.  At 8:30am our stateroom attendant, Romang, delivered a two person self test kit.  We had to each take samples from our nostrils and put the sampled solution in a test device.  We set a 10 minute timer and our tests were negative.  I showed the results to Romang and he marked us off his list.  We were then free to leave our cabin with total freedom but inside the ship, masks must be worn.  Later at noon, we received word that because of the test results, starting after Honolulu on Saturday, masks were only recommended but not required. Angela had a Hula practice and I ate breakfast before doing some more reading down on deck 2 after which I went to the Main Stage to secure seats for us at Part 2 of the Hawaiian history lesson presentation.  It was a good summary and included some more hula dancing and Hawaiian music. After another Asian lunch, I grabbed m

 It was a nice restful sleep until our 7:30am alarm went off.  At breakfast we were joined by a German man, Uli.  He and I chatted over breakfast and beyond on a wide range of topics including number theory (Benford's law), probability, intelligence, international business, multiple linear discriminate analysis, the Pareto principle, how blood sugar testing machines work, highly intelligent persons' behavioral characteristics, cruising & travel, and much more.  It was so interesting that I skipped the coffee chat but Angela went.  We did make it to the Giants EXC presentation on whales.  At lunch, Uli once again joined us and we continued great conversation. And the find of the day was that I saw a child about 5 years old at lunch.  They are rare on trips of this length and the calendar date. Today we were invited to the complementary Pacific NW wines tasting.  I learned there are some 400 plus 4 or 5 Star Mariners and there are three more of these tastings scheduled. After

 Today was a speedy cruising day.  Each time I checked our speed it was around 22-23mph which is fast for this ship but not top speed. We started our day with a coffee chat with Rachel interviewing the Hawaiian Cultural Ambassadors.  We then watched a reprise of the EXC talk, Iditarod, which we saw on the Noordam this past summer.  The Hawaiian Cultural Ambassadors then gave a history lesson accompanied by hula dancing. In the noon Captain's noon announcements, he noted that the medically evacuated passenger was to undergo a procedure today and was doing well. I spent much of the rest of the afternoon reading and listening to the Lincoln Center Stage musicians perform a British music set. I also provided our Australian and New Zealand ETA's (Electronic Travel Authorization). At dinner we were joined by Abby & Rick whom we met on our August cruise to Greenland and Iceland.  It was good to catch up! Tonight was Dressy night but we ate in the Lido. The Captain's toast was

 We were woken up with a start at 7:30am with the Captain's announcement over the PA system that we had a medical emergency onboard that couldn't be dealt with onboard and that we had turned around in the fog and were headed back to Port Angeles where the cloud conditions were better and a helicopter medivac could be accomplished off of the 9th floor Lido pool area. He cautioned us to not go to that area on the outside decks.  I quickly got dressed and headed out with my camera.   HAL's emergency crews in full fire suppression gear and water hoses were in position.  I found a location on the starboard side and soon we could hear the US Coast Guard helicopter arriving.  It circled the ship about three times. I found a better location for photography on the port side and watch the entire operation which took about a half hour.  First, a Coast Guard Rescue person was lowered to the Lido Deck and he was followed by the lowering of a rescue gurney.  The helicopter then continued