Bora Bora and Nat

Bora Bora was a little disappointing because the "town" is just a string of souvenir shops with a lot of Made in China shirts. The beautiful parts of Bora Bora are now on the outer reefs. It was dreadfully hot and humid.

We were supposed to have two days there and we were going on an underwater excursion the second day. However, Tropical Storm Nat changed our itinerary. We left early, headed back to Papeete because we could tie up to a dock, and not tender, while our new captain worked out the details with the powers that be.

We were in Papeete only a short day and headed out on a more or less straight course for New Zealand to outrun the storm. Than means we had to skip Aitutaki, Cook Islands, but the captain felt it was necessary for our safety. Seas were pretty rocky with 12 foot swells or waves, for several days. The barf bags were out in the stairwells but the 3 of us were fine and went about our activities with no problems. Quite a bit of staggering around and you had to make items more secure but all and all we were on.

Calmer seas now. Pool is open, jogging track is open, delicious food is available, life is good.

Tonight we had a Year of the Dragon Buffet on the pool deck, we skip February 11 because of crossing the International Date Line tomorrow and tomorrow morning we have a SuperBowl Party where they will show the whole game!! Go Chiefs!!

The 14th we will be in Bay of Islands, New Zealand and we can hardly wait. We've met several Zkiwi and Aussie friends with good tips on where to go and what to see. No breaks for 6 days, all out sightseeing in New Zealand. I will try to keep up ( since we will have much better internet access also that close to Auckland. That's according to my my computer savvy bridge playing guy.

We've also met a friend who writes the most incredible journal emails on all these days. I

get them now and intend to send them home ( when Bob returns) so I can plagiarize the hell out of them.

We have managed some fun. The 3 of us were invited to the first Captain's Table of this segment, after the danger of the storm had passed of course.

Stay tuned!