LATE SLEEPERS

We have learned over the years that we need to take an occasional day off from touring to recover and prepare for our next adventure.  When I was in the Navy, reveille was early – maybe 6 am – and if a sailor worked late the previous evening, he could request “late sleepers”.  Once approved, the sailor’s approved “late sleepers” chit would be pinned to his rack so he would not be rousted out the following morning.

Judy and I will occasionally self-approve “late sleepers” so we can relax in our cabins and not have to get up early.  Many times that 8 am tour doesn’t sound so bad when you booked it a year ago, but once you are cruising, you sometimes kick yourself for booking so many early tours back to back.  My advice?  Know yourself and your limitations and schedule some downtime or “Late Sleepers” from time to time.

Today was a “Late Sleepers” day, and we lingered aboard until around 1 pm.  We walked up and down the two main streets which took about 90 minutes to browse through almost every shop.

UTUROA WALKABOUT

Uturoa is a small town right next to the Zuiderdam, and it was easy to explore every street in a couple of hours.

Immediately adjacent to the ship are several small huts which contain shops selling a variety of souvenirs, clothing, and local jewelry.  A larger complex holds higher-end jewelry stores, some restaurants, and specialty shops.

Most of the stores are on the street one block over from the street that is next to the dock.  Here you will find a variety of shops, including a book store, bottle shop, fabric store, grocery store, pharmacy, several souvenir shops, and a department store.

There is a small town square between these two streets where you will find a few pop-up craft shops and a stage that might have a live band or a boom box.

On the way back to the ship a woman selling fruit stopped us and gave us her remaining supply of Star Fruit.  All aboard was in 15 minutes so I guess she would rather give them away than toss them in the trash.  We ate a few on the ship and shared the others.  They were very good.

We left Raiatea around 4 pm and sailed into the sunset, leaving the wonderful ports of French Polynesia behind.  What a wonderful week in the South Pacific.

BIRTHDAY PARTY IN THE PINNACLE

We helped our friend Tom celebrate his Birthday in the Pinnacle Grill this evening.  He got a chance to wear the Big Birthday Hat while the staff sang the traditional Indonesian Birthday song.

STEPHEN BARRY

Stephen Barry was on the main stage tonight.  He has a wonderful voice and performed “The Impossible Dream”, “Captured by the Moment” and one of my favorites from Phantom of the Opera “Music of the Night”.