More Tales from Dandan in the Pacific
I awoke to another email from Dandan this morning, so here goes...
"Hi. Here we go again. Its 10am on Tuesday 17th January. Artemis is cruising east north east, across the North Pacific Ocean, heading for Los Angeles about 1500 miles away. There is still three and a half miles of water beneath her keel and overhead an uncertain sky, with 50% cloud cover. A force four breeze, plus the wind created by our own 18 Nott’s momentum, makes for a windblown deck, but hey, we have sunshine at last and a 24 Degree temperature. So have settled Anne as comfortably as I can, sun bed, towels, cushion, book, and fruit and returned to the cabin, the computer and you lot.
One of the Major surprises of this trip has been the weather, probably only two weeks of clear blue sky in the 12 weeks we have been away. In fact the problems of white and grey skies have preoccupied my thoughts, as I have struggled to create some sort of photographic record of our journey. One is constantly shown pictures and films of these lovely places, with bright blue skies and sunshine, we have had some of this, but more, much more of the rain and grey variety. Also the constant wind, those friendly trades, that made the discovery, colonisation and exploitation of, and return from, the southern hemisphere possible for our forebears are still there, highly active and show their teeth constantly.
Holding a camera still in these conditions when you cant even keep the strap round your neck( its constantly blowing up and over your head and out in front of you like a flag,) is challenging and has caused me to utter the odd bother or two.
Standing on deck for the 3 or 4 hours required at these times, necessitates wearing, a fleece, a windproof coat and often, gloves (a much appreciated gift from my daughter, well done Claire)
So where have we got to. You may remember at Dunedin. I had taken a photo of some white dots on the headland and blown them up to find they were birds, large birds. Our resident expert was quite excited to confirm they were Royal Albatrosses and asked me for a copy of the photo, good for the old ego.
So on out from Auckland, four days of heavy sailing, windblown and wet with a large 13ft swell; I loved it, many didn’t, and the tables were much emptier at dinner for a while.
Then disaster struck. Anne, my wife, had been complaining (as wives do LOL) she was fed up with the weather and her hair needed a perm, ok, go and get it done. Up in the posh spa all smart uniforms and fancy prices. She is quickly relieved of £55 quid and comes down happy. We dress and off to dinner great.
Next morning, Anne is complaining her hair feels strange, she washes it, it hangs straight and lifeless, she returns to the manager of the spa, he says, we have used to strong a perm solution nothing we can do, will have to have it cut. Panic phone calls to Anne’s daughter a hairdresser. Don’t let them cut it. So every three days a wash, set and deep conditioner, trying at £20 a time to keep it in some semblance of order until we get home and have it sorted.
Bloody hell Anne has just walked in, its raining again, just another day in paradise.
Tongatupa.
More commonly know as Tonga. This is one of the friendly islands of which there are about 170 off; it was another of Captain Cooke’s successes, there is even a memorial stone in place under the tree, where he first landed
We toured Tonga on a Sunday, its a pretty island with some super beaches, on which the locals didn’t bother with special swimwear, but as a family went in dressed as they were, and then, let themselves dry around a family cook out and picnic, in Tonga it is mandatory to invite anyone who visits your house or party to eat and consequently they spend a lot of time doing just this and are big people.
Some great coral reefs, blow holes, large breakers, surfers and plantations complete your tropical island image, about 100,000 people live on these islands and they are 99.9% pure blooded Tongan.
There is also an 800 year old gateway with mortised stones of a size and weight comparable with Stonehenge back in the UK.
Each inhabitant is entitled to eight acres of bush, and are expected to produce there own food from it. Growing Yams, Bananas, Coconuts and Tapioca etc.
They also have a royal family and some of the older UK readers, may well remember the former Queen Salote riding in an open carriage in the rain at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953.
Coconut trees it seems all have just one trunk with a crown, no branches and all the nuts grow facing the same way. An oddity here is a coconut tree that has been struck by lightning at a crucial time,(or so the locals tell us), and has at the top of the trunk, grown three branches with three separate crowns all full of nuts, supposedly unknown anywhere else.
There are many pigs here, both wild and domestic, standing in the road, sporting there horns and giving contemptuous glances at the traffic, daring you to interfere, I think not Lol.
We followed a pick up truck with three kids and two adults in the open back, down the road, the kids grinning and making thumbs up signs at us. They had with them, laid out on banana leaves a whole stuffed pig. Evidently they were going to a funeral. It is the tradition for the aunts to supply stuff pigs for the mourners to eat. Actually they don’t mourn just have a celebration and a feast. Have the Irish been here I wonder?
A friendly island but, unfortunately, not a very clean one, with rubbish much in evidence everywhere.
Apia, Western Samoa.
Now this is the island, where time stands still, lush, fertile, pristine white beaches, Coral reefs, a chain of mountains down the centre, with cascading waterfalls and countless flowers and bushes a dream of a place.
No wonder Robert Louis Stevenson, The explorer and author, retired to, died and is buried here. His home high in the mountains, is the most gorgeous, riot of colour, tones and textures, a luxurious mix of flowers, plants and fauna, the house itself a long cool building with a veranda along its full frontage, looks out, across pristine lawns to the gardens, and beyond them the natural bush, trees and foliage, lead the eye finally to the ocean. I want it.
Stevenson was no ordinary expatriate sitting on his veranda, sipping sundowners and watching the world go by, but rather he joined the community, became a friend, benefactor and advisor. So much so that on his death the Samoan chiefs, themselves very important people in this society, hacked a path through the pristine jungle behind the house and up the mountain, dug a grave, then interred him with chiefly honours and ceremony the following day, a rare honour for an outsider. His headstone carries the famous words of his own epitaph; “Home is the sailor, home from the sea and the hunter, home from the hill” Says it all really.
We said time stands still here, on leaving the ship we made an agreement for a four hour island tour with a taxi driver, who then so enjoyed our obvious enjoyment of his home, that he took seven hours over it, a quiet shy man, he was amazed, when we insisted on a substantial, increase in the fare for his dedication..
Apart from all the natural beauty here, the cleanliness of this ultra religious country also hits you. Not for them the plastic bags and garbage of a modern throwaway society, cluttering the roadsides and beaches, here each village has its own women’s committee, who visit every house and inspect it for cleanliness, if it fails then that women is helped and trained in the ways of keeping an up to standard house. This attitude spills out across the countryside and each dwelling has a raised platform outside, on which rubbish sacks are stored, prior to collection, out of the reach of animals, both domestic and wild
Whilst here we visited a hotel called the Sinalei Reef Resort. www.sinalei.com. Anne says we are coming back, a wander round, a drink and then reluctantly, oh so reluctantly, on our way. Back to the ship No wonder it was here that Michener of South Pacific fame, found his Bali Ha’i. In the tiny next door island of Manona.
Samoa, Western Samoa as opposed to the comparatively, material world of American Samoa, visited in my last email, is a dream and a must come place for real travellers. Who long for a return to a world that was!
Three more days of indifferent weather and we arrived of the coast of Kiribati or Christmas Island,
Again going back to my youth I remember, a Sunday morning radio request programme, called Family Favourites, which played record request for and from British troops, stationed all over the world, we still had the commonwealth then. Each Christmas programme would include a request from some of the 3000 troops stationed here, for a delightful ditty called (wait for it)
How’d you like to spend Christmas on Christmas island. Little did I dream then, that I would one day, stand looking at it, from the deck of what in those days was called an ocean liner.
The reason all those troops, many of them conscripts doing national service, were here, was that just forty miles off this coast the nuclear bomb test were held.
Discovered by Captain James Cooke on Christmas Eve, hence the name, It now survives on the export of tropical fish, seaweed and coconut. 5000 people live here as do many tropical birds often as many as 6 million in the breeding season, the lagoon is a haven for fish and birds and a wildlife sanctuary. Big game fishermen also come here.
From the deck it is the most tropical looking of all the islands we have seen, flat, you can see right over it. White beaches all around, protected by a coral reef over which a multi hued blue, green sea breaks sending ripples into and across the lagoons and onto the shore. Beyond the few dwellings lining the shore can be seen another large turquoise lagoon surrounded by coconut trees all in all idyllic, Robinson Crusoe eat your heart out.
The shallow approach meant our staff captain (second in command) had to go out in the first of the ships tenders (boat) and mark a channel with buoys, for the other to follow as the only way ashore was by tender.
On getting ashore Rubbish, illusions shattered, derelict buildings, cars, scrap iron, hundreds of beer cans flattened just lying around, along the shore, girders and steel littering the beaches.
Amongst this locals had set up stalls, trying to sell some forms of local handicrafts, choirs sang, gorgeous looking kids posed for photo’s, among the sparse stubby scrub that invades the margins of the beach. A disaster completely and utterly if ever there was a case for just sailing bye, this was it, I took a few snaps to show how bad it was, and returned to the ship and those lovely views
Honolulu. Hawaii.
Three days sailing and we arrived at Honolulu, Very much the American dream, Shopping Malls, wide roads, cars, We had a mixed day, tried for the illusive lens, no luck, got some souvenirs and bits, ate Korean food for lunch, in the biggest food hall I think I have ever seen.
We then took a smart Lincoln taxi to pearl harbour, fare thirty eight dollars, we later returned on a shuttle bus for ten dollars and could have, we learned have gone on the tram for two dollars, who said fools and their money lol. My eldest would be ashamed of me. Sorry Alan.
Pearl harbour every bit as moving as you would expect, spoilt for me by the inexplicably annoying habit of the Japanese, to have to be seen in the photograph, rather than photographing the event or place itself, still having worked with them for twenty years I shouldn’t expect any better. Although this place, above all other perhaps deserved more respect.
Returned to the ship, dumped our bags and back out to a German restaurant for home made beers and some super food before an 11pm sailing. .
Maui, Hawaii
Next morning we were moored off the coast of Maui in a port called Kalahui, as the ship moved into anchor we could see perhaps 500yds away, whales blowing and leaping from the water, the locals, crafty fellows moved in on them in boats and shepherded them further away. They then sold us on reaching the shore whale watching trips.
Anne and I caught the first tender ashore, grabbed a couple of pancakes and were on the first whale watching trip of the day. Today I would have sold my soul for that new lens, such is life.
Two hours later and we were back on shore, tired from bracing against the constant movement of a small ship, but happy that I had the picture I wanted in the can as they say.
Having had a beer under the biggest banyan tree I have ever seen, we did a little shopping, fridge magnets have to be purchased and returned to the ship for Anne to soak up a couple of hours of rays. Before weighing anchor and setting a course for the city of angels.
That’s it; we approach the last legs of our journey, Mexico, Panama Canal, Caribbean and home. Hope all is well with you my friends. See you soon. Regards Anne and Cliff.
"Hi. Here we go again. Its 10am on Tuesday 17th January. Artemis is cruising east north east, across the North Pacific Ocean, heading for Los Angeles about 1500 miles away. There is still three and a half miles of water beneath her keel and overhead an uncertain sky, with 50% cloud cover. A force four breeze, plus the wind created by our own 18 Nott’s momentum, makes for a windblown deck, but hey, we have sunshine at last and a 24 Degree temperature. So have settled Anne as comfortably as I can, sun bed, towels, cushion, book, and fruit and returned to the cabin, the computer and you lot.
One of the Major surprises of this trip has been the weather, probably only two weeks of clear blue sky in the 12 weeks we have been away. In fact the problems of white and grey skies have preoccupied my thoughts, as I have struggled to create some sort of photographic record of our journey. One is constantly shown pictures and films of these lovely places, with bright blue skies and sunshine, we have had some of this, but more, much more of the rain and grey variety. Also the constant wind, those friendly trades, that made the discovery, colonisation and exploitation of, and return from, the southern hemisphere possible for our forebears are still there, highly active and show their teeth constantly.
Holding a camera still in these conditions when you cant even keep the strap round your neck( its constantly blowing up and over your head and out in front of you like a flag,) is challenging and has caused me to utter the odd bother or two.
Standing on deck for the 3 or 4 hours required at these times, necessitates wearing, a fleece, a windproof coat and often, gloves (a much appreciated gift from my daughter, well done Claire)
So where have we got to. You may remember at Dunedin. I had taken a photo of some white dots on the headland and blown them up to find they were birds, large birds. Our resident expert was quite excited to confirm they were Royal Albatrosses and asked me for a copy of the photo, good for the old ego.
So on out from Auckland, four days of heavy sailing, windblown and wet with a large 13ft swell; I loved it, many didn’t, and the tables were much emptier at dinner for a while.
Then disaster struck. Anne, my wife, had been complaining (as wives do LOL) she was fed up with the weather and her hair needed a perm, ok, go and get it done. Up in the posh spa all smart uniforms and fancy prices. She is quickly relieved of £55 quid and comes down happy. We dress and off to dinner great.
Next morning, Anne is complaining her hair feels strange, she washes it, it hangs straight and lifeless, she returns to the manager of the spa, he says, we have used to strong a perm solution nothing we can do, will have to have it cut. Panic phone calls to Anne’s daughter a hairdresser. Don’t let them cut it. So every three days a wash, set and deep conditioner, trying at £20 a time to keep it in some semblance of order until we get home and have it sorted.
Bloody hell Anne has just walked in, its raining again, just another day in paradise.
Tongatupa.
More commonly know as Tonga. This is one of the friendly islands of which there are about 170 off; it was another of Captain Cooke’s successes, there is even a memorial stone in place under the tree, where he first landed
We toured Tonga on a Sunday, its a pretty island with some super beaches, on which the locals didn’t bother with special swimwear, but as a family went in dressed as they were, and then, let themselves dry around a family cook out and picnic, in Tonga it is mandatory to invite anyone who visits your house or party to eat and consequently they spend a lot of time doing just this and are big people.
Some great coral reefs, blow holes, large breakers, surfers and plantations complete your tropical island image, about 100,000 people live on these islands and they are 99.9% pure blooded Tongan.
There is also an 800 year old gateway with mortised stones of a size and weight comparable with Stonehenge back in the UK.
Each inhabitant is entitled to eight acres of bush, and are expected to produce there own food from it. Growing Yams, Bananas, Coconuts and Tapioca etc.
They also have a royal family and some of the older UK readers, may well remember the former Queen Salote riding in an open carriage in the rain at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953.
Coconut trees it seems all have just one trunk with a crown, no branches and all the nuts grow facing the same way. An oddity here is a coconut tree that has been struck by lightning at a crucial time,(or so the locals tell us), and has at the top of the trunk, grown three branches with three separate crowns all full of nuts, supposedly unknown anywhere else.
There are many pigs here, both wild and domestic, standing in the road, sporting there horns and giving contemptuous glances at the traffic, daring you to interfere, I think not Lol.
We followed a pick up truck with three kids and two adults in the open back, down the road, the kids grinning and making thumbs up signs at us. They had with them, laid out on banana leaves a whole stuffed pig. Evidently they were going to a funeral. It is the tradition for the aunts to supply stuff pigs for the mourners to eat. Actually they don’t mourn just have a celebration and a feast. Have the Irish been here I wonder?
A friendly island but, unfortunately, not a very clean one, with rubbish much in evidence everywhere.
Apia, Western Samoa.
Now this is the island, where time stands still, lush, fertile, pristine white beaches, Coral reefs, a chain of mountains down the centre, with cascading waterfalls and countless flowers and bushes a dream of a place.
No wonder Robert Louis Stevenson, The explorer and author, retired to, died and is buried here. His home high in the mountains, is the most gorgeous, riot of colour, tones and textures, a luxurious mix of flowers, plants and fauna, the house itself a long cool building with a veranda along its full frontage, looks out, across pristine lawns to the gardens, and beyond them the natural bush, trees and foliage, lead the eye finally to the ocean. I want it.
Stevenson was no ordinary expatriate sitting on his veranda, sipping sundowners and watching the world go by, but rather he joined the community, became a friend, benefactor and advisor. So much so that on his death the Samoan chiefs, themselves very important people in this society, hacked a path through the pristine jungle behind the house and up the mountain, dug a grave, then interred him with chiefly honours and ceremony the following day, a rare honour for an outsider. His headstone carries the famous words of his own epitaph; “Home is the sailor, home from the sea and the hunter, home from the hill” Says it all really.
We said time stands still here, on leaving the ship we made an agreement for a four hour island tour with a taxi driver, who then so enjoyed our obvious enjoyment of his home, that he took seven hours over it, a quiet shy man, he was amazed, when we insisted on a substantial, increase in the fare for his dedication..
Apart from all the natural beauty here, the cleanliness of this ultra religious country also hits you. Not for them the plastic bags and garbage of a modern throwaway society, cluttering the roadsides and beaches, here each village has its own women’s committee, who visit every house and inspect it for cleanliness, if it fails then that women is helped and trained in the ways of keeping an up to standard house. This attitude spills out across the countryside and each dwelling has a raised platform outside, on which rubbish sacks are stored, prior to collection, out of the reach of animals, both domestic and wild
Whilst here we visited a hotel called the Sinalei Reef Resort. www.sinalei.com. Anne says we are coming back, a wander round, a drink and then reluctantly, oh so reluctantly, on our way. Back to the ship No wonder it was here that Michener of South Pacific fame, found his Bali Ha’i. In the tiny next door island of Manona.
Samoa, Western Samoa as opposed to the comparatively, material world of American Samoa, visited in my last email, is a dream and a must come place for real travellers. Who long for a return to a world that was!
Three more days of indifferent weather and we arrived of the coast of Kiribati or Christmas Island,
Again going back to my youth I remember, a Sunday morning radio request programme, called Family Favourites, which played record request for and from British troops, stationed all over the world, we still had the commonwealth then. Each Christmas programme would include a request from some of the 3000 troops stationed here, for a delightful ditty called (wait for it)
How’d you like to spend Christmas on Christmas island. Little did I dream then, that I would one day, stand looking at it, from the deck of what in those days was called an ocean liner.
The reason all those troops, many of them conscripts doing national service, were here, was that just forty miles off this coast the nuclear bomb test were held.
Discovered by Captain James Cooke on Christmas Eve, hence the name, It now survives on the export of tropical fish, seaweed and coconut. 5000 people live here as do many tropical birds often as many as 6 million in the breeding season, the lagoon is a haven for fish and birds and a wildlife sanctuary. Big game fishermen also come here.
From the deck it is the most tropical looking of all the islands we have seen, flat, you can see right over it. White beaches all around, protected by a coral reef over which a multi hued blue, green sea breaks sending ripples into and across the lagoons and onto the shore. Beyond the few dwellings lining the shore can be seen another large turquoise lagoon surrounded by coconut trees all in all idyllic, Robinson Crusoe eat your heart out.
The shallow approach meant our staff captain (second in command) had to go out in the first of the ships tenders (boat) and mark a channel with buoys, for the other to follow as the only way ashore was by tender.
On getting ashore Rubbish, illusions shattered, derelict buildings, cars, scrap iron, hundreds of beer cans flattened just lying around, along the shore, girders and steel littering the beaches.
Amongst this locals had set up stalls, trying to sell some forms of local handicrafts, choirs sang, gorgeous looking kids posed for photo’s, among the sparse stubby scrub that invades the margins of the beach. A disaster completely and utterly if ever there was a case for just sailing bye, this was it, I took a few snaps to show how bad it was, and returned to the ship and those lovely views
Honolulu. Hawaii.
Three days sailing and we arrived at Honolulu, Very much the American dream, Shopping Malls, wide roads, cars, We had a mixed day, tried for the illusive lens, no luck, got some souvenirs and bits, ate Korean food for lunch, in the biggest food hall I think I have ever seen.
We then took a smart Lincoln taxi to pearl harbour, fare thirty eight dollars, we later returned on a shuttle bus for ten dollars and could have, we learned have gone on the tram for two dollars, who said fools and their money lol. My eldest would be ashamed of me. Sorry Alan.
Pearl harbour every bit as moving as you would expect, spoilt for me by the inexplicably annoying habit of the Japanese, to have to be seen in the photograph, rather than photographing the event or place itself, still having worked with them for twenty years I shouldn’t expect any better. Although this place, above all other perhaps deserved more respect.
Returned to the ship, dumped our bags and back out to a German restaurant for home made beers and some super food before an 11pm sailing. .
Maui, Hawaii
Next morning we were moored off the coast of Maui in a port called Kalahui, as the ship moved into anchor we could see perhaps 500yds away, whales blowing and leaping from the water, the locals, crafty fellows moved in on them in boats and shepherded them further away. They then sold us on reaching the shore whale watching trips.
Anne and I caught the first tender ashore, grabbed a couple of pancakes and were on the first whale watching trip of the day. Today I would have sold my soul for that new lens, such is life.
Two hours later and we were back on shore, tired from bracing against the constant movement of a small ship, but happy that I had the picture I wanted in the can as they say.
Having had a beer under the biggest banyan tree I have ever seen, we did a little shopping, fridge magnets have to be purchased and returned to the ship for Anne to soak up a couple of hours of rays. Before weighing anchor and setting a course for the city of angels.
That’s it; we approach the last legs of our journey, Mexico, Panama Canal, Caribbean and home. Hope all is well with you my friends. See you soon. Regards Anne and Cliff.
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