Dan and Sue's World Cruise

  Tuesday, 25 February Today we are anchoring out in the bay for our one day visit to the Bay of Islands.  Indeed, there are 144 islands in this group.  We see quite a few of them as we sail in slowly to our anchorage.  We are quite far from the pier, they say a 20 minute boat ride but it turned out to be closer to 30.  It must be quite a shallow bay.  It is a large bay, 9 miles across!   We signed up for the Glow Worm Cave and Kauri Forest Excursion.  We met in the Queen's room at 9:15 and were escorted to the tender boats.  Our tender Captain They hold 150 passengers and they really crowd us on but I don't think we were quite at capacity for comfort sake.  Remember we have around 3,000 guests aboard that want to get out to their excursions, so it is quite a process when we have to tender everyone in.  Our excursion was scheduled for 10AM and we do make it in time.  typical homestead But, after the bus was loaded with aro...

  Monday, February 24, 2025 (Southern Hemisphere, that is) We are up just in time to view our passage into Pilots Bay where we will dock for our one day visit to Tauranga, New Zealand.  Tauranga is the fifth largest city and the bay area was named Bay of Plenty by Cpt. Cook in 1769.  He named it that because of the plentiful food sources that he found there.  Today, it is the home of many kiwifruit orchards, avocados, citrus orchards and a variety of fresh seafood as well as thriving dairy farms. It looks to be another beautiful day as our luck continues to bless us with great weather.  Our scheduled tour "Truffle Treasures"  doesn't start until 1PM, so we are in no hurry to get off the ship.  So, we have a leisure breakfast but get filled up as we aren't sure when or what is in store for us on the excursion.  We aren't due back from it until 5:30 when the ship is scheduled to leave. We decide to leave the ship and do some geocaching which there a...

  Friday, February 21, 2025 Just a quick note to say that I saw some flying fish today on our way towards Auckland.  I haven't seen them since my Navy days which I remember it being a not uncommon sight.  They emerge from the water and "fly" for about 4-6 yards before returning to the sea.  They don't have wings of course but their fins may act like wings to keep them airborne for time.   In my research, I found that they can actually be airborne up to 45 seconds and a documented distance of 1,300 ft!   Anyway, I thought it worth noting. Saturday, February 22, 2025 Today we docked in Auckland, New Zealand.  We were greeted by a tug boat spraying her water cannon.  What a nice welcome!  It promises to be a nice summer day here with temps in the upper 70s with mostly sunny skies.  We signed up for the Hop on/Hop off touring bus which has a route that takes us past and through most all of the highlights of Auckland.   En...

  Welcome gate at the pier Video link of Nuku'alofa Harbour:     https://photos.google.com/search/CgZWaWRlb3MiCBIGCgQqAggBKI%2FclLDSMg%3D%3D/photo/AF1QipOMbbbJ6P6vVECQP_bQGHfy3syOHfmLblwt2jow The Kingdom of Tonga became an independent nation under the British Commonwealth in 1970.  It consists of more than 170 Polynesian islands, many are uninhabited.  The capital, Nuku'Alofa is located on the main island of Tongtapu.  Unlike Samoa, the major islands are low lying with no visible mountains.  The people look very similar to the Samoan's, including their dress.  The men wear skirts, often with a wide belt of some kind, a lot depending on what they are dressing for.  In Samoa, these were called lavalava.  Here they are referred to as tupenu's. Tonga's current king is Tupou VI.  He resides in the wooden palace built in 1867.  He appoints a Prime Minister who is than voted on by the parliament.  King's Palace as viewe...